Queen Azalia of Amparo

Personality

Azalea is a dedicated leader of the Amparo Pack. Whatever she does, she gives it a 100%. Weather it's navigating the world without much vision or nursing her puppies, she tries and tries again untill she can proudly say she does it well. She befriends most of the wolves she meet pretty easily, and she is always down for a chat.

Role

Azalea is the Queen of Amparo.

Bio

Azalea's mother was quite old when she had her last litter. Too old, many would say, nut she insisted on going through with it. The pregnancy was hard and painful, and when the little bundles of joy were ready to great the world it turned out that the birth would be no easier. The old herbalist and her apprentice had to work really hard to make sure that both mother and pups survived. And then finally Azalea was born, pewnya nd tiny and not much to look at, many said, but the exhausted mother beamed sluggishly all the same. All was well. Untill the little grint opened her eyes. Then it was plain to see that something was wrong. Was she blind, or just vision impaired? Her father wanted to give up on Azalea, but again the mother begged for her. So she stayed in the pack. It became appearant that she was not blind, but severely vision impaired. Azalea grew to hate that term, she could see just fine, couldn't she? Colors and wolves and the moon and ... Her father, leader of her former pack, thought she might make a good chaser when she grew up. Because while her sight was bad, her sense of smell and hearing was extraordinary, so she might fit perfectly in that role. And so she did. Azalea thrived as a hunter, and her pack almost never came back empty handed. Yes, sometimes she got scrapes and cuts, but the herbalist fixed her right up.

But then a faithful day came. Her hunting party was fast on the trail of a doe when a bunch of human hunters caught sight of them. The party spread,and they all had to run. Azalea ran frantically towards what she thought was home. As the danger seemed to be nowhere in sight she halted. "Oh no! I should have been home a long time ago!" she thought. Nothing to do but to backtrack. But she couldn't spot a familiar wolf scent at all, and soon darkness set in. Finally she had to admit it. She was thouroughly lost. These weren't the mountains her pack called home. Shivering from both cold and sadness, fear and pain she found a crevice to hide and wait the night away. She didn't get much sleep but she was hidden nice and safely.

The next few days she continued trying to find her way back to her pack, but no luck. Coming down to a nice, thick, bushy spruce forest she had to admit defeat. She was nowhere near home. Defeatedly she sat down, giving a pathetic little howl. It had gnawed on her the whole time, this feeling of "You're on your own, kid" but she hadn't wanted to listen. Ever the optimist she had thought that if she just walked far enough, fast enough, she would eventually make a full circle ending up back home. She sat there for a long time, sparingly eating a mouthful of a hare carcass she had caught earlier that same day. A new idea began to take shape. An escillerating, fantastic, extraordinary idea. OK, so she would probably never come back home. So she should make a new one! A new pack! Where everyone had a chance, no matter how useless or plain they were! Azalea had always hated her father's tendency to kill or chase all wolves that wasn't befitting his pack, that was useless, being that plain, lazy, not obedient enough or even like Azalea herself, disabled. It was only a stroke of luck that her father had listened when her mother begged to let Azalea stay. Well, if Azalea was gonna go through with this, everyone had to get at least a chance. That was the least anyone could demand of her.

