Juliet chuckled, "Perla never has been mistaken about anything of the sort, and the discussion of nature vs nurture is one of them, and you love those cubs, right?". Beast replied with a nod, "With all my heart.".

"There you go. What else do I need to say for that?", Juliet chuckled. "Now, you better distract the staff in case if there's leaks again from the storm tonight, or something. I'm sure you need a bath as much as I do.".

Beast nodded, getting up, heading to the door, opening it, taking a deep sniff, and then exhaled as he glanced back at Juliet, "It's all clear. No servants anywhere on this floor. You head one way to your room, and I'll head another way.".

Juliet nodded, "Alright, but to be safe, I'll wait a few minutes after you leave, to cover all the bases if you will.", and Beast smiled gratefully, "Thank you, my friend...", before dropping to all fours, using his cape to cover his stained trousers, to head off to the West Wing.

"Well, I'm kind of impressed and jealous at the same time. Perla is lucky to have him.", Juliet commented as she glanced at the hiding compasses, "Thanks, Evangeline.".

Juliet then took a deep breath, "Please, Perla... get here soon; I don't know how much longer he's gonna hold up before he might suddenly break... which I'm guessing is what our little foe is wanting to consider what he's done to you."

The compasses gave a soft red glow with a hissing sound, and Juliet replied, "Good to know that you are mad at the dark magician too...Are you keeping Perla and the cubs safe and have been transporting Beast to her in his dreams in a way?".

The compasses glowed blue, and Juliet smiled, "Good. Well, go back to your spots. I think I waited long enough. I need a bath.", and the compasses gave a jingling bell sound before vanishing, and Juliet then headed on out of the storage room, heading the other direction to her room.

Like Perla said, Azure was grounded for a week from foraging by her mother's side, and after little Jolene rested the whole week, thanks to Perla's slight anxiety that her daughter needed the strength after the close call of losing nearly her life, and so, Eli kept Jolene safe in the sling while Azure rode on her mama's back, while they traveled for the next month, with breaks of feeding and sleeping, and then soon, Perla's recognizing a familiar sight in the distance from being on a cliffside, not too close to the edge of the cliff.

It was the mountains and the chasm surrounding the castle and forest grounds, and if she is seeing with her new sight properly, there's a village deep in the valley. Azure piped up, "Mama, what is that place?", looking at the village.

"A village, but dangerous for us. Home is not far, thankfully, but we have to take the long way to avoid the village.", Perla replied with a growl. Eli sniffed, "Mama, wind smells funny.".

Perla sniffed, and growled lowly, "Horses. Hunters are riding on their horses...Hmm, not far, but not near...We need to get away to a safe place.".

"Mama, what about that up running river?", Azure replied, and Perla blinked, looking down, "Up running river? What are you talking about?".

Azure pointed a paw down, to the right to the valley side of the cliffside, and Perla followed her daughter's eye of direction before seeing a densely spot of forest with a waterfall that's barely seen from the top, but from the sound of it by the distance she's picking up with her ears, that it's loud.

Perla exhaled, realizing that the loud waterfall would cover the sounds of the family, but she couldn't be sure if there's caves behind the waterfall, to hide them safely from the hunters, especially if she's going to give birth soon, not knowing that it was the work of the Enchantress who's following them invisibly.

The Enchantress knew that the waterfall is there naturally, but it is actually a minor waterfall, with a small cave that barely fit small animals, and hunters rarely get successful with prey there as it's not enough to attract many animals in the heat of the summer, but the Enchantress has illusioned the waterfall to grab Perla's attention while she deepened the cave with her magic secretly, while it's still a small cave to outsiders in fooling them, and keeping the family safe.

"Oh, so that's what you were meaning...", Perla said as she took a closer look at things. It truly was a sight to behold as it defied nature, but then again, considering what she was at first and everything that she had seen through her short life, it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.

Azure asked, "Are we going there, Mama, from hunters?", and Perla sniffed the air again, and nodded, "Yes, we are, and it's a waterfall, not a up running river, Azure.", with a chuckle before checking on Jolene who's gratefully still sleeping, with Eli holding her in his paws in the sling, and whispered, "Now, it's time to be quiet, children.".

Eli and Azure nodded, and Perla then picked up Azure by the scruff before she sprinted carefully and slowly, finding a safe trail off the cliffside, and ran deep into the shadows of the late summer trees, heading towards the waterfall.

At least it was more than likely a good shelter for the time being, and being so close to home once more, she could honestly be happy that her long journey was almost over, but still, such close proximity to other people once more was a danger in her own part. It had been through much of the places she had been when she was slowly making her way back; small forests surrounded by large open fields were quite the nightmare to travel as the worry of being spotted by anyone plagued at her mind.

