Home Grown

What had been his life so far? The moment his paws hit this earth from the comfort of his mother's womb he was surrounded by love and adoration from both his parents. He would fumble over the writhing of his siblings for food and warmth, and especially for attention from either of his parents. Those first early days, even though he was blind and practically deaf, he was probably the happiest he had ever been. The bond of his siblings grew in that den, the bond with his mother bloomed even more than it already had in the womb, and the bond with his father began. But little did he know, those few weeks with his older father, would be the last of them. Death was introduced into his life at such a tender age, at a time where he didn't understand that dead meant never coming home. Day and night Julien would wait up at the entrance of their den, hoping to see the dark pelt of his father return to him. He never did of course, that was simply a hopeful pup's dream.

In the darkness Julien came to a sudden conclusion about his life. There was no purpose without family... and so his family became his purpose. So out of the darkness he crawled, into the burning of the daylight, and kept walking. He was determined to meet everyone. Every single member of this large family of his. Not just his siblings... but the whole pack! It was time that he came out of the den and made himself know. It was time he began to learn how to be a wolf, to protect his family and honor his father's memory by taking up his mantel as a leader, a protector, a father figure if need be. Though Julien had no idea what any of those titles meant, he was determined to learn it. So the dark coated boy trudged through the Sparse Pines, his oversize paws clanking about the undergrowth as he stumbled about their territory, large gold and blue orbs glued to the trees around him, memorized by their beauty and sketching their patterns into his memory. So this was home?