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

true to what he had thought, the pains seized takiyok again, and this time the man's ears swept forward as she strained. pulling away from the labouring woman with a brief word, mahler positioned himself lower, watching as the child moved through her pelvis and was not immediately born. there were too many cases of this, where the pup lodged between the delicate bones, killing both self and mother — he would not allow the winterwhite to become a statistic.
heavy jaws would have nipped behind the tiny slick scruff and helped the large child to be born, had not takiyok expelled him with a final push and a gush of fluids. she would bleed more from this, mahler thought, inspecting her briefly before pressing his muzzle against her side, seeking the ongoing ripple of contractions. 
for now, there were none, and so he riffled through the herbs he had brought, emerging with raspberry leaves, which he quickly chewed into a mash and delivered to takiyok. "for the pain," he murmured, wanting to give her poppy but knowing it would make her fall too deeply into slumber, affect the flow of her milk. she could not be allowed to rest heavily while she bled. "i vill be back," he murmured, on a whim nudging her cheek before slipping from the den.
with the weary air of a visiting doktor closing the snap upon his traveling satchel, mahler regarded the ironstar somberly. "four children," came his low murmur. "the birthing vas hard on her. little bearcubs, all of them. but they live, and so does she. vill you bring some moss vith vater?" he inquired, tiredness settling into the hollows 'round his eyes. he did not want to leave takiyok, not now, but water would replenish her strength, and when @Stigmata had returned, the gargoyle would leave them to bond with their new children alone.