WD Merchants Guild: Fox Pup Raffle Entry

Many have heard of birds of paradise, known for their beautiful colors and courtship dances. Few other creatures match their beauty and color except for one. Vibrance, named for her striking colors, was born beneath a setting amber-sun. She was born into a litter of three but became the sole-survivor after the other-two perished: One taken by distemper and the other lost to a hungry jaguar. She was raised in the lush unnamed jungles to the south by her mother Carola, who took solstice there, after being outcasted when she would not give up her children. Vibrance's father Huon had been of an enemy tribe. Despite his love for Carola he abandoned his pregnant lover, fearful of becoming an outcast himself.

Vibrance blossomed under the devoted care of her mother. Carola utilized her knowledge of medicines and used her skills as a herbalist to barter for food and necessities. Life was harsh but peaceful out of the reach of the threats that lay beyond the green thicket. Vibrance was taught the ways of a herbalist with Carola as her mentor. She spent hours carefully uprooting, memorizing, and cultivating a small herb garden under her mother’s instruction. Once finished with the day’s lessons, she played and explored the small oasis in which they called home. Vibrance admired colorful fowl from a distance, utterly intrigued by their flashy colors and romantic displays. She too wished to dance like they did, and spent many evenings searching the ground for colorful feathers to adorn her already radiant coat. Time passed in the paradise and while Vibrance became more beautiful by the day, her mother withered, hair fading and mind growing dimmer. Carola grew ill and became unable to care for herself. Vibrance harnessed the knowledge passed down to her and cared for her mother in those final days.

When Carola passed, Vibrance felt the loss etch deep-scars into her heart. Grief held her tightly and she slipped into a depression. She allowed stacks of herbs to rot and the garden they planted together to become overgrown. Nothing felt the same without Carola, and eventually, she decided to leave everything behind, including her childhood home. An entire world lay outside the oasis, but she never had the courage to venture beyond its borders. Dense tropical forest trickled into humid marshland. Beyond that was dry and uncultivated desert. Weeks of hardship followed her emergence into the sweltering desert. She was guided by her mother’s teachings, barely surviving but never-less finding a way. Hardened sandy soil, baked by the sun rubbed her paws raw. Unnatural hostile creatures, some with scales and some with fur called the hellish landscape home. She thinned with hunger, lips cracked and bleeding with dehydration. Just when she thought it was the end,  she emerged into a more forgiving territory. Open-plains and cool-breezes soothed her tired body. The journey led her north-east, along a narrow stretch of grassland that enclosed upon densely wooded area. She did not know where she was headed, or for what purpose. She took in vast and unique landscapes, every so often thinking of home. While she loved traveling, she was tired, despirited, and lonely. Vibrance missed her mother and the home in which was nothing without her.

Regardless of her feelings, she had no choice but to keep going. Maybe she pushed on to escape her grief, or perhaps because she felt something pulling her onward. Vibrance followed a river, paws trudging over pebbled banks when a noise echoed through the wood. Voices, dozens of them, harmonized together under the waning sky. Their chorus stretched over the treetops, a song like none she ever heard before. At first, she was afraid, but something compelled her to listen and to follow. Vibrance sought the source of the sound and she soon found them, deep in the forest, shielded by briars and on the edge of a bank. She was greeted by some unfriendly faces, clearly displeased to find her there. However, before things could get out of control, a she-wolf stood and moved to mediate them. She spoke gently, her honeyed voice easing tensions with but a few words and gestures. Vibrance soon came to know her as Cypress The Faithful, and like many there, she held true to her name. Cypress welcomed Vibrance and invited her to sit. She was offered a meal and somewhere warm to rest. Unbeknownst to her then, Vibrance would become their healer and eventually, earn her name: Vibrance Born Of Paradise.

Bonus Design