Though it had been just short of nine years since she left, Calatonia didn't actually seem that different from how Stephanie remembered it. While it would hardly be considered rural or podunk, it was still a far cry from the overwhelming and downright chaotic spectacle of Redshore.

In her teen years, Stephanie had been counting down the days until she could leave this town and follow her dreams. But now, returning as an older, more jaded and perhaps wiser wolf than before, seeing it again after all these years was certainly a sight for sore eyes.

"Okay, so it looks like we have a vacancy in Room 817 on the second floor. How long do you two think you'll be staying with us...?"

"Eh... about forty or fifty years, maybe...?" Stephanie shrugged with a chuckle, though it seemed neither Porsha or the small, white mouse at the concierge desk had caught on to her personal in-joke. "Oh, y'mean for real...? Uh... well, I... I dunno, really... see, we uh..."

Stephanie glanced down at her daughter again, prompting Porsha to pull a big, innocent smile, then sighed as she leaned a little forward on the desk so that the pup couldn't eavesdrop on this conversation.

"Alright, here's the thing, uh... Nancy...?" She squinted a little to see the tiny name tag the concierge was wearing, then gave a small, self-deprecating scoff. "I'm kinda starting fresh here, y'know? See, my husband and me don't exactly get along, so we were kinda in a hurry to get outta there, and I didn't have much time to plan ahead or -"

"Oh no. No no no, no need to explain, sweetie..." Nancy smiled, then turned back to her computer - which was about the size of Stephanie's phone - and typed something in. "Yeah, I can just put indefinite here. We'll charge you on a weekly basis, then you can stay as long as you need."

"Aw, thank God... yeah, that'd be real great, Nancy..." Stephanie sighed with relief. "Yeah, it shouldn't be too long, I just gotta figure out what me and my daughter are gonna be doin' in this town, y'know...?"

"Of course, I totally get it..." Nancy smiled. "Miss...?"

"Oh yeah, it's uh... it's Frangipane..." Stephanie said, standing slightly straighter with a more confident, almost proud expression on her face. "Hmm... Stephanie Frangipane."

As soon as they'd arrived at the room, Stephanie had left Porsha to explore the new surroundings while she went into the en suite to freshen herself up. Although the slightly rickety-sounding shower - which couldn't seem to decide whether it was going to be hot or cold - wasn't anywhere near the standards of the Crystal Mansion or its affiliated attractions, it was exactly what she'd needed after such a long, tedious journey, and not just the ten hour bus ride.

After spending the better part of ten minutes under the water, during which a faint mist of steam had settled on the entire room, Stephanie finally switched off the faucet and stepped out. She wrapped the larger of the two towels around her body while gently wiping her face with the smaller one, and after wiping the fog away from the small mirror over the sink, she couldn't help chuckling at her reflection.

Her fur was completely soaked and unkempt, and long streaks of mascara still dribbled down from under both her eyes. Shaking her head with an amused smirk, Stephanie quickly cleaned herself up and dried herself off, then slipped into her red fluffy bathrobe before walking out into the main room.

She had expected to find Porsha jumping up and down on the double bed, watching the TV opposite, or digging through the bags to find her toys and drawing books. But instead, the four-and-a-half-year-old was sat quietly by the window at the very end of the room, gazing out curiously onto the streets below.

"Hmm... enjoying the view there, baby...?"

"Aw yeah, it looks amazing down there, Mommy!" Porsha didn't turn to face her mother, still looking down with awe at the city. "So is this Cally... uh... C-Cala... Calay-Tanya...?"

"Hmm... it's Calatonia, Porsha..." Stephanie gently corrected her as she sat beside her daughter at the window. "It's home..."

"It is...?" Porsha tilted her head, still unsure as she studied the simpler, far less towering skyline outside. "But it doesn't look like home..."

"Well, that's cause it's Mommy's home, baby..." Stephanie chuckled at the still curious look on her daughter's face. "This is where I grew up. And it's where you're gonna grow up too."

