Username: ~Trompy
Dog Name: Chesapeake
Clan: Snakeclan Gender: Female
Age: 4 years
Prompt: Being a sled dog is hard work, but Chessa did it well. She was young, the youngest of her pack, but in the short year she had been on the sled team she had climbed the ranks and was second-in-command. There was never a challenge Chessa couldn't tackle and she had the high spirits to keep everyone else going, too. Researchers used her team as a way to travel through a mountain range as the most effective mode of transportation other than a snowmobile, but gas was expensive and those loud stinky machines were unreliable at best when it reached below zero temperatures.
Chessa loved her job, her pack mates and the people. She didn't want to leave... no, she was forced to, after that tragedy. Everyone relied on Chessa to lead the sled. She had been careless and fell into an icy lake the day before a run. Her humans made her stay at home, sit it out to make sure she didn't get sick. If she hadn't stayed behind, maybe she could have saved them. Maybe, with her leading the team as usual, they wouldn't have fallen over that ledge...
When she heard the news, she couldn't bear to look her humans in the eye anymore. And her friends... she could feel their judging stares. They blamed her. Just like she blamed herself. No matter how much they lied to her face and told her it wasn't her fault... she knew. So she exiled herself.
Chessa wandered the mountains for a few months, fending for herself before descending into the valley she now calls home. That's where she saved a cat from being mauled by red foxes. The cat, named Leopardstar, offered Chessa a home in exchange for saving her life. Sure, this home was full of cats, but she jumped at the opportunity.
Now Chessa watches over camp and helps lead patrols over into the fox forest, ensuring the small clan of cats continues to grow and prosper. Chessa swears on the lost lives of her friends in the mountains that she will never, EVER take a 'day off' from her duties so long as she lives.
She won't make the same mistake twice.