Sun Mote Copse unconditionally from me to you, I pass this love on to you

Backdated to the 25th!

Giana knew precicely what was happening when she felt the pull to her den that night -- the stirrings of contractions were weak, but noticable to the experienced woman. Knowing there was a long night ahead of her, she stopped by a cache and snatched a stale, cold rabbit before waddling her way to her den. The fallen log was wide enough and tall enough that the mother could scoot her way in, and the opposite end was closed with roots and dirt -- big enough to raise her pups for the first few months, sheltered enough to keep them warm so long as a warm body was with them. Perhaps she would dig a den underneath when the pups were too big to fit here with her, but Giana wanted to keep this den as long as she could. It'd been the first suitable den she'd found in the Copse for herself, even before she knew she'd be having kids.

She ripped through the rabbit with ease as she sprawled in the entrance of her den, but by the end was rushing through it, swallowing unchewed chunks as she really went into labor.

Unlike most females, she didn't feel the need to pace, or move, or mark -- she was happy to keep her back to the entrance, hunkering down to ready herself. Nervousness fluttered her heart and spiked her anxiety, but she reminded herself that she'd done this before and she didn't need help. Sure, Arunik'ra and Ar-Khalba knew of herbs, could likely help her through this, but the stubborn side of herself gave a firm no.

An hour or so later, she began to push -- she rumbled and growled, clawing at the aged and toughened bark beneath her with each strain. It was a long couple of minutes before the firstborn dropped from her rear, but much shorter than the hours she'd strained with her first litter. In fact, this time already seemed shorter and easier than before. Turning to snatch her gracefully, Gia brought the night-colored little girl to her front with a swipe of her paw, licking the sac clean of the baby and swallowing it without a second thought. The girl let out a soft whimper at her mothers touch, paddling faintly speckled legs, but it wasn't as strong as it should be. Upon gazing closer, she noted the slimness of the girl and the effort she needed to do even such primal, instinctual things. Gia might've killed it right there if she hadn't felt the strong beat of a heart -- sickly and thin as the girl was, and doubtful as her mother wouldn't admit to being, the ivory woman placed @Aurora Artemis Abernathy-Angelo at her belly to nurse.

It was almost an hour Gia got to lay there in silence with her baby girl, watching over her silently and easily deciding that the tiny girl was not a proper gift to Molech. This one she would raise as a daughter, survival pending, to be a great and respected warrior woman of The Malkaria. She didn't once think her daughter might not take suit to the life of war, of a guardian, for she had the Angelo blood pumping through her veins! No matter what their first interest would be, what dreams blossomed in their hearts, they were all warriors deep in their soul. The mother, for the first time since his leaving, thought of Hadraniel: she'd never felt afffection for him, but it did sadden her to know that, like her, the litter would grow up with only one parent. What were his interests? What were the skills and interests that were common in his bloodline? What she would tell their children about him, she didn't truly know -- despite her last words to Hadraniel, could she tell her children that their father didn't want them? It was not his feelings she was afraid of wounding, but the children's fragile hearts. They were her blood, of course, and they would be strong, but the rejection of a family member was something she knew only from the in laws she'd inherited from Giancarlo.
In the next moment, her own brain answered her: yes, yes she could. She could tell her children that, because Molech laid claim to them, to their family, held them in this many arms and kept a benevolent eye over them all, Hadraniel had turned and left. Not out of fear -- at least not that she'd seen -- but out of a sober choice, of perhaps jealousy or anger; he'd turned and left Giana alone to raise the children on her own, and she would tell them that Hadraniel hadn't wanted to stay behind and be the father they'd deserved.

Her wandering and viscious thoughts were pulled back by a stronger contraction, and Gia stiffened to push once again -- this time, the wait was even shorter. A boy of unbroken ebony fell onto the soft, firm bark, and Giana whisked him close and took her tongue against his pelt. This one was chubby, strong, flailing and wailed loudly in need.... This, her eldest son (of this litter), would be her sacrifice to this new world, to the god who chose her fate and watched over her with a benevolent eye. He would be given to the light without hesitance. Keeping him between her paws, the Angelo called stiffly for @Eshamun. There was no other that Gia would hand her child to willingly, and it was already hard to think about. She nuzzled him gently, licking at the soft, damp boy with all the love she would have raised him with. Dearly she wished to keep him, to raise him beside Aurora and to be a proud Angelo warrior -- to one day see him sire more children in the name of Molech, to ward off the leader that would come with vicious fangs and the instincts that coursed through her body.

She remembered, then, that he would be blessed as much as he was blessing her and the Copse. The boy would never know strife, or loss, or pain -- he would forever only feel the love of his mother before a swift, painless end.

