Kat PoV

There was still a part of me that was desperately pleading with the rest of me to take the weapons away from my pups, but it was a piece of me that was shut down immediately as I saw not only their joy in what they were doing, but their competency as well.

Obviously they weren’t ready to go out and start fighting people, but they were slowly becoming capable of defending themselves should the need arise, and that was honestly more than enough for me to feel pride in what they were doing.

Being able to settle into another routine that was actually able to be stuck to consistently did wonders for my mental state as well, and part of that routine was me standing here watching over my pups as they tore into the various training dummies.

All five of them were using blades, but the diversity in their weaponry was readily apparent; Camilla swung a two handed greatsword that was smaller than Jahi’s, Samara held one longsword and a shortsword, while Nicoletta was practicing with a scimitar right now.

Zariah and Astra were using longswords, with my youngest having a thinner blade that let her be a bit more... flashy, though that was entirely because she was happier to dance with it than she was to fight with it.

It was fascinating to see how she was still incorporating real attacks into the dance though, making it a rather deadly thing of beauty as she spun around on the balls of her feet, never stopping her movements and smiling the entire time.

The five of them were all having a grand old time too, whaling away at their training dummies as they worked up one hell of a sweat that matted their fur and covered their skin, ensuring that they were going to need a nice, long and hot bath later today.

Seeing how much larger they were getting made me sad though, because Camilla now stood up to my chest while Zariah and Astra - equally small - were just above my belly button, which was where Camilla had been about a week and a half ago.

Their growth being as swift as it was made me really sad, because it felt like I hadn’t had enough time to enjoy them as the babies that I still saw them as, yet Mother had adamantly told me that that feeling was never going to go away.

When I let out a sigh Nicoletta’s ears twitched, and before I could try and mask it as something else she was spinning around staring at me inquisitively, wondering what was wrong before immediately bouncing over to me as she asked "Mama, are you okay?"

Her blade bounced around with her as she approached, but thankfully a single look was all it took for her to sheath it and set it down, though in doing so all of her other sisters had caught on and were quick to rush towards me as well.

"Mama, do you wanna go outside?"

"Mama, should we go take a bath now?"

"Mama!"

It was just a cacophony of their little voices as they crowded around me, and even as I reached out to ruffle their ears it didn’t stop them from staring at me, waiting for an answer as they caught on to ’something’ being ’wrong’.

This was something that I was going to be forever grateful to have as I looked around at my pups and smiled, crouching down and spreading my arms wide as I brought them in for a group hug, placing a kiss atop each of their sweaty heads.

"Nothing is wrong, my pups. Mama was just thinking, that’s all. And no, Camilla, it wasn’t about dinner."

My eldest deflated a little at that, yet her boundless courage was shown as she grinned at me and asked "Can we have the steak alfredo again Mama? It was so so good! It’s my favorite!", though that immediately made Samara click her tongue as she said "We just had it yesterday."

The two glared at one another before they turned back to me as I said "Your Mom wants to have flatbreads, so that is what we are having tonight. Which... perhaps you should-", though I couldn’t even finish when they all wiggled out of my arms and rushed back to their dummies.

They knew I was going to suggest finishing up and getting an early bath, so instead they just acted like they couldn’t hear me and went back to it, making me grin as I returned to watching them train like their brief lives depended on it.

When Anput came in she placed her usual ’peck’ on my lips - really it was the same deep, voracious kiss we always shared before I had our pups - before wrapping an arm around my waist, watching our pups train in silence.

Her hand always did find its way lower whenever she felt that the coast was clear, and eventually after one too many ’accidental’ squeezes we had to ask Mother to come watch them for a few minutes, which she did with a knowing smile.

It got awkward when I came back smelling of citrus and Astra immediately asked me why I sometimes just ’switched’ my scent over to their Mom’s, which had Mother giggling as she walked away rather quickly.

That was a conversation I didn’t want to have just yet, so I thought up some excuse that just made Astra tilt her head at me before she looked at my neck, her perceptive pink eyes landing on the bite mark there before she just wryly asked "Are you sure, Mama?"

The warning look I gave her made her jump before she fled behind Camilla, who just blinked a few times before shrugging as she shuffled closer to ask "Mama, are you sure we can’t have the steak alfredo tonight..?"

It was only becoming increasingly harder to say no to them as they all slowly began to understand what expressions made my heart melt the most, so when she pulled out all of the stops I had to pinch my arm in order to say no, which only made Camilla pout as she made her way to the baths.