Chapter 10: Delightful Morning
As one month went through, there were some changes in the town of Nome in mid-to-late winter of 1934. As many changes as they were today, there was one thing to think about and it had to do something with Nero, Amanda and their family in general.
And that was that all six puppies of theirs, two weeks after they were born, were finally been able to see with their eyes. And the variety of their puppies eye colors was really, really stunning. These puppies were the most diverse-like with their eye colors that no one would ever think of!
For start, Ilak, the gray male puppy, had the golden eyes. Arina, the oldest female and the only red puppy, had the green eyes that matched perfectly to the red-green contrast of her fur. Sheena, the black puppy with gray underbelly, had the pretty indigo violet eyes that made her being adored by Nero the most.
Furthermore, Akun, the another male that resembled Steele, had the cyan blue eyes that were quite standing out. Victoria, or better known as Vicky, who was looking like her mother, had the pretty brown eyes that was matching one of Nero's eyes. For the end, the youngest puppy Yune, whose face was almost black, just happened to have the same hazel brown eyes as her grandfather Yukon!
And now that all six of them were one month old, it was this exact same morning they were going to turn one month. This was going to be their first day outside, to be spent happily on the beach outside of Nome. All that was necessary was for Nero to arrive to Amanda's place first.
As for Amanda, she was in her basket, resting on her side as she was giving her milk to her one month old puppies, who with an utter joy adored their meal to be Amanda's milk. Their little fangs had grown and sometimes Amanda'd stir from the tiny piercing fangs, but did nothing but to enjoy having her puppies being happy!
"Enjoying your breakfast, my puppies?" Amanda asked them all motherly, feeling how joyful all six of them were! While they were still eating, Vicky did raise her head to look at her mommy then she joyfully yipped: "This is so tasty, mommy! I love it!" Then she returned to her breakfast, making sure she still had her spot to be fed on.
When the breakfast was still on, Sheena did eventually part from Amanda's belly to look at her with a curious look, causing her to ask: "Mommy, is daddy coming to play with us today? He told me he has the big surprise for us all!" Amanda, being delighted by Sheena's question, licked her by her cheek and whispered: "Be patient, my sweetie. Your daddy indeed has the surprise for you!"
Then, the sounds of someone's pawsteps were heard outside and while Sheena got back to her meal, Akun turned his head around and asked: "Mommy, I think I hear someone coming!" And indeed the little Akun was right. Amanda recognized the pace of the pawsteps and asked her puppies: "Guess who!?"
Suddenly, with the push of the head, the dog doors opened and it was none other else than Nero himself! Looking happily at his family having breakfast, Nero joyfully barked: "Hey puppies! Guess who!?" With him being heard, all six puppies stopped drinking Amanda's milk and turned around to see their daddy home!
"DADDY! It's daddy!" The puppies all yipped at the same time, with Sheena being the loudest one. As quick as the flash, all six of them parted from Amanda's belly and bolted straight to Nero, who just laughed and said: "Hey there! Hey, my puppies! HEY! WHOAAAAAA!" This last one was him rolling on his back and being tickled by many tiny soft paws.
Looking at his chest, he saw his son Ilak licking him by his chin and his son asked him: "Daddy, will you please play with us?" Ilak kept energetically licking his father's chin as the other puppies kept begging: "Please! PLEASE! PLEASE!" It came to Nero to happily say: "And that is why I came, Ilak!" The other puppies jumped in joy.
"Did you all have your breakfast well?" Amanda asked as she came to the puppies, who all nodded joyfully. With Nero on his paws again, Amanda licked him by his cheek and asked: "Slept well, my love?" Nero responded with nodding and licked her cheek by saying: "I hope for you the same."
That was obvious, as Amanda said: "Why'd the sleep with my puppies be trouble? You're so silly!" With Nero and Amanda laughing, they felt like someone was jumping on their paws and looking down, that was little Arina, who was curiously asking: "Daddy? Where are we going to play?"
