Sunset Valley backbone

It was a little jarring to realize what this meant: without a doubt, she’d gone into heat first. Her time away had been a necessary evil, though she was suddenly intensely glad the timing had worked out this way. If she’d still been living on the rise just one month ago, who knows what might have happened? But she hadn’t. And now the sisters could enjoy a hard-won equilibrium.

I’m sure it will happen for her soon, she said a little lamely, selfishly hoping it was sooner rather than later so they could raise their litters as concurrently as possible, even from afar. I was already glad to be back in the neighborhood but this—I’m happy for her, for both of you.

The fact remained, however: they’d only just met. If he’d won Redd’s hand, Masquerade knew he was a fine fellow. But she still wanted to get to know him better. She ought to introduce him to Riley too, though she selfishly wanted to keep him to herself, at least momentarily.

On the subject of offspring, I was just working on feeding mine. I’m not even sure they have mouths yet but they’re very hungry, Masque mused. Would you like to join me? I was looking for small animal burrows. If you flush, I’ll attack, and we can split the spoils.