Firestar

 Name: Firestar| Gender: Male| BioStatus: Beta| SocialStatus: #1-Alpha| Scent: Ironwood&Poppy| Other Info-

(The Present)

 I am Firestar. The very first Medicine Wolf of Rivers Rapid Pack. I am a beta, in terms of rank and I am kind of involved with Sam? I'm still not exactly sure of our relationship status. One minute she gets hurt just to spend time with me and the next she ignores me completely. She's really confusing, but I think that's one of the things I love about her.

(The Past)

  Firestar doesn't remember much of his life before the pack. He remembers his mother. Outcast from her pack before he was even born, she did her best to raise him. His most prominent memory of her was the worst one possible.

  Firestar was still a young pup, only 4 months, when he and his mother traveled over the dunes to her favorite hunting grounds. He had never been out this far before, they usually never hunted past the Winterfat fields that marked the boundaries of her old pack's territory. Vast stretches of rock lay before them now, towering pillars of stone and deep ravines, small shrubs and tall cacti dot the ground in random clusters, their breakfast, lunch, and dinner zigzagging around in the summer heat. Firestar had never seen so many rabbits before, it had to be their breeding season, there really wasn't any other explanation for such a gathering. His mother licked his cheek and told him not to go too far as she stalked off towards the shrubbery to their right. "Well I guess I'll go left," Firestar muttered under his breath. Since when did they hunt alone? Firestar sniffed the breeze, jaw wide to catch as much scent as possible. Oh! So that's why she ditched him. Firestar knew they were vulnerable all on their own, gaining male protection was a smart move on his mother's part. The promise of her next heat or maybe even a bond, if they wound up liking each other, might be enough to keep this male by her side long enough for Firestar to make it to maturity or at least adolescence. Satisfied that he knew his mother's whereabouts, Firestar did a few light stretches, before creeping off to snag one of those plump, young rabbits. 

 (Nightfall)

  OK Firestar was officially worried now. He hadn't seen his mother all day, he knew she wouldn't just run off without him. She was way too protective to truly leave him alone. The male hadn't been too far away and his scent had left the area a few hours ago. Where was his mom? Firestar, feeling his anxiety climb, he decided to head out from under the bush where he had napped earlier that afternoon and venture out in to the night. Picking up his mother's scent was hard when he was so nervous, he finally caught wind of her old scent and traced it back to where she had met with the male. Wait something wasn't right. There was fear scent mingled in with the males base scent, he had seen something that spooked him. Following his mom's scent just a little farther, he found blood and the scent of cat. Firestar felt his tail bristle, an ambush! His mom could be hurt or worse she could be... nope not going there yet. He wouldn't believe that until he saw it. Moving swiftly he followed her scent to a nearby burrow, "she must be hiding in here." He thought plunging his front half in to the hole. With a yelp he scrambled back, as loud rattling and hissing came from the darkness. Firestar stared at the hole and adjusted his battle stance, waiting patiently for the enemy to make itself known. From the darkness, three sets of unblinking, golden eyes appeared, still hissing and rattling up a storm. He had disturbed some local diamond-back's it seemed, not the friendliest bunch either. Or maybe he had just woken them up early?  Had his mother ran in to these angry serpents as well, if so she might be in worse shape than he imagined. Snakes were intelligent creatures at least, maybe they knew what happened to his mom. Their hissy accent was a bit hard to understand but he got the just of it. His mother crashed in on them earlier, disturbing their beauty sleep by hiding from a very  angry cougar in their den. After sincerely apologizing to them for the intrusion, she headed east to take the long way back to the rabbit hunting grounds once the cat had left. Doing his best to apologize for barging in on his fellow predators as well and thanking them for the information, he started off in search of his mother. One of the snakes rattled to grab his attention, "Beware pup. More of our kind hunt in that direction and won't take kindly to sssstrangersss." Firestar nodded and thanked the snake again for his warning, before heading off, determined to find his mother. 

  The journey to find her was uneventful and shorter than he expected. The rattlesnake ridden path was suspiciously snake-less. He stopped at the edge of a ravine, not horribly deep, but just deep enough to hide from inattentive predators. And there, at the bottom of the old dried up riverbed, was his mother, shivering in the cool temperature of the night. As Firestar carefully made his way down the embankment, he began to hear her weak cries, not loud enough to draw predators but enough to express her pain. He approached her slowly, noticing the still bleeding wounds that ran across her shoulders, all the way down to her rump. That cat did this, no doubt in his mind. He was so engrossed in the patchwork of claw marks and ripped skin adorning her back, he almost overlooked the snake bites that ran up her ankles. She had run into a lot of those unfriendly snakes then. Firestar was at a loss, his mother had prepared him for a lot of things in this cold and unfair world, but This, wasn't one of them. Maybe food would help? Or some herbs? Firestar scrambled up the steep, side of the river bed, his mental checklist growing with every step up. He would do all he could to help his mother. 

  In the end it wasn't enough. He tried and tried, he worked so hard for her, but she was just too far gone. The mixture of open wounds and snake venom was ultimately her downfall. Their last few hours together being permanently etched in to his mind. Singing the songs that she would sing to him as a newborn, as she slowly bled out in the sand. Nuzzling and cuddling, despite the blood seeping in to his coat. The last few laps of her tounge against his ear flap as she whispered her goodbyes. Rather than give up like most pups his age would have, Firestar took his mother's death as inspiration. He was never going to let any pup feel the complete anguish he did right now. He was going to study medicines from all over the world, learning cures and saving lives. If there wasn't a cure, he would make one, because no wolf ever deserves to feel this way. As day broke across the horizon, he gave his mother's, now icy, cheek one last nuzzle, before turning and walking away. He would come back to this place when he was older to properly mourn, but for now he would head north, away from his desert home. Towards the forest biomes. Forests had bears, the best healers and the best possible teachers.