"She's gone!" A howl snapped his eyes open. He yawned. Stretching his back from his sleep, he walked over to where his mother stood in shock. His siblings crowded around their dad terrified, "The fox has escaped!!" Stardust smiled. Mother looked at him confused. Stardust hid his smile by a shocked expression. Father looked at Mother.
"How did she get out of the Story Den?" Father asked. Halo stepped forward.
"There is a secret entrance somewhere, maybe someone told her about it," All his siblings looked at each other. Mother looked at Father who whined
"I didn't know..." Father confessed. Mother rolled her eyes and looked at Stardust and his siblings.
"I would have smelled the scent of another fox in this pack densite! So it means one of you helped her," Mother eyed Pluto the most, his lack of confidence made him an easy target for questioning. "When I find out who it is, unless they tell me right now, they will be kicked out of my pack!" Mother warned circling the four. Stardust clustered farther away from Mother and rubbed against Halo. Pluto shuddered rapidly, his expression deep with worry. Cosmo just sat there, no expression just a pale face.
"We can always think of events that happened... in the past," Cosmo grunted, the swelling of his cheek now down enough for him to speak clearly.
"Good idea! I raised a smart litter!" Mother boasted. Stardust rolled his eyes as he felt Halo tense.
"Well, let's go back to when this fox first came to camp. Father let it get away!" Cosmo's glare went to Father who narrowed his eyes. "Then there was a fight over it, started by Stardust!" Cosmo grunted with suspicion. Stardust felt a stab of guilt flash over him. "And Father brought it to the aspens, then you put it in that cave and-" He stopped and looked at Stardust. "Wait... you weren't at hunting practice yesterday!" Cosmo growled.
"He told me it was just stupid and all we do is pounce prey and don't catch it," Pluto barked quietly. Stardust felt a cloud of rage forming in his chest.
"And he did wander off, and he's the best tracker besides Mom and Dad!" Halo barked.
"Starry, where were you, really, besides hunting practice?" Mother asked. Stardust looked around.
"I was healing my wounds." Stardust lied. Mother walked over to the Story Den. She sniffed the ground. Her eyes were suddenly narrowed with full rage. She whipped around.
"You did it! Your scent isn't faint, and the smell of herbs is here!" Mother growled. She pushed past his shocked siblings. Father stood beside her as they towered over Stardust. "I Lunala, leader of your pup pack, banish you for violating the laws of your pack, and lying, helping a traitor, and trying to kill your brother," Mother growled.
"B-but..." Halo tried to speak up for him but nothing came out. Cosmo whined and looked down at his paws, though Stardust could see the rage scorching in his eyes from the fight. Pluto sighed and looked up, trying not to meet Stardust's gaze. Mother's expression was full of bitterness. Father's tail flicked and his ears flattened behind his head. Stardust's heart stopped. He took one last look at his littermates and kind-hearted father and turned around to walk away. "Leave and never return!" Mother roared after him.
Stardust could feel a mixture of fear and bitterness in the back of his throat. His mind to full of words and emotions stuck to him like tree sap. His limbs were weak and wobbly when he stepped. Leave and never return, Leave and never return, Leave and never return. The words from his mother echoed in his mind. He shook his thoughts clear to focus on his task at hand. Survival. He needed food, a nearby moving water source, and shelter. Easy. He looked at his shoulder, where the scratches from his duel still stung him. A few lavender flowers will fix this. He thought as he scanned around for the lavender plant. He hobbled deeper into the forest, scenting the air for any strange smells. He stopped as he spotted some purple flowers popping up from the ground in thick stalks on the ground. He washed his wound off with his tongue. Stardust snagged the lavender and started chewing it, creating a pulp, and licking the herbal juices onto his shoulder. He spat out the rest of the pulp onto a leaf, then wrapped it up neatly. He then started to lick his white pelt clean from dirt and dry blood. As he finished cleaning himself. He continued walking through the forest to find some sort of shelter before nightfall. It was still around the morning time even though he woke up late. The realization then hit him. How can I eat though? I can't hunt. I don't even know where downwind is! Stardust stomped his paw on the ground angrily. He got up and limped deeper into the woods. He probably should have gone to that hunting practice...
