The Sunspire Dance

 It wasn’t long since her own birth til it was Seabreeze’s turn. It was quite convenient, that she should bear her children before the newness of the whole thing truly took Seabreeze by surprise — it always did, for new mothers. Olive hoped that her sister midwife had been observing as she, herself, displayed the great feat to birth and had been listening as she told her of the great stories passed down, mother to mother. Olive thought of the greyscale woman as something of her protege, and knew that Seabreeze felt the same way.

If Seabreeze had truly been internalizing her lessons, she would know soon enough.

As her friend labored, Olive cooed loving and supportive words and easily-memorable phrases. She kept her distance, ensuring that the babes at her own belly did not bother the woman as she experienced the pains and restlessness of creating new life. Though this was an arena that Olive was very familiar in, she found herself in awe at the simple strength of a woman — the depths of the pain they could feel, and the depths of the love that resulted. She watched, eventually falling wordless, as her sister fought through the contractions to bring her children to life. Though Olive wished to bear at least part of this burden, she knew that this was an inward journey through Seabreeze much venture alone. The confidence gained from it was, in a word, surreal. Olive could not steal that experience from her.

Tears pricked shamelessly at the back of Olive’s eyes as there were two babes born. “I am so proud,” she whispered in her most sincere of voices, eyeing the lovely puppies with a womanly appreciation. Suddenly, their whelping area seemed too crowded, with five babies and two mothers and one Terance who was constantly in an out to check on his boo. Terance was present, off to the side and out of the way — and albeit prickly towards the curious young girl who had come upon them, but he was present for his children while the nameless man of her past was not there for his children… Not that Olive had ever given him the chance, or anything. She wondered how proud Terance must feel — how eager he must be to see his offspring. “Would you like to be alone?” Olive offered, knowing that Seabreeze had many more interested parties than she did — and that could be uncomfortable, especially for a woman so new to motherhood. If Seabreeze obliged, Olive could only go so far, having only one mouth with which to abscond with her own babies — but perhaps Hyacinth could help in this endeavor.