Perla was careful to sweep her tracks with her tail as she got closer to the waterfall, sniffing for anything peculiar before smelling warm and moist air coming from somewhere, and she carefully walked across the boulders of the pond, ducking her ears from the noise of the waterfall, finding a cave behind the waterfall, deep inside and far behind it, and with a glance around the surroundings, she came up and ducked down, into a deep sunken cave, sniffing, smelling a very, very faint smell of Lynx, a mother with a litter, but it was well past gone, maybe seasons ago, and found plenty of leaves, old tent fabric, bark shavings, nest remains, and she found two deeper alcoves, smelling the faint storage of meat in one, and the faint smell of milk, space to fit cubs safely, with only her head or paw to stick in.

She nodded approvingly, realizing that she can protect her cubs like this, and she dropped Azure down, gently putting the sling down in the main cavern, sighing softly as she picked up Jolene who is now waking up, putting her near her belly, as Eli played with Azure a bit.

Perla felt her daughter latching into a teat as she watched her older children play, smiling, relieved that the waterfall isn't hurting anyone's hearing this deep in, and that the hunters can't hear them play.

She knew the hunters rely on daylight while they can as the darkness is too dangerous for them, so she would have to wait a couple of hours before foraging and finding some food that isn't too raw, as it's dangerous now to build a fire, and from the pressure in her belly, she might be in labor by moon high.

"We're almost there, kids...", Perla chuckled. "We'll be home and then you'll have a whole castle to explore and play around in.", she smiled as she took a few deep breaths.

Jolene's little voice replied, "Ma, appy Pa?", and Perla looked down to look at Jolene's sky-blue eyes, just like her papa, "Yes, you can finally see Papa tonight, and he will be happy to know the news that we're almost home. Honestly, I am starting to think that it might be two weeks of travel the long way if we avoid the village, but I have to ask Adam on that since he knows the location of the village more than I do, thanks to being a boy once upon a time.", before licking her head, "Now, eat up, darling, and you two as well. You need the rest and safety for later.", glancing at her oldest children who just paused in their playing, and pouted yet nodded at their mother, joining into the feeding.

Perla exhaled, glancing as she rested, looking up to the beams of light through the roof from the angle of the waterfall and steps into the main cavern, "Tonight, just one more night, and then we're home, Adam...We're almost home...I hope you've been doing well...", wondering what's going on at the castle.

She expects that Leila and Jules' twins are probably four months old now, lively and trying to roll over by now, and Carlo...gods, he is already 4 years old, and she missed his birthday, though he has friends in Ella and Naveen and Chip and the other servant children...Ray and Evangeline must be progressing into their courtship well by now. And Jiminy...He must be so guilty for letting her out of his sight, but the family would have convinced him that it's not his fault. And Juliet...Perla is disappointed that among the curse, she didn't find the true love destined for Juliet...but she was helping Adam so much...

Of course, what she was unaware was that fate had a funny way of solving some of those issues as she would soon come to learn what had happened not even a full day after the last time Adam and Perla had interacted in their separation.

The storm that night was strangely holding back, through it was thundering here and there in the vicinity, and as Beast and Juliet was resting after their little secret meeting in the storage room, the wolves were on the prowl which was normal to the castle denizens.

And then there was a sound of a panicking horse which wasn't definitely Major or Arnaldo in the stables, and the wolves were getting bold, the howls closer to the castle more than usual, except for the previous time the family arrived.

"Nasty weather tonight!", Ray shouted as he walked back from being out in the rain to Jiminy who was waiting at the front door. Ray had just gone to make sure Major and Arnaldo were all secured in the stables.

"Wolves sounding pretty close too...", Jiminy said as he felt sick to his stomach, saying that after what had happened.

Ray sighed deeply as he squeezed Jiminy's shoulder, "Jiminy, you shouldn't feel still guilty about what happened...I mean, you haven't gone hunting with me or Jules ever since! Even Beast is getting worried about you, and he's depressed himself, but he's been patrolling more intensely because he's protecting us, especially Carlo, and trying to socialize with us over dinner time every night even if he leaves early when it's hard, and I know Perla would have been proud of him, and if she was here, she'd rip you a good lecture.".

Jiminy gave a heavy nod, "I know...but it still hurts...I mean, I was supposed to guide her and everything when she was a boy, and now...I feel like I lost my beloved niece...", with a bit of closing his eyes in grief for a moment.

Ray replied, "You're not the only one, Jiminy...We all lost a family member in Perla...She was like an honorary little sister and friend to me...Naveen, an honorary aunt...Leila, she saw her as another daughter...Jules, an honorary niece or cousin...Ella...an honorary big sister/aunt...Juliet, a sister, best friend, and lover...Carlo, a beloved mother...And of course, we all know what Beast saw her as...".

