Moonspear Summertime won't last long.

They'd met somewhere in the wilderness, by total chance, or at least that's how Meerkat understood it. She marveled at that a moment, pausing to sniff thoughtfully at an old stump near the clearing's fringe. She wondered if Hydra knew of it. She glanced at her, prepared to ask, when she realized the Alpha surely must be well aware of such a mundane landmark.

Anyway, the leader's responses captured her entire attention. She paused in her step and regarded Hydra, eyes bright and inquisitive. Who was this family member? Before she could ask, her aunt posed a question of her own that entirely sidetracked the youth's attention. She blinked, then smiled, wondering if Hydra was pulling her leg or if she really didn't know about her dad.

-"Phox!"- she said readily, abruptly recollecting something Towhee had only told her during their long talk right before Meerkat departed for Moonspear. -"Mom said puppies are made when a dude wolf puts his wiener in a lady wolf's hoo-ha and they do a dance,"- she added, the way she said it clearly quoting Towhee verbatim. She giggled. -"That's called mating. She said she didn't mate with my dad—Phox, I mean—but she did mate with some randos and she's not sure which one put his goo in her to make me. But Phox is my dad for all intensive purposes,"- she concluded, still clearly parroting her mother, unaware of her slight grammatical mistake.

There was a pause before Meerkat continued, -"My dad and Neema are mates and they did mate to make my chiblings. Isn't that so weird?"- Her eyes were merry but she wrinkled her nose, the classic look of a youth who's just been assaulted by the mental image of her parents doing the nasty.

With no particular desire to linger on this subject, the youngster's attention soon returned to mapping out The Pale. She was determined to find a spot yet unexplored by the pack's matriarch. It would prove impossible, in the end, as every time she pointed out some feature or other, Hydra would not only recognize it but often give her a little history on it. Rather than feel frustrated about this, Meerkat immensely enjoyed hearing all of The Pale's little back stories.

Editing a conclusion since it's been a while. :)