Of course Morgan was going to let Finn practice on her other footpaw. 'Gates, if he'd wanted to put her in full-body traction, she'd probably have said yes. Plus, it gave her a reason to stay and chat with him a bit longer. It was astonishing how quickly she'd taken to the kit. She wondered if this was how her Mum had felt when she'd found a young Morgan on Backbone Isle, shivering and cold, sheltered in a crate against the rain.
She blinked as Finn's question brought her back. "Who, Mum, or Mother?" Realizing how that might sound, she hastened to recall their family's cover story. "Sorry, I should explain. My Mum, Eirene, and my Mother, Bezine," she pronounced the latter as bet-Zee-nay, "are both war widows and old friends who've stuck together over the years. I was orphaned real young, younger than you are now, and since neither ever had kits of their own, they took me in.
"Mum is, well, really nice," she reflected. "She's had it hard - I know she was orphaned young too, but she grew up in a village that took care of her, and she's still got that mentality. She likes to look after beasts, protect them. Last couple of places we've lived, she's taken up guard work. I think she wants to join the guard here as well. She takes to orphans in a minute flat - you should've seen how quickly she took Vim under her wing. Heck, I think I'm the second favorite child now," she chuckled.
"As for Mother, she's a lot more of a tough cookie. She was orphaned a bit older than you were, but she was already kinda isolated, never really built up a trust for beasts, from what I can tell. Everyone she's ever trusted has let her down bad, except for Mum. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she'll come around to you," she added. "If you tell her you like Varangian food, pastah and pizzah and the like, that'll warm her right up. Just don't be hurt if she seems a bit cold and distant at first."
