Raine awoke to discover the tiniest of gaps between the flaps of her tent, positioned precisely between the sun and her right eye. She rolled over onto her side as best she could and a few moments later clouds passed in front of the sun anyway, but the damage was done. Several minutes later Raine crawled out of the tent fully dressed, just in time for the clouds to part again, the morning greeting her with the full intensity of the sun. She mumbled something insulting about the situation as she raised a paw to shade her eyes while they adjusted.

When Raine lowered her arm she found Red sitting on a log by the fizzled out firepit the group had used the night before. 'She' had scowl on her face and her arms were crossed in irritation. “It's been a week Raine, take the collar off." Red's tail flicked about behind her in frustration, something that he only seemed to have less control of after a week of practice.

He had lost a bet to Raine a week prior. The group had discovered a transformation spell collar amongst Zen's gear earlier and Raine had taken the opportunity to make Red understand exactly what it was like to walk with Keidran paws. Since then Red had been experiencing life as a snow wolfess, the collar's original purpose having been gender transformation.

Raine had kept the unlocking crystal.

“You know, I don't think I put it on until lunch time, actually," Raine said mischievously. Thinking about the event and remembering how much fun it had been to tease 'her' over the last week, was waking her up quickly.

“It's close enough Raine, I want to be human again. And male." Red hadn't been remotely as entertained by the ordeal as Raine had been. Or the rest of the party for that matter. Sythe had spent the entire week taunting Red, Karen had kept hugging his tail and Maren had insisted on making some attempts to brush his fur. He'd been even worse than Raine at keeping it neat.

“Ok fine, I'll get the key." Raine ducked back into her tent, fishing the small crystal that controlled the collar from her bag. Hanging from the front of the collar was a small paw-shaped charm, the various options of the collar could be set by touching the locking crystal to the fingers of the paw. Several varieties of Keidran could be chosen, as well as gender. Raine hadn't found the latter option until after affixing the collar to Red and had kept quiet about it. “Here, stay still and let me work this," she said, stepping out of the tent and walking over to Red, who was now pacing back and forth impatiently.

As Raine touched the crystal to the center of the charm, it made a soft humming noise and vibrated lightly in her hand. It also turned from its usual dull white colour to a bright shade of pink. “Huh," Raine exclaimed before touching it to the centre of the collar again, to the same result.

“Why have I not changed back Raine." Red's tone and facial expression had quickly changed from irritation to panic. His hands were fidgeting by his sides and his gaze kept flicking between the crystal and Raine in the hope of a solution appearing between the two. “That's supposed to undo it." 

Raine tried again, to the same lack of unlocking. “I know, but it's not working. We didn't have this problem when we tested it last week." Raine turned to one side, looking over at the sixth, and least willing, member of their group. <Zen, do you know what this means?> she asked in Keidran.

Zen looked up from where he was sitting against a tree, his arms tied behind him with rope that Raine knew was too loose to actually hold him. Zen simply shrugged his shoulders. <Not a clue. We never actually used it and neither of us could read the instructions.> Raine frowned and turned back to her tent to retrieve the box and the instructions the charm came with, while Red began to pace back and forth again, his tail flicking about in irritation.

<Why do you have that charm if you've never used it, anyway?> Sythe stepped over to the tree, leaning against it and looking down at Zen, giving Red space to fume in the middle of the camp.

<We bought it to get to a pack leader that was famous for his womanising, but he keeled over on his own before we actually used it.> Zen shrugged again. It had been one of the weirder missions he and Natani had been sent on.

<So yet another case of the famed assassin brothers not actually killing anyone?> The sarcasm in Sythe's voice was thick. He had in any case never placed much faith in the assassin's stories. Particularly the way that their targets always seemed to die in ways that absolved the pair morally.

<Well I guess the apple and the hat were kind of our fault, but it certainly wasn't intentional.> Zen shrugged. <We still got paid though.> Sythe rolled his eyes, mumbling a <whatever> under his breath and turning to look at Raine as she emerged from her tent.

Karen and Maren both also turned to look at Raine, while Red stopped pacing back and forth. Raine held the instructions in her hands, re-reading them in confusion and glancing between them and the pink crystal in her hand before she spoke. “It says you're pregnant."

