Duskfire Glacier hebamme

Lane restrained her growl of exasperation at Veteran's appearance; the boy had Mahler's presence to thank for that, since she was reluctant to dole out discipline in front to company. Instead, she ushered the boy to her side with a weary wave of her tail. "Mahler is a friend," she murmured to the boy, licking the top of his head as she quickly scanned him for anything amiss. Finding everything to be in order, she turned her attention back to Rivenwood's leader. 

"I haven't seen Iana since the day that Veteran--" she glanced down, indicating the boy, "--and his sister were born." Shit, now that she said it out loud, that was really telling, wasn't it? What if seeing the pups had hurt Iana? It was obvious by this point that Iana had not conceived herself. 

"We haven't really had the chance to get close. I don't know what her plans were this year, as far as pups go, but Mahler.." Lane swallowed. "Everyone here conceived. Everyone except her." Lane didn't say these things to gossip; she was truly concerned. She knew Mahler would be too, given his friendship with the missing beta. 

It was a sobering reminder to Lane, who had learned a thing or two about jealousy herself over the past weeks. There were some women out there would would give anything to be in Lane's position, as a mother of two healthy pups.