Hideaway Strath too soon

Although she knew Lotte traveled with a purpose she couldn't put aside Hemlock still fretted. No matter her rank or her place, Lotte would always be Banrion and queen of the Strath. No matter if Hemlock carried a mantle of leadership or not, she would step aside for her sooty colored bride. Inside there was a growing flurry of activity and Hemlock had set out, although slowly, to follow a fresh trail of Lotte's with the intention of discussing all those silly little things. Old wives tales of gender assumptions and how this pregnancy presented compared to Lotte's and what she thought might happen along the way. 

Hemlock did not hear the sickening crack nor did she hear her mates whimpers - when her slower pace did manage to come upon her wife laying on her side a sickening dread came upon her. The medic tried to quicken her steps, ignoring her own body as it protested to approach Lotte. "Rakastettu-"  She could thank a conspiratory Ceallach for helping her with the word, her touch soft as she nuzzled against Lotte's cheek. "Lotte, please..." But she could see; any should have been able to - Lotte was as swollen as she had been in her pregnancy, and with a haste Hemlock lifted her head from Lotte's plush fur to call for Arturo with an urgency. 

It could be foolish to assume that Hemlock would not push and try to save her beloved. It would be foolish to assume that her brain would do anything other than fight tooth and nail to help Lotte. But the fear in her and the logic in her warred. She could not leave Lotte, she would not leave Lotte, if these were the last moments they shared. She might send another to fetch medicine for her, but, she would not go. Not now. The moment Palisander had passed she had felt she buried herself too. But the woman Lotte had made, the Hemlock she knew, could not fathom what she would do in that moment. She had not been present to watch Palisander as he passed - and she was too afraid to face the truth of what was happening now with Lotte.