A gentle breeze wafting through the leaves around the group could be heard over the quiet of the campsite. After a few moments of silence the gears in Karen's brain clicked back into gear as a realization struck her. Karen leapt from where she had been sitting to run over to Red and hug him around his waist, shouting “Yay, puppies!" loudly.

“Raine! Tell me there's something wrong with it!" Red wasn't even bothering to shake Karen off him as he pleaded desperately with Raine. “There must be something wrong with it! Are you sure you read it right?"

“Well there must be something wrong with it!" a very flustered Raine said, pointing at the relevant section of the manual with the crystal as if it would help matters. “It lets you set the estrus cycle. It was set to be in heat when we got it out but I thought that was too cruel so I set it to the week after. You shouldn't have been able to get pregnant anyway!"

Sythe and Zen both looked on in shock while Red continued to argue with Raine. Zen finally coughed, then again, louder, when Sythe didn't notice. Finally he wiggled an arm free of the ropes and gave Sythe a firm elbow to the side of his shin, eliciting a response that drew the attention of the girls. 

“What is it?" Raine noticed the two first, while Sythe fidgeted with his fingers uncomfortably. He looked down at Zen for advice, who responded silently with a look of inquisitive expectation.

“Keidran... are fertile the week after heat." Sythe winced as he said it.

Raine's cheeks turned a bright shade of red as she stared down guiltily at the key in her hand. Red stood in shock with his mouth agape as he struggled to find words.

“Wait." Maren finally spoke up, interrupting the shared silence. “If this idiot has gotten himself pregnant," she gestured towards Red, then turned to point accusingly over at the two other wolves of the party, “Which of you two is the father?"

“Well we were already…"

“He said he was curious..."

The two wolves both immediately blurted out excuses at the same time, talking over one another for the split second it took for them to realize that the other was also speaking. They both glanced at each other for a moment of confusion, followed by another moment of awkward silence as realization washed across the group.

“Both of them!" Maren exploded with rage, “You slept with both of them!"

Red buried her face in her paws as Raine tried desperately to interrupt. “Maren, calm down…" Raine mumbled, tripping over her words in her own surprise.

“You've only been a woman for a week, you're already pregnant and you don't even know who the father is!" Maren's cheeks were a brilliant shade of pink as she screamed across the clearing. “You're even more incompetent as a woman than you were with that stupid sword you don't know how to wield!" A gentle paw on Maren's shoulder from Raine finally managed to calm her down, or at least quieten her for now.

After a pause, Red finally pulled her hand away from her face to reveal tear streaks down her cheeks. “Raine, please tell me you know something for this?" he begged of the other snow wolf in desperation.

“I-I don't." Raine stumbled. “I mean, not now. And even if we could go into a town we don't have any money."

As Red and Maren continued to escalate in panic and anger, the two men of the group looked on from the edge, watching the chaos unfurl before them.

<Sooooooo...> Sythe looked away from the argument, glancing down at the other wolf <You're not gay then?>

Zen put on his best charming rogue voice as he made his excuse. <Well likewise. He approached me so I assumed you weren't sleeping with him for the week.> Zen rolled his head and gave a sly look up at Sythe. <Besides, I figured you wouldn't mind after we...>

<What? No no.> Sythe interrupted Zen before he went any further <I was, just, wondering, who else…?>

Zen gave Sythe a winning smile <Everyone but Karen. I don't think she's old enough anyway.>

Sythe blinked and did a double take in surprise. <Maren, really?>

Zen simply chuckled and turned back to watch the chaos engulfing the rest of the group. <She's got the hots for you man, wanted to know if wolves, ahhh, worked with humans.> Zen smiled as he thought back to the encounter. <Humans are so weirdly repressed. They're embarrassed to talk about sex, then go for it when they think no one is watching.>

Sythe looked over at the only member of the group that was actually fully human and thought hard about their situation. <Did she know that me and Red are a thing?>

Zen just shook his head. <I don't think so. I didn't say anything though, I know humans can be funny about having other partners.>

“If it has your eyes we won't even be able to tell who the father is!" Maren's voice echoed out across the clearing again, drawing the wolves attention back.

<Wow, that's just racist.> Zen remarked.

<Mhm, we'll know by scent.> Sythe added, crossing his arms and thinking about what he was going to say to Maren.

Zen grinned. <Or if it has half decent hair.>