Blacktail Deer Plateau Beyond the veil

She stirred a while later, warm sunlight kissing her eyelids. Her eyes fluttered open and, much to her surprise, Pied discovered a third and fourth pup nestled beneath her chin like small, soft pillows. She blinked and lifted her head, gazing down at them in silent wonder. They were both boys, one large and white with piebald pattern similar to her own, the other smaller and reddish, like his father.

When her eyes eventually lifted, Pied gasped. She was in the middle of the sunlit woods. Trying to gather her bearings, she stood slowly, the pups cradled gently against her spotted forepaws. Her brow furrowed, wondering at her inexplicable location and the lack of pain, and she started again when she spotted her father's apparition standing nearby. At nearly the same moment, she heard an anguished howl in the distance and she flinched very slightly. It sounded as if it came from a million miles away.

"It's time to go, Pied. You and your pups will come with me," Brooklyn said in his familiar deep timbre, his face and voice tinged with stoic sadness as he regarded her. He paused, then said very gently, "The larger one there, he became lodged in the birth canal. And the little one, well, he never had a chance." He paused, his eyes brimming compassionately. "All three of you passed away, Piebald." He stepped closer to her and reached out, offering a comforting nuzzle.

Pied blinked when his muzzle touched the side of her neck. It felt warm, which never happened with a ghost. She blinked in the direction of the distant sounds of distress, then her eyes lowered to the squirming bundles lying at her paws. Whatever worry or grief she might have felt at her passing and that of her sons' receded swiftly, like shadows beneath the sun. There was no pain, no fear and no worry in the afterlife. Mercifully, she knew only contentment and acceptance of her fate.

Pied bent down, her jaws closing gingerly around the smaller puppy, and she lifted him. Her eyes met Brooklyn's before he mimicked her actions with the larger pup. Her sire then fell into step beside her and they began to walk away into the woods. Before they went too far, Pied stopped, set her small son down again and said, "Goodbye, Kisu, Saēna and Pura. All of my love." The piebald she-wolf then plucked up her dead son again and the four of them walked together beyond the veil.