"Really...?!"

"Uh-huh..." Stephanie smiled. "Yeah, lotta memories around here. Hmm... guess ya could say whole place was kinda like my own little kingdom, huh...?"

"Kingdom...?" Porsha finally tilted her head to look at Stephanie, her eyes widening a little. "Wait, are... are you a princess, Mommy...?"

"Princess?! Ha! God, I wish..." Stephanie laughed, quickly pulling Porsha into a hug as she planted a few kisses on top of the younger wolf's head. "But nah, I wasn't a princess. Actually, I uh... well, I... I barely had anything at all when I was your age, Porsha."

"Oh..." Porsha lowered her ears, slightly saddened to hear this. "How come...?"

"What...?" Stephanie snapped out of the brief trance these thoughts had put her into, then quickly cleared her throat. "Well, because uh... nah, it's a long story. But y'know, princesses aren't exactly commonplace around here, sunshine. Can't be a princess if ya don't have a castle, huh...?"

"Oh... but isn't that one there a castle...?"

Porsha pointed out the window, prompting Stephanie to look out and see for herself. While the night sky was well-illuminated by various buildings and signs lining either end of the street, Stephanie realised her daughter was pointing at the only building opposite that wasn't lit at all. If it were a house or a small newsagent they probably wouldn't have noticed it, but given that this tall, slender building practically towered over its neighbours, it was rather hard to miss.

"No no, baby, that's not a castle, it's uh... it's uh... oh gosh..."

Stephanie felt her heart sink a little as she finally recognised the old building. Despite it's boarded up front door, shattered windows and slightly deteriorated structure, it hadn't lost that much of the beauty or majesty from its heyday, but seeing it like this was still rather upsetting after how she remembered it being when she'd left all those years ago.

"It's the Prairie..."

"The what...?" Porsha asked.

"Uh, the Prairie. Yeah, I used to do a couple shows there a few years back..." Stephanie sighed, before looking down at the curious look on her daughter's face. "Well basically, it used to be a theatre. Y'know, like the big one that Daddy has...?"

"Oh yeah, okay..." Porsha smiled naively, then looked over to the run-down, boarded-up structure again. "Then why's it look like that...? Daddy's isn't like that."

"I dunno, baby, I guess... I guess it must have closed down or something..." Stephanie pursed her lips, feeling rather bittersweet as she thought back. "Hmm... I had a lotta good times there. Made a lotta good friends too."

"Really...?" Porsha's face lit up a little when Stephanie nodded, only to droop down in what seemed like disappointment as she looked over at the old theatre across the street again. "Aw... I really wish I coulda done that, Mommy..."

Stephanie's eyes widened a little when she heard Porsha say this, and she slowly glanced over to the gym bag sat on the bed behind them, and the massive bundles of money that were still inside it. As she stared at it for another moment or two, the gears in her head quickly started clicking together, and an idea began to form in it.

"Hmm... maybe ya will, sunshine..." She said in a rather neutral tone, pulling a small smirk as she looked down at her little one again. "Maybe ya will..."

The next couple days were fairly uneventful, and aside from a couple visits to the park across the road, and eating lunch and dinner at various restaurants in the immediate vicinity, the pair had barely left the bed and breakfast where they'd set up shop.

Entertaining Porsha had been easy enough, since she spent most of her time on the floor in front of the TV doodling in her drawing books. So Stephanie had spent most of this free time sat on her bed while she typed feverishly onto her laptop, gradually turning her new idea into a more professional pitch.

Before either of them knew it, the weekend was over and it was finally Monday, so Stephanie decided this would be the perfect opportunity to put this new plan into action. But knowing that where she was going was perhaps not the best place to bring her young, easily-distracted child, she decided it was time to start integrating herself and her daughter back into the wider Calatonia community.

