Frozen Tundra

A reliable and steady scout, Frozen Tundra dedicates his life to exploring outside his pack's home territory. With his friendly, but careful nature, Tundra manages to worm his way out of any confrontation with other packs he may encounter.

Tundra uses his keen eyes and fast mind to categorize any potential threat in all environments. His mate is a sole forager, and Tundra would sooner die at the hands of an aggressively territorial pack than let Snow fall to the same fate.

Born in the mountains, to a lone queen named Howl, Tundra was one of five pups in his litter. Two days into weaning, their mother was stumbled upon by humans. Looking back on it, Tundra found himself thankful to the humans- they were the good sort... the kind sort. Had a hungry cougar, or a territorial pack, stumbled across the litter first, Tundra had no doubt none of his siblings- or himself- would have survived.

Instead, the humans came back once more, and shot their mother.

Tundra still reflect on that moment as the most terrifying second of his life. When his mother was scoped up, him and his siblings soon after, and transported in a noisy cage away from their home. Once deposited in a larger cage, more open than the noisy and filled with strange, old scents of a lot of other wolves...

Tundra only really calmed down after the third delivery of their food. Then, their mother reassured them, after having risen to bring the human's kill back to her pups.

"These humans are a safe pack." His mother comforted her children, her scent heavy with traces of another nursing queen (a scent, Tundra would later learn, came from the cage to the north of their own). "They will feed us and keep us safe while you grow."

"Humans are pack, then?" Tundra's sister, Dawn, questioned. It went against everything their mother had mumbled those first two days of their life; protectively hunched over her children, stuck in the half-destroyed den, as she was.

"No." Tundra's mother responded, tilting her ears back. Tundra struggled to grasp the concept she was pressing on them then, though in retrospect- he finally understood. "Never trust a human on sight. There are more bad than good."

"Oh." Dawn's ears flopped sideways, as she tried to grasp her mother's words. "Then... why are we safe."

"Because these humans have sheltered wolves before." Tundra watched as his mother raised her head, encouraging her pups to follow suit. "Scent the air; what do you smell?"

"Wolves." Tundra's only brother, Tumble, finally answered; sniffing loudly and clearly struggling to understand the question.

"Lots of wolves." Sharp answered; always the smartest of Howl's litter. She seemed to have some idea as to what their mother was asking. "And other queens."

"Do any of them smell scared?" Howl pressed, encouraging the development of her pup's skills. They wouldn't be safe forever; they had to learn how to read the mood of those they would encounter.

"No..." Tundra may not have been the smartest, or the strongest, or the fastest of his siblings- but Tundra was the most observant of his siblings. The quickest to comprehend his surroundings. "We have the only scared scents. The old scents are all relaxed, and..."

Tundra paused, sniffing the air again.

"And the queens are all tired, but content."

"How do you do that?" The last of Tundra's siblings, Stream, grumbled under his breath.

"Exactly; well done." Tundra preened under his mother's praise, eagerly leaning up to receive the rewarding lick to his head.

"The old scents are important, if you want to understand the human's intentions." Howl continued, tilting her head back down to look her pups in the eyes; emphasizing the lesson she wished to impart on them. "The current queens are receiving the same treatment we are, but the old scents carry the last, strongest emotion previous wolves felt while in the human's territory."

"So... if they were scared..." Tundra pondered, wrinkling his nose as he recalled his mother's rancid scent when she awoke in the human's territory.

"We would be in danger." Dawn concluded, nodding her agreement with her brother's conclusion.

"Though you may never be at home with your fellow wolves, you can always trust their scents when it comes to threats you approach." Howl lowered her head onto her paws, closing her eyes as exhaustion once more caught up to her. "We are all one pack, under the stars, when it comes to those that would do us harm."

When Tundra met Snow, and became Frozen Tundra, he carried his mother's words close to his heart. Perhaps this was why he became such a good scout- or perhaps, he would have always had the talent. Regardless, Tundra knew Howl would be proud- seeing her son become the Beta to the Light Heart Pack.

Melting Snow had found Frozen Tundra shortly after entering the mountains, lead by Tala as she was. Tala was a known wolf to all; a safe wolf who consulted for any and all packs she came across. Tundra had run into the black wolf once before; when his siblings had expressed their desire to leave the mountains for a home of their own.

Tala had helped them lie their mother to rest, before guiding the four wanders off to wherever their paws took them.

Snow was trusted by Tala, and Tundra trusted Snow in turn.

This turned out to be the best decision in Tundra's life. Melting Snow was a kindhearted wolf, who didn't push rogues out of her territory and attempted to negotiate with other pack's that edged their territory. She killed only when necessary, and emphasized behaviors Tundra had never seen before-- but always explained her reasoning as soon as a pack mate questioned her actions.

Tundra could admit his heart also melted a little, whenever he watched Snow bring back a new find for the pack to share. Perhaps, with Snow, Tundra can finally have a safe family once more.