Bramblepoint (M) Old wounds leave big scars

I had to get this up for timelines sake, feel free to get to this whenever you like! @Towhee
Time - 7:45 Am | Weather - cloudy 

Light peaked out from the clouds, lining them with
gold as the sun rose. God rays brought light to the 
dark, dreary forest with angelic purpose. To shine 
on a young tree, smaller than all its brethren 
surrounding it. Its roots no deeper than a foot into
the ground. Offspring of the Cottonwoods it was
protected from the harshest weather so it may grow
unhindered by the worst Teekon had to offer. Its yield
of cotton yet to be developed for the birds, squirrels
and mice that depended on it for warmth in the winter
months. Everything fit into a cycle, life, death and
birth. A tightly threaded ecosystem, each forest the
same but never in the ways it survived.     
 . 
Bramble bushes and thorns peppered the forest floor
in large patches, leaving any oblivious traveler 
with bloody, sore paws. Rye was that oblivious
traveler. His paws already poked and prodded by 
natures finest thorny warriors. Most measured 
no bigger than a claw but that did not deter 
the thorns from inflicting the most possible 
damage for something its size. Rye would be
impressed if it wasn't his feet getting attacked.
Eventually, after enough painful mistakes, Rye
learned to spot their ambushes well before it was 
too late. Dodging and weaving through each with 
relative ease. 
.
There was no particular direction he was headed,
all he could do was wonder the lands. No purpose
and no personal direction he felt whimsical and 
useless. There was more to life than aimless
walking, more to it than living for the sake of 
living. What was his reason for purpose? What was 
his purpose in the grander scale of his simple
life? He was left to the whims of mother nature.
Was he in her favor or her scourge?

He didn't know.