Whitebark Stream honey

She smiles when the pup agrees, pain forgotten for the moment. It was times like these that kept her going. If she didn't have this pack, there was a likelihood that she would be dead. She hoped one day it would be Surya's pups toddling beside her. 
In a way typical of pups her age, they were halfway to the medicine den when the flurry of questions began and Aphrodite chuckled warmly. 
"Goodness, one question at a time!" She chided gently. "The gods are...well they're beings. Not quite us, but much bigger. And they watch over us, and when you pray to them, they're always there. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can feel them, or even hear or see them." There was no doubt in her mind Artemis had been on that beach with her, and the whole time she was in Donovan's clutches. "They look like us. All different shapes and sizes, some very beautiful, like Aphrodite or Hera, and some not so much, like Hephaestus." She couldn't help but chuckle at the pups botched attempt at pronouncing the word. "Apollo. Ah-poll-oh," she slowed the word down, carefully pronouncing it so the pup could hear it better as they entered the warm, cozy den. Piles of herbs laid about, in various stages of drying, giving the den a comfortable scent. "I've never met him face to face," she answered, moving aside so the child could get comfortable. "But, when you feel the warmth of the sun on your back and can't help but smile...he's there. Or when the clouds move just right so the sun makes shafts of light across the sky. Or when you get the urge to sing, or tell a poem. All those things are Apollo." She loved telling the stories of her gods, of her childhood. 
"No one can heal the dead, unfortunately. When someone dies, their....they aren't here anymore. Their body is, of course. But not their spirit. That goes on to another place. They live on in our hearts, and our memories. That is how you keep the dead alive."