Any day now, the contractions would start. She recalled when she had begun to feel this way the last time. She always got nervous leading up to birth. Though she supposed ‘always’ was a fickle thing considering this would only be her second labor. Her daughter appeared, and she smiled as her daughter tucked against her. She nudged her softly as she stated that it was bedtime. She agreed. The exhaustion crept over her as the yearling’s request flittered through her ears.

“Of course, my beautiful Little Dove… what would you like to hear about?” At this point she knew many stories, and Rhaegara would be happy to tell her another one if she had a particular direction she wanted to hear from… perhaps about their home, or more about the skywalkers, or maybe some made up tale of a far away land. “Maybe you want to hear about the time that your Uncle Drogaen and Aunt Raelle got into a lot of trouble with a neighboring pack. Your grandparents were so mad, but it was also so funny. They were just pups at the time.”

Rhaegara savored being close to her daughter in this manner. The warmth and comfort soothed both of them, especially as Rhae herself grew more anxious as they approached the due date of the twins. She always did… or at least, she had with Enera. It had been a singular focus of hers over the past few days.

She smiled as the girl wished to hear more about her family. She missed them dearly, and it was through these stories that she found new ways to reconnect with them, even though they were long gone. “Okay… as you know, your grandma and grandpa were raising me to be the next leader of the pack… that meant that your aunt and uncle got to get into more trouble than I ever got away with.” She started with a soft smile. “My momma and pappa called them hellions… wild children.” She teased lightly, her voice changing tones to add the flare to the dramatic.

“Well, one day my mom and dad had me out for diplomacy lessons. We were visiting another pack that lived nearby and meeting with the alphas there… we brought Drogaen and Raelle along. We were a little younger than you are now when all this happened. While we were meeting, they were out playing with the other pups and getting to know them… they started to get chased by a boar…” She added a pause for the dramatic. “Their medicine den had two entrances, one at the front and one at the back… it was kind of like a tunnel… and the boar chased them through it which trampled all of the herbs inside… and what they didn’t trample they had hit with their tusks! We had to give up half of our herbal storage because the alphas were so mad. Spring was coming but it was still winter meaning they couldn’t replace them on their own.”

Rhaegara did not know what she had done to deserve such a loving and caring daughter, but she prayed that Enera’s younger siblings ended up growing up like her… maybe a little more defensive of their borders and okay with violence in that regard… but like her nonetheless. They wouldn’t get themselves into too much trouble, just as Enera hadn’t… at least, not in her eyes. She knew the other adults, particularly Woya, had seen things that she simply hadn’t, but she wasn’t sure if any of that was still Enera’s fault either.

She listened and then chortled at the mention of how mad her grandparents must have been. “Oh they were… your aunt and uncle were den-bound for over a week for that misbehavior.” She offered while still laughing. “They insist they didn’t do anything… I’m willing to bet the pups from the neighboring pack pulled them into trouble though. They were with them right up until the boar chase started and then disappeared. I think it might have been a prank even, though not a very nice one… we were on their land so even Drogaen and Raelle could not accuse them of anything… it could have started an argument if they had.”

There was still so much about the world that Rhaegara herself did not understand… much less for her to explain to her daughter what it all meant. She hummed softly and offered a lick over the top of her daughter’s head. “Sometimes, life isn’t fair…” She reminded her softly before giving her a comforting nuzzle. “Ultimately, your aunt and uncle could have led the boar elsewhere… they went through the tunnel because they didn’t think the boar would follow them through it but they were wrong on that front too… everything happens for a reason, Little Dove.” She assured her with a soft smile.

It was a hard lesson to learn. It was one that Rhae herself was still learning. “Your grandparents let them off easy, but they did have to punish them and they were mad… it didn’t mean they loved them any less or relished yelling at them though.” Parenting was hard, harder than she had given her own parents credit for…

She smiled softly at her and even offered a light wrinkle of her nose. “It was a little silly… but sometimes you have to be a little silly to keep the peace.” She hoped that helped her daughter understand things in a different light. “To the other pack, it was fair. We had come into their home, and led boars through their herbal storage towards the end of winter when we wouldn’t be able to replace those supplies… to them, seeing your aunt and uncle punished by your grandparents and getting half of our store was fair.” It was all about balancing.

She smiled softly at that too, feeling her daughter nuzzle her cheek. “Of course not… you were so well behaved as a pup, Little Dove. You still are. You are kind and caring and have a massive heart and I hope you never lose that.” Rhaegara’s had shrunk along the course of her life and she hoped that never became true for her daughter.