Eep goes to her mom for a talk.

Ugga had put Sandy down for her nap, Thunk put himself down for a nap, Grug was picking termites out of Chunky's fur over by the waterfall and Ugga had finally been able to tie her mother down, which meant Ugga was long overdue for a little "me-time."

She had found the perfect wall to paint on. Today she was thinking of doing a little "Paleo-Impressionistic" sort of mural. She dragged a tall rock over to the side, placing a large clam-shell on its flat top and filled that shell with various different fruit. She took several steps and scrutinized the arrangement and found it serviceable.

"Alright. That pile of fruit should keep the liyotes from running off with my paint."

She took her pallette of paint she made from ground root and fruit pulp and started applying it to the wall, making shapes and sketches.

She cleaned her hand with a rag and applied a light blue onto her thumb, struggling to keep her hand steady so that she can mark it carefully.

"Alright, now for the delica--"

"MOM I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

In shock, Ugga accidentally slapped her entire palm, smearing a bunch of paint on the wall. She sighed with disappointment. "Me Time" is now "Us Time" again.

Eep made a three-point landing from the tree branch she was running on. Her hair was wilder than usual (an impressive feat), and she had this manic look in her eyes.

"Mom, I don't know what to do! I think I've caught the Moon Mania!"

Ugga didn't believe in "Moon Mania". It was one of those things her mom would always talk about. Like the Thunder Sisters, or the world being circular. Her mom always talked about how at least one person in a tribe would develop Moon Mania: cold sweats, incessant itching, craving for human flesh, the works. Gran also talked about how Moon Mania only happened at night, so Eep's hysteria was especially weird considering it was the afternoon.

"What makes you think that?" Asked Ugga. Eep started pacing frantically.

"Okay, so I was swinging on vines and I got this idea where Dawn and I could do a little vine racing, so I went looking for her. Are those grapples?" Eep went up to the fruit bowl Ugga had out and snatched the grapple and bit into it. "Sho thenI w'nt wookin' for her." She swallowed and took another bite.

Ugga recognized stress-eating when she saw it. She was more accustomed to "stress-starving", but she's also seen stress-eating. This was serious.

"Eep, what happened?"

Eep beat her chest and spat out a seed that was caught in her throat.

"So I found her, and she was bathing by the creek, and suddenly I got these shivers and it felt like I had butterflies in my stomach. Living ones! And my whole body feels tingly and I could see her boobs and her butt and Mom you gotta help me!" She grabbed Ugga by the front of her pelt before her grip loosened and she collapsed face-first on the ground with a flourish. "I don't wanna eat Dawn..."

Ugga took a moment to absorb everything.

Her baby was in love. Her baby girl was in love and she didn't even know it.

"Eep, it's okay. You don't have Moon Mania."

Eep looked up, her eyes big and ready for sobbing.

"I don't?"

"No Eep. You don't."