Azalea chewed on this idea for a couple of days before she decided to go through with it. Azalea was not a lone wolf, she had really started missing the bussle of life around her, puppys yipping, hunters coming home overloaded with food, the generic chit chat floating around. Triumphantly she rose to her feet, giving a lound howl. She got one in return. A few minutes after a gray and read colored wolf came out of the forest and cautiusly climbed up towards her.
"Hello," He said, nonchalantly, "What are you doing out here, all on your lonesome?"
Azalea smiled at his lazy elegance, "Well, I'm looking to make a pack. But first of all, I'm Azalea, it's lovely to meet you,"
"Likewise," he replied, "I'm Conri. Pack, you say? Interresting. Where?"
"I don't know, really. This forest seems like a preferable place, good shelter, lots of prey ... it's quiet and nice, and we'd have most anything we would ever need or want for,"
"True," Conri mused, "This is really the perfect place to settle,"
Azalea nodded as they sat there, watching the sun dissappear, slowly but surely.
"Been here long?" Conri asked when there was only a little streak left.
"Not at all, I've only been here a few days," Azalea said, breathing a heavy sigh.
"Ah, so you're a traveler then," Conri stated as if he knew, "Nomad, so to say,"
"No, I'm the least nomadic wolf you'd find around here. I came away from my pack a couple of weeks ago, and as I understand that I likely will never see my home again I wanna make a new one,"
"I'm sorry," Conri said, lowering his tone sympathetically, "Forgive me if I come off blunt, but couldn't you just backtrack, or in some other way find your way back?"
"No, you see, I am severely vision impaired. I thought I ran in the right direction, but I didn't, and when I realized it was too late. Believe me, I tried everything, but to no avail. I was really lost,"
"Oh holy Fenre," Conri breathed, "And you wanna lead a pack?"
"Yes," Azalea said fiercely, "I do,"
"Ok. I can see that you're more than capable surviving alone, but a pack? Are you sure you can do that with a disability like that?"
"I am," she said, decidedly, "I will need to choose a good Beta to help, but beyond that I am indeed able to lead. I am fully aware I have nothing to prove this yet, but I just know. And though my eyes are weak my other sences are excellent,"
"It sounds like Fenre is guiding you," Conri said after a long pause.
"He does that a lot, thankfully," Azalea smirked, "My mother jokingly called it my sixth sense,"
She stared down at the ground, fiercely blinking. Despite her efforts tears started trickling down her face, and Conry gently nuzzled her, slightly nervous.
"I'm sorry about what happened to you, Hopefully soon you can rebuild something," he mumbled.
"Thanks. And yes, that would be nice," Azalea sniffled, "But what about you? What are you doing out here ... all on your lonesome?" she added a bit jokingly.
"Me?" Conri asked, slightly deterred,"
"Yes. We've only talked about my story and crazy dreams, now I wanna know about you," Azalea said excitedly, forgetting her tears quickly.
"Well, mine is a pretty short story. As soon as I was able to survive on my own my evil dad, leader of my former pack, chased me off. I've been wandering ever since, a few weeks now. Hunting when hungry and bugging herbalists for medecine when I was ill, sometimes talking a bit to whoever I came by," Conri moved a little restlessly.
"I'm sorry," Azalea said, "I could very easily have ended up the same way if my mother hadn't begged to let me stay. Do you like traveling like that? Being a nomad?"
"Tch, it's ok, I don't mind it too much. I get by, but I am not a lone wolf. I suppose I also need a place to call home and a pack to call mine,"
"Do you wanna lead a pack?" Azalea asked curiously.
"Not necessarily, I just want a pack to belong to," he shrugged, "I guess I wouldn't have anything against being a leader either, it's just not a priority, at least not yet,"
"Well, you are certainly welcome to join my pack," Azalea smiled, "And if you want to you can be my Beta, temporarily or fully,"
"Thank you, I'd love to join your pack, and be your temporary Beta,"
"Oh, Really? Thank you!"
"Can we pleas just not call it Beta?" Conri asked with a comical grimace.
"What do you have in mind? Co lead? Co leader wolf? King? Something else?"
"King Conri definitely has a nice ring to it," Conri said, winking at her.
"So does Queen Azalea. King and Queen it is,"

The next day they started really scouting the forest for a good spot to set up camp, or as the new Queen Azalea said, "To lay the groundwork for our new home," And that same day another new wolf came to join Amparo, as they had named their new pack. Akela was quick and helpful and when he asked Azalea if he could be a hunter she imediately said yes. Their little pack was thriving. To Azalea's happy surprise she fell pregnant on the first try when she was in heat. To think that she and Conri had made a little miracle happen! Before the pups were born two wolves had joined their pack, and Miriam was the one who wanted to pupsit the newborns when they came, while Frida wanted to scout out more territory for them all. It all went swimmingly, and finally the day came when they could all welcome two little pups to the world, a daughter and a son. tbc