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Raisa could hardly believe a week had passed already; how fast time was moving when there was nothing to be done, when her days just seemed filled with recovering and looking at the tiny, squishy little faces of her babies. She was glad nothing had gone seriously wrong, of course, but she still felt drained. Hollow. Shaky. She relied heavily on Bogart and Shreya in particular for bringing her herbs and food, trusting Serafina and Carnifex to keep the ravine itself guarded and empty. She caught whiffs of them sometimes, and felt reassured knowing that Shreya lingered outside even in the earliest days where Raisa didn't allow more than a peek inside from anyone other than Bo. That Carnifex was above their den, watching. While the Rodion left to relieve herself -and nothing else-, she only dared to do so when Bo was with the kids or someone else was visibly lurking.

She didn't have and didn't expect to have much need of babysitters, but Raisa finally felt fit enough for a real visitor, not just words across the dim den or as she entered or exited. So, rather, she felt fit enough to allow her pups visitors. The passing days soothed her mind, too. She was not so protective of the den itself anymore; remembered with humor having growled even at a bird at one point that'd landed to peck nearby the entrance for a worm.

That didn't mean she would call. Selfishly, Raisa wanted to lay here forever and just stare at them. Enjoy them. Play with their wide but tiny little paws and curly little tails and floppy little ears. Keep them all to herself and Bo, never let them get any bigger; stay just like this, tucked close to her belly, forever.
Safe. Happy.
Raisa curled a little closer around the babes as the mere thought of anything else brushed her mind. Gaze soft, lips curled into a faint smile, Raisa just stared down on her trio of perfect little puppies without a care in the world as a warm spring breeze fluttered into the den, bringing the scents of salt and warm spring morning.

Yes, one day they would grow too large for her long legs to frame them closer to her, shield them. One day they would find their paws and the great outdoors, and she would need to show them how to take care of themselves. And in days further than that, they would find independence. Their world would open into Northfall, into the whole wide world, and they would grow up.

For now?

They were just her tiny, sweet little babies.

And to say Raisa would kill anyone or anything that might threaten them was the understatement of the century.

Limbs were still too new for Phim to be good at using them yet, but it sure was fun to try! Where Scarlett was already crawling and toddling and venturing beyond the confines of the nest, the tiny boy was still trying to paddle after her. Raisa might've wanted them to stay small and close, but already, they began to sprout.

For what felt like the MILLIONTH time (it was about the 3rd), Seraphim wobbled up to his paws and after a brief teeter, plopped back down to the furs below. This time, at least, wasn't really a fall, just a fold back down to his stomach. Still, unhappy, the little runt warbled his displeasure with a watery Ahh! To his delight, he saw Scarlett go down, too -- she was already SO far ahead, she didn't need to be further! He had to catch up!

As he began to gather himself up once again, Anastasia passed him to join their sister.

Girls, man. Girls.

TALL girls. With LONG legs! It was very, very unfair, this Phim knew in his tiny little bones. The injustice pierced through all sense of reason and puppy-youth-brain and he simply knew he had been slighted. Seeing himself passed and left behind twice, apparently, was good motivation. The fourth time is a charm! That was the saying, right?

He stood in time to see her reach Scarlett and chomp on her tail, and eager to join in on the fun, Phim started to wobble forward. He hardly noticed the change from Brighter to Darker. Sometimes, the sky did that! It wasn't until Ana had turned her own bleary baby gaze outwards did the boy turn and look in the same direction.

A great big shadow! Seraphim knew of the great big brown pillow that joined them in the furs sometimes, but nothing else had ever entered the den! Nothing else had ever been so interesting, like, ever! Nothing new ever happened at all! Mummy, Pops, Ana, Scarlett, they had always been here (though Pops was not always, and sometimes Mummy left too). They were a fixture in his life that, while the permanence was up for debate, were always nearby. At least... one of them were always there when he whined, and that was good enough for now for his infants mind that yearned merely for attention and food.
The shadow had several other NEW things with her, but the sound of her soft, rumbling voice drew Phim's attention more than the New Smells. And when she finally lay down to peer at them with impossibly large, dark purple eyes, he wobbled towards her just like his sister.

There was another new voice on the air, one disembodied and may well have just been the shadow, too. Cool! When he reached one mighty paw, he gummed at it, curious.

Unsteady little bodies finding their littler legs. Raisa watched with fondness as her three perfect children stood and wobbled about, sniffing new smells, flexing fresh muscles, using their brand new eyes to look upon everything brand new. She wished she could remember the days when she was this young, tumbling about with Andrei and Serafina while her parents watched. Had Blackfoot watched them the same way Raisa was her own young, letting them find their legs and bump into the plush nests and gain confidence bit by bit? Vaguely, she remembered once trying to use the shadows at the edges of the den to sneak outside and Rajani calling her own without even looking.

She hoped her children were kinder than she had been, seeking stimulation and attention alike from all those around her. Wrestling, running rampant, bothering any poor soul she came across.

