Sun Mote Copse A Child Has Been Born into the World

@Anatha @Elohim @Ar-Khalba @Eshamun 

BABIES!! She lets everyone know about the children in her call, but she'll want Ar-Khalba and Eshamun to be the ones to come on their birthday.

Winter had come. The red female had sensed it on the horizon for a time now, could smell its breath as it lingered out of sight. Now, though, as she rose from her den in the early morning, she knew it had come. Since she had discovered her pregnancy she had felt that it was joined with the coming of winter. Something within her bones told her that winter would come with her children, and that she would not deliver a moment sooner. Her breath fogged the air in great white puffs as she pant before her den. Her children had let her sleep the night past, which was not normal for them. They were still even now as she moved and wobbled to get a drink.

The grass underpaw was coated in frosted dew, though the ground beneath still held the warmth of the sun. It was not yet time for snow, or so she thought. She was unfamiliar with these lands, to be truthful, but snow had not come yet in her old home if it could be called that. She drank and returned to her den to watch the sun turn the sky orange and pink as it rose. The sky turned to flame, clouds casting shades of orange that differed and danced. The fire spread across the skies and she watched in awe, loving the shades that Molech paint. Just as the sun itself could be spotted, white-hot and blinding, she felt a stab of pain. She winced, but was not sure if it was from the sun or the pain that had fled.

She watched the sky for a moment longer, and after sometime the pain rose again. It rippled across her belly, making it taut. She groaned, shifting herself to lay on the ground. She'd felt contractions before now, had felt false labor, but this was different. She knew that this was true. She laid until the contraction passed and then rose and attempted to walk in a circle before her den. She knew that walking could hurry the process. Ar-Khalba flashed through her mind, should she call for him? Eshamun was next, and Arunik'ra, though she was still trekking. She would wait to call for anyone yet. 

An hour passed in agony. Her contractions continued steadily, but did not seem to grow closer. She knew that this was her labor, knew that Winter had brought the arrival of her children. She pray, wishing she could go to the shrine to bow her head. Her words were whispered fast, prayers for the safety of her children, for her labor to be quick, for her own health. Her vision in the acolyte ceremony had foretold her children, their fires had been strong and bright. She knew they would survive...and all the same she was frightened. She was lifting her head from prayer when a contraction hit much sooner than she was expecting it. With it came her water. She retreat back into her den, unwilling to risk anything by staying outside. As if the prayer had laid Molech's many arms around her, the contractions began to slowly increase in intensity and length. She lay and rose and turned and lay, panting and gritting her teeth against the pain.

A mantra repeat itself in her head, to gird against the pain. "Molech is with me, Molech is with me." Finally, she felt something slip from within her and she turned to look. The child lay within the sac, squirming. For a moment she stared, unsure of what to do. This was her first litter and she'd never seen her mother give birth. Thankfully, her instincts urged her to reach for the babe and in pulling it closer she punctured the sac. She began to clean the child, shell-shocked to be holding her own baby. She looked him over, counted his toes, enthralled. Her contractions continued, but she could not tear her eyes from this young one. His name rose on her lips with little prodding, and she gave it to him with a kiss on his small, mewling head. "Elohim, my son. May Molech bless you."

She pressed him to her side to feed, and though she would have liked to savor in that moment as well, she felt another life emerging and turned to greet this one faster than the other. She pulled the child to her, cleaning it right away. This one bore a darker stripe of black down the back, and she realized with delight that it was a girl. Tears fell down her cheeks and she kissed the child, she had been blessed with one of each sex. Her vision had told her of two babes, two sweet young ones strong and full of Molech's flame and here they were. She placed her daughter to her side, beside her brother. Elohim had been named for Molech's faith, and this child too needed her own name. "Anatha, sweet daughter." Asherah said, laughing with delight as she kissed the second born's head. She would bear her own calling within the faith, and Asherah had taken care to avoid any names that were too close to her own namesake.

Now, she watched them nurse, grunting and whining with all the noise of beloved newborns. She felt her body give another seize, though, and turned confused from her children. Her vision had spoken of two children, no more. Fear pierced her as she waited for the last child. She worried for a stillborn, or a deformed pup. Instead, another was born, rust colored and just as lively as the first two. It was another male, though smaller than his brother. Asherah cleaned the boy as lovingly as she had her first two children, but her fear had changed to understanding. She knew this child's purpose, his meaning in her litter. "Bachir." She whispered his name to him, and placed him to nurse at her side, sandwiching Anatha between her brothers. He would be offered to Molech, and so his name was fitting for his holy purpose. Chosen.

She reached down to nuzzle her children, and while sadness tried to tug at her for her child she would offer to Molech, she remained focused on her blessings. Because of Bachir, her two children would grow and serve the God. Because she had three, she could watch two grow. Because she was blessed, Bachir would know no pain in his life. She would mourn for him later, for now was time to love him and her other two, as a trio, while she could.

She did not call for anyone, not right away. She enjoyed her time with her children alone, as she had done with their pregnancy. She spent no more time on any one than the other, loving them all equally. Finally, she pulled herself away from them and moved from her den. The air outside had been warmed by the sun, and she closed her lids against the glow. The sun was high in the sky, afternoon. She had labored all morning. She raised her head to the sky and cried her joy for Molech and her sisters to hear. She cried to Ar-Khalba to know he had been blessed. Her song was happiness, lilting and lifting in thanks. Lowering her head she listened to her echo faded before moving back to her children, back to her joy.