Valtris Moonwalker

Daughter of Reythyra Starbeam and Lugeiros Moonwalker.

~~~

The Firstborn:

Valtris Moonwalker was born early, earlier than her parents would have liked, in the late summer when the pack was but a newborn itself. From what she'd been told about her early days of life, she was small and frail and weak, but she was also very vocal. Apparently she liked to whine and whine and whine, even well into the night when she should have been asleep with everybody else. Perhaps it was strange, but Valtris took pride in that. She was the firstborn pup of the first litter the pack had. Even before she was weaned, there were great hopes and expectations placed upon her shoulders. She had been too young then to howl her acceptance of the challenge put upon her, so clearly, she had whined instead.

Valtris grew up a pampered and spoiled pup, often playing pranks on her packmates whenever she could. Her pranks were grand but ultimately harmless, for she knew her status well. Her parents ingrained in her the knowledge of her responsibilities as the firstborn of the pack, and she took to them well enough as any rambunctious pup could. So while she played pranks here and there, she was known to be more or less responsible and was well-liked within the pack.

Upon the day that she aged into an adolescent, Valtris knew she would have an important choice ahead of her. The entire pack watched on in anticipation of her choice, of who she would train under as an apprentice. The decision would shape her future, after all, and cement her position in the pack as either a silly prankster, or the responsible daughter of the pack's Alpha and Beta duo.

As Valtris was a sickly pup, the choice before her was obvious. Without any hesitation, she sauntered up to the pack's herbalist and asked to be trained as their successor. They agreed, and Valtris knew the path she had chosen was the correct one. One day she would care for the pack as they had cared for her.

~~~

Motherhood:

Time, as always, passed by swiftly. Soon Valtris was an adult, and she took over as the pack's herbalist, her training complete. The previous herbalist thus left the pack, going to offer their services on to other packs who needed them, assured that the Wildfate was in Valtris's good paws.

Despite becoming the pack's herbalist, her propensity toward mischief never did vanish. She still played her pranks, here and there, though they were lessened in both frequency and intensity. She couldn't help it—pranks were just so fun.

Valtris supposed that it was this quirk of her personality that led to her current predicament.

It was some several moons into her adulthood and she had been foraging for herbs. She was picking a pile of winterfat from the surrounding shrubs when she smelled it. Another wolf. A male wolf. She was in the midst of her heat, and an idea popped into her head. As it were, one thing led to another, and Valtris came back to the Wildfate's den with a pep in her step, all too pleased at her little bit of mischief.

It did not take long for her body to loudly announce her pregnancy to everyone around her by scent alone.

"How did this happen?" her poor mother asked, frantically pacing around the cavern they resided in. She appeared to be on the verge of heart failure, and Valtris knew that this little bit of mischief she'd gotten into would likely give both of her parents gray hairs.

It wasn't as if it was unheard of or discouraged for the Wildfate's females to mate with outsider males. Plenty had before, and their pups were treated no differently than those who had parents both of the pack. But the idea that Valtris could ever do such a thing must've slipped her mother's mind.

"It'll be alright, Mother," Valtris said easily as she lounged on the cave floor. "I've seen plenty of births before."

"But you have never birthed before," her mother reminded her with an increasingly stressed tone.

And Valtris supposed she wasn't wrong there. But she had every faith in her ability to be alright. Besides, her mother had delivered her second litter not too long ago herself, so it wasn't as if Valtris didn't have an experienced coach in such matters.

It was several moons later that Valtris gave birth. It was in the springtime, under the waning crescent moon. Her pups were healthy and born on time, unlike she herself had been, which was a relief. She gave her pups the surname Lunarfury, named partly after herself and partly after the rage they came into the world with. The birth had not been a bloodless battle, after all.

She laid her eyes upon her pups and loved them fiercely. As her son and daughters, they would have nothing but the best. This, Valtris swore.