With the return of Aliana's eldest boys back to Boreas, Revenant's first order of business was to head back to Ashen where their parents had been staying. He and Morendo had been off on their own for some time now, getting into all sorts of hijinks along the way. They'd crossed paths with a few of their other adult siblings from time to time, Rusalka and Quill notably. Maybe they had made their way back home too, but he supposed time would tell. Walking the familiar arid lands that led to the northernmost Ashen territory, Revenant paused at the border just long enough to announce his and Morendo's arrival. Aunt Venom knew them and would never turn them away from a visit, so he saw no reason to slow down or stop his entrance. Crossing right over the border as if he owned it, Revenant strode with the bravado of a prince around the canyon, following his nose to track down whatever cave system Chimera and Aliana had picked for themselves. He didn't bother to look back at Morendo as they walked, knowing his brother would be right at his side every step of the way without needing to check.

Revenant's tracking eventually led him to the spacious caves the Kleins had acquired as their home. A lopsided smirk touched the dire brute's lips; he was genuinely happy to be back home. Seeing his parents would do him some good. Sure, he had plenty of fun living life his way out in the wild lands, but there was a simple pleasure about being back home that you just couldn't beat—or at least, as close to home as they could get. Fenmyre was just ashes and memories now, never to rise again. Revenant had lost a small bit of respect for his sire for that loss. At the very least, they were back amongst their family's empire, where their name and affluence meant something. Rev was already eager to start reaping the rewards of being born a Klein.

Entering into the caves, Revenant led the way following Aliana's scent to find whatever dens they had taken up in. "Oh, mother! Your favorite boys are back!" he called out into the cave, a proud grin on his face as he stepped around a bend and into the bedchambers his parents shared. The sight that greeted him was... not what he had expected. Now in the room, the scents of newborn pups hit his nose full force, and on the expansive bed of furs, there laid a bedraggled Aliana with a veritable pile of puppies around her. Revenant froze mid-stride, multi toned eyes blinking rapidly as he took in the sight. Oh look, there was more pups now. Clearly their parents had been busy in their absence... "Fucking hell, Mom. Was seven not enough for you?" An awkward chuckle escaped the dark-furred brute as he made his way closer to Aliana and the pups with apprehension slowing his steps. Suddenly this homecoming felt more like a surprise for him than the other way around...

"Revenant"

Being away from his family–especially his mother–had not exactly been ideal, but the time they had spent away had certainly not gone to waste. He appreciated the time he had to grow up on his own terms and figure out who he was, what he wanted, and what he liked away from their parent's watchful gazes. It wasn't as if he had been entirely detached from his family. He and Revenant had stuck close together for the most part and somehow managed to run into Quill, Rusalka, and Dalila at various points. It was enough to remind him frequently of home and his mother and after some time the desire to return to them became more and more of a frequent thought. Once Revenant was on board it was an easy choice to make and they began to make their way back to the lands of Boreas.

Of course there was no real returning to the "home" they had grown up in, but Ashen was home enough if that's where their parents were residing. Approaching the Redwater Rocks, he began to slow to a stop at the pack's scent marked border only to watch his headstrong brother simply toss back his head with a howl while striding forward confidently into their aunt's lands. He sighed softly with a slight roll of his eyes before moving forward to follow along beside him. It was truly a wonder that he had put up with his boisterous brother for so long. It was definitely to his benefit that he was so nice to look at. It made the rougher edges of his personality far more bearable.

Finding the home that their parents had made was easy enough after following their scents and Rev took the lead, following the path that lead them deeper into the caves in search of their mother. Her scent was obvious and easy to follow, but there was some other note to it that he seemed to pick up on more quickly than his brother did. He wasn't able to put his paw on what it was until they turned a corner and found her laying in bed absolutely surrounded by more tiny puppies than he had ever imagined seeing in one place. His two-toned eyes widened with surprise at the unexpected sight. He had known that their litter had been larger than what was usually considered normal, but at least from an initial, quick count it seemed that this litter had surpassed even that.

He made a soft huff of exasperated laughter at Revenant's comment about the amount of children that their parents had, shaking his head a bit as he stepped across the bedchamber to go greet their mother properly. "What, did you just expect them to stop fucking?" he replied jokingly with a glance back at Revenant before he turned his gaze down to their mom and gave her a warm smile that was almost exclusively reserved for her. "Hi, mom," he rumbled simply as he dipped his head, nuzzling her cheek affectionately before gently grooming her fur around her face and the top of her neck where it had gotten a bit disheveled from her time spent in bed with a whole gaggle of pups.

