Herd from the North (c) Saske italian wolf 

Aster (c) MyLittleWorld (me)

Alba (c) Kirbiness

Lakia, Maverick (c) Saske italian wolf

Ronno (c) Disney

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So much had happened to her in these past few months, it didn’t surprise Aster that a week which had started out so normal was one that would change the direction her life was going in right now. It hadn’t been a very unusual morning; she had just done what she usually did. Grazing, wandering, talking to other deer, ignoring the glances that were thrown at her deep red pelt and striped legs, not to mention her tufted ears. She had never liked them. What was she, a squirrel? But she had learned to ignore that kind of staring. But that wasn’t the story that was to be told right now; it was more a daily part of her life that had happened before and after that incident.

Like any other day, she had spent her time looking and asking if someone had seen deer similar to herself: her siblings and parents. It was the thing that she had held on to, the thing that had kept her going. The desperate hope to see her family again, though it was fading more and more. So many months she had wandered, yet there was no sign of who she was looking for. But what else could she do? She had nowhere to go, returning to her home was impossible.

But even despite her will to reach her goal, she had to rest to browse and drink. She wasn’t a machine, she was just a doe. Her wandering was dangerous, and so, she enjoyed some time of rest greatly.

So, this particular day, she was grazing on a small open field in a forest somewhere far from where she had been born. It was there that she should make the acquaintance of two deer that, even though she was unaware to that fact at the time, were on the same desperate quest she was trying to complete. The hope to find a member of their family despite fearing that they would fail.

She raised her head when the soft female voice of a doe reached her ears. She had sensed someone approaching her before, but she had thought it was only someone who wanted to comment on her appearance or some buck who wanted to show off. She was a new doe around, maybe she would be easy to get. That’s what she assumed they were thinking, and every time, she would wrinkle her nose in disgust.

But it was neither of the mentioned.

Instead, right in front of her stood two young deer, maybe roughly her age, possibly a little older. One was obviously the doe which had greeted her before, looking at her with worried yet hopeful green eyes. The other was a muscular-looking buck, with green eyes similar to those of the doe, but a much more reddish pelt. Unlike his companion, who simply seemed exhausted, he had a grumpy expression to him. Aster curiously looked up at the pair, tilting her head.

“Yes?”

The doe gave her a kind smile. “I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s important. My name is Lakia and this is my brother, Ronno. We’re looking for a buck called Maverick, have you seen him?”

Aster sighed. Someone asking her for help to find someone. Great. She didn’t want to disappoint the doe, hearing the hope in her voice, but she sadly shook her head. “I would love to help you, Lakia, but I’m new around here. But maybe, if you tell me what he looks like, I can tell you if I have seen him.”

The doe sighed, her eyes clearly showing her disappointment. She lowered her head and shook it lightly. “We don’t know.”

Aster frowned. How odd. “You don’t know?” Hearing the complete and utter disbelief in the red doe’s voice, Lakia gave a sigh once more, but tried to put on a smile.

“It’s complicated, and difficult to explain. We’ve never met him before, but we need to find him because-”

“Lakia, please, we don’t have time for this. If you tell her the whole story now, we’ll stand here until tomorrow. She can’t help us, anyway,” her brother, Ronno, cut in and glanced at Aster in a quite irritated manner. The red doe took a deep breath, clearly disapproving of the way the buck looked at her. Was it her fault that she couldn’t help them?

Lakia looked at her brother and nodded in defeat. “You’re right. Let’s go.” But before turning, she gave Aster yet another smile and nodded to her. “Thanks for wanting to help us, though.”

Aster returned a smile of her own. “You’re welcome. I’m Aster, by the way.”

The two does smiled at each other for one more moment before Lakia pricked up her ears and turned her head as her brother called.

“Lakia, come on,” the buck repeated, having already walked a few feet ahead. The doe quickly bounded after him, Asters gaze following the two. She just now noticed that the two were in the same position she was in. Maybe they could help each other? It was a tempting thought not to travel alone anymore, and after a few quick thoughts had flashed through her mind, she was already running after the two to catch up with them. Both turned their head, hearing her call their names. She smiled.

“I’m looking for someone, too,” she quickly told them. “Maybe we could travel together, and help each other?”

Lakia seemed to like the thought. Smiling, she opened her muzzle to speak, but Ronno talked before she even got the chance to.

“No.”

That was all he said before turning again. Aster stared at him for a few brief moments, shocked by her offer being turned down so quickly; she decided to not just let this happen to her. Again, before Lakia got the chance to reply, she was  by Ronno’s side.

“Why not?” she questioned, ears flattened angrily.

“Because this is a family thing.”

“But Ronno, maybe she could really help us. The more, the better,” Lakia tried to convince her brother, but to no bigger avail than Aster before her. Once again, the buck just gave an annoyed snort.

“She doesn’t know the area any better than we do, sister. She’d be nothing but a dead weight, and a risk. Look at her pelt!” For Ronno, the discussion seemed to be ended with this. He just trotted even faster. Lakia looked at Aster with apologizing eyes.
“I’m sorry, he’s just stressed, that’s all. It’s been rough days.”

“I understand, but-”

“Lakia, are you coming or what? We have no time to lose!” Ronno yelled, turning back to glare at the two does. Lakia sighed, calling something to her brother before turning back towards Aster with a rueful smile.

“Sorry”, she whispered once more before following her brother.

Aster just stood there dumbfounded, staring after the siblings and watching them disappear in the distance. What a jerk this buck was! Why did someone like that have such a nice sister? But after a couple of moments, she shook her head. She would find a place to stay and her family alone. She didn’t need someone like him, anyway.

----------------------------------------------------

It wasn’t until a couple of days later that she met the pair again, and to be honest, she wouldn’t have expected to. She had continued on her wandering to find what she was looking for, and had eventually stopped by in a small forest to rest. Again, there was no sign of her brothers or her parents, but she needed to regain some strength. Wandering all alone, constantly being on alert, was exhausting.

This place wasn’t any different than the ones she had been to before, only that here, there seemed to be a buck that had taken interest in her, constantly complimenting her for her looks, but showing the true intentions that lurked behind this nice behavior. But aside from the rut being far from beginning, she wasn’t interested. The buck was a show-off, exactly that kind of buck that wanted her as her price.

She was so sick of it.

But that didn’t matter for her when she, much to her surprise, saw the reddish buck from before again, grazing on the same clearing she had just entered. He was alone, and she briefly wondered what might have happened to his sister. The doe hesitated, but after a few moments, she decided to approach him. Frankly, she just was curious how their quest was going, feeling sympathy for the siblings, even though she still couldn’t say she liked the buck’s behavior.

Calmly, she approached him. He looked up when she was already close, still appearing  a little grumpy, but much less than before. She took that as a good sign, and smiled slightly as she took the chance to talk to him.

“You’re Ronno, right?”

“Yeah. And you’re that doe Lakia and I have met before, right? The one that wanted to come along.”

Aster gave a small grin and nodded. She was surprised he actually remembered her, but then again, she didn’t like him any more than he liked her and recalled their meeting perfectly clear. Ronno interrupted her thoughts, flattening his ears.

“What do you want?”

“Oh…” Aster cleared her throat. “Just wanted to ask how your search is going.”

“Perfectly fine. In fact, we’ve found who we’re looking for.”

“Really?” That surprised Aster even more. Hadn’t It just been a few days since they last met? Envy, even if only in a small amount, flowed through her heart. But she scolded herself for feeling like this right away. Sure, she missed her parents, but she didn’t know how long those siblings had been looking for this buck they were searching. She should be