"How's does it feel having your own family?" 

Curious dark blue eyes filled with a bit of myrth stare at the three different marks on my body. 

I heartedly laugh as I splash at her face, "it feels great mama, they're good males..."

My mind wanders to last night of how the delighted swollen face Adan and his continuously swinging tail appear when I led him into the room where we'll be physically bonding.

Smiling with a wince at the memory I cough, "they're handsome, though Adan's face at the moment is still healing."

Lucy let's out a guffaw, "of course, you think that bear beast would let the winning male off that easy!"

Mama then sent a couple of splashes to my face, "maybe you forget but males can easily get jealous of each other, though each one has their own way of showing it." Mama then nods me to the shore. 

Following behind her she adds as her feet finally hits sand and she start to walk, "the only one that can somewhat get away with blatantly showing his jealousy is the head male and the 'favorite' male." As mama sits down on a flat rock she signals for me to sit beside her. Sitting down, she then goes to brushes my black wavy hair. "But remember Suki, balance is the key. You cannot show too much favoritism or the other males will come to hate him, or said favorite could end up feeling as if he has a higher right to everything pertaining to you and the family's food and furs". Pausing, mother then adds in a more serious tone, "listen well Suki, this is where the head male would step in and make things supremely difficult for the favorite. Yet, if the female continuously defends the favorite, the head male would feel threaten and may attempt to kill the favorite." 

Patting my hair, mama gets up to look for a purple flower. Finding one, she walks back to me and bends down as she adds it behind my ear, "an imbalance family is a danger to their female."

Lightly sucking on my lower lips I look at each of the seven marks on her body, "how do you do it?" 

Mama laughs and naughtily responds, "brush my hair and I'll tell you.. hmmmm?"

Grinning back, I nod my head, "I'd be delighted to mama."

As I pick up a couple strands of mama's long silky black hair, she asks, "what would you think will happen if you have males of the same mmm personality? Say, if they're all like your papa Dash?"

I shudder, "well papa Dash and papa Juan are similar and well I can't imagine more like them in your family."

"Oh, why's that?"

"Besides they're both being three mark males, they both seem like, like... alpha males."

Lucy nods her head, "and what if I had seven alpha males to my family?"

With a slight tremble in my hand I whisper, "that would be disasterous mama, they would kill each other and might end up injuring you in the process."

Lucy humms, "exactly. That is why a balance family needs a mixture of males and not many of the same. For example, your papa Jack and papa Brent are cunning, they're great at strategizing. Umm though Jack is more a goof ball" she mutters," but still cunning". She let's out a long breath, "if I had many like them, they would surely find underhanded ways of either killing each other or find ways to dominate me completely."

I gasp, "but they're not like that...". Hearing no response, I question outloud, "are they?"

Mama let's out a soft laugh, "of course they're not, but if my family had a set of totally different males, then their greed might come out."

Patting mama's hair to let her know I'm finish, I slowly get up, stretch and searched in the flowery meadow for a yellow one. While I search, the space between my eyebrows wrinkle as I think about Radu's, Leo's, and Adan's personalities. 

Radu is cunning, naughty, and loveable. Leo, of the three, is the most innocent one. He's easily the one who would want to try new things and will always find a way to make me participate in anything he finds enjoyable. Adan is the most serious of the three, yet has shown to be the most patient. As for jealousy, are any of them jealous?

Finally finding a cute yellow flower, I walk back to see that mama has now moved toward a softer ground and has layed down to sun bathe. 

Crouching down I ask, "mama, can get you get up? I want to try something with your hair."

Mama nods calmly and gives me a bright smile as she sits up.

Morphing my nails into claws I separate three thin strands of my hair and chop them off. With this three I quickly braid them into one. As I braid them I quietly ask, "mama, what do you think of my males?"

Lucy hums, "Radu is similar to Jack in that they use their wits. Your leopard beastmen, on the other hand, reminds me of a child." She then laughs, "no offense." 

I giggle, "none taken mama, he always wants me to play some sort of game."

Mama nods her head and then sighs, "as for your wolf beastmen, his serious attitude could maybe one day lead him to achieving three marks. In a way, he's like your papa Juan."

Licking my lips, I finish the braid. Placing it on my lap, I start braiding mama's hair. Timidly, I then ask, "do you think he has a chance to become my head male?"

Mama who was about to scratch the back of her neck, freezes and instead places her hands on top of each other. "There's a chance but it all depends on you Suki. As time passes, you'll get to know more about them and... you'll get to meet other males. For now, your family is still too new to set it on stone."

The end of my lip lifts up, "you're always wise mama."

With this mama's huffs her chest to the air, "of course, I'm a fox beast you know!"

Giggling I nod my head. Finishing braiding the top of her hair to the end of her neck, with a hand I hold onto them while with the other I show her the braid made with my own hair. 

Lucy sniffs at the object and widens her eyes at realizing that it's has her daughter's scent.

"Mama, I'm going to use this to tie your hair... I'm gonna make you even more beautiful today."

Trying not to tremble my lips, I slowly wind my braided hair around her enclosed hair. Treating my braid like a scrunchie, I finish tightening it around her hair. With a finishing touch I then add the yellow flower to be held inside my scrunchie like braid. 

"Finished mama."

Lucy slowly gets up and tenderly walks toward the river. At a place where the river is calm, she looks into it to see what her daughter worked so carefully on. Gasping, she then lifts a hand to the top of her shining silky hair and gently traces the area all the way down to the back of her neck. From there she feels the soft petal of flower and the small braid of her daughter's hair. 

Letting out a tear, Lucy's eyes glances at the feminine figure standing next to her. The figure belongs to a much taller olive skin female who is seen smiling tenderly at her. 

 Seeing the strong looking female placing a hand to cover her mouth, Lucy immediately looks up and tightly hugs her daughter, "my baby, my grown cub... I love it!"

Cleaning the tears away from her daughter's light brown eyes, Lucy giggles and gives her daughter a mischevious smile, "now show me how you did your braid."