Strider

Rather than fighting his father for leadership of his former pack, Strider left along with his best friend and future mate, Comet.  The two of them came from an old and well-hunted forest with well established ways.  They knew each and every game trail, every pool for drinking, every spot to lie in the sun.  It was a good life, with plenty of food, family, and strong leadership.

It was boring.

So when Strider saw signs of trouble between himself and his pack leader, he decided to seek out new trails, new adventures in an unexplored land.  He and Comet set out to the East, climbing high into the mountains.

Other wolves lived there, ones they had never met, and the two wolves began making friends.  At Comet's first heat he got her with pup and the pack grew larger.  Misty and Howler survived puphood and the pack grew.  Eventually they moved farther along, to richer hunting lands in the Coniferous Forest beyond the mountains.

Finally the weather started getting cold and in the new pack's first Autumn they moved again, to the Prairie, for hopes of better hunting in the winter time.  There they lived under a massive spreading oak that stood all alone in the waving grasses.  Digging dens under its massive roots, they hoped the winter might not be too cold.  Old Lonebriar found a rock outcropping with a bubbling hot spring for the sick to lie in and be healed. 

Now having two hunting teams, several pupsitters, two scouts and an herbalist, Three Moon Pack began burying carcasses in preparation for the winter, waiting to see how they would fare in this, their first great test.

Strider's pack survived the winter without losses.  This was the first of many long, happy years.  After many seasons and litters, and journeying across the world from desert to tundra and at last the vast Glaciers, Strider first felt winter enter his bones.  He knew that his next move would be the last.

Having discovered a passion for fishing, in his last autumn he decided to take his pack to a more clement clime, all biomes being open to him.  He knew that even after he had passed away, his two trained scouts could carry on and swiftly spread his successor's territory wide again.

As he finally reached the deciduous forest, leaves blazing with the colors of autumn, Strider heaved a contented sigh.  His travels had been long, his hardships many, but here he could rest and watch his pups grow.  There was a promising sky colored male named Windkin that he was watching, who could carry the future of the pack.

In the last autumn of his life, Strider lost his mate.  Comet passed away in the night, silently and gracefully as was her way.  Strider sighed when he saw her lifeless form but took the news quietly.  It was the way of things, and he knew he had only a season or so before he joined her.  He put his all into exploring the Dreamlands, which were open for the very first time, and making sure Windkin knew everything he needed to. 

Perhaps Comet's soul might have run away into the Dreamlands to escape a weary body?   Strider couldn't help but wonder.

Strider's soul finally flew free on a bone chillingly cold winter morning just as the sun began to glimmer through the trees.