Amaris's Story

I opened my optics to a brilliant, white light. I quickly shut my optics again. "Oh, Orion! Did you see those blue eyes? They look just like yours. Oh, isn't she just gorgeous?" I felt a rough tongue scrape over my small back. It was surprisingly both comforting, and warm. My small, pink tongue flicked between my milky white teeth. They were dull, round to the touch. Then I felt something cold and wet press itself into my face, warm air cascading down my eyes and muzzle.

"She's cute! What're you going to name her? And why won't do anything fun?" The yips were high pitched and whiny, yet something about it made me smile. I heard a small whimper and then something large and bushy wrapped around me.

"I believe.... I believe I'll name her Amaris. How'd that be, Orion?" A deeper voice  replied to the question.

"That'll be just fine. Just fine.."

### A week later

After the day I had first opened my eyes, I learned I had a sister named Juno, a mother named Artemis, and a father named Orion.  My mother  told me that I was born under a full  moon, and that my  name meant Daughter of the Moon. I was proud of my name, and proud of my family.  Although...  sometimes  my sister could be a brat.

"Gotcha!" Juno  pounced on me,  biting my left audit gently,  then rolling me onto  my back and batting at my exposed stomach.  Growing tired of  her  always winning, I thrust my hind paws into her stomach,  throwing her onto the ground,  then leapt on her,  pinning her to the ground. She whimpered for a moment,  then went still.  Standing above us,  his eyes cold  and disapproving,  was our father.

"Juno,  you are the eldest pup. Should you not be the strongest? Should you not be able to claim victory in a fight against your sister in a fight any day?" He picked me up by my scruff  and carried me to our den, leaving Juno staring after us, a shiny tear rolling down her cheek. I felt sympathetic, yet I knew I could do nothing against our father. Tucking my tail between my legs, I allowed Orion to carry me to my mother.

"Artemis, nurse her. She is doing well, she is strong. Like her father. Like me." He, not gently I may add, tossed me at my mother. She lunged under me before I landed, allowing me to fall on her back opposed to the cold, cave floor. I gently rolled onto the ground, then looked up at my mother. Her amber eyes twinkled both lovingly and mischievously. I loved her for that. You could look at her, think you know what she is thinking, and in the end you'd be shocked to know that you weren't even close to on track of her thoughts. She lapped at my cranium, smoothing my ruffled fur. "You're father, believe it or not, has some good in him. You just have to learn to search for it, and believe in it. Now, are you hungry?" I thought for a long moment on what she had said about my father. Then I finally nodded.

"Yeah, kind of." She rolled onto her side and I borrowed my way to her stomach, following the scent of her sweet milk. Clamping my maxilla and mandible around a teat, I gently kneaded her stomach.  A shadow fell across me as my sister walked in. Her head was down, her tail tucked between her legs. She padded next to me and began to nurse, as well. Artemis lapped at her cranium and wrapped her tail around her in comfort. Closing my optics, snuggling into the warmth of my mother's fur, I soon fell asleep.
It seemed only moments when I opened my cerulean optics again. The sun shone on my alabaster pelage, warming it from the previous night's cold. I yawned and stretched, my diminutive serrated unguis scraping the hard, cold, cave floor. That's when I noticed that neither my mother, father, or sister were in the cave. I turned in a circle.

"Mother? Father? Juno?" Seeing nothing, I stepped out of the cave and looked outside. Nothing. Except... Except some tracks in the snow. Remembering what my father had taught me before, I followed the tracks. I started to see blood splattered on the ground. Whimpering, I broke into a run. I heard yelling and I heard my mother howl. Running around the base of a large tree, I saw an empty clearing with something yellow and glowing in the center. I saw my mother in a cage, as with my sister. My father, however, was standing in front of the glowing thing with weird creatures, standing on two legs, in front of him. They were poking at him with metal sticks. My father noticed that I was watching.

"Run, Amaris, run!" He howled. One of the things on two legs aimed the metal stick at my father. With a loud BANG, my father fell to the ground, limp. My mother howled from her cage and Juno whimpered. "Mother! Juno!" I ran to my mother's cage and bit the side of the cage, tearing back. I yelped as one of the odd creatures kicked me in the side. "Amaris!" Artemis rammed into the side of the cage, tipping it and opening the door. She raced out of the cage and stepped over me, snarling. One of the creatures aimed another metal stick at her. There was another bang and my mother fell on top of me. I yelped and squirmed beneath her. I heard one of the creatures yell at another, then I heard Juno howl in fright.

"Juno? Juno! No, leave her alone!" I howled and squirmed out from under my mother. One of the Two-Legs spotted me and lunged, wrapping his paws around my abdomen. I yelped and he clamped a paw around my muzzle. Another two-leg aimed the stick at my sister. Panicked, I bit the paw of the one holding me and ran in front of my sister, growling. The Two-Legs laughed and began to form a circle around us, slowly growing nearer.