King Scott glanced from one person to the next before muttering to Samantha, "Cover yer mark, we need to talk, just us." He turned to the other wolves, loudly saying, "Boys, we didn't finish furnishin' the rest of the house, so can y'all get started bringin' in some things for the bedrooms? We'll catch up with ya in a few." After waiting until the room had emptied and the door had been closed, he leaned into the middle of the group, speaking so quietly Samantha could barely hear him. "Samantha, did you ever feel anything when you touched Spencer's mark before? Any kind of response at all?" She paused to think, but nothing came to mind. However, she'd never specifically tried to summon him through their spousal mark, which she mentioned to Scott. "Is there anything special I can do to try and contact him better?" she asked the wolverine king. "He should be able to feel even your lightest touch on your mark, especially if you're thinking of him at the same time. Because he has so much power, even if he's far away, he should know you're calling for him. You can try speaking out loud or pressing harder on your mark, but if my guess is correct, he's both too far away and shielded too well for you to be able to reach him. Go ahead and try, if you don't mind. At best, it'll bring him runnin' home to you as fast as his legs can carry 'im," Scott explained.

Samantha turned all her focus onto her bleak-looking spousal mark, attempting to center her thoughts on the brown eyes that were the only color the mark contained. Two fingers from her right hand moved to the bottom edge of the mark, near where the fox's own heart would have been. "Spencer, wherever you are, please come home. I don't know what went wrong, but I miss you so much and nobody knows where you are. I need you here; I love you and I don't want to be here without you," she said aloud, though she finished her sentence closer to a whisper. She kept her fingers on her chest, trying to channel her feelings through it and hopefully reach her mate. The longer she waited for any kind of response, the faster her hope faded, and eventually she looked to Scott, who shook his head sorrowfully. "He must be very far away, and for whatever reason, he probably can't hear you either," he said, though he seemed lost in thought. Finally, he turned to Samantha, a sober expression on his face. "That damn fox is one of the best males I've ever known, but his past isn't exactly somethin' he's open about. I'm only tellin' you this because it's important, and I think he'd want ya to have known before he just disappeared like that," he began. "For the decades I've known 'im, Spencer has been on the run from the Fox Kingdom. I dunno why, and he gets awful cagey if you ask about it, but it's been a long game o' cat and mouse. I think your little mouse finally got caught, Samantha, and if he did, then I know where he is."

Samantha looked at Benjamin in shock and grabbed his hand reflexively before asking eagerly, "King Scott, where is he? How can I get to him? How do we bring him back here?" Scott sighed before continuing, "I put a lot of thought into it, and if it were anyone but the Fox Kingdom, it might be possible to go in and bring him out. You're not from here, so ya don't know about it, but that whole kingdom is magicked to hell an' back. Even if all the strongest beastmen in Ten Thousand Beast City ambushed the place at once, not a single one of us would make it past their walls. On the other hand, for whatever reason Spencer's injured, well, all that magic is probably what's keeping him alive. He's never been close to getting caught before, so what little information those foxes that took 'im away gave you is prob'ly true. All there is left to do is wait, no matter which angle I'm lookin' at it. Spencer's gotta recover and then find another way outta there before he can make it back to you, but I promise ya that if and when he does, the first an' only thing he's gonna do is go find you," he finished. Samantha was gripping Benjamin's hand much harder than she was before Scott started talking, but the scorpion looked perversely like he was enjoying it, so nobody said anything to the female whose eyes were filled with tears.

There was a knock at the kitchen door, and Samantha hurried to dry her eyes while Scott and Eira stalled for time. Roger ducked through the doorway, his head and eyes lowered slightly in submission to his king. "Your Highness," he began, "we have completed the tasks you gave us, please allow us to finish bringing the rest of the furniture into the kitchen." Scott looked at Samantha, who gave a tiny shake of her head and whispered, "flower beds?" The king's booming voice was loud enough for all the wolves to hear when he replied, "Dig some flower beds in the yard for planting, that does not mean you can make a mess," he instructed, seemingly from experience. Scattered whimpering was heard as the wolves went to dig without having any fun doing so. "What is it, Samantha?" King Scott whispered under his breath. "Is there anyone else we can look to for help? Anyone who might have additional information on the Fox Kingdom?" she asked hurriedly. Scott scratched his chin thoughtfully, his jaw moving slowly as he pondered. "There's always King Patch, his new mate Iris may be able to help as well. I'll send word to them, but it'll take time to get someone I trust to make it over there. Lucky for us, they can fly, so hearing back shouldn't take as long," he said, flashing his signature cocky grin.

The doorway was noisy again with wolf panting, and then another message from a newly-transformed Roger. "Sire, we've finished the gardens, all we need now is to finish up here in the kitchen and give Your Highnessses' gifts to the female," he said dutifully. "Roger," Scott said sternly, "cover up." Scott's large hands indicated the animal skin skirts at his own waist and at Benjamin's, and then tossed the nude wolf a spare skirt while he nuzzled Eira's nose to distract her from the other male. Light purrs from a happy pallas cat filled the room, and Scott made a hand motion to allow the wolves to carry the remainder of the furniture into the kitchen. Huge engraved wooden chairs and a matching table were brought in first so that the party could finally be comfortably seated, though Eira was most comfortable remaining on Scott's lap. Similarly-patterned wooden cups, bowls, plates, and more were placed in the new cabinets, and Samantha was awed by the sheer quantity of everything. It seemed like she would be either doing a lot of entertaining, or the typical beastman family was much larger than she had imagined her own would be. She gulped audibly when half-size furniture was brought in and placed in a corner, and thought she would possibly faint when she realized that the differently-shaped furniture that was being brought in presently was all for infant beastmen. How many children was she expected to have at once?