"Morendo Klein"

In the days that followed the births of her newest children, Aliana had been mandated to stay on bedrest. She was so, so weak from the Herculean amount of strength and energy it took to bring all nine of her youngest pups into the world healthy and alive, and it had very nearly cost her own life in turn. Recovery was a slow, arduous, and painful process. But for the nine bundles of love and joy nursing at her belly, she would have done it a thousand times over. Still, Ali was left alone to heal most of the time. Chimera would bring her supplies for herself and the pups, keeping her fed and cared for in the aftermath. Gods bless his soul, he was trying for them, even if he couldn't tell half of the herbs apart from one another. He was just happy to be a father once more.

On one particular day, Aliana was napping with the pups when a distant howl broke the stillness of the day. Aquamarine eyes slowly fluttered open as the familiar voices reached her ears, just distant and faint enough to make her question whether she had heard anything at all. Was that her boys coming back home? Quiet remained for a long while, and just as Ali was beginning to drift back off to sleep, the sounds of paws in the cave could be heard, and then the voice of one of her elder sons calling out to her. That woke her up in an instant! Ali's eyes opened and she slowly lifted her head in time to see Revenant and Morendo coming into the den, both looking quite shocked at the sight they found. Ali smiled at her boys, beaming with warmth and love at her handsome sons come home. "My boys...!" she exclaimed in hushed tones so as not to disturb the puppies, her tail giving weak thumps against the bedding. "My strapping princes have come home...!" Ali's heart warmed and swelled with joy, so happy she could cry!

Revenant expressed his shock in a manner so very much his own, and Morendo was scoffing and retorting back in her defense before she could say anything. Seeing the two of them interacting and behaving the way close brothers should did so much good for her heart. "Well, your father and I loved being parents to you both so much, we decided to do it again," she remarked to Revenant, then glanced down at the nine pups around her still swollen belly. "Honestly, I didn't expect to have so many again. I thought I was done with large litters when I had you six boys." Aliana smiled up at Morendo as he came up to greet her with a nuzzle, the cloudy fae lifting her head as much as she could muster the strength to so she could brush her muzzle along his cheek. "Hello, my darling boy... I hope you've both been well..." She looked down at the pups as Revenant came closer to inspect them. "Don't be shy, come say hello to your new brothers and sisters. We have Simurgh, Arachne, Aethon, Barghest, Phobia, Gemma, Elara, Hydrae, and Selkie." As she named them off, Ali would gently boop each of the pups with her snout, introducing them to their big brothers.

"Aliana"

Revenant snorted and rolled his eyes at Morendo's crass remark about their parents not stopping fucking. Well duh, of course he didn't expect them to stop screwing each other's brains out, but he didn't expect his mother to give in to their father's breeding urges again when they already had a half dozen kids! With his usual aloofness, Revenant strode into the bedchamber after Morendo, returning a crooked smile to Aliana as she greeted them both so warmly and affectionately. Nothing made the brute feel quite as important as his mother's affection did. Aliana had a way of making even a single boy out of six feel like a king. "Hi Mom, we missed you a ton," he replied, coming up to take a closer peek at the pups around her belly and count them all out. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... Nine! Fucking nine new pups! How their mother had survived the birth was beyond a miracle, although judging by her rough condition, maybe it really had been by divine intervention she hadn't died.

Ali caught him counting the pups and invited them both closer to meet their new younger siblings. Revenant quirked a curious brow, wondering if their mother was being serious or if she was high on whatever painkillers were keeping her alive, but he came closer either way to meet the wolves that still didn't even have their eyes open yet. One by one they were introduced, though Rev saw them as little more than wriggly little wolf nuggets. Boy, they were such weak, helpless, vulnerable little things, weren't they? "Jeez, newborn puppies really are pathetic little things, aren't they? Glad I don't have any of my own!" joked Revenant—at least not any pups of his own that he knew about. However many bastards he'd sired and left out in the world with their unlucky mothers... well, he was his father's son, after all.

Curious, Revenant reached out a massive dire paw to gently nudge about one of the darker-hued clouded girls, the one their mother had introduced as Selkie. She was the smallest of the bunch and so, so tiny and thin. How the hell had she even survived the birth? As he toppled a whining Selkie over with a couple of digits, another dark pup with black stripes began to crawl over to investigate the mewling Selkie and became the second victim of a paw toppling them over, leaving both pups crying helplessly as they flailed about on the bedding. Revenant snickered to himself, having waaaaaay too much fun bullying his defenseless little siblings.