Looking at his daughter warmly, Nero licked her by her cheek and just said: "We're going to play in the snow on the beach. I hope you're going to love it!" Arina then barked several times happily, joined by her siblings. Amanda laughed as well and just said: "Off we go to the beach! Yune, what are you doing?"
The youngest puppy, Yune, was trying her best to push the dog doors with all her might, but as much as she was trying, she was not strong enough to push the dog doors herself. She just said innocently: "I'm just trying to go out and play!" That made them all laugh out of fun.
"Don't worry, silly, here's how you can do it." Nero let her know cheerfully as he pushed the dog doors with his paw, thus all the puppies, Amanda and Nero himself could get out. Nero spoke: "Of we all go! Ladies and puppies first of course!" Amanda licked him by his cheek again, this time out of mischievousness.
Eventually, the puppies and Amanda exited the house and Nero followed. Now that all eight of them were outside, all they had to do was to go to the beach, with Nero beckoning them. However, the puppies did something surprising - three of them jumped on Nero and three of them jumped on Amanda!
"Oh, is that so?!" Nero asked three of his puppies, Sheena, Ilak and Arina mischievously, as they all giggled for the piggyback ride instead of walking by themselves. Amanda asked them: "Having fun, puppies?" Vicky, Akun and Yune yipped happily, leaving Amanda to say: "Lead the way, Nero."
Now that both parents served as the piggyback rides of their puppies, Nero was indeed leading the way, with the puppies giggling on him. It was basically the same thing going on with Amanda. Thankfully, as they reached the beach, none of the puppies was making any kind of mess to them.
"Alright, my puppies! We have arrived to the beach!" Nero proudly said, indicating that the puppies could finally get off them and as soon as they did, the giggles and the yips of the puppies were heard all across the beach, showing how delighted all these puppies were!
While the puppies were playing with each other, Amanda leaned on Nero's shoulder, sighed in content and whispered to Nero: "Look at them, Nero... how happy and how playful our six puppies are!" Nero responded by licking her forehead, sharing the same thoughts regarding her opinion. He added: "With them we have all the time in the world."
That was just right, with them watching the fun on the beach, showing the obvious signs that the puppies just adored the snow! Their parents were just hoping that they weren't going to end up being wet in the sea so they'd be freezing! But the thing was that the puppies seemed not to be fond of being near the water.
"You know, I may have noticed that each of our puppies is close to at least one family member of our family." Amanda pointed out, remembering something that Nero had to listen. With Nero looking at her as if he was trying to say: "I'm listening, go on." Amanda knew that she could speak out her opinions.
Looking at each of them, Amanda then started with her opinions: "You could have noticed that both Ilak and Arina are pretty much adored by your parents. I mean, look at them, they're looking similar to them!" At that point, she pointed at both Ilak and Arina, who were playfully chasing each other.
"And let's not forget that Sheena is closest to you, you two are lookalike to each other." As Amanda said that, Nero proudly smiled at his daughter, who was being tickled by little Akun. Nero was imagining his beloved daughter with a pretty cyan collar right now for some reason. Amanda continued: "And Akun? My dad loves Akun a lot!"
She was right, Akun was looking a lot like Steele, so no doubts in that. And as they were looking at Vicky and Yune chasing the butterfly near the beach, competing with each other who was going to get him first. Amanda then said: "And Vicky... I think Vicky is so close to me, and Rodney too! He gave her that nickname, if you remember. And Yune, my mom loves Yune a lot!"
With that being kept in mind, Nero couldn't deny that. Even if Sheena was his favorite, he loved all six of his puppies equally! Same with Amanda despite Vicky being her favorite. Then, as the puppies kept playing with each other, someone's pawsteps were heard from distance, familiar ones.
Since both Amanda and Nero had their ears perked behind themselves, that caused the both to turn around. Both of them saw a familiar face, but it wasn't Rodney this time. It was Tayer, with him looking really happy today. Amanda went on to approach and nuzzle her stepbrother, saying: "Tayer, it's nice to see your around!"
