Blackfeather Woods I've taken shits better than the lot of you

Thank you, marie, for the beautiful title. 
Set to the 10th-Happy anniversary BFW!
Tagging @Nikai, @Witchhazel, @Keoni, and maybe @Nemesis and @Damien.
Welcome to the world. Have fun, and please keep hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

Autumn slipped in without much fanfare, quietly taking it's place after summer. The days seemed to blur together, taking on a smooth, uneventful quality. Soon, the leaves would burst into a vibrant fire of orange, red, yellow and brown, and the land would be lit aflame. But for now, Autumn made it's quiet entrance known only by the cooling and shortening of days, and days like today. 

The diminutive silver girl lay in the Glenn, ears pricked forward and eyes alert as she simply watched the day unfold. The sun had only just made it's approach known, and pale light slipped through foliage into the protected Glenn. Fog hung heavy, creating a thick, almost tangible film in the air, and the morning was oddly silent. Birdsong did not break the thick silence, save for the distant croak of an old crow. Amid the silence lay the wolf, though far from content. Her veins hummed with an odd, insatiable energy, and she was torn between her lazy reverie and pacing the clearing with restless vigour. 

She made to stand, surging to her feet awkwardly, and pausing to accommodate the weight of the load she bore within her. She scented the air, pale green gaze searching the clearing as the nymph panted lightly, seeking to not disturb the silence of the morning. Then pain, a shooting bolt down her side, and she gasped, stumbling backward as her ears pressed flat against her narrow skull. Her eyes were fearful as the pain abated, not knowing what it meant or entailed. Pain flashed again, as did her restlessness, and the woman turned, ears flattened and tail tucked with fear and nervousness as she headed to the closest shelter, the den she shared with her sister.

Fur brushed against earth as she ducked inside, sidestepping a small dark blob she recognized as the one named Abraxas, and taking a moment, to shove it close to the dark form of Nemesis. As she crouched over the babe did the pain rear it's head again, and she shoved the boy awkwardly against his mother's side, where he was quick to find a teat. But her thoughts were far from the babe as she circled toward the back of the cave, decided it too constricting, and opted instead for the far side, offering a clear view of the entrance. There she slipped onto her side, whimpering softly in fear of this new thing, laying her muzzle on the earth. Only to find herself uncomfortable, and roll onto her other side, headup. Only to change again, and again, as shooting pain grew in intensity and frequency. 

The light was stronger now. The wolf in the den panted, eyes wide in fear and pain. She had given up on changing position constantly, too tired and fearful to bother. Outside, the fog still lay heavy, and silence reigned. A little less than an hour had passed since she had first slipped into the den, and things had deteriorated constantly since then. But now, pain unlike any other lanced through her, and while she had spent most of her time in strangled, painful silence, she yowled, a feral, fearful sound.

And then the first. She stared at the thing, bloody and wet and weird, so unlike the pups her sister had. She glanced fearfully at the other, unsure, before instinct awoke with her and she reached for the bundle, making to clean it and pull it toward her. The first few laps were hesitant, unsure, but then she gain rhythm and the thing gave it's first breath. She inspected it a tad roughly, discovering it male and dark in colour. She spoke then, her first word this morning, a single, breathed word. "Nikai." she muttered, making to pull it close, but a spasm of pain interrupted her. 

She breathed out roughly, moaning in pain, and then there was another. Wet and bloody, as the first had been, but really rather bloody. Spasms still rocked her, but she pulled the male close, then the other, lapping it as she had the first. She cleansed it, the pale blob, devoid of any marking, or any that would be visible in the poor morning light. A girl, this one the first of it's gender, and strong. She wiggled fiercely, and the new mother wasted no time in pulling it close. 

In the brief stint between spasms, she observed then, a smile growing on her features as she took them in. They had come from her. She had nurtured them, cared for them all this time. This life had come from her, and she had not failed in this task. As she gazed upon the girl, fierce in her motion, and her son, strong and healthy, she whispered to them fondly. "Keoni. Nikai. Grow up strong, little ones."

But then another bolt of pain seized her, and she tensed, now becoming used to these sensations. She whimpered again, a small sound, and then there were three. She repeated her duty diligently, bathing the third, discovering it male. And small. Very, very, small. Her gut clenched with worry when it failed to react as strongly as the first two, murmuring worriedly to it as she lapped the bundle. But it reacted, and she pulled it close, looking upon it with tenderness. A uniform brown, save for a dark tail and muzzle.

What the mother failed to notice, was the way that it's foreleg was shrunken, a twisted and deformed version of the strong right limb. It hid the deformity well in it's movement, latching onto a teat quickly and growing with milk. Again, the pain abated, and after a few moments, the mother begun to relax, looking up her three with tenderness, wondering about a name for the third one. But sorrow, an emotion not welcome here, now, made it's entrance, and for a moment the weight of the tough, dark, father-less life these three would lead threatened to crush her, and her gaze moistened a moment.

And then there were four. A sudden, unexpected surge and a yowl later, number four made it's entrance into the world. The lastborn was of average size, marking the third as the runt of the litter, and as her motherly actions were repeated a fourth and final time, discovering the girl's gender much more quickly. The pale and rust coloured pup was obviously one of Harley's. She nudged the girl close, and named the final two with a few clipped words. "Todd." her gaze fell open the girl. "Witchhazel."

She curled her small body around them, offering them all she could, gradually relaxing as she realized the ordeal was over, body falling limp as she sought joy in this moment, choosing to delay the sorrow of an absent father and a dark future for now, and be here, with her four. Thinking could come later. Now was simply for now, for the four new lives she had brought into this world, and the responsibility she felt for them. She would not let them down, her four.