Ashen

Name

Means a pale grey colour, often used to describe a sick person's complexion. Refers to his grey eyes and skin, and the fact that he was very weak at birth. 

Personality

Level-headed; curious; soft-spoken; compassionate; good at improvising; has a soft spot for strays

Lore

0 months old: Born to Rook - a lone, runt female - and Birch, a male scout for a small pack. The mental and physical stress of the birth was too much for Rook’s body, and she didn’t make it through the process.   

Ashen and his single littermate were born very weak, and while Birch tried to decide how to bring them both back to his pack, one of the pups passed away. He hurriedly carried the remaining pup, Ashen, back to his parents, who led the pack. They disliked outsiders due to their limited territory and prey supply, and were furious at Birch bringing in another mouth to feed.

However, they weren’t entirely heartless; Birch’s mother had recently had her own litter, and agreed to nurse Ashen until he was old enough to travel. At that point, he and Birch would be made to leave the territory.

4 months old: Birch and Ashen strike out on their own. Birch begins teaching Ashen to hunt small creatures.

8 months old: The two wolves continue to wander. Birch develops a persistent cough. Ashen takes over hunting for the pair.

10 months old: Birch’s cough worsens, and he suffers from fatigue. A lone adolescent, Brontide, discovers and attempts to steal food from him while Ashen is out hunting. Ashen returns just in time to defend his father, unafraid despite Brontide’s larger size and fierce glare. Brontide becomes abashed, and Birch forgives him and offers to share the prey. Ashen goes along with his father’s judgment, and he and Brontide become friends.

11 months old: Ashen and Brontide become mates. Birch passes away from his illness. Ashen and Brontide grieve for a few days, before deciding to move on and find their own territory. They set off towards the mountains.

1 year old: Ashen and Brontide find unoccupied territory in the mountains. They establish their own pack.

Trivia

- Sometimes has dreams wherein he's running and playing with his deceased littermate. He's not sure whether it's just his imagination or whether their spirit is actually visiting him, but he always wakes up in a good mood afterwards. 

- He loves to sing, and often attracts new wolves by doing so. Romantic wolves in particular enjoy it, which is why there are so many of them in the pack. 

- Is always the one to initiate tussles with Brontide. Always loses. 

- After what happened to his father, he is terrified whenever one of his packmates falls ill. The first time Brontide developed a cough, Ashen bolted to the Herbalist den, whimpering in fear the whole time. 

- His pups call him "Papa" or "Pops". 

- One of his hobbies is fishing; he loves to spend warm evenings lying by the water and snatching fish as they swim by. Brontide would almost always accompany him, dozing with his head resting against Ashen's flank. (When Brontide passed away, Ashen couldn't bear to go fishing anymore and gave the lake a wide berth.) 

- Featured in my tag, commissioned from Wren (#29704), from 16/01/2021 onwards ^^