Heron Lake Plateau make me feel

"Not bad," she answered, her eyes following Vasa as the girl was momentarily distracted by a wayward butterfly. Fortunately, the girl's short attention span soon lost interest in the insect and she returned to Eljay. "They're just a lot to deal with today. Pushing boundaries. You know, being puppies." Her friend seemed a little indecisive and for a moment, Raven thought he was going to insist that she take a break and let him handle the pups. But then he relented, finding a spot and hunkering down. The pups, of course, never ceased their onslaught, and as Eljay sank down to their level, they piled onto him like a tiny horde of adorable zombies. Raven grinned as she watched, feeling that Eljay had already given her a break of sorts. At least they were chewing on him now and not her. ;)

He asked how the birth went, and Raven sighed softly. "It was rough, to be honest." She recalled how it felt to hold her two dead firstborns -- Seagull and Grey Jay -- in her arms, before the others had arrived. The feeling broke her heart all over again, but she didn't let it show on her face. She didn't want Eljay to think that he had upset her. He hadn't, but the subject certainly wasn't easy. "My first two were stillborn. I thought I had lost them all. But then Vasa came, raising about as much hell then as she does now." She grinned, knowing that Eljay would totally understand what she meant. Vasa was a wild one. "Owen was next, then Kite, then Phoebe. Everything went perfectly after the first two, but I admit -- I do wish you could have been there." She smiled at him, knowing that his midwife skills were important to him and wishing she could have helped him gain more experience. It had all happened so suddenly, though, she hadn't had time to call.