Moonspear after life

for the final babe: @Kaujimaq! family is also welcome, of course. ^_^

Sialuk had thought she was finished. The contractions slowed, and she could have sworn there was nothing left to do. She even exited the ulaq after a time to relieve herself and grab a drink of water, exhausted as she was. But as she headed back, she felt another sickening pull in her abdomen. She was not done. There was at least one more, and she hurried herself back to the quiet of the doe pelt where @Pie and @Pauk lay in the care of the others.

Her body heaved, and she pushed. It heaved again, and Sialuk pushed again, the pain pulsing through her every being. She bit down on a nearby branch—no doubt some gift from one of the other villagers—and pushed even harder. Finally, a third child. They wore a silver pelt with darker saddle markings.

The starwoman cleaned all three of her children, the third one born nearly two hours after the second. All of them perfect, she thought. For the first time since Argent's departure, she felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps, things could get back to normal. Perhaps, her heart could find peace again. She had three new lives to focus on, and there was much room for them to grow.

She looked to @Acrux, knowing he had been through so much these past few months. These three new babes among them, she hoped would lift the spirits of all who Argent had left behind. Even after all this, Sialuk could not bring herself to tarnish his name. He had still done so much for her, Elentari, Maggak, and Acrux while he had been a part of the village. His memory would live on through the children he left behind, and Sialuk would always hold a special place in her heart for him.

Quietly, she began to hum a song to her three new babes, welcoming them to the world in her mother's tongue. Like their older siblings before them, they would learn the ways of the sunshine people. And they would know the ways of village Moonspear. They would have family beyond blood, and when nine months had passed, they would make their passage into the world of adulthood. That, of course, was far, far away.

Elentari was patient while Sialuk's labor lasted. So far she had blessed them with not one, but two healthy children. It seemed to have come to a lull, or rather, a stop. But labor was not always predictable.

Some time after the arrival of the latest child, the Archer had slipped gently inside the ulaq, welcome as women were. Watching over the newborns, tending to them when needed and keeping them warm. They were amazing, beautiful little spuds. She loved them already.

She was surprised but delighted when Sialuk's labor started again. Vigilant and encouraging, she coaxed her through this last delivery of the final and third pup. And when it was over, with the trio at her belly and suckling, Elentari wondered, if she had any of her own this year, if it would be a single child, or multiple, like Sialuk's.

That didn't matter now. Excited and even tired from all the anticipation, she curled herself close against the curve of Sialuk's spine, kissing her ear. "They are all so strong and beautiful. Like you."

cameo unless addressed <3 open to BTS refs or backdated threads of visiting/hunting!

to be present at the second birth of sialuk was a blessing to chakliux, who though often of moontide.
yet it was here he wished to be for this time, for it detracted nothing from his equal desire to be home among his wives and new children.
when sialuk briefly emerged, he greeted her warmly and with words of encouragement, but then he sank back where he had been sitting. restlessness at last was given voice; he moved off noiselessly and returned in time to see elentari enter the ulaq.
he set down a pair of doves and listened.
and when he knew a third child had come, the seal hunter smiled. he heard sialuk's silvered song raise and twined with it a blessing from the cold northern peninsula. it was not quite a father's words, in acceptance of how these children too would be sunshine people; it carried instead the hope of the spirit world and evoked the snow falling over wild places.
and because he did not know if he should enter the ulaq, and because he needed to go back to the seaside, he turned. if paused, he would gladly go and witness these babes, but either way, be it in this moment or later, chakliux would invite @Maggak and @Acrux or both of them to hunt with him before he departed the mountain for the ocean once more.

The world she knew, suspended in a warm embrace and the lull of her mother’s heartbeats, came to an abrupt end. Her new world, shrouded in darkness still, felt different—smelled different. Scents of many surrounded her, and though they were unfamiliar, they were comforting. 

A shrill cry burst forth from her tiny mouth as her limbs scrambled for purchase. She rolled and wriggled, her mouth searching, driven by her innate need for sustenance. Her restlessness kept her in motion, but as soon as her mother began to hum, she soothed as it reverberated in her little being. Nestling into soft furs, she found a teat and suckled, kneading around it to get more, and more, until her belly was too round, too full.

If her eyes were open, they would close, and she would sleep.

last one from me, but others are still welcome. <3

Her third child, a daughter wrapped in silver and grey and charcoal, slept soundly at her side along with the two others: a sooty son and the peculiar one she still could not decipher a sex from. But she was exhausted, and her face brightened when Elentari's voice drifted to her. Chakliux's presence had been comforting as well, even if she hadn't been able to muster up any words for him.

To her third child, she whispered the spirit name: Makik.

I love you,:: was all she could manage to Ele, who wrapped herself comfortingly around the Ostrega. Exhaustion took her then, and she slept deeply.