flowers where your face should be

They'd been seeing each other sparingly since the end of Poem's pregnancy. Theory had been so preoccupied doting on her sister that so much had fallen to the wayside, including her quiet time with Thalia. Now that the puppies were on the ground - and healthy! - she made it a point to arrange a meeting with her today. For a change of scenery she'd asked her Abraxas girl to meet her by the bay. Theo had loved this place when they'd lived here, but she understood the pack's desire for a return to normalcy. It had been her pleasure to honor that with a return to their ancestral lands.

There was nothing "normal" about this spring, though. Snow still fell and sometimes it felt like they were seeing more now than they had all winter. And there were rumors of strange, enormous creatures - not to mention she'd seen that ponderously huge elk on the plains with Ruin. So, uh, not rumors. Truths. Big, frightening truths. Trying to cast out the dangers that preyed on her thoughts (everything bad seemed to come from the north), Theory trained her eyes on the horizon. The waves were choppy but the sky had finally cleared. A brilliant, cold sun shone high above the ocean. It felt like the first clear sky in months. She settled in a few dozen yards from the shoreline and wasted no time hunkering down in the sand. Although the wind coming off the water was frigid, once she tucked her paws underneath her chest she was able to retain her body heat a bit better. Besides - she wouldn't be cold for long. Thalia was coming.