As much as she wanted to keep their children close to home where she could make sure they were safe–especially little Fever and Thyrus–they were bound and determined to explore as far as they could manage and see as much as they could. The last thing she wanted to do was stifle any of their creative, curious spirit so she tried to meet them half way with small trips accompanied by her or Saracyn to the neighboring territories. She just hoped that would be enough to keep them entertained until they were old enough to fend for themselves when they went on their own adventures. At the very least she tried to plan something special for her little girl. Fever seemed to have an interest in anything unusual or different and while she didn't know if this would fall into that category for her visiting the lake at night with her father as a pup was still one of Avacyn's favorite memories so maybe Fever would like it too.

Just as the sun was beginning to set she left Sara with the boys to do whatever it was that boys wanted to do and she set out with Fever walking along beside her. She offered to carry her, but was unsurprised when the independent girl insisted on walking herself. She matched Fever's pace as they went across the land bridge to the main land and over toward the lake that dominated one third of their territory. Pushing aside the reeds and cattails around the shore of the lake to clear a path for Fever, they stepped onto the rocky beach just as the sky was starting to turn deeper shades of reds and purples. "Watch very carefully out over the water as it starts to get dark, okay?" she said as she settled onto her belly next to Fever, watching her reactions more than she was watching for the fireflies herself. "Can you spot them?"

"Avacyn Mendacium"

An Outing! Fever buzzed with excitement, running circles around her mother's legs as the pair prepared to leave. In fact, the small girl ran circles around her mother alllll the way down to the lake. Probably a good thing. By the time they arrived, she'd burned off some of that near-endless puppy energy and was prepared to sit and watch as her mother told her to. As Avacyn settled beside her daughter, Fever had other ideas. Still small enough, she rolled over one purple foreleg and nestled between her moms paws. Being like this made the girl feel safe and protected. It was the only feeling that she'd known since birth, so sitting like this just felt right, you know? Mismatched eyes looked out over the lake as the sun began to set. What was she supposed to look for? The girl gave her head a little tilt as she waited, but her head quickly shifted to the left, then the right. Were those lights? It seemed as though the light would disappear every time she'd catch one out of the corner of her eye. It was a little frustrating, but, as it grew steadily darker, there were more and more lights. Little flashes pulsed in the darkness, reflecting off of the still lake water. Fever gasped and bounced between her mother's paws. "What are thooooose?!" "Speech"

Fever surprised her as she quickly moved as soon as she had settled on the ground, her little girl climbing into the space between her front legs and nestling in against her chest. It pulled a warm smile across her face and she nuzzled the top of Fever's head affectionately between the little nubs of her horns. They settled in together to watch the surface of the lake, Avacyn still glancing down at her curious daughter occasionally to catch her reactions as she diligently followed her instruction to keep an eye out for the surprise. The way her head tilted occasionally as she tried to figure out what was going on was adorable and she almost missed the first sightings of the emerging fireflies because her attention was so focused on Fever.

Eventually Fever began to notice the flickering, mysterious lights and Ava grinned as she watched her daughter pick up on them more and more till she was bouncing with her excitement, questioning what the lights were. "Those are fireflies," she explained with a little giggle. "Lots and lots of them live out here. That's why this lake is called Firefly Lake. Every night they come out and put on this big light show for the world." As the sky settled into full darkness the fireflies came out in full force, nearly making more pinpoints of dancing lights than there were stars in the sky. The air was chilled with the late autumn air and she knew that sooner than she would like winter would hit and a lot of these fireflies would go away for the season so she was glad that they caught them when they did.

"They're real bugs, but I think they're kind of magical too," she added with a little grin as she playfully curled a foreleg around Fever to pull her close, nuzzling and tickling her neck. "Just like you, my little firefly." Daemon might have inherited the glowing marking that she and Saracyn shared, but Fever had gotten that trait in a wholly unique way with her glowing amber eye. Each of their children had so many special and wonderful blessings and she was so incredibly proud of all of them.

"Avacyn Mendacium"

Fever began kneading at the ground between her mother's paws from sheer excitement. Ava explained that these were fireflies and that was why the lake got its name. Her mother then called her a firefly and Fever giggled softly, leaning back against her mother. "I'm a wolf, momma," the girl snickered, patting her mother's foreleg as though comforting her for not knowing that. "Papa's papa(Al's dad) says I'm a monster though," she continued speaking with no real thought or filter as only a child can. "He says all three of us are monsters." Nothing about this seemed odd to the girl, of course.

As she watched the fireflies, Fever wondered if she could blink like them too. The girl concentrated hard, staring at the glowing lights. Her golden eye began to shine brightly, then dim, then shine brightly, then dim. "Momma! I can do it! Maybe I am a firefly after all!" The tiny girl rushed away from her mother, running along the bank of the lake. She bounced and blinked and giggled and glowed. She was a firefly!

"Fever Mendacium"

Avacyn chuckled with amusement as Fever reminded her that she was in fact a wolf, not a firefly. Sometimes she forgot how literally children could take things until moments like these. Communicating with her children had been its own unique kind of learning curve that she was enjoying figuring out. She knew it would only matter for a small phase of their life, but she always enjoyed a puzzle none of the less. However, when she added that "papa's papa" said she was a monster–that all three of her children were monsters, in fact–her smile faltered a bit with confusion. Her mind immediately went to her father, wondering if she meant Alastor as Saracyn's father, trying to rationalize that maybe Alastor had called them little monsters as a term of endearment and she had taken it literally yet again. But that didn't quite make sense either. She hadn't hidden the fact that Alastor was her father as well so why would Fever call him "papa's papa" instead of just saying her grandfather? No, the only thing that made sense was if she was talking about Alastor's father, but as far as she knew he was dead and at the very least had never been here.

Before she could finish coming to that conclusion though Fever was running off, exclaiming how she was a firefly after all as she figured out how to make her glowing eye blink like the fireflies she was watching. Avacyn sputtered a bit as she tried to think of any kind of response or words to her confusing and a bit concerning comment before she just sighed and tried to chalk it up to children coming up with the craziest, most unhinged ideas at times. "I told you!" she called after her with a chuckle, sighing as she pulled another smile onto her lips, watching Fever bound across the lakeshore, not wanting to interrupt her fun. She got to her paws to follow behind her so she couldn't go out of her line of sight, but she let Fever roam free a bit, just enjoying watching her daughter play while she tried not to think too deeply about the odd comment she had made.

"Avacyn Mendacium"