Eira noticed Samantha's extreme discomfort, having gone though the same shock herself, and changed the topic. "We brought gifts just for you, Samantha! Most of them were picked out by me, but," and she blushed, "my king picked some that he thought you might like as well. Please have a look," her friendly voice entreated, though her blush hadn't even begun to fade yet. "Bring the rest of the gifts, please," Scott commanded his small wolf pack, and each wolf who had accompanied him brought in a box and knelt down in a line before Samantha. "You didn't have to do all this," Samantha said quietly to her two friends, "You've already done so much just by coming here to comfort me, not to mention all the beautiful furniture and everything." Eira touched her arm lightly, drawing Samantha's gaze. "We wanted to do this; anything we can do to help keep you comfortable and happy until Spencer returns is something we'll do happily! Here, take a look- " she finished and motioned to the first wolf in line, who opened the lacquered box that he carried, allowing Samantha to see its contents. "This was one of my picks," Eira chattered happily. A set of silver jewelry sparkled at Samantha, and the intricate lily of the valley flowers that it featured shone with a flawless pearl placed inside each flower. Clear crystals glistened from leaves where they took the form of dewdrops, and Samantha saw how each strand of flowers had been creatively shaped into a ring, bracelet, necklace, earring set, headdress, and more.

"It's beautiful," Samantha gasped, "Thank you, Eira. I really don't deserve this-" but she was interrupted simultaneously by both the pallas cat and wolverine. "You absolutely do deserve them," Eira began, "but you also need them. Powerful males will be important to keep you alive until you see Spencer again, but you'll also need to look the part. Clothing gives status, and status will keep you safe against females who might wish to harm you. One look at this jewelry will tell them who your backers are, and unless they want to mess with us, they won't mess with you, either," she explained, her fur bristling at the thought of Samantha being given a hard time by anyone; the female had already been through enough, and she had so wanted her to be happy here in the beast world. King Scott cleared his throat, and the next box opened. It was a large, flat box that contained pure white reindeer fur in abundance. "This reindeer fur will keep you warm during the cold season, but the more often you can wear some, the better; like the jewelry Eira chose for you, this'll keep nosy females off yer tail. If you have extra, feel free to save it for your female cubs- " and here even King Scott was cut off as well, as Eira clapped her hands twice and the next box opened. "Now this here is the real deal," Eira said, nudging Samantha softly on her side. Waiting for an explanation that didn't come, Samantha peered into this new box and saw furs in an impossible aquamarine color that just begged to be touched. "This is the rarest fur in the Beast World," Eira said from over her shoulder, "it comes from the Blue-Tailed Fox, which is extremely hard to catch and even harder to wrangle," she finished with a snort. King Scott chuckled as well, adding, "The ones who chase after these foxes generally wind up getting sprayed by them, and trust me, it smells terrible. That's why there's so much less here even though the fox fur is much more desirable. I hope it'll be enough for you to use for at least one set of clothing, but it's yours to do with as you please."

Samantha did her best to hold back the tears of gratitude that were forming in her eyes; Scott and Eira were so generous and so kind. Friends like them were hard to come by in any world, and she touched her spousal mark to send a little wave of thanks to Spencer for introducing her to them. The couple noticed her struggle and realized they had been there for quite some time; Eira nudged Scott to let him know they should leave soon and give their friend some space. "Ahem," Scott cleared his throat again, a little more awkwardly this time, "We'll leave you to open the rest of the boxes yourself; if anything is not to your liking, let us know right away. In the meantime, please look at the wolves in front of you. They are the strongest single males our tribe has to offer. If you've taken a liking to any of them, say so and they're yours. They've already expressed their interest in becoming one of your males, so you'd be doin' them an honor." Samantha looked nervously from wolf to wolf; all of them were so handsome, and the ones whose wolf ears popped out in nervousness made her smile just a little. "Thank you, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet," she declined as politely as possible, "But if you don't mind, could I pay you a visit sometime to meet whoever made the jewelry you gave me? I would really like to learn more about what it takes to make things like that here, and whoever made these pieces is extremely talented. I think I could learn a lot from them if they wouldn't mind teaching me." Scott gave Samantha an odd look, but agreed, and Eira was ecstatic at the thought of Samantha's next visit.

By the time the pair left, it was nearly time for Samantha's next meal, and Benjamin would have known the female was exhausted even if she hadn't collapsed into his arms as soon as they'd seen their guests off. Rolling his eyes once again, he set out for Jewel's house to see if that nuisance Bub's nuisance uncle was around to come over and babysit a nuisance female while he went out to hunt. Again.