Phantom Hollow In my hands I hold a jar to gather up the evening dew [birthing thread]

Not a single thing about his children's coming had been the way Damien had envisioned, or even remotely imagined. Against all odds Damien's crew ad been outnumbered by the usurpers of Blackfeather Woods and he had no choice but to retreat and regroup with his wife's convoy to realize he was too far from Deepwood Weald to ever get back safely before the whelping. They had to try, though, and they walked as far and as fast as Nyx was capable of, but it wasn't very far. Not a day went by after their regrouping when Nyx showed signs of inability to finish the journey back home, and so Damien was forced to set up camp in the last place he could have ever imagined his first legitimate children to be born in. Phantom Hollow had been the cradle to many of Blackfeather Woods' problems, where the sickness that killed it had been born. Naturally Damien had been feeling uneasy for days, not only because they were trapped in the most undesirable place ever, but because he didn't know how to handle or soothe his wife to have a successful and painless whelping. Everything seemed to be against them, and Damien was borderline obsessive with making the wretched place that would see his children's birth as secure as he could manage.

Eventually Nyx entered in labor, and the night befell with uncharacteristic calmness. The sky had closed its eyes to the world, and Damien was thankful to the princes for providing such very needed privacy. He had caved out a thickly rooted den for Nyx under an old oak, hoping that its age would provide with the right kind of energy for Nyx to go through it all at well guarded, and he had mounted watch upon it with almost unnatural commitment. He could hear her panting and whining, and he went in to check on her and try to soothe her with an occasional gentle kiss on her forehead, but her patience ran low that night and he was allowed but mere seconds within the den before she changed her mind and lashed out at him for no reason at all.

One by one the cubs were birthed, and each time Damien peeked inside uneasily to see if they were healthy. He couldn't really see or make out much, but hearing their faint whines and cries sent such a strangely soothing energy through him that he knew to let the mother do what she had to do. And after things seemed to go more silent Damien peeked inside once more, sniffing out his way to Nyx, who seemed to have collapsed out of exhaustion, curled around their newborns. He ran his nose over them all, licking each one of them gently and sniffing them out to make sure they were all alive, and when it was confirmed he simply found a way to curl up around them in silence and spend the rest of their silent first night in peace.

Finally, Damien had a family of his own.