The Silver Lining (Open)

[Sivoncé™]

In the warm hearth of the Destinian nursery, a flame-colored she-wolf laid on her side in a nest of soft furs, feathers, and moss. She was the sole bearer in the pack now, and so she and her bundles of joy had the nursery to themselves. A low, rumbling purr said otherwise; Fireflight radiated enough joy to fill the hearts of every she-wolf who'd ever been pregnant.
She wasn't an alphess now, though somewhere in the back of her head, she worried at the recent battle and the disappearence of the wolf she'd been close to naming beta. For a moment, her copper eyes, which melted and smoldered while resting with her pups and thinking of her beloved mate, grew sharp with fiery spite.
We'll get her back. We make the first move next time. I'll lead the attack myself!
"Momma?"
Fireflight snapped back into mothering mode the instant little Hatshepsut curled around her paw.
"Yes, dearest one?" She woofed softly.
"Why is the sky blue?"

[.Rabid Lycan.]

A pleasant heat baked the nursing hollow, warming the trunk to a comfortable degree. Summer desperately clung to its last legs, the chill of autumn already threatening its arrival. But, for the time being, the traditional warmth prevailed, and the sheltered pups cheerfully took advantage of the prime weather, not yet knowing the perils of the arctic season.
A yelp entered the air, Ramses effectively glomping Imhotep. “Pinned ya.”
“No fair,” the pale-and-orange pup managed. “I was listening to mum.”
“What, why?” Ramses turned his attention to Hatshepsut, and grinned broadly at the question. “Aw, don’t tell me you don’t know! Everyone knows why the sky’s blue!” Imhotep fixated his gaze on his brother, who puffed out his chest—possibly to increase his surface area and absorb more attention, or something. Ramses sat down beside Hatshepsut, a knowing glaze over his eyes. “Y’see, there was this big moose—a hundred times bigger than Dad! He was sooo big, he could eat little pups like us for breakfast!”
Imhotep wrinkled his nose. “You’re making that up!”
“No! No! It’s all true—Dad told me so!”
“Why would he tell you and not the rest of us?”
“Just—let me finish!” Ramses turned his back on his sibling, clearing his throat. “Anyway, so’s our great great great great great grandparents decided to stop him from eating any more puppies! So they tricked him into following them, faked him out, and wham— they knocked the guy right off a cliff and into a lake! And he was sooo big, he created a wave to splash into the sky, and the water got stuck up there, and that’s why the sky’s blue. Everybody knows that.”
“That’s stupid—Ramses is just lying, right, momma?” Imhotep yipped.
“I swear—it’s the truth!”

[Sivoncé™]

Fireflight chuckled softly at the soothing banter of her children. She'd thought before, with Euphrates, she'd reached the maximum capacity of being able to love -- she loved him more than anything else that could possibly manifest in the entire universe. But then, the pups had been born. Now, she loved everything more. Her heart was bigger, her love of everything was so much greater when she'd first laid eyes on the six tiny little miracles squirming with newborn life at her belly. Tenderly, she licked Ramses' ears and murmured, "Your father tells tall tales. Would you like to know what really happened, dearest?"
Hatshepsut bounced about impatiently at her mother's paws. She scowled at Ramses' interjection, but turned her attentions eagerly back to Fireflight when her words promised there would still be a story. Cleopatra and Akenaten, previously engulfed in a play-tussle nearby, bounded over with tails wagging.
"Tell us the story, Momma!"