Life had fallen in to a surprising rhythm of normalcy over the last weeks for Church, a first in a lifetime of wandering and uncertainty. She had a pack, a leader she was willing to follow, a role to play once she was bodily able to once more, and most importantly her heart and soul rested within another. Currently that one lay beside her stretched out quite long in the ease of his slumber. The barest hints of dawn’s light were beginning to filter into their home and she blinked in to the deceptively warm light blearily, eyes still heavy with sleep. She yawned deeply, her black-lipped muzzle gaping open while her tongue lolled out as she cold continued to help wake her. The temperatures had plummeted as of late, the dead of winter setting in heavily on the mountains. Luckily the snows had been kind, keeping more to the upper mountains and only occasionally drifting down to their dens, still she was thankful for the thickness of her coat and the warmth of her Moon behind her. Every night she curled up beside him, her golden form fitting like a puzzle piece within his platinum halo and every morning she was still amazed at it all.

She felt movement in her stomach, no doubt what had awoken her in the first place at it did most days. Fondly she nuzzled it, her dark nose running over the pronounced bumps that moved so much her fur rippled because of them. For the umpteenth time she wondered how many there might be within, more than one she knew due to the magnitude of movement, but she had seen wolves birth one to eight pups (a thought which made her shutter), but of course it remained a mystery. No matter how many there are she would love them just the same and equally, that love already so deeply rooted in her soul which only added to her excitement. It wouldn’t be much longer now, despite winter’s harshness she knew the season was soon to move on followed by spring when the cries of pups would ring across the mountains, hopefully it wouldn’t be protracted much longer than that. Mentally she reminded herself to go and talk to Natu later, excited as she was about the pups her nerves and concern due to pure inexperience and a troubled past still often caught up to her.

The thought leaves her mind as fast as it comes as she feels an all too familiar itch in the middle of her back, a spot she had not been able to reach with teeth or paw for months now thanks to her rounded form. Still she attempted to crane her neck, teeth gnawing at golden fur hopelessly before trying in vain to get a back paw around her bulge to scratch at it. She huffed annoyed, the warm breath vaporizing in the light before vanishing once more as she considered what to do in her current state. She had always been sleek, small, and lithe, able to fly across fields and move as fluidly as water, these days she practically waddled down the mountainside round as she was. She rolled her eyes at her own underhanded reference to her form, ,fat she finally thought with a touch of distain, face it, you’re fat. Finally she resorted to the only method that occasionally worked, flopping back to her side she rolled on to her back after much straining before haphazardly crunching from side to side so the rocky floor did the work for her. It wasn’t fulfilling but it would do for now, she thought wondering how in the world Ragnarok managed to sleep through it all.