part 1

When Blanch first emerged into the world, she had no clue the history that perceeded her.

All she knew, from day one, that it was just her and her mother, Lore.

They lived on their own, Lore going out of her way to provide for the young Blanch. Being a curious little pup as she was, Blanch would often find herself pestering her mother about the rest of their family. Even though they didn't live around other wolves, she still saw families... a mother and father, two mothers with a little boy... no matter what, her conception of families were always more than two. Otherwise, they were just alone.

Lore, with all the patience in the world, would take a few moments out of every day to regail her only daughter about tales of her past, her siblings, never able to take a breath of air, her father, a hero in every right, her grandmother, a harsh wolf, one who Blanch feared her mother took after, and her grandfather, a wolf neither of them had ever gotten to love.

part 2

As Blanch grew older, she forget age gripped her mother too. While she was zooming around, experiencing all the energy and carefree feelings that youth felt, her mother had begun to slow down. Hunting trips took longer, yeilded less food. They couldn't travel as far during the day, and in the cover of night, when Lore thought her daughter was already asleep, she'd complain to no one about her aches and pains.

This time in their life was already tricky for the pair, but it grew even harder when Blanch was affected by an unknown illness that seemed to target her throat. For many moons, Blanch couldn't speak, for the simple action caused pain to radiate through her entire throat. Lore worked tirelessly to try and find a cure, but the lass had never been educated on herbs, and, without a pack to rely on, the pair were forced to simply let the illness run it's course.

When it finally cleared, Blanch pulled through mostly healthy, save for one thing: her voice was gone, permanently.

Blanch was terrified, unable to find a way to express the thoughts that pushed around in her head anymore. Lore stayed calm, working hard, on top of everything else she did, to help the pair adapt.

They found that, due to their extended time with only each other, they didn't often need words to understand what the other was feeling, but when they did, Lore taught Blanch how to carve words into the very earth with her claws.

Although Lore handled it like any mother should, the extra mental stress she had endured while working to help her daughter only further deteriorated the woman's physical health. Blanch watched as more and more scars began to litter her mother's snow-white pelt, marring it with marks of failure. The day Blanch noticed her mother with a limp in her back leg, was the day she realized things had gone too far.

part 3

From that day on, Blanch began to insist to her mother that she start doing more work for the pair while her mother rest. Deep down, Blanch feared her mother's stubbornness was going to lead her straight to the grave, and Blanch wasn't ready to be without the only wolf she'd known. Not yet.

It took quite a lot of arguing (later, neither would ever admit how much), but Blanch finally got her mother to realize that she did need help, although getting the other to udnerstand that help was *okay* to accept was a whole other fight that Blanch couldn't tackle just yet. Even though her mother wasn't happy with it, Blanch began to take the lead on hunting trips, finding places to stay, and dealing with encounteres with rogues. She took a special liking to hunting, and made sure the pair always had enough food to eat.

Still, it didn't take long for Blanch to start to feel as worn down as her mother, although her pelt still lacked the scars that marred her mothers. One night, before Blanch set out to do some hunting, she approached Lore, expressing her feelings about joining a pack. Blanch expressed to her mother that she didn't know how long she could care for her. She wasn't a fighter, her skills lay only in hunting, and food alone wouldn't be enough to keep her mother alive, especially with her mother getting into so many fights. No matter what it took, Blanch would make sure her mother was protected, even if it meant facing the company of other wolves.

Despite everything Blanch knew about Lore, the old wolf agreed (although that might have been because Blanch said she wouldn't stop pestering her until she did so). Blanch had never understood what packs truly were like, only having grown up with her mother's twisted view of them. Despite her young heart holding an ever-present curiosity, she couldn't help the anger and skepticism that lurked there as well. Still, Blanch lead the pair on their search, eventually winding up on the borders of a pack called Icefall.

Despite their fear, their hesitation, both of them sucessfully joined Icefalls ranks. Blanch had never been around a wolf other than her mother, and was... nervous, to say the least. Still, she does her best to fit in, knowing if she complains, it will likely just make it harder for her mother (who she basically forced to join in the first place).

TBD

TBA