Spring was the time of change, and through her skin and down to her bones Nova felt the season changing. The nights were still freezing, and snow still clung tight to the ground in the well-shadowed pockets of woodland on the east side of the Lore. But the days were growing longer, the sun shining with more strength and lending green vitality to the forest's flora. The forest wasn't the only thing changing. But unlike the coming spring, these changes were entirely unfamiliar to Nova, bringing with them a sense of anticipation and excitement. They started out subtle at first, her scent shifting and the burning desire for her mate settling down, leaving the constant, but much less desperate need to keep Camio close. Only recently had her normally narrow waistline started to thicken, making Nova's imagination run at the thought of the life that stirred in her belly. How many were there? Would they look more like her, or Camio? Would she curse them with her awkward, uncoordinated lankiness? What in the world were they going to name them?

Practically attached at the hip, the two lovers had journeyed down south through the Lore. They moved at an unhurried pace, just taking the time to soak it all in. They had stopped for the night on the north end of an expansive marshland, finding a dry hill and taking their rest under a shrubby pacific willow. Nova woke that morning with a roaring hunger, requiring all her willpower to keep from biting Camio's poor head off. He had slunk off with promise of rooting out something for breakfast, leaving Nova to await patiently for his return.

Or at least, that's what she would have been doing had a delectable scent not wafted by her little hilltop perch. It wasn't a deer, musky in odor but not a beaver, either. Licking her chops, Nova decided she couldn't let something so delicious just pass her by. Glancing around first, Nova stood up and waddled carefully down the hill, looking around for her meal.

As she moved down onto the squelchy damp marsh soil, she didn't have to look for long before a hairy lump of an animal ambled through the reeds. It glared Nova down with its beady eyes before abruptly turning around, making its slow trek in the opposite direction. Nova had no idea what it was, other than food that apparently didn't care too much if it got eaten. Not expecting much, Nova simply walked up to it, reaching down to grab at the strangely hairy looking tail that dragged along after the creature. Just as she was about to reach for it, the thing had gave a little flick of its tail, depositing a bunch of sharp quills right into the end of Nova's broad snout.

"YEEOWWWCH!" she yelled, whimpering as she tripped over herself trying to make a frantic retreat from the cursed thing and running hastily back towards the hilltop with tail tucked between her legs.

Nova's usual ungainly gait was only made more awkward by her desperation to get away from the evil little animal. A noise had followed her, strangely familiar in a way but she was too panicked to take notice or deliberate on it. She fought through the underbrush uphill, roughly and recklessly shoving through everything that stood in the way of her and the little shrub she'd bedded down under the night before. She crouched her lanky form under the curling willow stems, trying the best she could to hide herself away from the animal in case it decided to come after her. Her huge ears were folded flat against the side of her head, her lips pulled taught and teeth tentatively bared as she heard something heading up the hill towards her. She couldn't believe it, it was coming after her! She dearly wished that Camio was there to protect her, and considered calling his name, but quickly abandoned that idea in case she draw the spiny creature towards her hiding spot.

She watched through the leaves as first a pair of ears and the top of a head appeared over the round curve of the hill, her yellow eyes widening and muscles stiffening in case she needed to take action. She had no idea what that action would even be, nor did she have the chance to think long on it as she heard an unmistakable voice calling out to her, an all too familiar face coming into view as they neared.

If Nova's eyes had been wide already, they were practically bugging out of her head now. For the moment she even forgot the sharp stinging in her nose, the metallic tang of blood dribbling down onto her lips.

"M-mom?!?" Nova blurted, staring at what could only be a hallucination. She was utterly shocked, her mind still reeling as she tried to comprehend her mother's sudden appearance.

Naira barely resisted the urge to tut at her daughters disbelief. “Yes dear.” She responded using her best mother voice to try and put her daughter at ease. She held her ground a moment longer before she stepped forward under the cover of the willows screening branches. She tried to keep her face blank, although she was torn between wincing and laughing at the predicament her daughter had managed to get herself into. Several spines protruded from her daughters dark muzzle and they quivered with every move she made no doubt working themselves in deeper with every wince and shake.

She held her breath for a moment considering how best to approach the situation at hand. “Those things need to come out.” she said, concern clear in her tone. It was fortuitous she wouldn’t have to travel at all to find some form of pain relief once the ordeal was done, simply chewing on some of the willow fronds should be enough in the short term while she went to track down something stronger. “They’ll hurt more coming out than they did going in.” she warned. “Do you think you can be brave for me? We’ll get this all sorted out before that boy of yours comes back, hmm?” It wasn’t really a question so much as it was an order she expected to be obeyed.

Some things never changed.

Surely if this was all a hallucination, it was an extraordinarily detailed one. Nova watched her mother waltz up to her as if it was perfectly normal for them to have not seen each other for months on end and reunite like nothing had happened. So many days between them were unaccounted for, Hollowheart Keep had fallen, Mapplethorpe had died, she'd found Aponi, joined a pack and left it, and crossed Serpents Pass with Camio not once, not twice, but three times. And here her mother was like a bolt from the blue. Not much had changed about her from what Nova remembered. She still took charge of the situation like she always had.

Nova's lanky body remained crouched low on the ground, her chin set on the dusty earth between her paws, big yellow eyes cast up at Naira as she came closer. Nova had almost forgotten about the spines sticking out of her face until she called attention to them. They hurt like hell but the shock of everything had made it easier to ignore.

Nova squeaked, her head bobbling up and down slightly in agreement. She could be brave, yes. While she felt like a cub again, she objected to her mom calling Camio a boy. He was her mate, and she was carrying his children for heaven's sake! "Camio's not just some boy, mom." She softly grumbled. Nova blinked, swallowing sharply and maybe wondering if she should have just let her mother's quip go unchallenged.

Not just some boy. A small smile touched the corner of her lips, impressed to see her daughter had at least found a voice in the time she had been gone. “For all the winters that separate us he will always be a boy in my eyes.” she responded lightly, looking at her daughters muzzle this way and that, trying to figure out the best angle of approach. “Besides, if he was, in fact, a man he would have swept the area before leaving my pregnant daughter alone to be assaulted by a porcupine.” Her muzzle wrinkled as she spat the animals name. She still had nightmares about the rabid beast that dared to corner her in a den when she was just a few months old.

Her eyes cast about for a sturdy stick, finally falling on one that might just be sufficient. She moved to pick it up, ears swivelling atop her head to make sure the porcupine was in fact gone and not planning an ambush from some low lying shrubbery. The bitter taste betrayed it to belonging to the very tree they sat beneath, perhaps a blessing in itself. She returned to Nova and pushed the branch toward her with her nose. “Bite down on this and I’ll get those out for you.” she offered gently. Once Nova had the stick securely between her jaws Naira would move to remove the quills as quickly as possible. The sooner they were out, the sooner the poor girls face would stop smarting.