At any rate, she hoped those her children grew up pestering.... they got to remain close to. The friends they made, the family they collected, they got to keep.

Speaking of family...

Shreya's voice echoed inside, and while Raisa's heart fluttered uncomfortably against her ribcage, she smiled. Mama, she crooned, tail wagging. Come, meet them. It was time. Past time, she knew, but she couldn't feel bad for keeping them to herself. Of all people... Shreya was the one who would understand best, she thought.

The den filled with the smell of bear and her Mother's dark pelt, but Raisa only melted when she caught sight of Shreya and her mass of gifts. Nobody, she thought, had ever taken such good care of her or been so thoughtful. Bo hadn't the time yet to have tried more than what he already had done, of course, but Raisa had spent too long taking care of others, running a pack, to have felt so little appreciation in her life.
Some days, she wondered what kept Sera around. Others, she blamed Andrei for not being here still.
Fish for her strength, red meat for her blood, she said. Herbs for her health. Shreya could pass on little professionally as far as doctoring things, but she had everything to pass on in terms of wisdom. Things she'd picked up over years and cubs, learned from others, perhaps even just heard in the marrow of her bones. Funny, how sometimes it was the same thing.

Raisa recognized some of the herbs from her lessons with Barbosa.

Thank you, Mama, Raisa blinked heavily, resisting the urge to cry already. Her emotions were just high! Thats all! There was a bug in her eye! Without hesitation, she pawed them closer, but didn't immediately tuck into anything; later, when the tender moment had passed, and she could chew as slow as she was want to.

She wouldn't have missed this for the worlds worth of succulent meals.

Shreya melted, herself, almost literally - becoming a puddle of dark fur and plum eyes on the dens flat floor. 'Look at your babies,' she said, 'My grandbabies.' Raisa swelled with pride. Fuss all you want, not every day there are new Rodion's to the family tree. Never mind that she was the first of the new surname whose roots were not those who had connections to her via blood, the point stood: not often did someone new make their way into the family. Rest? Well, that was true enough, and she didn't deny it, but she was nothing if not stubborn: I want you here more than I want to keep sleeping.

Raisa felt the shift in the air, but she wasn't ready for Shreya -her Mother, as real as any of the others she'd ever known- brought up... her Mother. So many times in life did The Sapphire Tigress wonder after her wolf-parent, what she'd been like past parental bravado and care, how she would've raised her own trio.
Two girls and a boy.

Would Blackfoot be proud of her? Would she be fawning over her grandpups as fiercely as this mother bear? Just as always came to mind, Raisa could only picture a quiet, stony figure, blue-grey with her seafoam eyes.

Raisa reached a paw towards Shreya as she went on, teary.

'And Akuji...' His name fell heavy between them.
Raisa could see it, too, more clearly than Blackfoot's studious, flat features. Brimming with pride, teasing her about watching her tail, offering some bit of his own wisdom. He would have paced outside the cave every moment until she'd surfaced, and perhaps still after then. She thought he might've been the only other being she'd have allowed into the den with her to labor.

The tears leaked onto her muzzle, but a smile reached across her lips.

Her father.
Akuji had been her Father. Her complicated feelings had been mostly after Rajani's death, after Akuji's, after learning the full story from Cirilla. She judged him harshly, she knew, but she never doubted his love for his children either. She had long wished she could speak with him on the matter, ask why he never trusted them with the truth. Why he let them grow up alone. Why he couldn't force himself to be less distant.
He and Shreya had never seen eye to eye for good reason. She thought she would've butted heads with her father a lot more, in her own adulthood. She'd never know.
Sometimes, she wished she could peer into the crystalline surface of the pool outside and get a glimpse of what her life would've been like if Blackfoot had never died.

Even he, Shreya thought would be proud. 'How could he not be?' How could he be? What had she done but failed, lost, left?

You are the only one whose pride matters to me now, Mama, Raisa choked out, a lie. Shreya was as important to her as Blackfoot, as Cirilla, as Rajani, as Akuji, and it was all of their blessings she wished she could’ve received. It was all of them she wished had lived long enough to see her here, now, to meet their grandchildren. To be a part of the family she'd tried so hard to keep together.
But Shreya was here. Shreya hadn’t left her behind, by choice or death or any other reasoning good or bad. If there was anyone she could rely on time and time again, it was the ursine parent who always returned with the fresh warm spring. You and the family I've managed to keep together.

Speak of the devil.

Serafina.

Raisa sniffled, smiling, and raised her voice to invite her sister to join them.

'fina, come meet your nieces and nephew!

Her pups would never know loneliness. Her children would always have someone there for them, no matter what, she was sure. Shreya, Carnifex, Sera, Bo -- they wouldn't let anything happen to the kids, and if anything were to take Raisa from them, she knew they'd be well taken care of.

She'd wait to introduce them properly until her littermate found a place in the cave.