Saladin sighed as he watched Amy's face fall.

"I'm sorry," He meowed. "But if you want to know, you should ask Storm. Eventually, he'll have to tell you."

Ian looked past Amy and Saladin, where another wolf, Rain, was crouched over another dog, a pile of leaves at her paws.

"Amy," She coaxed. "You have to eat these. They'll keep your strength up; your pups are due any day now, and you'll need it. Trust me."

Amy nodded. "I guess you're right."

Rain pushed the leaves closer to the lab's muzzle, and she lapped them up slowly.

Rain sighed. "Thank you. Now Cobra will stay out of my way; he's been bothering me so much! 'Are the pups coming?' 'Can I see Amy?' 'Will you please help her?' Obnoxious!"

Amy sighed. "Yeah, he can be that way. But there's nothing I can do. After the Great Journey, it's not like he'd leave me alone anyway—even if I wasn't his mate."

Rain dipped her head respectfully. "Good point. Very good point."

There was a yowl from somewhere else. Rain sighed. "I think Frogblood has another thorn in his paw. Darkpetal's been such a pest lately, after Frogblood went on the Journey with us, and now fits in, unlike her—still a petty prisoner. She's been placing thorns all over the place, waiting for him. I don't know what Diesel thinks he's doing, leaving her to do whatever she wishes. I'll have to talk to Storm about that; he'll put up a new guard."

The grey wolf turned to leave, but she spotted Ian watching her. "Ian Kabra," She said. "It's been a long time." She called over her shoulder, "Tundra, do you mind helping Frogblood? I have some other…business…to take care of."

"Sure," The white she-wolf appeared and went to where Rain told her Frogblood was. Then Rain turned back to Ian, slowly walking toward him, her green and blue eyes sparkling.

"Well," She began. "This is…a little strange."

"Touché," Ian replied.

Rain snorted. "Same old Kabra. Arrogant, selfish, ruthless. Will you ever change?"

Ian studied her for a moment. "It's so weird."

"What?"

"Seeing you now. Last time, you were so young and foolish."

The wolf looked him up and down from his seat on the floor. "You really shouldn't talk. Look at yourself! Such a snob!"

"Excuse me. When did you become so rude?"

They were just teasing each other now; Rain knew better than to take Ian's comments seriously. Ian looked past her, towards the lab she had just been treating.

"Who's that?" He asked.

"Who? Amy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm sure you've heard of the Great Journey; when a group of us went into the mountains, found a crystal, and heard what the Elements had to tell us. Amy and Cobra were among us. They fell in love on the way back, and long story short, she's about to have pups."

She paused. "She was named after Amy Cahill, you know. Her mother, Violet, let Storm and Blizzard name her. Storm chose Amy, because he thought that he would never see her again."

There was an awkward moment of silence before Rain spoke up, "Why don't I go get Lightning, Thunder, Star and Tornado? Really, they can't miss this."

Ian nodded, and Rain turned and vanished into another room, soon to return with her brother and sisters. Lightning and Thunder had strong muscles that quivered under thick fur, and Star and Tornado were almost up to their elbows. The younger wolves pranced around them, yelping happily. Thunder paused when he spotted Ian.

"Ian Kabra," He growled. "It's been too long."

The wolf's ears were pressed forward, his eyes narrowed, like he was about to attack.

"Thunder," Lightning scolded. "Be nice."

She never let her gaze drift away from Ian, until she saw Amy sitting with Natalie and Saladin.

"That…That can't be…" Lightning whispered, letting her sentence trail off.

"Amy Cahill," Thunder was looking at her now. "Father told us a lot about her. Dan, Hope, and Arthur too. And Grace. We've met her, though."

Lightning was leaning forward on her toes, resisting the urge to run over and nuzzle Amy.

"Huh," She said. "She's…pretty. Just like Storm described her."

Rain nodded. "I know," She murmured.

Ian looked over his shoulder. Well, she is kind of pretty…

"Star! Tornado! Come back!" Lightning yowled as the two pups bounded away, towards Amy, Natalie and Saladin. "Sorry!" She called to the girls and cat. "They've got a combined IQ of one!"

Natalie was sitting as far away from Saladin as she could, but made sure she was still in earshot, even though she was sneezing every two minutes or less.

Rain turned sharply as she heard Amy the dog moan. She sighed. "It's alright," She said. "She's fine. It looks like it's going to be a long night."

Thunder cocked his head to one side. "You saw into the future, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I went herb hunting yesterday, and I looked into a puddle, covered with ice, and I saw that Amy's pups are to be born tonight, at moon high."

Lightning's eyes widened. "The night of the full moon? Do you think that means something?"

Rain shook her head. "I don't know."

"Did you tell Cobra?"

"Of course not! It took long enough to get him out of my fur the first time, so why would I want him breathing down my neck all night?"

Lightning shrugged. "I'm going to say you don't."

"Right. If that flea-brain calls me over again, it better be an emergency."

Lightning and Thunder nodded, and then the three of them realized that their sisters were gone. Ian glanced up and saw Star and Tornado wriggling in Amy's arms, and she was laughing as the puppies licked her face. He smiled a little bit. So cute…

Rain glanced out the shattered glass window. The sun was setting, staining the sky a gorgeous pink, purple, and blue color. She sighed at the beauty of it all. "Well, I'd better get some sleep. Amy's not going to care for herself when it's time, and River and Tundra said it would be a great learning experience for me."

She turned and trotted away, leaving Lightning, Thunder, and Ian staring after her.

"Well, let's get Star and Tornado. If they don't go to sleep now, they'll get cranky. Nobody wants that," Lightning said. She and Thunder walked over, mumbled a few words to Amy, and grasped their little sisters by the scruffs. Tornado batted uselessly at Lightning's muzzle. "Let me go! I'm not tired!"

"You will be later," Lightning replied.

"Then I'll sleep than!"

"But you'll get cranky if you don't sleep now."

"No, I won't!"

"Yes, you will!"

"But Blizzard never said so!"

Lightning snorted. "Well, I'm in charge now."

"No you aren't!"

"Yeah, I am!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Both of you, just shut up!" Thunder yowled through a mouthful of Star's dark cream fur. "I'm getting cranky now!"

"Sorry Thunder," Lightning and Tornado said in unison.

"Ah, better," Thunder said triumphantly.

Everyone was sleeping quietly that night; peacefully. Slowly, the moon rose until it was in the center of the sky. Amy (the dog) yowled in pain, waking everybody from their sleep. Rain was the first one up.

"The pups are coming!"

I do not own anything except the setting and most of the animal characters. Sorry I took so long to update. I've been really busy!