Golden Glade brush strokes on a canvas of souls

BABBY TIME <3 Players for the kids have not been chosen as of yet, but that's coming super soon!

As the westering sun painted streaks of fire across the skyline and the first stars of the encroaching night began to peek timidly above the eastern horizon, Raven felt a sea change in her body. It was subtle at first, quiet differences in the way the pups moved inside her belly, an upshift in her body temperature, the creeping onset of a strange bellyache. She wasn't fooled by it this time, though. Last year it had caught her by surprise, but this season, she was ready when those first contractions began. She'd known it was her time for several days now, and with the exception of the occasional walks to distract her mind from the overall discomfort she'd been feeling, she hadn't left the site of her den much.

It was a nice little den, rocky and cool, nestled in amidst the stones at the foot of the plateau and sheltered beneath a dense, vibrantly-green maple canopy. She could hear water trickling somewhere nearby, probably one of the many tiny streams that ran, waterfall-esque, down the slopes of the plateau's flanks. Evening birds twittered around her, and somewhere nearby, two squirrels were having a shouting match and rending the air with their woody screeches. As she backed into her den, she tossed a call up for @Quixote as well as the rest of the pack: It's time!

Excitement made her jittery and hyperaware, but fear nibbled at the heels of her consciousness as well -- fear of history repeating itself. Would half her litter die again?

The first child came in a wave of searing pain, but she braced and she pushed and it was over almost as fast as it started. She quickly spun and began to clean the infant off, and was enormously relieved when the girl, tiny and dark as a crow, cried out and flailed her tiny limbs in the cool air of the den. She hardly had time to marvel at this precious beauty she had created when the next two came in rapid succession, one after the other in a tide of pain that gripped her abdomen like a cosmic fist. She was left shaking, sucking in ragged breaths and seeing stars swim in front of her vision, but by the grace of whatever gods there were, they were alive. Two boys, both black as pitch, healthy and very much alive. She waited to see if more contractions followed, but her body quieted and something instinctive in her knew that it was done.

All alive. All healthy. She wouldn't have to bury any babies this year.

As she pushed her three newborns to her belly so they could get warm and nurse, she noticed for the first time a splash of autumn red on her daughter's back. She smiled, then, suddenly reminded of her sister Wildfire, and curled her body protectively around them.