The Sentinels Tiny Blessings Gilded in Black and White

he had been thinking of their earlier brood, of casmir and eilidh and constantine, and the wolves they had become. wherever his eldest son had traveled, the druid knew that he too would thrive and make something great of himself. lasher faced the sea, which had formed a pillar of new comfort in his mind; he stood between the boles of two great trees and breathed in the brine-winds. lasher knew that change stirred in donnelaith -- the spirits had whispered such unto him, for he heard them as he never had before. they had been pleased by the move.

taltos would have liked to press into the deeper shadows, to explore this renewed link betwixt his soul and the cacophony of ghostly sussuration, but now came blue willow's wavering cry o'ertop the high trees, and lasher turned toward it immediately. into the warm darkness fragrant with blood and birth the druid peered, for he dared not enter, lest his wife's protective rage be kindled in violence against him.

in tandem, the alpha paced the snows outside, pausing only when he heard the soft tones of her voice, once, then twice. he knew blue willow lay still now, wrapped 'round their cubs as she had done the first time, and the sweet scent of milk greeted his nostrils as at last the man crept forward on his belly to behold the tiny curled bodies of down nestled against their mother's side.

so beautiful! delicate! daughters, both, and lasher felt tears well in his eyes. one dark, one light, and their names spoke themselves from his own throat, as if he himself had no control over those titles which donnelaith granted. "emaleth claudette," taltos murmured over the sable daughter, "and deirdre stella." he leant forward to kiss the pad of one tired foot belonging to his mate, smiled into her face before he let his gaze linger on his daughters.

presently lasher drew himself for the den, throwing back his crown to announce proudly the birth of donnelaith's first children. witches, both, he hoped, for witches they had been named, and the blood of such ran in their veins. and so emaleth and deirdre were welcomed beneath an auspicious series of events into the heart of the place named for his natal glen.