"Uh... Sir Chool...?" Porsha cupped her chin, struggling to read the sign on front of the gate they were standing at. "What's that mean, Mommy?"

"Hmm... it says school, baby..." Stephanie knelt down closer to her daughter's level, straightening the little one's shirt and the backpack she was wearing. "Okay, so uh... so ya just gotta do what the nice teacher lady says, be nice to the other kids, and if ya get hungry, ya got those sandwiches I bought yesterday in your bag. Okay...?"

"Uh... y-yeah, I guess so..." Porsha rubbed her arm nervously, sniffling a bit as she glanced over to the building behind the gate. "But I... I still don't get why you're leaving me here, Mommy."

"Cause Mommy's gonna be doin' boring adult stuff all day, Porsha... y'know, honestly, even for me. It's gonna be so goddamn dreary, I'm not even gonna be able to... able to..." Stephanie playfully rolled her eyes and dropped her head down, dramatically pretending to snore as Porsha giggled. Having lifted her daughter's spirits, Stephanie lifted her head back up and held on tight to Porsha's hands. "So yeah, I'm not putting you through that. So I'm just gonna leave ya here for the next few hours to enjoy yourself."

"Well yeah, but there's..." Porsha glanced across the gate, hesitating for a moment before she leaned closer to her mother and whispered. "There's other kids here..."

"Yeah, and that's a good thing, Porsha..." Stephanie chuckled. "Goin' to school and playin' with other kids is a big part of, like, development and stuff... definitely was for me. Y'know, when I was your age, I used to love hanging out over here. Sometimes I almost wished I coulda stayed here full time!"

"Really...?"

"Uh-huh. And it's gonna be great for you too. Have some fun, make some friends. Nice, huh...?" Stephanie then gestured to the bench behind herself. "Oh yeah, and you're gonna come out at three, and I'm gonna be sitting right there waiting for ya. Okay...?"

"Okay, yeah... right there..." Porsha eyed the bench for another moment or two, clearly to make a mental note of it, then clambered up and threw her arms around Stephanie's neck. "Love ya, Mommy..."

"Hmm... love ya too, sunshine..." Stephanie gave her little pup a kiss on the forehead, then lowered her back down and held the gate open. "Alright... off ya go..."

Porsha hesitated for a few brief seconds, then closed her and eyes and took a deep breath. Once she exhaled, she gave a small nod, and finally entered as Stephanie closed the gate again behind her.

"She'll be fine..." Stephanie quietly whispered to herself as Porsha was greeted by a beautiful, bespectacled clouded leopard - clearly the teacher of the kindergarten class - and was led inside. She remained there for another moment or two, taking a few hesitant steps back before finally taking a deep breath of her own. "Yeah... she'll be fine..."

"Okay okay okay, let's start over, uh..." Stephanie cleared her throat and straightened up as she walked down the street, dramatically rehearsing the pitch she was about to make. "Ms. Noodleman, my name is Stephanie Frangipane, and I'm interested in reopening - ugh, dammit!"

Her conversation with herself did get a few curious and concerned glances from the other animals that she passed by, but none of them were intrusive enough to speak up, nor did Stephanie pay them any mind either.

"Alright, ya gotta make it personal... talk about the history first, so uh..." Stephanie started again. "Nana, ya might remember I used to perform with ya at the Prairie and... and I didn't call ya Nana. Ugh! Oh, that's just terrific..."

It was only then when Stephanie realised she was already right outside the gate of the finest estate in the entire city. The home of Calatonia's most iconic and beloved performer.

While technically only two stories high, the Noodleman Mansion positively towered over most of the houses surrounding it, even more so than the Prairie did in its area of the city. Its smooth, pure white stone exterior contrasted starkly with the fine gold and vibrant pink embellishments on its roof, windows and doors. Rather than a more modern button or switch for a doorbell, the door instead had a long cord dangling down in front of it, and after some uncertainty, Stephanie pulled down on it to prompt the loud DING-DONG! noise.

