Stavanger Bay where the emptiness we leave behind on warm air rising

Doe had been sleeping when the weak bleating of her young began to assault her ears. Yellow eyes blinked wearily open and looked down upon the tiny creatures that'd been brought forth sometime prior to these events; Doe didn't know fully when it'd happened. Time passed strangely within the walls of Stone Den. It was only broken by the few visitors she'd received thus far.

Curiously, she watched as brother and sister wrestled for dominance. It was a game that Doe knew well; a smaller, pinker Doe had played similiar games with her smaller, fatter brother. It'd looked much like this - two tiny beans, one ruddy and one dark, wibble-wobbling all over each other. As they progressed in age, Doe wondered if they would mirror hers and Buck's own evolution. She'd had the upper hand when they were young, growing faster than her brother in their rapid-growth periods. In the end, though, Buck had kept growing when Doe herself had stopped. Life was cruel that way, but at least Buck had protected her when she needed it. Doe would have to train Isengrim to protect his sisters the same way. Even Qilaq might one day need him to champion her.

"But not today," Doe hummed to herself, looking fondly down at her little beans. Two of them were still unnamed, but they all held a special place in her heart. And then, only three of them did as the fourth began to urinate on her siblings. Further investigation revealed that Julep was the offender. "Silly girl," Doe murmured as she - uncerimoniously - nosed Julep off of her perch. The child tumbled away and left three fragrant pups in her wake. Doe began to clean the most sickly of them first, but quickly moved through all three of the soiled children before she turned her attention back to Julep. She was less dirty than the rest, but Doe still gave her a once-over.

"Now try to stay clean," she warned, arranging them all carefully back around her teats. She made sure to give the unamed children the most room to nurse. Though she felt they needed their siblings added warmth, she was wary of allowing the bigger two pups to bully away their meals.