A Second Wind: Book One, A Legacy Found

Chapter 1: Discovery

The morning sun light trickled through the thick canopy of the mighty redwood trees. A gentle late summer breeze whispered as it swiftly blew through the nearby village's streets. Breaking off the weakest of leaves and sending them floating gently down to the dusty ground; littering the old dirt street of the little settlement of Redwell.

A middle-aged chocolate brown wolf stepped out of her restaurant home and into the courtyard where they would serve their guests. She sighed; the past night, there had been a strong windstorm which had left the courtyard in a state of disarray. It would only be an hour until they opened. She stepped over to counter front, and opened the window above it revealing her husband, whom was taking inventory in their kitchen.

"How bad is it?" The golden wolf asked.

"Nothing we shouldn't be able to fix, but we might open a little late today. Do we need to mark anything for this month's market trip?" she replied.

"Nothing more than the usual items," he said as he exited the kitchen and into the courtyard.

He watched as she started to move the heavy wooden chairs back into their usual places. Her ears flicked back as she lifted them off the ground, grunting in frustration when the chairs got stuck on a table's leg or a hole in the ground. He smiled at her.

She glanced up, "Tom, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I was just thinking of the day, 15 years ago, when I set my eyes on the most beautiful wolf I'd ever seen," Tom said smoothly, before pulling her close.

She rolled her eyes, "Save it for tonight you Cowboy Casanova. We have work to do. Now go wake up that son of ours, we're going need him this morning," she pulled away and walked over to the kitchen.

Tom sighed before returning inside and going up into their small apartment, above the restaurant.

Swirling wind was rushing past his ears and ruffling through his quills. The world was whirling past him, too fast to see. There were bright green grassy hills surrounding him. Checkered cliffs, and pathways. Some kind of energy jolted through his body. He was bathed in warm yellow sun light and a large smile was stuck on his face like a scar. Where was he? He didn't know, nor did he care. All he wanted, was for this to last forever.

Suddenly, something shoved him down on to the ground. However, he didn't feel any grass or cold soil, but rather soft blankets?

"Zephyr wake up bud, it's time to get up," spoke a sing-song-y voice that could only be one person.

Zephyr groaned, and cracked open a deep green almost turquoise eye. He glanced around realizing that he was still in the small gable room that he called his own, and not in the grassy field. He was disappointed that it had been nothing but a dream.

"Good morning!" His foster father, sang, before noticing Zephyr's look of disappointment, "Something wrong?"

"Huh? What?" Zephyr said.

Tom chuckled, "You just looked like you were disappointed with something, but I guess you still just waking up."

"Sorry Pa, I just was dreaming and..."

"Oh, a dream! What kind of dream?!" Tom asked enthusiastically, sitting at the foot of his adopted son's bed.

Zephyr, guessing that his Pa had his coffee today, thought for a moment before explaining, "Well, I was running through a field. A very hilly field, but it wasn't like my normal running. The world was rushing past me so fast it looking like nothing but blobs. Wind was beating against my face. It was exhilarating."