Time ebbed and flowed slowly, and eventually winters grasp loosened and the blossoms of spring had returned. The drift of sweet scents returned and the stench of the dead had finally faded away. The rotted fauna and corpses had become overgrown with time and newborn wildlife. Spring Grounds, the palace of eternal spring had even suffered a dark fate through the winter. Though that might have only been the perceptions of a babe whose life had a shadowed beginning. Literally the boy existed with only half of the world, the rest was pitched into eternal blackness. A filmy cover layered over a singular star gazer and with what vision he retained the boy stumbled through the world. Fellow members had rarely seen the young soul. His onyx visage blended perfectly among the shadows that he chose to live amongst, but today the boy would drift from obscurity and wander amongst the light waves that others chose to envelope themselves in.

Vestige, had slowly aged amongst the gloom that shrouded him. From birth he had been unwanted. He was a bastard, an accident if one wanted to state it in a more pleasant tone. But there was no hiding the pain and anguish that bubbled and toiled through his soul. He was unwanted. And even after having been brought forth from the cold grasp of the meadow into the warm light of Spring Grounds the small happiness could not last. The snow laden woman that had taken him in was vanished into this air. He had rarely seen her after the pack meeting and eventually her herb laced scent had completely dissipated. Vestige was once again alone, his fragmented life shattered before his very eyes. Not even the succulent perfumes of the flowers around him could allay the pain, nor the poppy seeds could medicate the pain. Maybe that was the only thing Alexandria had done for him, she’d left him addicted and pinning. But for what – her love or narcotics? Vestige didn’t care to stay and find out, the boy merely took his medication and wandered away only slightly intoxicated. But as he wandered about the seeds slowly slid down his throat and his limited vision slowly ebbed away into a blur of oil colors. Verdigris foliage slowly blended into indiscernible swirls of olive, beryl and chartreuse. And as the pristine, glittering surface of the lake slid into his vision it too amassed into a pallet of ceruleans, azures, and sapphire. Beautiful. Vestige mused silently. Why couldn’t his life blend so flawlessly?

The starry eyed lad moved listlessly across the shifting shore, his paws left soft indentations that quickly disappeared under the ceaseless lap of water against the shore. The weave of the scent line came and went with little notice, Vestige paid no mind to the placement of his paws. What use was he intoxicated? What purpose did he serve on any other given day, anyhow? No one had given him a cursory glance, let alone a secondary look. Maybe he’d pull the attention of someone outside of Spring Grounds, it didn’t even matter the type. Hell, if the boy died no one would notice.

A soft ripple of ivory pulled the lad from his despairing thoughts. What was that? Vestige struggled to lift his heavy lids wider, his vision wobbled and a wave of nausea broke over him. He stuttered to a stop and felt the contents of his stomach rise up. He wretched up the opiate poppy and what little breakfast he had managed to catch. The sickness passed over and his blurred, mural vision cleared slightly. The blend of ivory had a soft outline with a tail, auditories and a protruding snout. The blur was a wolf, a lady to be exact. Vestige coughed and swallowed back the bitter leftovers, his own snout dropped to the lake and rinsed away the foul taste and smell that engulfed him. Starry optics looked back for the slip of ivory, but found that she had nested herself amongst the hazy undergrowth. Vestige shook his crown trying to clear the fogginess around him, but it hung heavy around him – the poppy still invaded his system. He approached with a neutral almost languished façade, but his depth perception had completely escape him. As he approached, the image of her figure still seemed out of his grasp but she was almost under his silent paws. It was too late now. Vestige felt the fore of his paw catch under her bodice and he went sprawling. The shadow crashed gracelessly into the dirt, his left auditory crumpled under his crown and he cried out. His limited vision tunneled and darkened but his pushed himself up from the ground realizing what he had done.

Vestige turned to face the lady at his paws, Miss? Are you okay… I’m really sorry, I-uh well I’m blind in one eye and I didn’t realize how close you were… Vestige cursed under his breath, the throb in his auditory was minimal but he had yet to realize he had permanently bent the cartilage, his ear looked to just flop over no matter what he did. Is there anything I can get you..? My moth— a wolfess I used to know was a healer…Gosh missus I’m real sorry. Vestige wilted, his working auditory flattened to his skull, embarrassed.