Sex: MaleWillows were trees of spring and summer, and the winter had left them stark, bare, and a bit ugly. A thin sheen of ice lay on their branches, and when the wind picked up the ice crackled and the trees seemed to groan, like beast waking up from a long hibernation. Japheth walked beneath them with a bit of hesitation, hoping that shards of ice wouldn't come raining down upon him on this clear but cool and blustery day. The yearling peered up at the trees, spotting small green shoots on a few of the branches, and smiled slightly at the early signs of spring.
Each day he dwelled in these parts, the less he found himself wishing to leave; it was plain that spring was on its way, and even in winter's final days there was evidence that the place would be bountiful when the seasons changed. Deer hoof prints scattered the ground within the forests, broad rivers and pools teemed with fish beneath the ice, and the scents of numerous wolf packs were scattered across the lands. The winter might have left this wilderness barren, but the spring would resurrect it, and something within Japheth's heart begged him to stay and witness it.
So he wandered among the silent willows, his paw prints leaving a meandering trail that he took no care to hide. He avoided pack boundaries and so could not be accused of trespassing, and no other earthly soil cared about his whereabouts or would concern themselves with where he trod. His thoughts turned always back to his home as he wondered whether Coll or Fearc or Durgan might have followed him, tried to convince him to beg their father for forgiveness to be accepted back into the fold, but as always, Japheth knew that even if they had tracked him briefly they would not have ventured far from Eagle Ridge - - not for him. The knowledge settled uneasily in his belly, that his family had written him off as a traitor and unworthy of their effort, but Japheth shook his head to clear his mind and told himself it didn't matter. He'd find his own fortunes here.
