Pine

Name

His plain brown coat resembles bark, and pine trees grow quickly, which suits his keen nature. 

Personality

Soft-spoken; affectionate; conscientious; observant

Lore

0 months old: Born to a female lone wolf named Aster. 

1 year, 3 months old: Due to spending his puphood wandering with his mother and rarely eating, Pine grows into a wiry, weak adult. Aster meets a lone male, Moss, and quickly becomes pregnant with his pups. Moss is affectionate towards her, but indifferent towards Pine. 

1 year, 5 months old: Aster, heavily pregnant, spends most of her time resting in her den. Moss becomes hostile towards Pine, insisting that he's old enough to leave and start his own pack. Moss also claims that he and Aster will have their paws full caring for their new litter, and Pine will be a drain on the area's limited prey. Pine refuses to abandon his mother and unborn half-siblings, but secretly worries that Moss is right. 

1 year, 6 months old: While Aster is distracted tending to her minutes-old pups, Moss attacks Pine and drives him away. 

1 year, 8 months old: Pine, exhausted and malnourished, stumbles into the Ashen Pack's territory. Ashen finds him while patrolling the borders, is horrified at the state he's in, and immediately brings him back to the Den. Brontide spends some time with Pine, learns of his history and sees his potential as a hunter, and tells the rest of the pack that Pine will be joining them. 

Pine is overjoyed to be accepted into a pack, and views the leaders as surrogate parents. 

Trivia

- Viewed by the other adults as the baby of the pack, due to his small size and eagerness to learn. 

- Has accidentally called Brontide "dad" more than once. His packmates tease him relentlessly each time, while the leader in question is rather touched. The first time Ashen witnessed this slip-up, he turned to Brontide and asked, very seriously, whether they had any more pups he didn't know about. 

- Sometimes climbs to a ledge high up the Mountain and howls, hoping his mother will somehow hear and know that he's safe. He's never received a response, but sometimes other pack members who are missing their birth family will climb up and join him.