Lost Creek Hollow the whirling ways of stars that pass

it's time! @Ashlar to post first, please. tagging @Rannveig for visibility <3

dawn broke, and with it she brought the first sharp pain, harsh enough to startle mona awake. it did not come again, however, but the young mother-to-be was awake, and brought herself out of the den to pace instinctively. tongue lolling, the little cardinal paused often to lap at the snow, worried as the pressure began to start anew.
there was no one here besides herself — so sorely did mona wish for the presence of indra or even laurel that the tears started at mid-morning. she must not waste her strength upon weeping — she must reserve it for the trials to come.
an hour later, mona lay panting in the recesses of her small den, shivering with agonies that rippled the length of her small body. what rowan must have endured! so resolute was the mayfair that she refused to cry out, only allowing small moans to eke from her strained throat.
this ability soon ended itself, however, and mona began to cry out.
perhaps the stress of being without a mate, or not knowing how her pregnancy would be received, or even the narrow set of her hips — whatever the reason, a too-small, limp bundle came first. mona nosed at it gingerly, tears stinging her eyes to find that her firstborn did not breathe. no amount of attempts would bring life, and so she drew a shuddering breath and lay back to experience the travails again.
this time, however, the dark little body that emerged from her own mewled enthusiastically enough; she cleaned the caul from its face. a boy, larger than the first, already struggling his way toward her teats. there was a rightness that flooded mona as he latched; she swept him closer with a forepaw. and though the pressures continued to climb the length of her spine, they were gentler now, fading off as the den filled with the sound of his nursing and her own soft sniffles.

Life did not come easily or pleasantly, and the new one that entered here today did so with an exploratory cry of confusion that was the newborn's calling card.

Fortunately it was too early for him to bother himself with complexities, and as soon as he had attached himself to the large warm, anything else was forgotten. Softly he began to knead with small and weak paws, entirely content with this world he'd fallen into.  This was it's entirety right now.

Gannet walked past the den he'd helped to dig that morning, expecting it to be quiet as usual. Instead, he heard the soft sounds of a newborn in the recesses alongside Mona's presence. He didn't approach, but did sit down a ways away, listening with a small smile on his face.

He knew better than to intrude but the joy of having children soon to play with filled him. He couldn't tell how many but abt amount was good, and he would stay there to contemplate it a while as well as to ensure everything inside was okay.