The Sentinels You gave me nothing, now it's all I got

ooc: welcome to the world @Terance , @Wraen , Sarah! 

Osprey had felt the change during the previous night and lied awake during the early hours of the morning, feeling the waves of pain coursing through her lower abdomen and breathing slowly and deeply to calm herself down. She instinctively knew, what was coming and yet she did not want to alarm Dante, because... it felt that, when the right time came, she would want to deal it on her own. Therefore she saw him off to the borders that day with a smile and a loving kiss on his cheek, not even giving a hint that maybe by the end of the day there would be more of their little family. 

She walked slowly back to her den - weeks of searching for the perfect nest had not brought any result, and that trouble with the swarm of locusts had diverted her mind entirely from the important search. In the end their current home would do well enough for the first weeks. She took in the barren landscape before her, eyes searching for any sign of green, any color that was so common in spring and aside from the evergreens that still stood tall and proud, there was nothing. Though no one spoke of it, already the danger of famine was lurking in the shadows and all the gray she-wolf could think about was that she wished she could have given her children a better start in life. 

But then something caught her eye - small and weak, there in the sand was a single dandelion, it's yellow head turned to the sun. A lonely warrior, still there despite the odds, having miraculously escaped an almost certain doom and looking in the future with hope. Surely the flower didn't think much about anything, it just did, what it could and lived with the resources it had. However, seeing this gave Osprey the much needed courage to face the next chapter of her life and not give up. There and then she promised herself that she would do all things possible to keep her little souls safe and alive. 

It wasn't until few hours later, when she settled down and the labour began. Just like the last year the puppies came in this world with ease - first a dark-furred boy, followed by two grayscale girls and another boy, wearing a white coat and odd black markings. The first three - healthy, squirming and loud, demanded their rights in this world immediately and, once licked clean and dry, they began to eat greedily. However the last one was silent, unmoving and Osprey's attempts to bring it to life were in vain. Deep inside her heart she knew that this one had joined her star-babies, it's life having ended before it had even had a chance to begin. And yet, she pushed it's tiny body next to the three, keeping it warm just for a little while and hoping that, wherever the little soul was, it would know that it was loved regardless.

Afternoon turned into the evening and Osprey watched the sun set, enjoying the stillness and beauty of the world around her, thinking about that little dandelion and, what the future held for her three children.