Arrow Lake Will you be my breath through the deep, deep water

oh — he held her through the pains, and takiyok leant upon him with a vulnerablity he had not seen in the pionier before. she was stoic, silent when most other she-wolves would have wailed, her birthing pains fierce and unrelenting. sensing she struggled with the second child, the gargoyle glanced between her legs, noting the widening sac that emerged there and watching it to ensure the pup was not stuck between the bones of her pelvis.
another pale boy, this one lightly decorated. he used his broad paw to gather the pair closer as agonies gripped takiyok again, gazing down at her and crooning a few words of encouragement in a language she would not recognize.
finally, three, and the last a daughter. the trio nursed at takiyok's belly, and for a time, peace settled in the den. the new mother was silent, her utter exhaustion apparent, and mahler loomed over her to investigate the newborns a moment before movement outside the den caught his eye,
stigmata; their gazes met, and then the ironstar settled. wondering why the father of these ones did not enter the den, mahler decided it did not matter. today he was not a leader, but a midwife, and sensed that takiyok might have yet another tribulation to endure. and so he remained as he was, telling the woman that she had done well and that her children were healthy and ravenous.