"Revenant"

Home. Well... he couldn't quite call it that. Quill had been the first to leave and had been away longer than he'd been part of the pack. If you asked him, he didn't really have a home. The monochromatic brute was a wanderer through and through. He'd traveled to many places and had seen many things. Surprisingly, he'd crossed paths with his brothers while meandering about the globe. Together, the three of them had mentioned possibly returning to meet up with their family. They'd traveled together for a while and, though Quill had quite enjoyed being with his brothers, his paws had led him away.

While he moved about the world, Quill continued to think of the conversation with Rev and Ren and before he realized it, his paws were moving him back towards his family home. Word had reached him that Fenmyre was no more due to his father falling ill, so he knew that the island wouldn't be inhabited with Kleins. He hadn't known that his aunts pack had moved and so he first went to the Dove Islands and was surprised when foreign wolves were there. Quill promptly pissed on their border then continued on his way.

The scents of his brothers met the brutes nose and he followed their rather fresh tracks. These scent trails eventually led him to a border marker that he recognized. His father's scent was strong here. Rather than announce himself, Quill decided to be a surprise. He could only hope that no one intercepted him.

Following his nose, Quill eventually moved towards the opening of a cave. His eyes adjusted to the change in light and he noted the familiar forms of Rev and Ren. It seemed that they'd timed things perfectly. "We meet again," low tones would sound from behind them. Moving into the den, Quill took a step forward, his gaze falling upon the form of his mother. Feelings were difficult for the mottled man, but he plastered on a smile and gave Aliana a nuzzle. "Hello, mother." Dualtoned eyes shifted to look at the many, many balls of fluff waddling around before him. Lowering his head, Quill gave one of the pups a sniff then licked its dark little cheek, the action knocking the pup onto its side. They were wobbly little things, weren't they?

Quill's eyes moved back to his mother's face and he chuckled softly. "I see you've been busy." He hadn't expected his parents to stop fucking, but damn... that was a lot of puppies.

"Speech"

Morendo chuckled quietly as his mother mentioned how she hadn't expected to have such a large litter again after theirs, but even he who knew little to nothing about how pregnancy works could have guessed that history would repeat itself. Apparently their parents were just the perfect combination for being very productive breeders. As she greeted him and returned the nuzzle to his cheek, his expression softened again, his tail wagging gently behind him. No matter how brightly she had greeted them he could tell how much more subdued her energy was compared to the last time he had seen her, but he certainly wasn't surprised. With nine freshly born pups at her belly he was just grateful that she was able to sit up and greet them at all. It did put a nagging bit of worry in his mind, but he knew that she would just brush it off and assure him she was fine in her attempts to keep him from worrying so he didn't voice his concerns–at least not yet.

Instead, he looked to the array of tiny pups as she introduced each one, the names swimming in his head and hardly managing to remember any of them before she moved on to the next. Ah well, there would be plenty of time to learn their names as they grew, he supposed. Ren settled himself down beside their mother while Revenant got a closer look at the pups, watching his brother begin to poke and nudge a couple of the tiny loaves while he busied himself with carefully grooming his mother's from her ears down the back of her neck. He had no doubt that their father was taking good care of her in terms of bringing her whatever she needed and making sure she was provided for, but the idea of the massive beast that was Chimera delicately grooming his wife's coat was a hilarious concept. Having her fur be disheveled and out of place was probably the least of her worries, but it gave Morendo a little something to help her with so he continued on regardless.

He couldn't keep himself from rolling his eyes at Revenant's comment about the pitifulness of their new siblings and his joy at not having any kids of his own. Even though he didn't speak it, Morendo knew his brother well enough to know the unspoken part of that thought. He couldn't count how many times he had found his brother chasing after some female during their journey so the chances were high that there was some fatherless pups out there in the wilds, but they may never know. He was distracted from his work and from watching Revenant terrorize these pups when a familiar voice greeted them from the doorway, pulling his dual-toned gaze up to see Quill striding into the room. He offered his brother a bit of a grin as he said, "Well, if I had known you were coming we would have waited up for you." While he and Revenant had stuck pretty close together through their time away, their other brothers had been more of just occasional sightings–though Quill had been the most frequent of those.

"Morendo Klein"