The inspection went rather well. Jensen approved of what had been done as everything was now in perfect wolf condition. He was now busy dealing with other matters inside the manor before Bart and Jenny could begin reworking their files and coming up for a legitimate reason why three employees were now females... or becoming females.
That left the pups time to say their "goodbyes" to Jack and Marcine as they finished their transition into deer-hood. For Bart and Jenny it was a last tribute to loyal and hard working employees, who would now be serving them in a different capacity. For Kevin, Marcy, and Alice, it was because their siblings were there. Martha stood protectively behind them as they approached the two nearly complete deer.
Both Jack and Marcine also reacted nervously, as they had seen what the male pups had done to a rabbit. They were small in comparison to the other wolves, but they were still dangerous.
"It's okay, Jack," Bart said as they approached, "we're not hunting... I doubt father would let us hunt anything larger then rabbits anyway."
Jack glanced over at Marcine for a moment, as their former employer had NEVER referred to them on a first name basis. Marcine flicked her ears as it was the closest she could give to a shrug.
"Why are you here?" Jack asked, keeping himself between Martha and the pups and Marcine, antlers ready, even if they were covered in velvet.
"Why are your horns fuzzy?" Marcy asked, distracting them from the topic.
"We came to say goodbye and thank you for all the work you did for us as Jack and Marcine," Bart spoke, ignoring Marcy's question. Jenny nodded beside him.
"My herd will likely still "serve" your father's pack," Jack answered, sounding slightly defensive, yet loyal at the same time.
"And the pack as a whole will be thankful for your contribution," Jenny spoke up, "we're even working to buy up more land so you have more room to graze."
"Thank you," Marcine spoke, sounding cheerful at that.
"And it still doesn't mean we can't thank you for all the work you did before," Bart added.
Jack looked over at Marcine. Her human breasts were gone, and teats were moving to the normal location all does had theirs. Her hooves were fully formed on her rear legs, but she still had four fingers that were fusing on each hand to form her front hooves. Her human hair was still present, but it was looking incredibly loose. She nodded to him.
"You're welcome... I guess," Jack said, "and we are both grateful to provide your pack with a herd... I guess it is nervousness about being actually eaten ourselves. Being a prey animal and all that."
"Understandable," Martha spoke, "but you know that the Master has promised not to hunt you. Just the deer you attract and likely your weaker fawns..."
"But that won't be for at least a year or so," Jenny added quickly, "Let you build up your numbers, and give us time to see if we can get more deer brought here... or maybe cattle."
Jack slowly nodded.
"Why are your horns fuzzy?" Marcy asked again.
"They're antlers, not horns," Jack answered, "the velvet contains the blood vessels I need to grow them. In time, the velvet will begin to die and get itchy, and I will scratch it off, somehow. Later on these antlers will fall off..."
"Like male pattern baldness?" Marcy asked.
Jack gave the pup a puzzled look.
"No," Jack said, "they will fall off because that is way antlers grow. They grow, sheathed in velvet in the spring, lose the velvet during the summer, and fall off in the winter, only to repeat the cycle next year."
"So how come cows don't lose theirs?" Marcy asked.
"Because they have horns," Jack explained, "horns grow out from the skull over a bone core. Antlers are bones that can be lost and regrown. If a bull loses a horn he will never get it back. If I loose an antler, I will grow a new one the next year."
"Oh," Marcy spoke, still sounding confused, and then turning Martha, "do we have books on antlers? Or a nature tape?"
"We may have to make an expedition to the library for such material," Martha told the pup, "or order it through email."
"Oh," Marcy answered.
It was Alice spoke next, and walked up to Jack's head and began to pet his head, gently.
"And I thank you for helping with my tasks when I was Adam," Alice said politely, "perhaps since we will not hunt you two, you and I can still be friends."
Marcine and Jack both looked at the glass wolf with a great degree of bewilderment that she would want to make friends with what her kind ate. But then, they had thought that Adam was a little strange and Alice's "Alice in Wonderland" personality also seemed a little out of the ordinary. They both nodded.
Bart and Jenny watched quietly. Jack and Marcine's front fingers were now fusing into the two hooves that deer had. Their human hair was falling out, leaving them covered only in their golden brown fur.
Jack went to say something, but all that came out was a strange noise that none of the wolves had heard before. He tried again, sounding more desperate, but again did not speak the way a human would speak.
"We're deer, now," Jack heard Marcine say to him, "my lovely buck."
Jack then felt Marcine walk under his head, rubbing his chin with her body. He turned to follow her, and the two were soon bounding away to a different part of the grounds, looking for food.
"Goodbye," Bart and Jenny said to the two retreating deer.
"Come along, Master Bart, Mistress Jenny," Martha spoke from behind them, "the Master has likely finished his with whatever his has been planning and is ready for you to begin your work."
Bart and Jenny both sighed.
"What about us?" Kevin asked.
"Can we watch Animal Planet?" Marcy asked.
"I suppose," Martha answered, "it will depend on whether or not the master wants things to be quiet or not."