The person who delivered this letter was Lyca. Shurry, upon smelling the familiar scent, dropped training, and instantly came running from around the corner, and tackled hugged her, excitedly smiling.
"Aunty, aunty! Where were you! I missed you! When are we going for meat! Now, right, right?"
"Hey there, you've grown a little bigger over these last months. And no, we're not going to that place right now. There's something even better I want to show you. Can you guess what it is?"
Shurry, saddened, noticed something different. A particular scent, different from before, but also familiar, like the mix of two in a single unique way. His face turned to confusion trying to remember what it could be.
"Hahaha, I knew you'd notice that smell. Don't spoil the surprise just yet." She said, rubbing his head with a firm rub, and then buried his face in her bosom as if to make up for lost time. "I missed you too… Far better sight than what I was doing earlier."
"Wait, did you go hunting without me?"
Flustered by the sudden pop of his face looking up with sad puppy dog eyes, she nervously looked away. "No, I uh, was training… Training for something super secret and super important!"
"You went hunting without me!"
"Ugh, yea, I went hunting without you, Shurry, I'm sorry. But hey, you went hunting too, didn't you?" Shurry recoiled. "Hahaha, it's still too early for you to be playing me like that, maybe when you're no longer a little pup."
Hathor, giggled, she had a pretty good idea about what the party was about. And she had one final question to ask before settling on her answer to respond with a visit.
"Lyca, how's Empress doing?"
Lyca, unprepared, let a reaction slip… "The moth- Uh, Empress is fine, totally fine. Okay. Super healthy and so- Uhm… Maybe I should have let Zald do this instead…"
Hathor smiled. "I had been wondering about the sudden absence of Orario's first ever level 9. Turns out you were all growing."
"Yes, that's exactly right!" Seeing this, she took it. "Oh, and Lady Astraea… Hmm, I was also given one for you. An invitation. Come and join the party. It'll be a lot of fun."
Astraea, knowing what just happened, and what the party was about, smiled. "I suppose I can show up for something special like this. I haven't actually seen Hera in her unreserved self in quite a while. I bet she's all out there fighting with Zeus over custody or something."
Hathor, Astraea, Shurry, and his friends all got ready to go to the party. Getting a quick bath and changing clothes… Shurry also grabbed a few snacks for the "long" walk over. Finishing them less than half way, and buying food from vendors to keep his stomach from causing a city wide panic.
…
Inside the mixed familia home, Shurry finally put two and two together. "A baby! Aunty Empress had her baby!" He ran over to see Empress, holding her baby. "Hehe, she's cute."
"Huh? A baby? She had a baby?" Ardee came running up too, standing close to Shurry, as they looked at the little girl in Empress' arms. "Awe, she's so cute."
The little girl opened her eyes again from her nap, to see Ardee, and Shurry's smile… She smiled the cute little baby's smile back at them. Causing more than a few giggles in the room. The other two, Alise, and Neze came into the room with Astraea, and Hathor.
"Wow, she's a really cute baby. So, which one of you men is the father?"
The group of oddly dressed men, all pointed towards one person… It was Maxim, and he just chuckled.
"That'd be me, Lady Hathor."
"I see, it seems my son's cuteness was so irresistible you had to go and get a child for yourselves." Hathor giggled, lightly teasing Maxim.
"So, what's this beautiful child's name? Have you decided on one yet?"
"I have, but Maxim doesn't like it."
"Of course not, that name doesn't sound like she's gonna be a swordswoman like either of us."
"What do you think about the name, Lady Hera? I'd like your opinion before it becomes settled."
Hera waved the other two goddesses over, and had a huddle, full of whispers, a bearded god could be seen inching closer to the group, to catch a good look, stopping only when he noticed them glaring at him.
After the huddle, and discussing it rather thoroughly. Hera, nodded.
"It's a fantastic name for a future, powerful sorcerous."
"In that case, my daughter's name, from this day forward, is Meda. Meda of Hera familia."
"Hey wait just a minute-" … "Alright, I'll shut up… Let's just get to the party!"
With a hell of a reason to party, and a group of super uptight and serious people, it was a hell of a party. Shurry was seen on the regular acting like a moveable barrier for all the things being flung around, preventing them from reaching Meda. Everyone spent the night there at the Hera & Zeus familia. Shurry slept right next to Meda, an instinctual reaction to protect her.
When someone came close to see Meda, even in his sleep his paw countered their moves. It was a cute sight to see. Alise, Ardee, and Neze slept cuddled up on a couch, flanked by Alfia, and Meteria.
By the time morning came, and the smell of their homemade breakfast started wafting in the air, Shurry finally woke up with a yawn. What he saw staring back at him were a bunch of sparkling eyes.
"Such a cutie!"
"Look at you being all noble and stuff. Shurry the noble little wolf."
"Praising me, won't get me to allow you to interrupt her sleepy time." He whispered back.
"Pfft, he's such a good boy!"
Soon the little Meda woke up, doing all the little baby stretches, but she didn't cry, simply looked at the wolf, seemingly knowing that she was safe, and smiled.
"Aunty Empress, Meda's hungry."
"Huh? Why isn't she crying?"
Maxim smirked. "Because she knows her feelings are interpreted. Isn't that right, Lyca?"
"Yeah, he's found a little sister to protect."
Shurry's ears flicked a few times, the gold Telskyurian promise earring.
"Little sister? I wonder, can I write to my little sister?"
Zeus doing whatever he can to repair his image after that night of attempts, spoke up. "Of course you can. Though, if she'll get around to reading it, isn't exactly a given. Information is on a rather tight hold there. It was a…"
"It's rare for someone to leave from that place without Kali's approval, and likewise not much gets in. Your little sister might see the letter, but she'd never be able to send one back."
Shurry pouted, and laid his head back down, closed his eyes, and didn't move for a little while… Then the smell of meat drew him out of his forced slumber.