Silence...

(Ignore the evil paw

Taw's Story
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Taw is, as her name suggests, is unable to vocalise or speak. When she was almost two winters old, her and her two brothers were exploring the nearby forest only a quarter of a days walk from the gathering area. They followed their noses and came across an elk carcass which was too irresistible to resist.

As they enjoyed their find, their ears pricked up as shots of sound cracked around them. As Taw and One of her brothers went to run, the third brother was shot in the back of the neck and collapsed, falling lifelessly to the ground. They watched for an instant as the ice blue eyes which had only moments ago had been glinting happily were now dulled with death.

The two remaining ran for their lives, paws barely touching the earth. More lead whizzed passed their heads and torsos, one managing to sink its unbreakable teeth into her brothers thigh. He stumbled, muzzle over tail, and lay flat in the blood stained earth as his shattered leg bleed profusely. Taw stopped, staring into her brother's golden eyes, their fire running out of kindling, as they yearned for help.
"Please.... Sister..."
As he spoke the grunts and growls of the Humans were but moments away, so torn on what to do her body took a hold of her mind.

She just kept running...
Running...
Running...
Until her legs gave way beneath her, falling in the way her brother's had. Her mind was blank and in a daze until the haunting Death Howl of her brother ringed in her ears, shaking her back into reality.

She could not bear to think of what she had done, to abandon her two brothers, her best friends to save her own neck. She could not muster the courage to return to her pack, nor tell them. But to tell them was not her choice as the pack came running, lead by the pure white alpha whose distinctive foreleg was missing half of itself. Her and the pack remained silent as they came to where the first brother had fallen, the limp mound who used to be the small jokester of the three, so full of life, whisked out of him far too young. He had been family she thought, as the blood seeped from his neck and mouth.

The Alpha could never forgive what she had done; she had gone against one of the rules of the Wolves: Never leave another wolf behind. His kind heart could not bear to exile her so he used a hunting technique used to silence elk calves as not to alert others during The Birthing.

He put his jaws to her neck and pierced her vocal chords, preventing her from ever speaking again. She did not howl for help nor did she stand and fight, so she accepted the punishment as a reminder of what she must carry with her for the rest of her life.

Once she became two winters old, and the Name ceremony took place, her name was given...

Taw - Meaning Silence.

(c)character and story to me