Hours had gone by but Stardust kept walking. He hadn't found a single river or birds fluttering by. He was thirsty and starting to get hungry. And with midday almost turning to afternoon, he started worrying. Stardust felt the urge to turn around and go into the Study Cave, whether Mother liked it or not. His stomach ached for food, but he scorned it. He felt his legs tremble, they seemed weaker as though they may not be able to carry him much farther. He stopped to sit and ease the ache from his paws. Gazing around, he noticed he still knew where he was. Green trees with branches that pointed down instead of up covered the area. Right below were brown needles from the trees and pink flowers sprouting below them. He was still in his birth pack's territory?! He had heard his father talk about trees with needles green even in winter and near the evergreens... there was a river!
He stood again with excitement. Water! He could now hear water rushing. He started to jog, then gallop, and when the water got closer he sprinted past the shrubs that poked him with their branches.
"Oof!" A voice appeared. He tumbled over to the ground. He had tripped on someone. Fear sparked in his chest. Was it his mother? Or father? Or did his siblings come out here all this way to make sure he didn't come back? He glanced at the creature expecting a wolf, but saw the fox he had rescued!
"Oh, it's you!" He exclaimed.
The fox ignored him and observed him. "Here eat these," She told him, putting a few berries next to him. "I can see you got caught. Have you eaten today?"
"No, but I can't eat... berries!" He groaned. Peace nudged them closer with her paw.
"It's better than going hungry, mother says that a wolf can live off a vegan diet! Well not that it's accurate, mother says lots of things, but you can at least use them for a bit?" Peace sat down, flicking her tail behind her. Sighing Stardust took a small bite of the closest. He immediately spat it out.
"It doesn't taste good!" He growled. He managed to sit up.
"It may not be juicy blood but it's something!" Peace insisted. Without arguing he chewed the berries.
"They're okay, but meat's still better." Stardust rolled his eyes as he weakly stood up. "Thank you for the berries, but now I must be on my way." He growled. He started walking away but felt Peace's fur touch his.
"You really think I'd let you go alone? I can't leave knowing you can't smell out berry bushes. I can also teach you other food sources!" Peace wagged her tail as Stardust looked at her, she seemed to be lost in thought.
"Fine, but I am not eating any bugs..."
"I went back home... my family wasn't there... when you saw my sister, where did she go?" Peace asked, ignoring him. Stardust thought back to the open meadow.
"She was heading towards that meadow not far from the aspens. She ran off into the other quarter of the forest." Stardust barked remembering.
"That's a day's worth of walking from here!" She complained. Stardust rolled his eyes.
"It's worth the exercise. And besides, I'm sure you haven't been an athlete your whole life," Stardust suggested. Peace started laughing.
"Oh little pup, I'm two weeks older than you! I've seen everything this forest has to offer!" Peace laughed.
"So let me get this straight, you can hunt at your age and explore?!" Stardust barked, feeling jealous. Peace nodded though she frowned at the word hunting. Stardust nodded then continued to pad forward. "Well if your family is there... do you think they'd let me live with them?" Stardust asked. Peace thought for a moment.
"Well... they aren't usually friendly with strangers... other foxes mostly, but my dad can be hostile to other creatures, but once they get to know someone they immediately invite them over to the den as much as possible, it's sorta like living with them, because they have friends over almost every day!" Peace rolled her eyes. Stardust thought about that, having friends over every day seemed overexaggerated. Don't they ever take breaks? He wondered, not wanting to ask any more questions. He didn't feel like having to question her any more than he was already. He looked at the sun, it wasn't low in the sky, but it was definitely past midpoint.
"We should rest first. We have a long way to go. I'll get some water. If you want you to go get some berries. Then by morning, we go." Stardust sighed.
"Yes. I know. I get tired easily... I can't go that far without stopping." She complained.
"Maybe I can carry you. You know, since I'm a wolf and am bigger than you. I can just pick you up by your scruff and run the whole way."
"What? You can't run that far without stopping!" She yapped in disbelief.
"Oh yes, I can. I'm a wolf, remember? I can run for an entire day at my age. Especially after we've freshened up."
"Okay... But don't drop me! Your hear?"