Wheeling Gull Isle and i will love you until my last breath and beyond

 

Hemlock couldn't feel relieved, even though she did feel a bit...deflated with the two puppies that she had delivered onto the cool of the den's floor now nestled at her side. She didn't feel like she was done, she didn't know exactly how to tell either. Lotte had just....relaxed but then by that point she'd had so many at her side it was hard to tell if she'd been distracted or not. Hemlock looked down at the little boy as he squirmed and protested, chuckling quietly. The Lottruro's had been so vocal, even then, but she couldn't bring herself to be distressed by the little puppy and his silence. She could still see his limbs move, feel the very life as he moved and his heavy head bobbed before he latched onto her. "There you are," She whispered softly, and that sensation was so new and different to feel him draw from her. Her body, nourishing his body, and it was all fresh and new considering that before she couldn't exactly feel his body respond to her own. "Sweet boy," He wouldn't hear her praise or the quiet accolades as she admired the depths of color in his coat, seeing only small hints of herself so far in the darkened fur across his body. Even though it was impossible, it wasn't too far fetched to think the dark ink of his pelt was gifted from Lotte, that the soft creams and rich mocha along his body was Arturo - that even those brief kisses of red were hers and he was theirs. 

The tawny child next to him was far more basic in appearance, still had the ghosted markings almost like Arturo and Ceallach's - but his coat had a richer variety of colors and she instantly thought of her brother Azazel. It was almost the same palette, and as Hemlock investigated more it was revealed another boy had been born though he drew no breath. He'd known no pain, that way, too, and Hemlock had to be comforted by that. Another wave of contractions broke her from her reverie and she grit her teeth, even knowing that her son would not hear anything she didn't want to cry out or distress him in any way. Instead she bore down through the pain in relative silence and let her claws cut the earth to offer her a reprieve. Waves that overcame her lapped one another, a constant sensation and she wondered if the dark boy at her side could even feel it. Hemlock swallowed back a cry again, shuddering as she followed the next wave of pain and when it crested at it's highest she pushed again. 

This time, when she had expelled the sac she could see the puppy struggling before she'd even been freed. Hemlock gave a choked laugh at that as she freed the small puppy, cleaning vigorously before she'd discovered she had a daughter. She nuzzled her towards her side once the puppy was cleaned enough, placing @Reed next to her brother. Maybe she was done. The contractions had eased considerably but then she also felt like she was so exhausted she wouldn't have known right then. She felt differently, but watching the pair of them, all she could think was how in love she was. That moment was far from perfect - still stricken by grief and exhausted from trekking across the very wilds themselves - she felt the first positive emotions since losing Lotte a week ago.