The boys are back in town

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"