The buck didn't have the same sort of instincts that the two new mothers did, so he had no clue there was any sort of problem with letting the elder does leave. All he knew or worried about was the next generation, and with so many young pre-adults still here, there should be nothing to worry about.      But there was. Not long after the two new females had arrived, the kittens born of his Denn were playing as their mother, Heart, watched on. Nothing seemed awry, even when one of the younger almost-adults wanted to play too. That is, until they tried climbing the tree. The adolescent scrabbled up its wide trunk, and the kitten had no trouble following. However, the heavier K'd slipped and fell. He landed neatly on his feet, but that left the kitten all alone, a good ten feet up the tree. It mewled pitifully, and Heart, throwing caution to the winds, leapt and scrambled clumsily up after it, presumably to bring it back down to safety.      And then Tunneler sensed something was wrong. Spy, an aptly named black and white doe who always seemed to know what was going on and who was probably a Seer but refused to admit it, leapt to her feet and ran full tilt at Heart, begging her to stop and come back down. But the mother ignored her pleas, climbing ever higher, towards her still crying kitten.      Spy ran back and forth under the two of them, seemed at a loss, and threw herself to the ground shivering, her eyes closed tight. By this time, there was a small assembly gathered under the tree, including a wide-eyed Grain, who had all three of her precious kittens nestled safely between her paws. Tunneler, too, had started forward, as though he could do anything to help by being prepared down below. K'd were not natural climbers, and more up there now would only make things worse. Too bad his wings were too small to fly with. That would have settled things right off, but now...      A moment later, Spy sprung up again and resumed her attempts to call Heart back down, but it was too late.      Heart's claws slipped, a bit of bark crumbled away, and she fell backwards off the tree trunk. Several of the gathered K'd sped forward, trying to at least cushion her fall with their own bodies... but none arrived in time. There was a sickening crack when Heart struck the ground at the foot of the tree, landing on a raised tree root. It echoed throughout the suddenly silent clearing, and every pair of ears lay flat against their skulls. Heart didn't move.      No, Sun thought in the stunned silence. No, no, no, no no no no nononononononono.      The silence was broken only by the kitten's cries, and then something flew through the air and landed on the trunk, just below the kitten. Every pair of eyes turned in horror from the fallen mother to her kitten. A pitch black shape clung to the bark, the kitten in its jaws... but it was no attack. The shape dropped, or rather floated to the ground and gently set the kitten down, folding its blue-black wings.      The doe looked up at the assembly, silently, and then took to the air again and returned to her group of newcomers.      A white buck stepped forward as Tunneler did the same.      Grain sat, rooted to the spot just as much as the tree was. She felt three warm bodies beneath her, still sleeping soundly, and soon, four more joined them. Larger kittens, trembling with shock and fear. Earth mother help me, she thought silently, I can't even take care of my own kittens properly, what am I to do with Heart's?      Sun nuzzled her, worry in every move. The newcomers were all young as well, no experienced mothers among the lot of them. What were they all to do? She knew now that if Heart had simply called to her kitten, it would have found its own way down. Or if she had climbed carefully, she wouldn't have fallen. Overprotecting kittens seemed to be just as dangerous as letting them run too free.      That night, there was a council held in secret beneath the tree. Heart had been buried, and her kittens placed in Grain's care, if only because she was the only other mother in the Denn.      Every doe attended the meeting, and talked long and seriously all through the night. In the morning, Tunneler was informed of the decision they had reached.      Spy spoke for them, though she would rather have remained an observer rather than a spokesperson. This was too important to leave to just anyone, however, and even if she wouldn't admit it to herself, everyone else respected her as the Seer she was.      "We need older does," she said, voice almost toneless and matter of fact. When the buck looked confused, she sighed and explained. "Look, we've already lost one mother to inexperience. No one here has successfully raised a litter before, and some of us never even had mothers to learn from." That comment wasn't only for Grain; many of the new does who had come to ShadowHaven had escaped disaster as kittens, or lost their mothers or Denns very young.      One of the new young bucks spoke up before Tunneler could speak, and every eye turned on him. "I know who to ask," he said quietly.      The buck's name was Misthunter, and he had met and talked with many contacts to find out about this place. Including other species, and some from whole other worlds. One of which had mentioned in passing how sad it was that such a good mother should not only lose her own children, but her bondmate as well.      The hydra bishen had just heard the news before she had set Mist free from the mage camp that had captured him, and it was only chance that he had remained behind long enough to catch that snippet of information, but it seemed to have been fate, or destiny, or whatever someone cared to believe.      He explained that the dragon in question was nothing like the suva of their world. She was small, like them, and from what he'd picked up, was looking for a secure place to relocate to. She had been separated from her own clutch, at first, due to an unexplained shift in universal space-time, and then even her bond had disappeared, until she was left to wander the worlds alone.      Well, ShadowHaven certainly was secure, and there were more than enough willing individuals to take the place of a lost bond. If she was truly the kind-hearted mother Mist had heard she was, she should at least be contacted. Maybe she'd help.      Grain hoped so. In fact, every doe in the Denn hoped so.      And so Tunneler sent Mist to go find her. He was the one who had brought the news, and knew the most about her, after all. Spy went with, hoping to plead as one mother (or at least potential mother) to another.      They were sent off with the hopes of everyone in the Denn, but Sun lingered to wish them well. "Thank you," she said, her eyes on the blue-gray buck. "Good luck," she told Spy. And then nuzzled both of them and watched as they disappear through the portal.      Grain watched from her denn, slightly enlarged to accommodate her newly enlarged family. She sent a prayer along with them.