Ankyra Sound oh, green world -- don't deserve me now

Ephraim came into the world squalling, and it would be the first and last time he uttered such a full-bodied cry. It exhausted him to issue it, and as fatigue settled on the newborn, he came to know that he didn't accept exhaustion well. He quieted as Caiaphas tended to his newborn needs, drying his wet fur and warming him with her ambience. By the time he was settled alongside his older brother, he was silent save for the satisfied smacking of his lips.

He fed heartily then, pressing at his mother's belly with tiny paws as he jostled alongside his siblings old and new. More were squeezed in beside him, but Ephraim didn't know or care. His little sphere of existence contained only him, Caiaphas and the teat in his mouth, as it would for at least the remainder of the night while sleep claimed him.