Another loud howl halted their conversation as they looked in the direction of it. "I still wish I knew why the wolves are just so aggressive...", Jiminy sighed. "Not sure; but... those howls... they've caught something?", Ray asked.

Jiminy replied, "Maybe...", before hearing a human scream, a male voice shouting, "Somebody help! I can't move my leg!".

Ray and Jiminy widened their eyes, as they heard the wolves howling, getting closer, and Jiminy ran, with Ray following him, ignoring the rain as they heard a roar behind them.

They ran across the bridge to the front gates, with Ray pushing the gates, as thunder flashed, seeing a swarm of wolves aiming for an elderly man who was stuck between a log and a boulder, by a tall cliff, with Jiminy grabbing and throwing rocks at the wolves, "Hey, hey, get away from him!", the memory of Perla's screams that day rushing through his mind, realizing that he can't fail again.

Ray ran to the man as Jiminy saw the wolves growling and snarling at him, angry at the rock pelting, and then a roar came again, and he saw a flash of brown before a mass of muscle and fur slammed into the swarm of wolves, roaring, realizing that Beast is coming to aid as Jiminy looked over to Ray, "Ray, you got him?!".

Ray nodded. "Come on! We need to get inside!", he shouted as he carried the man with Jiminy close behind while Beast made sure to keep the animals at bay long enough for them.

Jiminy closed one of the gates quickly, and shouted, "Beast, come on!", and he roared back, "Lock the gates, I will jump over the rock wall!".

Jiminy quickly slammed the other gate, and locked the gates as he ran to join Ray, as Beast gave one last bellowing, threatening roar to the wolves before running and leaping, landing on the rock wall, and then leaped down into the bridge, running to join the others into the castle, the staff quickly opening the doors to let them in, panting, drenched, and in one case, soaked to the fur.

Beast shook his body in the foyer before noticing Lumiere drenched, "Sorry, Lumiere.", and Lumiere replied, "It's okay, Master.", as he reignited his flames. Beast glanced to see the large fireplace on full force in the large sitting room and walked in to see Ray and Jiminy resting the man in one of his favorite chairs, but he doesn't care as he's concerned.

"How's he doing, Jiminy, Ray?", Beast rumbled lightly as the old man had fainted during the whole stressful rescue, and Ray replied, "Soaked to the skin, cold, and a nasty leg break. He must have fallen a long way down that cliff while trying to run from the wolves.".

Jiminy replied, "And from the looks of it, he is dressed for a ride in the saddle...His horse must have panicked out under him at the sound of the wolves. That was the strange neigh earlier we heard out there, not the stables as we thought.".

"His horse, more than likely, has run back in the direction they had gone...", Ray said as Beast sighed. "Will he recover?", he asked as Ray shrugged his shoulder.

"Hard to tell... obviously we'll try to help him... but if he catches something from that storm...", Ray shook his head. "No, he'll make it... we'll make sure of that.".

Beast nodded, and Mrs. Potts replied, "I believe we have some warm clothes his size somewhere.", as her tea cart came by, and Cogsworth nodded, "Right, let's get him settled in!".

Jiminy replied, "I'll get Leila to help out with the binding of the leg.", with a nod as he headed out to get Leila, and Beast replied, "Jiminy, you did good. Perla will be proud of you for what you did. You didn't hesitate to help him...", grabbing Jiminy's attention for a moment with a sad smile.

"I...I don't know why, but I feel a bit better...it's almost like she was helping me.", Jiminy replied softly, and Beast chuckled, "That's our Perla...She hates seeing anyone down on their luck...she never leaves us hanging...", with a soft sad smile.

Jiminy exhaled, and then nodded, realizing that Perla wants him to believe in himself again, and he glanced at the old man in the chair, and knew that he has to do everything he could to help this stranger, and replied, "You're right, Beast. And thanks...I needed to hear that.", before leaving the room to tell Leila about the news and the state of the man.

Ray looked at Beast, "So, which bedroom are we taking him to?", and Beast replied, glad for the change of topic, "Let's use one of the lower floors on the East side of the castle, there's a few bedrooms there. Lumiere, we'll need you to heat up the fireplace there and maybe some hot water bags for the bed.".

"Right away.", Lumiere said as he moved fast; the sooner they could help the stranger, the better. "Hopefully he'll stay asleep long enough for us to work... as well as keep everyone mostly away...", Ray said. "Better not let him see you or the staff the moment he wakes up... shock and all that.".

Beast nodded, "Let me know the moment he wakes up, or in case he becomes a danger to himself or worse.", and Ray sighed, knowing what that meant. After all, this is Beast's castle, not the stranger's home.

Beast then left the room as Ray carried the man up, to one of the offered bedrooms, as the staff were ordered around by Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth.