Matthew had managed to convince himself that it was a good idea to go out on his own in the Arctic tundra. He had not been planning on going far from the base anyway; he was still close enough to it that he could radio for help if necessary. He'd been forced to let both Alfred and Gilbert know where he was going and when he planned to be back too, even if letting them both know was both unnecessary and annoying.

Gilbert hadn't been too eager to let him out on his own since the Arctic tundra was a dangerous place, but he had finally okayed it and dragged Alfred off to put him to use while he was here visiting his little brother.

Matthew left the base about twenty minutes later and rode out on his snowmobile to a place a few miles away from where he knew a polar bear maternity den had been made months prior. It was around the time now that the mother should be leading her cubs out into the wild to go look for food and Matthew wanted to see if he could watch and possibly document the moment with his handheld video camera that he'd packed in his backpack.

He rode for a while enjoying the peace and quiet while keeping an eye out for the spot he was looking for. It was nice to have quiet once in awhile, truthfully he didn't get much peace and quiet at the base despite two out of three fellow biologists being rather quiet in nature. Especially since his family had insisted on coming to visit and pester him even after he'd told them specifically not to visit over ten times during various phone calls and messages.

Matthew loved his family, really, he did; but they could be a bit of a handful when they showed up unexpectedly, especially out here in the Arctic with the little space they had here. Currently his parents were rooming in the only spare room while his older brother shared his bed. It was cramped for sure and with a brother that tended to move a lot when he slept, Matthew never got even a slightly peaceful night's sleep unless he slept on the floor.

Ah, there it is. Matthew thought to himself as he spotted the den opening. Slowing and turning the snowmobile off a safe distance away from the entrance of the den, he got off and slowly started walking towards it, video camera in hand, already recording. As he neared the den he noticed a concerning lack of activity. Where are the cubs? It's the right time of year; they should be out by now.

As Matthew cautiously neared the entrance from above, he lowered the video camera slightly to look over the edge of the snow bank and slowly came to a stop. Oh. Matthew slowly put the camera back into his bag and crept cautiously closer to the edge of the roof of the den.

Crouching down Matthew crawled forward a bit, peeking over the lip of the roof of the den, ducking back down mere moments later and freezing in place. An adult male polar bear was just inside the entrance to the den, currently working on dragging the carcass of the mother bear out of the den. The male had obviously been after the cubs but was clearly making use of the carcass of the female.

Matthew lay there silently for what seemed like ages as he listened to the male gorge itself on the mother's carcass until it was hopefully satisfied, his heart pounding. He flinched slightly as there were sounds of a struggle and then the sickening sound of a young life being ended.

Moments later, the male emerged from the den with the carcass of a polar bear cub in its mouth as it headed away from the den with its prize.

Matthew stayed where he was until he thought the male was far enough away for him to move. Slowly, he stood up and walked down a slope of snow to the entrance of the den. Grimacing unhappily at the gory carcass of the female, he carefully stepped around it and peered into the den, hoping the male had not taken the only cub here.

Looking and feeling around a bit in the snow, Matthew successfully located the –thankfully- live polar bear cub from the den and picked it up, awkwardly cradling the approximately three-month-old cub as he exited the den and quickly climbed back up the slope. He risked a glance back to see if the male had noticed him or not before quickly going back to his snowmobile and stowing his backpack away.

After a moment of consideration, Matthew decided to risk the cold for a few seconds and unzipped a layer of his jacket partially, wrestling with the squirming cub for a moment or ten before managing to stick it into his jacket and zip it back up enough so that the cub wouldn't fall out.

Looking back again to make sure the male still had not noticed him, Matthew climbed on to the snowmobile and started it up before quickly heading back to base.

On the way back, he breathed a sigh of relief as the cub ceased squirming and curled up as much as possible inside the jacket. All things considered, going down into the den to retrieve the surviving cub was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever done out here on the tundra. He could have gotten himself severely injured or killed out there, but he just couldn't leave the poor cub alone to die if he could bring it back to base with him instead.

)*(

"Ivan...?" Irunya could not even finish her question as her brother's violet eyes met her own. Ivan knew what question she wanted to ask. It was that question again. The one she would ask every time he came back home from his searching.

He looked away as he walked down the snow covered path to their home, leaving his sister to answer her own question.

Nothing. There is still nothing. Was nothing, is nothing; it did not matter how you phrased it. The answer was still the same as always. Nothing.

Irunya hurried inside after him; if it had come to this, she only had one more thing she could offer her dear brother. "Ivan, I must to talk with you."

"About what? Has Mogens been acting out of line?" He lightly growled as the tip of his tail twitched. "I will set him straight. He may be one of the strongest of the pack, but that does not give him the right to mistreat you in any form."

"N-no! He has been nothing but good to me-" She sighed nervously and hugged herself a little to build up some courage. It would do them no good if they went off topic, it would only end badly, and Ivan was frightening when he was like this. "I-Ivan, what I wish to talk to you about is… you finding someone."

The tall man's eyes lowered slightly. "There is no one."

"Y-you are completely sure…?"

Ivan growled with his ears back and stormed around the room a bit with his tail curled upright. He did not like to get this way in front of his sisters but he was just so enraged by the same damn question. Not just from her, but everyone! He knew nearly all of the pack wanted him gone as soon as possible.

The answer never changed and yet they still asked. If he had found someone, he would have brought them here with him! "Yes! How many times must I say it? There is not another tiger alive! I would have taken even a male if one existed!" His shouts made his sister take a few steps back, her light-gray tail tucked behind her and her ears down. "I am the last tiger Irunya! Is this clear yet to you? To anyone!?"

Irunya could already feel tears falling down her cheeks. N-no, don't cry. Don't cry. "B-but there is s-still…"

"There are no more!" In a few brisk strides, he was towering over her, his teeth bared in anger. Irunya whimpered and crouched down slightly, instinctively placing her hands over her swollen belly protectively.

Ivan froze for a moment with wide eyes, realizing he had allowed himself to lose his temper. He collected himself inside for a moment before he slowly stepped back. His ears came forward but remained down and his tail even dropped. It had only been a month and his sister was already…

How much had he missed while he was away? It was not like he had not known she was going to have pups, it was just that Irunya hadn't been showing when he had left. Maybe she had been a little, but nothing too noticeable with a loose dress and fur shawls. Either way, it was quite noticeable to Ivan now.

He cast his gaze away hoping to make her feel more at ease. He would really have to watch himself and how he acted around her more. Her mate and the other pack members weren't too keen on a pregnant female being under stress.

What should I do? Silence was all there was in the room now, aside from Irunya crying softly as she stood there shaking. It was not the first time that he had lashed out at her, but it was still terrifying for her to experience.

Left with nothing to say, Ivan turned to head off to sleep. It was starting to get to be the early hours of the morning and he had not gotten much rest during the past month that he'd been gone.

"W-wait plea-... p-please wait..." The young woman pleaded in a whisper, still trying to have her brother listen to what she had to say. "T-there is still… a-a chance for you to- to find someone… There is still one thing w-we have not tried yet."

When he did not answer, she took it as a sign that he was listening. "The Moon's children-" At hearing this, he turned to face her; it was clear that she had his full attention.

The Moon Goddess' children are the only ones that are said to be able to be mates to any race. It's impossible though, isn't it? The tasks are supposedly so difficult that no one had ever completed them, and even if I were to complete them, the Moon Goddess would still be extremely picky. However, the Moon festival is in a week. We would need to leave right away if we wanted to make it in time but… our family is one of the leading clans, so we do have close ties to the temple. Perhaps… Yao would be willing to help me out…

"... S-so that is why I believe that she would show you kindness and give you one of her children." Irunya says, her voice was back to her normal volume and she was only lightly crying now, barely even shaking as she softly rubbed her belly. It was more a comfort to herself than to her growing children though.

It took Ivan a few moments to realize that he had been zoned out in thought and that he had just missed most of what his sister had been saying to him. However, even if the Moon Goddess giving him one of her children did seem impossible, it would not hurt to try anyway. Ivan paused just a moment longer in consideration before speaking.

"… Alright, I'll do it."

)*(

When Matthew got back to base, his parents, brother, and Gilbert and Lukas were waiting for him, though it seemed like Gilbert was just finishing up an argument with his parents.

"Look, here he comes. I told you he was fine." Gilbert says as Matthew gets off of the snowmobile, holding the lump in his jacket where the bear was nestled against his body.

"There you are Mattie! What took you so long?" Alfred asked with a grin.

Matthew opened his mouth to speak but was cut off before he could answer as his mother started fussing over him and prodding him. "Maman, I'm fine. I'm fine. Calm down. Stop that." He says, shoving her hands away from him.

"What have you got there, lad?" Arthur asks, eyeing the bulge in his jacket with a raised eyebrow.

"That what took you so long birdie?" Gilbert asks.

Matthew nods. "Let's go inside and I'll explain." He says quickly before his parents could fuss at him anymore.

"Did you see the polar bear cubs?" Lukas asks as he helps bring the snowmobile inside. "That's what you were going to check up on, correct?"

Matthew nods. "I did. I also had an erm- close encounter with an adult male."

Lukas arches an eyebrow while Gilbert looks rather alarmed at that while his mother looked absolutely horrified.

Matthew gave a slight grimace at their expressions. "I came too late to see it happen but when I got there the male was already eating the carcass of the female."

Lukas nodded slowly in understanding while Frances came over and started fussing over her younger son again, much to Matthew's annoyance. "Maman, arrête!" He complains, pushing past her before continuing what he'd been saying to Lukas. "After it was done with the female, it went in, killed one of the cubs, and carried the carcass away."

Arthur and Gilbert both eyed Matthew suspiciously. "You didn't do anything too rash, did you son?"

Matthew glanced away with a wry look. "Er… kinda?"

His father arched an eyebrow expectantly.

"Okay, so I kind of went down into the den to rescue the other cub and then got the hell out of there and back to the snowmobile?" Matthew offers with a weak smile.

"Matt!" Gilbert exclaims looking exasperated as Arthur gave Matthew a scolding look. "That is such an…. Un-awesome thing to do! What if the male had come back? It would've eaten you in a heartbeat and I would've had to deal with a shit ton of paper work and your parents."

"I know, I know. I promise I won't do it again." Matthew says apologetically. "On the upside, I saved a polar bear cub?" He offers, unzipping his jacket once they were inside so they could see the cub inside.

)*(

By the time Ivan had everything together it was past noon. He could have just left at sunrise; he could have gone a few more days without sleep. Compared to not getting there in time and having to wait until the next festival, lack of sleep was a small problem that he could put up with. However, the biggest reason why he was so far behind was because of what had happened earlier that morning…

"You cannot be serious, you are with pups! You should not be traveling such a long distance. What if you begin to nest on the way?" Ivan groaned.

"Ivan! I am more than capable of travelling and what you just said proves just how little you know about nesting!" Irunya snapped with a small snarl, both her ears and tail standing high. Ivan flinched at that. She had been so vulnerable the previous night. Damn mood swings…

Mogens chuckled at the sight as she continued to bark at him. Ivan might as well let her come along. Even with it being the mood swings making her brave enough to talk back with such bite, she truly was just worried for her family. She had missed her brother dearly while he was away. Though Mogens hated how Ivan treated his own sisters most of the time, Irunya always insisted that her brother was a good person. That he was truly kind and gentle, and that she only wanted him to be happy.

Now, instead of Ivan heading out on his own, he was leaving with a small caravan of others. Two carriages were being pulled in teams: a larger one for most of the wolves coming along and a smaller one for Ivan. One he could easily pull on his own while the larger needed two or three wolves to get the job done. Irunya had requested that Ivan got his own private one for his wife so that she would be comfortable on the return journey home. Though as much as Ivan wanted to believe that was all, he knew the only reason the rest of the pack was okay with this was because they did not want him to share the same space as them. They may even have him just leave right away after the festival.

Ivan had already grown tired of this so-called pack he was part of. His mother had adopted him into the pack and his sisters' father had died in an attack from another clan before he was found. He did not remember much of his of his life as a pup, however his adoptive mother was no less kind to him than she was to any of the other pups. If only the rest of the wolves were as accepting as his mother had been.

)*(

The next day, Matthew picked up the phone and dialed the number for his friend Carlos, who ran a zoo. While he talked with Carlos and discussed possibly letting the zoo raise the cub, Matthew was feeding said cub some milk and watching over it; after awhile he spoke up into the phone.

"Actually Carlos," He says, looking at the cub fondly as it nibbled on the tip of the bottle of milk. "I've changed my mind. I want to raise it here. I'm sure I can teach it what it needs to survive. I know a great deal about polar bears after all. Plus it'll be better for it if it doesn't leave its arctic home."

After another fifteen to twenty minutes reassuring Carlos that he could indeed care for the cub, Matthew hung up with a smile.

Over the next week, Matthew diligently watched over and took care of the cub, and much to everyone's amusement; the cub (whom Matthew named Jiro) started treating Matthew like he was its mother. It had taken to following him around everywhere, playing with him, and occasionally trying to suckle on him while Matthew was asleep when he got hungry. (Alfred and Gilbert found this the most amusing part of it all and chose to make jokes about it daily despite his protests.)

)*(

It took Ivan and the rest of the caravan until the morning of the sixth day to reach the grounds of the festival. Mostly everything appeared to have been set up and running for at least four days.

While the other wolves went to enjoy the festivities, Irunya chose to join Ivan in going to talk to Yao. She bid Mogens farewell and promised that she would be just fine with Ivan and that no harm would come to her.

It did not take long for them to run to the temple and the young mother's belly did not bring her much too restraint. Not yet anyway.

As they waited in the hall for Yao to join them, Irunya took the time to take in her surroundings. It had not changed much since the last time that she was here with her mother and sister. As for Ivan, this was the first time that he had been inside the Moon Temple. While she was rather excited and happily waging her tail, her brother just looked forward with a serious look. Irunya's tail slowed at this and she looked elsewhere. How long had it been since Ivan had smiled or laughed?

Moments later she started to pray softly to the Moon. She was a strong believer in the great Moon and believed with her very being that Ivan would be given a mate, one that would bring back his smile, and more importantly, his happiness.

Her attention was brought back from her prayers as a red panda came into the room from one of the side doors.

"Irunya~! It has been too long, aru." The red panda trotted over cheerfully and sat on a small pillow in front of them. Even in this form, he still managed to pull off a small smile, though he did eye the rather frightening looking tiger somewhat nervously. He had not seen the feline since he was, well… smaller. "It has been years since you last visited. You showed up at a good time, aru. The Moon festival-"

"A-actually, that's why we're here." The panda was a little taken aback at this; it was not like her to interrupt. "Y-you see, we need your help with something." Irunya felt bad for interrupting his greetings, but the small talk would have to wait until later since they kind of had an urgent matter to have settled.

"Oh, what might that be?" He frowned a little. "It may have to wait until after the festival though. I'm rather busy with the preparations I'm afraid."

Ivan hissed softly at those words; he wanted to lash out at this small animal that he could easily crush with one paw. Both of the others took notice of the tigers growing irritation and his sister decided to just get to the point of their visit.

"W-we were hoping that you could ask the Moon Goddess to give one of her children t-to my brother."

"That is... quite the request." Yao says, taking a few minutes to think quietly to himself and glancing over at Ivan a few times before he addressed him. "You know that not just anyone may receive one of the Goddess' children, correct?"

"Yes, but I am left with no other options." The tiger replied.

"No other options?" The other male raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Ivan nodded. "I am the last of my kind. I have spent the past several years looking, searching everywhere for a mate. There are no others; this is the only chance that I may have to get a mate." He said in a serious tone.

"…" The young male seemed certain of this and Yao himself had not ever seen another tiger other than Ivan. "Very well, but we must move fast. We only have a little over a day to get everything together." The red panda finally says with a nod.

Irunya practically beamed with joy at Yao's answer, though Ivan expression did not change much; an observation that was concerning to the red panda.

)*(

On the last night of the week, Matthew sat outside in the snow with Jiro, playing with it and thinking to himself a bit. He was having a blast with raising Jiro, but aside from that, life here was overly stifling. He enjoyed his job, but with his family hanging over his shoulder all the time, pestering him and fussing over him almost constantly, he was getting fed up with them being here. Honestly, he'd chosen to work up here instead of at a zoo because it was far, far away from where his family lived.

He loved his family, really, he did. But they were just too stifling, he'd wanted to get away from them in the first place and the fact that they'd followed him up here after he'd repeatedly told them not to and insisted on overstaying their welcome was just too much for him right now.

Sighing to himself, he picked up Jiro and went back inside to his spot on the floor, bidding Alfred goodnight before curling up with the cub and slowly falling asleep. I severely need a break from this all. He thought to himself as he drifted to sleep. I wish there was someplace I could go where my family couldn't follow me so I could finally get some time away from them.

)*(

Ivan had been given "robes," as Yao had called them, for him to wear to the Moon festival. They were pure white with portions dyed a dark red and there were some weird crystals on them as well. They were certainly odd clothing for him to wear, but he put up with it nonetheless. He had already dealt with the ceremony the other night after all, and truth be told, he had thought it would have been a much harder task to complete.

All he had to do was bring forth items that would prove that he could care for the Moon Goddess' children and tell the Moon what he wanted in his mate.

The last part had been the easiest; he already knew what he wanted. A strong, brave female that would give him many offspring, beauty was always an obvious choice, and he did not want a weak or frail mate.

