Redhawk Caldera (M) Turn on your record player and run into a world of beautiful collaboration.

Reyes left to find Fennec, as Towhee requested, and Meerkat replaced him at Towhee's side. Rue hung back, so as not to crowd Towhee. Meerkat turned to her, her expression full of uncertainty. Rue nodded and wagged her tail, offering silent to encouragement to the yearling. She understood Meerkat's concern. It had been unsettling to watch Towhee collapse like that, not to mention the pain in her voice when she drew out the breathless curse. But everything was happening as it was supposed to, as far as Rue could tell. Meerkat was doing a great job, and to Rue it appeared that she was a comfort to her laboring mother. 

Meerkat leapt up, obviously startled as Towhee's water broke. Again, the girl's eyes flicked around, seeking reassurance, and again, Rue nodded encouragingly. "It's happening," she murmured. Rue was no midwife, but neither was this the first birth she had attended. Fennec swept in to occupy the space on the other side of Towhee's body, and so the Sovereign continued to labor sandwiched by her attentive daughters. 

Rue's eyes then found those belonging to the other baby daddy. Rue didn't love the two of them being described that way, only because it seemed inevitable that sharing the title would put her and Reyes in competition with one another. The last thing Rue wanted to do was step on anyone's toes. 

"It's shouldn't be long now. Her body remembers what to do," Rue murmured to Reyes, wondering if he was as nervous as Meerkat seemed. They were both similarly youthful, after all.