Time had come and gone and with it my children had grown. The spat between me and Viserys, if it could even be considered such, had long since been buried with the healing of Mugen and then the birth of his own pups. Not nearly as beautiful as my own children, of that I was certain, but it wasn't a polite thing to say so I kept it to myself. Fenyang was the most accomplished of the three, with the purpose of some adventurer, and I was reminded quite strongly of my parents. I was concerned for him but then I simply brushed it off. He had to grow up and I had been boisterous as a pup too (still was, really). Tikal was more sedate and Xerxes was smart. He was half and half of Viserys and me, that I was certain. A beautiful boy with a dreamy face, but I had begun to notice his disinterest in, well, a lot of things.

Something was bothering him. Call it a mothers intuition. While I wasn't an exceptional mother, I adored them still, and even as I end my daily scouting of the borders (just in case some heathen decided to test us!), I spot him draped in front of the den. A frown mars my lovely face as I pad closer, my bottom teeth barely poking out. Whenever I fretted that tended to happen and I hated it. A birth defect that I would prefer to never have - I was supposed to be perfect.

"Xerxes," I hum happily as he pushes up to greet me, a warm smile on my face that turns quickly into a proud expression. That was my boy there with his perfect coat and I nodded. I didn't enjoy grooming other wolves but I had loved doing it to my children (even when they grumbled about it). I had begun to find that there wasn't much that being a mother wouldn't change. While I was hot tempered I was a little more mellow with them, lest they go and get some ideas on how to react back at me. That would NOT be a pretty sight.

"I'm not a very good judge of these things, darling, but let me hear it. With your fathers brains, I'm sure you've cooked up some good rhymes," I respond loftily, planting myself right in front of him before leaning over and washing my tongue between his eyes. The head was always to be the first groomed and from there the rest of the body flowed easily. "If you keep talking of him running off with other puppies I think I may have to give him some more just to get him back," I snicker, knowing it likely that Xerxes would be grossed out about the fact and saying it simply for that affect.