Arrow Lake a scorching desert, a shining, gleaming spiral with no beginning and no end [ birth ]

I know it's 4 days early but I wanted to get this up b/c I have plans next weekend and I'm not sure how much I'll be online.
Forward-dated for: 5/12

blodreina draws in a sharp breath, holding it until the most recent contraction wanes. she realized at some point the night before she'd been going into labor as she tried to settle down and couldn't. she shifts and during the early hours of the night she says, simply, to @Ingram they're coming. in a strained, hoarse voice only to be replaced by a blissful sigh of relief soon after as the contraction ends. and later into the witching hours of the morning of their arrival she chases ingram out of the den with only her first warning given hours before to stand as explanation. the contractions draw nearer and the pain intensifies and blodreina tells herself that she's had worse.

i've had worse, i've had worse. i am wanlida. and this is just another battle.

not one she's ever trained nor prepared for. she braces her back up against the wall of the den, breathing labored and harsh as she holds back the cries of pain she wants so desperately to let go of. a whine slips through her lips, unbidden, as she gives birth and the pain subsides. she's immediately exhausted but draws the sac towards her, breaking it open and cleaning the cub free of the gross fluids that cover her and give her a nudge, letting out a sob of relief when @Praimfaya responds with a small squeak.

she nudges the newborn to her breast, wincing as she latches on with a vice-grip. she isn't sure how she knows she's done other than her body knows that there will be no pups and she studies the small slick newborn — a mixture of gyda and ingram — with a tremble of her lips. heda, her heart says but she knows that despite that she qualified to be heda, her culture would never accept her. wanheda. blodreina crowns her daughter with the title that was her ( new ) birthright. the commander ( of death ). imrathil, come meet your daughter. blodreina calls out to him, hoping he hadn't gone far — she'd been far too caught up in laboring to notice.