Totoka River crooked river

It seemed as if she were doomed forever to wake alongside the sun.  Three perfect children slept at her breast and another, much older girl at her side.  She watched the sunrise as she did every morning — today it was grey and cheerless.

After months underground with her own newborns and with even more thrust upon her because of the injustice of the world in general, 'Io was growing more and more restless as the days drew on.  She had never liked dirt-dens and would have liked to have moved the children somewhere else, but it had been easier to take Yakone into the fallen Collie's den than it had been to upset the young ones.

The first day after the move, it had been difficult to leave them alone for any period of time, but they were not her babies.  They were Undersea's babies, and they would be fine under the care of Maegi and whatever unfortunate packmate happened to pass by.

She emerged from the den and shook off, marking the borders before she moved from Undersea's domain and onto the mainland, tracing the outskirts of the Totoka, mindful of the flooding from the snowmelt that was still filling the water bodies.

Before some time, she caught scent of her Aralez and noticed eau-de-stranger tangled in; she followed it even as the rain began to fall and it was not long before the lone male doing his one-two step was visible.  She stood at a distance, merely watching.