Against all her thoughts, her knowledge and wishes, she knew the boy briefly as Knight -- the knight who secured her safety with giving up a life in the mortal world for a hopefully comfortable and painless life beside Molech.

As she hugged the boy, more contractions hit her, much earlier than Gia had hoped. She'd wanted Knight to be gone by the time another demanded to be freed from her womb in order to give her more privacy, but she'd already howled for her ekar-aji and would not send her away. The boy would not be allowed to take milk from her other puppies, would not nestle close to his siblings, not as she knew his fate -- it was Winter, and Gia would not risk the lives she was in charge of protecting, not even for the dear boy that was sealing such a world for them. Part of it, too, was that she wanted less of a bond with Knight: unlike Asherah, who had kept Bachir for eight days, Giana would not grow attached (or so she thought) to the boy she couldn't keep. She didn't trust herself not to turn back on her word to Molech and Eshamun.

Bearing down, careful not to squish Knight or Aurora, Giana birthed a third and final puppy. This one was the hardest yet, smaller than her first son but much, much fatter. Scooting the pudgy amber boy up next to his slightly larger brother, the ivory femme cleaned @Cosmos Apollo Abernathy-Angelo gently before putting him to suckle beside his little sister. They would know of Knight's sacrifice, when they got older: they would know what life he secured for them this Christmas, the blessing cloaked in dark light. They would one day learn to love his memory as fiercely as she did now.

written by raven marie

first and last post from me! <3

[table width=55%][tr][td]
giana's voice lifted to the heavens, and the ekar-aji left her den to answer the call. the scent of birth was upon the air, and for a long moment, eshamun merely breathed it, transported to the tender moments of her own children's birth, before molech took them from her. and so she was silent, standing in the snow as she turned her viridian eyes upon giana's den, where undoubtedly another child waited to be sacrificed to molech.
it was with a heavy heart that eshamun came to the denmouth and gave a gentle chuff to announce her presence, before moving into the fragrant darkness as she had at asherah's shelter. as her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the beautiful children gathered beside giana, save for one, and the canaanite knew instinctively that this was the chosen one.
"blessed giana," eshamun whispered, leaning forward to kiss the baakar's warm brow. "new life." it was then and only then that the ekar-aji let her gaze descend to the children; she nosed over them gently, not quite touching their tiny bodies, until she reached the one set aside from its siblings.
with a glance to giana to assure herself that this was the one, eshamun lifted the small body between her jaws and left backward from the den. she turned into the blinding light reflecting from the snow; it stung her eyes with a welter of tears, but her emotions had already clawed at her heart, and even as she descended to the river, scraped a hole in its ice, and gave the boy to molech through the watery depths as had been done with her babes; even as she buried giana's child at the shrine near her own, eshamun cried aloud, great racking sobs, and knew she could no longer be the one to return the children to molech, nor lead the malkaria.[/tr][/td][/table]

There once was a comforting place.  No emotions fell there, it was just floating in fluids alongside her siblings.  It was quiet there, peaceful even.  For there was no such thing as heartbreak or sadness or pain... there was just them living in comfort with no worries.

But peace would not last forever.

She slide away from the small peaceful world she had once known that day and was thrust into the world that she would learn to call home.

Her heart was powerful, it beat strong, but her physical appearance was weak and frail... she was delicate and when she breathed in her first breath she felt her first cold smack of life.  Her body gave a few of the smallest shivers, but as she was laid down by the softness of her Mother's fur a newfound feeling of warmth filled her.

It took her a few seconds, but soon her instinctual need for food overpowered her and she grabbed a teat, beginning to suckle for the very first time.  As the warm milk trickled down her throat she felt a feeling of pleasure for the comfort of the smooth substance.

For a while longer she was alone.  She never knew of the presence of Knight, for she never felt his touch.  Perhaps one day she would come to love him for his sacrifice, but for now she knew nothing of him... but she would know of her brother Cosmos.  For as he was placed next to her she found herself pushing her body up against him, fighting to take in more warmth from not just her Mother but from him too.  Her instincts pushed her into the fight for survival.  For no matter how small and frail she was she would not, could not give up... and so she would survive.

Cosmos floated around in the fluid filled area he shared with two others. They had been together for a couple months now and yet he had never met them formally. He was enjoying the comfort and warmth of this space where no harm could come to him or his siblings but almost as if he had jinxed it. Everything began to move. The two sacs that were beside him were pushed out into the world followed by himself. 

The shock of the cold and unknown of this environment made him shiver but he was quickly reassured by his mother as she brought him closer to her. Though he could not see yet instinct told him to search for the teat to which he eventually found and began to drink the warm milk that his mother produced.

He could feel only one body touching his side and snuggling close. He would latlater come to learn this was his sister and that his other sibling had been given up as a sacrifice to their God.  

For now though, the focus was on milk and sleeping.