Poppy Harrow

Poppy Harrow was the single surviving daughter of Domina Harrow and her husband, Elren Harrow. While she was born with a littermate, the secondborn did not survive the labor process, and was buried with his name- Auren.

Poppy was a doted upon child. She discovered her magic when she was only 3 moons old because it was a particularly cold day- but Elren luckily was with her, and when she melted her jacket and burned herself, he was able to carefully teach her to lower the temperature of her paws to a safe one. Comfortable, but not going to hurt anyone, least of all herself.

He was a proud father, to share his magic with her.

She spent a lot of time in the Smithy with Elren- he was a high demand blacksmith, and he let Poppy practice and play with metal scraps- she became quite good at melding small sculptures in the shape of flowers.

Domina was around as much as she could be, as well, but The Warden was busy much of the time managing The Keep. Poppy treasured all her time spent with her mother, but she struggled to find shared interests- unlike with Elren, who she seemed to share everything with.

Unfortunately, when Poppy turned 10 moons old, Elren died suddenly and without warning. It was a heart attack, or an aneurysm- something sudden and untraceable, something unpredictable and untreatable.

She was heartbroken. Domina took a leave of absence for the next two moons, to mourn and comfort her daughter as best she could. It was all made worse by the fact that Poppy took after Elren deeply in physical appearance. She was his miniature- and what had been a comfort after her brother's passing was now going to haunt them both.

When The Warden returned to her work, Poppy found solace in a young tom, named Timber. Timber Forest, in fact- the name of bastards from F'allis.

He was interesting, and Poppy was infatuated quite quickly. He told her stories of F'allis, and she came to adore the idea of forests and trees, rather than rocks and ocean. She had never belonged here, not really!

She decided within a few weeks of meeting Timber that she'd ask her mother to travel with him once she turned 18- they'd explore the continent, and pick up work around the way!

Unfortunately, fate was not in her favor, for her mother approached her at 18 moons old, and informed her of a choice she had made.

Poppy was to become betrothed. Domina had prepared her several options, but Poppy needed to choose from among them- so that the legacy of the Harrows would continue to be upheld. She would never remarry herself, to preserve the name of the Harrows- her options were all cats who could step into the role of Warden of Zelen's Keep one day.

Poppy resented being told to make a decision like that. In the end, she chose a tom named ??? ???, a younger son of a noble who seemed tolerable enough... yet her mind wandered to Timber and the idea of travelling the world.