Soon the time came for him to join the others and he walked out to sit at one of circles. His sister was laughing and enjoying her time with Mogens and Ivan was pleased that she was no longer fussing over him like he was some weak pup.

The tiger sat next to his sister, who greeted him with a soft nuzzle of her nose to his forehead. He was a little shocked at that to be honest; he had not been given a kiss since their mother had died.

Irunya smiled softly afterwards, she had tears in her eyes. "For good luck." She said.

She really believed that he would get a mate tonight, though Ivan himself wasn't so sure about all of this. He was not much of a believer.

The festival was still going hours later during the later hours of the night and to Ivan, not much had changed. He was beginning to think that all of this had been for nothing as he stared off into the lake that the festival was taking place around. A clear reflection of the full moon could be seen on its surface as white flowers gently floated in the water.

Ivan was just about to get up and leave; he could not take being stared at for much longer. Everyone at the festival knew what the robes he wore meant and on top of that, they had never seen a tiger before. He was starting to feel more and more humiliated by everyone pointing at him and whispering amongst themselves.

Ivan took a moment to send Yao a death glare; he would make that red panda pay for this by eating the overgrown rat for breakfast in the morning.

Yao pretended not to notice the tigers' angry gaze and closed his eyes. After a few moments of him silently meditating, everyone started to quiet down. Only whispering to themselves on what they thought was happening. Was Yao speaking with the Moon? Or was the Moon showing him a vision?

When Yao stood up suddenly with his eyes fixed on the lake; the whole festival froze, well except for Ivan.

After taking a few steps out into the clearing so everyone could see and hear him, Yao began the speech he did every year at the festival, except he did not end it the way he normally did.

"-Children of the night… let your ears and your eyes be open… for tonight is an event that has not taken place in our parents' life time, nor our grandparents, aru."

Ivan felt Irunya hold onto his arm, but her eyes never left the short man. This is it. She thought. This is it.

"For our great Moon has given us all a gift. Not in the form of something we all can hold, but in our hearts. We shall never forget. To all you here today, may you be blessed with happiness, aru. May all your dreams come true and your worries fade." Some of the villager's eyes turned towards the pond as ripples appeared on the normally still surface.

"For tonight, under our Goddess; our Great Mother's watch; we shall see something that has only been told to us in the form of stories as we were pups, cubs, children."

Everyone's eyes were now focused the reflection of the full moon on the surface of the small lake.

It was starting to form into a large bubble, lifting just above the water. The milky white bubble then began to stack itself and as it began to open, it started to take the form of the white flowers on the lake. Only this one was the size of a tent and it had a soft glow to it, just as the moon did. It settled back into the water, floating softly as if it had been there the whole time.

"With great honor and joy, I present: a child of the Moon Goddess." Yao smiled and bowed to the flower in the lake and many villagers quickly followed suit, though Ivan was still staring in awe at what had just happened. It wasn't until his sister gave him a nudge, did he realize that this was his time to get up.

"Go..." She said softly with a smile and then bowed her head like the others.

Ivan stood and slowly walked to the lake, wondering why was he so nervous all of a sudden. He swallowed thickly as in stepped into the cool water and he came up to the flower. The water was just at his knees and touching the soft petals. He looked back to see a few people peeking to watch, while others were still frozen. He turned his eyes back to the flower in front of him then and began to push the petals aside.

It did not take long for him to realize that there was someone sleeping peacefully inside of the petals; she wore long, pure white robes, with a hood hiding her face. He couldn't see any part of her body and he hesitated before reaching down and carefully scooping her up into his arms. So light... He thinks; then he gently pulled her hood back with his mouth so he could at least see her face and was stunned at the sight.

She was beautiful. More beautiful than he could have imagined, and he had never seen the color of her fur on any other animal before. It was as gold as the morning light. Yes. He thinks. She will do.

Ivan managed a very small smile and he silently thanked the Moon for giving him one of her daughters before spending the rest of the night holding his new wife as everyone fawned over her. He would let others see her face as she slept but no more. Nothing was going to take this mate from him.

The villagers gave cheers and danced about, singing as loud as they could and banging drums as hard as they could, so that all their songs and voices would reach the Moon Goddess' ears.

Ivan did not pay any mind to the loudness of the event however; his eyes were on his new wife, watching her as she slept peacefully in his arms. He didn't want to wake her, though he couldn't help but gently touch her face after a few minutes had passed, just to feel her a little. Mainly to reassure himself that she was actually there in his arms and that he wasn't just dreaming of such a perfect and happy moment.