"Ugh..." A deep, slightly gruff voice yawned as the door opened. "Yeah, what's up...?"

To Stephanie's surprise, it was not the usual penguin butler who answered the door, but another sheep. The bright yellow suit jacket and orange shorts were a dead giveaway that he wasn't an employee, and though he didn't look much older than herself, he certainly looked a lot more fatigued, despite it only being just before midday.

"Uh... can I help you...?" He asked again, snapping Stephanie out of her brief moment of studying him.

"Oh, uh... y-yeah, I'm here to see Ms. Noodleman..." Stephanie said, straightening the modest but still elegant white shirt and black pants she was wearing. "Say, you uh... you're her grandson, aren't ya...? Uh... Eli...?"

"Eddie, actually..." He answered back, before holding the door a little more open to let her in. "Yeah, Nana doesn't usually see folks anymore, though, so unless you got some kinda appointment..."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm just here to..." Stephanie cut herself off as she entered the room and finally got a good look at its interior. "Whoa..."

All of the walls in the mansion were a bright pink, once again contrasting with the smooth, chessboard-like grey and white floor she was standing on. A beautiful but simple golden chandelier hung from the ceiling, complementing the staircase that curved around the back wall. While she may have had some recency bias for having just escaped from it, she could see that far more life and love had been put into this place than the obnoxious interior of the Crystal estate. But Stephanie was quickly snapped out of this amazed admiration as the upstairs door opened and a familiar figure finally made her way down.

"Ah, Nana!"

And there she was - Nana Noodleman herself. Though she was already a few steps from the bottom, her long purple dress trailed behind her all the way up to the half point of the stairs she'd already come down. But during her entire descent, the old sheep's steely stare pierced Stephanie's soul like a knife, which was more than enough of a sign that she hadn't lost any of her stone-cold confidence or her incredibly high standards in her old age.

"Aw, look at you, huh? Picture of health. Why, ya don't look a day over eighty!"

Stephanie paused awkwardly at her own remark, before quickly regaining her composure as she cautiously headed to the bottom of the stairs to greet her old mentor.

"It's, uh, it's Stephanie. Y'know, Frangipane. I uh... I performed with your old Troupe at the Prairie a few years back."

"Frangipane...?" Nana studied her for another moment or two, prompting Stephanie to stand straighter - almost militantly so, just as she would do in her younger years - before it finally clicked. "Oh yes, of course... The Swan In Wolf's Clothing..."

"Swan in... uh...?" Stephanie's eyes widened a little, though she quickly loosened up with a nostalgic chuckle. Though she had previously convinced herself not to, this little moment of levity was enough to prompt her to start using her old mentor's first name. "Damn, I almost forgot all about that... yeah, well uh... well, it's really great to see ya, Nana..."

"Yes, quite..." Nana strode past the wolf and made her way towards the closed doors of the dining room. "Then to what do I owe the pleasure for this visit, Miss Frangipane...? It must be a decade at least since you were last here."

"Well, it's probably more like eight years or so, but uh..." Stephanie cleared her throat, and tried her best to keep up with the old sheep while giving her some distance. "But anyway... as ya can probably see, Nana, I'm actually back in town, and I couldn't help noticin' that the Prairie's all boarded up now. So I was wondering if maybe you'd wanna hear my -"

"Ahem..." Nana's penguin butler finally made his appearance, clearing his throat as he opened the doors to reveal the long, hand carded mahogany table. "Your lunch awaits, Ma'am."

"Ah yes. Thank you, Hobbs..." Nana stood straight, rolling her eyes with a scoff as Eddie shuffled past her and sat down, before then turning her attention back towards the wolf standing behind her. "Would you care to join us, Miss Frangipane...?"

"Join ya...? What, like, for lunch...?" Stephanie glanced over at the table. "Well uh... y-yeah, I guess I could eat, but I'd hate to impose on ya like that, Nana."

