Ash

Ash unfortunately lost his mother, Lenna, to sickness when he was 13. The sickness itself was unexpected, but her passing was even more of a shock as she had been improving for a few days before. Ash has come to terms with her passing now in adulthood, but he really struggled with it for years.
Half a year after Lena’s passing, her sister, Maud, moved in with Kal & Ash to help cover finances, care for Lena’s garden, and take care of Ash.

It was not a smooth transition though, Ash & Maud butted heads often. Ash saw her as someone trying to replace Lena, so he was mean and critical of her.
While things slowly did smooth out more over a year, he still would occasionally start arguments with snide comments (he didn’t always understand why he’d get so mad at her and say the things he did, it was a mixture of mourning, teen angst/hormones & poor impulse control)
A few months before his 15th birthday, he got in a big fight with Maud, big enough that even Kal stepped in and told Ash off. It was very emotional, Maud was in tears and Ash stormed off. Angry, frustrated, embarrassed, and even ashamed. He packed a backpack full of all his most important belongings & Moosh, and ran away while the sun was setting.
He went into the massive forest behind their house, planning his new life in his head; he’d boil water with tree bark, pick safe wild mushrooms, & build his own house. But after an hour of walking he realized he could barely see anymore with the sun gone, and unfortunately for him, something else could.
 A huge bird of prey swooped down, trying to grab Moosh for it’s midnight meal. Hearing Moosh squeal in fear, Ash quickly grabbed them out of his bag & held him close to his chest, but the bird didn’t give up. It attacked Ash, fighting him to get to Moosh, clawing his face & seriously injuring his right eye.

 Even without being able to see well, Ash was determined to keep Moosh safe. He grabbed the first branch he felt on the ground, and swung it frantically in the air.
He successfully hit the bird with a big “THWACK”, which scared the bird off, flying away to find easier less-dangerous prey. But Ash lost his footing swinging around the branch with one hand, and tumbled down the hill. It felt like he fell forever, his arms & legs were all scratched up from thorns, branches, and rocks on the way down. He laid there on the ground for awhile, dizzy & out of it, and Moosh could tell he was hurt really bad. They let out a cry for help, but no one was there.
After about 10 minutes Moosh ran off into the forage, letting out a distress cry for their friend, and miraculously another non-dangerous creature heard the cries and instinctually came to help.
 A stray winged Zlush Pup, Moss, arrived and followed the upset Moosh back to Ash. Moss walked over to the now unconscious Ash, licking him on the face to check if he’s still alive. Seeing he was still alive, Moss flew to the sky howling for better help, eventually spotting two ink dwellers up the hill.
The two ink dwellers were Ash’s mom Kal, & his aunt Maud, who realized the Zlushpup was trying to get them to follow, tugging at Maud’s dress.

Moss successfully lead them back to Ash, and they were able to tend to him immediately. Maud wrapped him up in her jacket & Kal carried him on her back out of the woods, and they took him immediately to the hospital. The doctors weren’t able to save his eye, but he was able to recover fully without any serious injury or infection. After just a few days Ash was back home, much to Moosh’s delight, and when he went out back he found Moss, drinking out a pet bowl.
Maud took Moss in & fed him while Ash recovered in the hospital, she wasn’t the most fond of zlushpups, but was incredibly grateful of Moss for helping save Ash.