Wheeling Gull Isle a million little gods causing rainstorms

Fast-forwarding through some things so this can keep on moving. ♥

The birth had exhausted Coelacanth. She wobbled gingerly from her birthing bed and out of the Labyrinth, blood tangled in the feathering of her tail and hindquarters, and tottered with singleminded purpose to Titmouse’s side. Ignoring Moorhen’s protective protests that she return to her children and Hemlock’s worried glances, she crumpled into a sloppy, sphinx-like position beside him. With deliberate slowness, she began to pinch his skin between her teeth, following the column of his spine. A cursory exam told him that this, at least, was intact — but there was a telltale divot in his barely stirring rib cage that worried her. She did not have the energy to speak, but thrust her muzzle in the direction of the sea caves to the base of Skybowl. They had to get him out of the water, for with every push of the ocean’s fingers, something clicked sickeningly in his misaligned hindquarters. Too, the chill of the water would not help him here. They would have to set sentries.

Despite her displeasure, Moorhen left and returned with alacrity, dragging a horse hide that Hemlock and Coelacanth had saved. “Um. To move,” she rumbled grumpily, hovering around her Shadow with a worried air. Once the sheepdog pushed herself to her paws and began moving weakly in the direction she’d indicated, Moorhen took her place at the broken wolf’s nape and waited. She gripped the skin just at the base of his skull, testing to ensure that tugging this area would not totally undo the good that Maegi had done. It would still bleed, but that couldn’t be helped.

Hemlock stationed herself at the wolf’s hips. Her small stature meant she would have less clout than Moorhen in terms of physical strength, but she wanted to be sure he was moved as gently as possible. “Faeryn, help us get him onto the skin so we can move him. Maegi and Reed, can you stand on the other side to help pull the skin in place?” she proposed, looking around at each face.