@Cassiopeia
Moonshadow had left the pups under the watch of
@Istoira for the time being as she came close to the new mothers den but she stayed a respectable distance away so she wouldn’t upset her. “Hello?” She called hoping to get a response.
her daughters grew quickly - already they began to shift, to move with greater strength and hone their voices as they cried out and fought against her attempts to bathe and move them. they would be fierce; of that she was sure. she had yet to leave them since the pestilence, and so received the call of another with a chuff that was welcoming enough, but did not shift from her place beside her daughters. "I don't know you," she offered, though the words were not hostile. she knew of her - the only other mother thus far (at least, to actual children) - but not her name, who she was. until then, she remained on guard. "I am Cassiopeia." perhaps she knew, but an introduction on her part was more likely to receive one on the woman's part.
There was a response and the female felt quite better. “Yes I am aware.” She chuckled slightly. “My name is Moonshadow, I gave birth a while ago and thought maybe I could help out the new mothers with either questions they may have or hunting if they need it. “ She nudged a plump hare closer to the entrance with her nose.
the scent of the hare is mouth-watering, and she is quick to accept the proffered gift. she does not display outwardly her discontent when Moonshadow uses the plural. she does not know enough to definitively judge Maegi, but she knows the woman is no mother - she is barely into adulthood, and cassiopeia fears already something has broken, twisted, and she does not think it remediable.
hunger blooms out from the taste of blood on her tongue, but she holds back a moment. she does not know or trust this woman enough to ask more than the simplest questions. she is curious all the same, and asks, "how old are yours?"
The offering was taken and the female smiled. The new mother then asks about the age of her pups. “They were born a month ago” (I don’t know how they determine age) It seemed as though time had gone slower than it really was.
a month, then. she has seen the woman's young, surely, for there are no other mothers and the woman who helped her during her whelping was not yet in the final stages of her pregnancy. they seem so much larger than her own, and while she remembers some from Maegi's own puphood, she is ignorant of much of their development. she offers a contemplative sound, the lack of anything other than a straightforward response from the woman having cassiopeia warm slightly to her. "can you leave them on their own?" she asked, curious as to when they were able to survive, at least, without a mother's constant presence.
She thought for a moment. “I don’t know about leaving them on their own unless it’s a small little trip from the den. But when I go hunt I left them in the care of someone I trust. But eventually once their up and walking, they’ll be drawn to the light of the den.” Moonshadow thought of her little ones. “By that time they can be introduced to the world little by little. At least that’s what I do.”
she accepts the woman's words with a nod of her head - Moonshadow does not sound especially certain in her methods, but a rough idea of child-raising is better than a blank slate. Cassiopeia thanks the woman wordlessly, but desire for solitude and the calls of her pups have her return to their sides, licking the blood from her muzzle.