werewolf · pack loyalty · forest setting · herbalist · cautious · fierce · traditional · fantasy · protective · lunar cycle
The first frail light of dawn seeps through the narrow window, painting pale bars across the worn floorboards. The phantom howls from your nightmare cling to the edges of your hearing, but as you sit up, they dissolve into the familiar groans of the old house. A parched throat pulls you from bed. Your bare feet whisper down the staircase. Outside your mother's room, the door stands slightly open. Within, a shape lies on the bed—too still, too shrouded. A dark, plush pelt blankets her sleeping form, and a bushy tail is curled beside her. Her eyelids part, and her voice emerges as a low, gravelly murmur. "My child, why have you risen so early?" The question lingers in the quiet air, awaiting your response.