Hideaway Strath i don't live in california, i'll inform you,

Things had grown hazy, distant -- her focus shrinking to what her body was undergoing, to the impending arrival of her child. When Vein nudged the skull-mug of birthing tincture and arnica towards her, she drank dutifully -- hardly noticing any unpleasant flavors in the liquids or from the mouthful of raspberry leaves she'd eaten. Kyn's arrival was drowned out by another particularly intense contraction, which left Vein to answer him as her muscles rippled -- The Priestess curling in on herself, hunching over her own body as pressure weighed on her pelvis and begged the need to push.

It took several more heartbeats, a span of time that lasted less than an hour but felt like eons, before her body began to tighten and push with the contractions. Aerin bore down with each one instinctively, a dim excitement brewing in her beneath all the pain and chaos -- she would meet their first child soon. A heavy weight passed through her lower body, a searing and stretching sensation causing the she-wolf to grimace as she finally brought their daughter into the world. 

Without being prompted, Aerin quickly pulled the mass to her blood-stained underbelly -- tearing the birthing sac open and freeing the dark, damp pup within. She curled around the babe protectively, rasping her tongue fervently over the newborn as her lungs cleared with a tiny gurgle and she began to wail in little warbling shrieks. After a time, The Priestess tucked the baby against her, nudging and prodding her into place until she latched and began to nurse. 

It became clear as the single pup fed and her placenta delivered that she would be the only that the Bonesplinter bore that year, her contractions fading and ceasing shortly after the organ was expelled. Though she was exhausted, some anxious part of her couldn't help but remember her first delivery and what had happened to that daughter.

Her moonlit gaze wandered wearily to Vein, flickering indecisively as she searched for some sign that he was angry -- for what reason she could not have said, perhaps because they had only had one child or maybe because it was a girl child. She hunkered ever so slightly lower over their daughter, a low and placating noise rumbling from her throat beseechingly. Her tail beat against the den's floor, ears fanning against her skull as her tongue rasped along her chops in a submissive manner. 

Remembering Kynareth, her gaze flickered to the entrance of the dwelling, the sound humming in  her throat again -- don't hurt us.