Varuna

you spot a male lounging on a platform above the rest of the moss beds and approach him, asking for his story.

the male stretches and sits up before answering,
"I am Varuna, mate of Queen Saraswati and the guardian of pearl. I am one of the last of the Meshki pack, the other being Narmada. our pack used to control the grasslands beside the beach until the humans began building their dens. just as Sarawati's pack leader, ours was too prideful to leave and believed if we fought back, we could drive the humans out. fool, he was.

after the younger wolves led an attack on the humans constructing their dens, they found their way back to our camp. a massacre followed. I saw some of my pack mates killed by their strange metal pearls or beaten by their clubs. pups were taken from their mothers in metal cages. only I and Narmada escaped.

we attempted to flee inland but only found more and more humans. we turned back to the coast and that was when Saraswati and her sister discovered us. their pack had met the same fate as ours and they were seeking safety as well.

although i was saddened by the news of their pack, a part of me was happy to be reunited with Saraswati. you see, we were set to be betrothed but their pack abruptly ended contact with us, perhaps due to the humans that were invading their lands.

reunion aside, we all agreed to find the other sea wolf packs in hopes of warning and potentially joining them. those plans soon fell through once we realized the humans had devastated all the coastal packs. Sarawati though, refused to give up and convinced the survivors to follow the lonely river in hopes of finding an area untouched by humans.

not all join us but most did. we united all the packs under the name 'Margārīta', the name for pearl in our elders' tongue and journeyed upriver.

the journey was harsh. we walked days on end, outrunning bears, humans, and mountain lions. wolves were lost and my paws are still scarred.

once we reached the lake, Saraswati decided it was enough. she didn't want to push our small fragile pack any further and lose anyone else. especially, when she had pups on the way.

i will not say it is ideal. it took a while for all of us to get used to scaling the mountain and hunting hoofed creatures. but the lake provides us with familiar fish. it is a good, though a surely temporary, home.