"Oh nonsense. Anything's better than having to strike up a conversation with my useless grandson..." Nana snarked, making Eddie drop his head a little. "Besides, I'd like to hear more about these plans you have for the Prairie..."

This was by far the most bizarre situation Porsha had ever experienced, no doubt about it.

Only a few days prior, she was playing, drawing and singing in her big, comfy bedroom back at the Crystal Mansion, with no one around to bother her. And the next thing she knew, she was in a room that was barely even half that size, and with at least two dozen other children playing and having fun all around her. While her mother had assured her otherwise before dropping her off that morning, she still couldn't shake the feeling that this was not merely another town, but another world entirely from the one that she was used to.

"Have some fun, make some friends. Nice, huh?"

Stephanie's words had been ringing in the back of Porsha's mind for the better part of three hours now, but it wasn't until she'd actually set foot into this classroom when the young wolf realised that she'd never played with or even really spoken to someone her own age before.

And every time she tried to approach or talk to one of the many other children playing here, she'd either been flat out ignored, or her nerves had gotten the better of her and she ran off before even saying anything. And now, here she was, quietly sitting alone on a small, wooden bench at the back corner of the room, watching all the other kids having fun and making friends without her.

Or so it seemed...

"Hmm...?"

Porsha's ears suddenly pricked up a little at what sounded like faint sniffling, which upon glancing around, she realised was coming from behind the bright red bookcase beside her. After a moment of uncertain hesitation, and checking to make sure that the teacher and other children weren't looking, the little pup clambered down off the bench and tiptoed over to the source of the noise, and carefully poked her head around the back to see where it was coming from.

It was another little girl, not a years difference younger or older than Porsha, sat sobbing quietly in the corner. Though calling her little was perhaps rather inaccurate, given that she was a lot bigger and hefiter than most of the other children.

She was dressed in blue jeans, big red sneakers, and a greenish-turquoise sweater, though Porsha still found her actual appearance rather unusual. Her skin was a light grey, and she had a long nose that stuck out from her face, with big flappy ears that were folded over her eyes, and two small tufts of brown hair at the top of her head that were tied into pigtails.

Porsha had seen older animals like this working at her father's hotel back in Redshore. They were called heffalumps, or at least that's what she'd always heard Jimmy calling them. But while she'd always found their size and big, booming voices rather scary, this smaller one just looked like she really needed a friend, which was something Porsha could certainly relate to.

"Um..." Porsha cleared her throat, finally getting the young pachyderm's attention. "Hi...?"

"Oh... hello..." The other girl's ears folded away, revealing her slightly freckled cheeks and her still slightly misty green eyes. Somehow she seemed even more scared than before as she tucked her knees into her chest and shuffled back a little. "What do... w-what do you want...?"

"Whaddaya mean...? Oh, uh... n-nothing, I don't want anything..." Porsha itched the back of her neck. "Ya just... ya just seem a little lonely, is all..."

"Oh..." The little one sighed, sniffling a bit as she wiped her face with her sleeve. "Yeah, but it's okay, I just... I just get really scared around the other kids."

"Aw yeah, me too..." Porsha giggled, hesitating for another moment or two. "Could I, uh... could I sit here with ya, then...?"

"What...?" The pachyderm's eyes widened a little. "You... you wanna sit with me? But nobody wants to sit with me."

"Well, I do..." Porsha chuckled. "Y'know, if... if it's okay...?"

The other girl thought for a moment, then shuffled over a little and patted the space she'd just left. "Yeah, okay... I'd really like that."

"Great!" The little wolf quickly shuffled over and sat down in the spot, tucking her knees into her chest just as the other girl was doing. "Oh, and uh... I'm Porsha, by the way."

"Hmm... it's really nice to meet you." The elephant answered back, her face beaming a warm red as she pulled a small smile. "I'm Meena..."