Heron Lake Plateau Stars come swimming out of the horizon.

Instead of latching onto one of her mother's teats—as Phoebe and Owen were demonstrating—the diminutive Kite began to suckle on Towhee's nose. Although the Beta found this endearing, naturally, it also tickled. "No, you dork, you can't get big eating boogers," she muttered affectionately, gently prying the tiny girl loose and a little more assertively redirecting her toward a nipple.

She caught sight of Owen's struggle with the piece of fluff. With a smirk, she bent to pluck the downy feather from his toes, tongue scraping against her teeth even as she swung sideways to deposit the now slobbery plumule elsewhere in the den, out of reach of the pups. As soon as she was rid of it, she turned to face the brood again, hoping all four of them would settle down to feed.