Tayer smiled happily as he nuzzled his stepsister, saying: "Same here, Amanda. I saw you and Nero playing with your puppies here!" Nero smiled proudly, as all six puppies were now chasing each other, presumably being in the game of tag, leaving everything on Ilak to chase.
Then Nero just said: "Enjoying your day off, Tayer?" His response was nodding, knowing that not every day was the mail delivery day for Tayer and his team. Despite that, he could at least enjoy his time with his family, friends and relatives around. Furthermore, Tayer asked: "I'm sure that both of you are aware of some changes in this town recently."
Upon hearing "changes", Nero and Amanda looked at each other as if they heard of something unknown before. Then both of them laughed their surprise off. Of course they were going to know that the changes happened in the town of Nome! Having the advantage, Nero said: "Such as Amber being mates with Geed and her expecting puppies in few weeks!"
That was the main change, supposedly, in the town. Truth to be said, after Geed made amends with his brother, he was good with Amber, which led to him giving her the sky blue bandanna for their romantic night. Truth to be said - she was bearing Geed's four puppies, anticipating them dearly to come!
"Oh, and let's not forget Allina and Tenana. Both of them are expecting puppies too, but a week or two late than Amber." Furthermore, these details couldn't have been denied by any of them, plus now that Allina was mates with Titanium, she was given the yellow bandanna from her father and Tenana was now wearing Elizabeth's heirloom, approved by Lizzy herself.
"Just to let you know, Annabeth and Noir are now on a really good way with both Ryan and Harath!" Tayer furthermore added that fact, taking in account that Harath was overcoming his shyness and Ryan adored his street life with Annabeth. Then again, they weren't the literal street dogs!
Suddenly, there was something in Nero and Amanda's head and as if they both had the same thoughts, both of them looked at each other and asked simultaneously: "Hey, what do you think of Annabeth and Ryan puppysitting our puppies?" Realizing that they said that at the same time, they snickered.
But Tayer was actually being fine with all that and just said: "I mean, why not? Even if they aren't mates yet, both of them shall learn how to be good parents in future." Tayer was telling that as he was referring to Nero's cousin and to Amanda's sister, at the same time his stepsister. Both Nero and Amanda agreed.
Suddenly, the puppies had showed up by their parents and then, little Yune said: "Uncle Tayer! Uncle Tayer!" That caused the other puppies to jump around the adult dogs, with Yune and Akun jumping around Tayer's paws, with the latter saying: "Play with us, uncle Tayer, pleeeeeeeease!"
How could he deny Akun's offer? With the puppies getting more and more excited, Tayer went on to say: "How about all of us play with the puppies?! They'll love it!" And in the matter of time, Tayer was running around, being chased playfully by Akun and Yune. At the same time, Ilak and Vicky jumped on Amanda's back again.
"Oh, want me to play with you, puppies?" Amanda giggled with joy in her voice, feeling how happy her puppies were. Ilak giggled cheerfully and begged his mommy: "Give us a piggyback ride, mommy! Please!" Amanda looked at Nero and just said: "Good luck, my love." As she was giving them a piggyback ride, Vicky was heard shouting: "Wheeeeeeeeee!"
Now that Arina and Sheena were "besieging" Nero, he "succumbed" to their cuteness by rolling on his back and both of his daughters could tickle his belly. Arina was being fast on her tiny fluffy paws and asked: "Your belly is so fluffy, daddy!" And with his head being backed down in snow and sand, Sheena grabbed Nero's ear and started biting it playfully, saying: "This is so funny, daddy!"
As Nero was looking at his puppies, his mate and Tayer playing, he'd been thinking through everything he had gone through in the last year and was more than pleased for having a life like this. And sure, the changes were coming to their town.
But these changes were the stories for the another times to come...
THE END
