Sleepy Fox Hollow every outcome is such a comedown

please feel free to skip me until she’s born :)

she decided to come early.

only a day or two. perhaps her mother wouldn’t even notice. but if she did, @Wylla might turn back on this tangled moment and tease out that one of the earliest characteristics of her daughter — impatience — was already present.

the walls that cradled her began to quake. displeased, she unleashed a kick that would cross her mother’s eyes. she had been doing that recently, whenever she deemed that wylla had moved too much.

but for all the effort she had to muster, the quaking didn’t stop.

mahler had devoted these last weeks to the digging of another, closer cache and deepening patrols in concentric circles. he overlaid his scent around the den and conveyed in so many words to his sons that they would soon be joined by younger siblings.
to the testament of his midwifery skill, though he housed no children inside himself, mahler had become quite attuned to any changes in his mate, and when this crucial moment came, he lifted his charcoal ears and looked at the silverglow face which he had so loved all these years.
wisely he did not voice his suspicions nor suggestions; he reached out to steady his mate with a touch, amethyst eyes fully attentive and locked to any change in wylla's figure or expression.

Wylla knew it would be soon, but was unprepared for just how soon. Surely, she thought when a painful kick turned into an even more painful contraction and made her breath catch in her throat, surely she had another couple days to prepare? Oh, even if she had a week or two left, it would not be enough time! It never was.

Wylla turned immediately for the den. She was but a short walk away, pacing in a slow circle to keep her limbs from growing restless and to quell the minor cramps that always came with the impending end of her pregnancy. Another contraction, stronger, rippled through her abdomen and made her eyes pop wide and seek her mate's face. It had never progressed so quickly before!

What Wylla did not recall was that each birth had been faster than the last, and now her body was accustomed to the process. Coupled with both age and the fact there was only one puppy, Ilse would not be long in coming. In fact, Wylla hardly had time to reach the den and sequester herself in its depths, pausing for breath with each contraction, before the sharpest pain yet pierced her abdomen and the first urge to push came on a muffled groan.

wylla seemed as surprised as mahler. he rose when his mate did, following at a soft distance as she made her way to the natal den. it seemed hardly a moment longer when her breathing changed, and the guttural drop of her voice suggested that their children were already ready to enter the world.
in observation of her own skill and autonomy, and in full remembrance of how her teeth had scarred him once for that already, the patriarch sat outside the den.
he would not leave save for water, raising his head with cupped ears at each utterance from wylla.
and if she called for him, he would be present; if the situation to his experience seemed to be dipping, mahler would position toward the doorway.
mahler refused to fall prey to any musings upon dire predicament.
all others warded off as the gargoyle kept sentinel.

Last post for me, you are both welcome to PP Wylla from here out and she is going on NPC for a bit!

It was over in the blink of an eye.

She delivered a single pup, dark-furred and indistinct in the gloom of the den. A little girl. Wylla cleaned away the sac and tucked the puppy against the warmth of her abdomen, where she began to suckle immediately. There was vim and vigor in this child, of that there could be no mistake. She claimed all of it, leaving little energy for Wylla herself. Even though it had been a quick birth and just one pup, she was exhausted.

In an uncharacteristic move for her, she invited her mate into the den to peek at their newest daughter while she slipped away into slumber.