Fera

Mordecai waits patiently by the nursery.  Fera pushes out before long, visibly startled to see him there.

"Oh, hi!" she says, the chipper tone forced and clipped.

Mordecai pays it no mind.  "I wanted to come check on you and the pups."

Fera looks over to the tiny dugout nursery.  "They're inside, and Oleander keeps telling me that they're perfectly healthy, but..."  She looks away and shifts her forepaws slightly.  "That pregnancy...I wasn't even far enough along that they should have been big at all.  They're...strange.  Maybe my mother raised us differently, but they seem to know...things?"  She pauses to lick her nose.  "And they behave...strangely.  Or, maybe, things behave strangely around them.  They've opened their eyes and started playing with each other and the toys you gave me.  The toys will...move...on their own."

Mordecai huffs.  "You must be seeing things.  Or else they're being disturbed by you or the pups and you don't notice."

Fera flattens her ears and draws her lip back slightly.  "I know what I see!"  She huffs in return.

With a sigh, she relaxes.  "They do look like you.  I've named them, by the way."

"May I see them?" Mordecai asks, turning to look into the den.

Fera stands and reaches into the den, carefully taking her pups out.  They whine slightly at the cool air.  She points first to the female, "Hawk," and then to the male, "and Sallow."

Mordecai leans over and sniffs them, letting them sniff him in return.  He feels his chest swell, and he nuzzles the little bundles.  He takes a deep breath and sits up again.

Fera is unfazed.  As Mordecai sits up again, she continues talking.  "Looking after pups like this suits me.  When my mother had her second litter, I volunteered to be the pupsitter while she and my brothers were hunting.  I'm not very good at hunting, and I wouldn't be a good scout."  She smiles weakly.  "I mean, when you met me, I was more lost than I'd ever been.  I think I would do best to care for our pups."  After a short pause, she clears her throat and continues.  "That is, 'our' as in Elispier's pups.  I would do best here.  Though, I may have to borrow you or Aurum to help me dig out a bigger den."