The Story of Lily & Rowen: Amarusa

Chapter IV: A Home On The Hill

Rowen awoke from what had seemed to him like an eternity of sleep. The male slowly opened his eyes as he was greeted with the eternal heat and light of the sun. His lids only slid halfway open before he had to quickly snap away from the rays. Though, his head's movement was not as liquid as it might usually have been capable of. He rustled around uncomfortably as he realized he had hindered movement from other parts of his body as well. It was that realization that pulled Rowen from his groggy state of post-sleep lethargy. Distressed, he began frantically wiggling around as his breathing escalated. Rowen soon realized that he was semi-stuck in a layer of wet mud which had been warmed through the night by the heat radiating off of his body. With great effort he was able to free his forelegs from the mud, which served to calm the male down slightly.

Rowen took a moment to gather his thoughts, and realized that he perhaps had disrespected the storm that had set in the night before. Taking refuge in a depression during a storm was, in retrospect, a foolhardy idea to have entertained. Rowen huffed in frustration as he slowly and systematically excavated himself from the mini mudslide that had entered his dwelling. After moments of devoting himself to the task, he was finally free and began digging himself a way out of the hole. It began to occur to the male wolf just how close nature had been from sealing his shelter shut during the storm, which most certainly would have meant his death due to suffocation. Rowen, to the best of his ability, willed the thought away as he tried to focus on the task of digging himself a proper escape route. The sun was shining through in various locations, and he chose the location with the brightest ray penetration in which to dig around.

The male's paws ached from his digging, for mud was not the only constituent of the thick, almost sludge-like substance. There were various twigs, rocks, and other things that might find themselves lodged in a sensitive spot on one's paw. Several times Rowen found himself pulling a paw from its duty to recoil in pain as a sharp barb stabbed into the sections between his toes. Though despite his unfortunate position and a downright poor start to his day, Rowen realized that he had actually slept well; the fatigue from the night before had been washed away. In fact, he could scarcely recall a time when he had enjoyed a deeper sleep. He felt energetic and ready to face the day even though he knew he had a lot to do. After all, the following few days of Rowen's life had been made astronomically more difficult thanks to the happenings of the day before. He no longer had the guidance, if one might call it that, from Bryce. His absence upset many other things that would otherwise have worked themselves out.

After minutes upon minutes of a simple yet monotonous task, Rowen's toil was rewarding by an increasing amount of sunlight permeating his temporary residence, which hastened his work. Rowen hadn't realized how late he had slept. It was already noon, and the sun's rays were hard at work heating the Earth and powering the many indispensable processes of life. After several more long minutes Rowen had finally fashioned himself a hole large enough to pull his body through. The anxious wolf wiggled his way out, anticipating the freedom that the world above provided. With his body fully in his makeshift tunnel, Rowen made the movements to squirm his body through to the exit. But before he could free himself, he began hearing a noise from above. A sharp tinge of fear shot through the male wolf's spine as he froze for a moment. Realizing that the only course of action was to free himself, he coerced himself into pushing ahead until finally the source of the noise presented itself above him.

Rowen saw a wolf, and almost immediately recognized it as the white female from earlier. Her blue eyes tore into his soul as they had before, and Rowen could swear not a hair on his body moved. The female tilted her head to the side.

"Ah...I thought I saw you stop here last night..." she said contemplatively. She seemed to hesitate briefly before continuing. "Are you...alright?" she asked.