Swiftcurrent Creek homage

Just like their mother, all three pups emerge silent—Mae holding her breath, Nicodem racing for the teat, and finally, Jakub, sliding snakelike from his mother's aching loins.

The womb was a place of great indulgence, a warm, dark, quiet place with boundless nutrients.

He'd chase that feeling all his life.

Instead, Jakub shivered as the sac was pierced and pulled away, and the chill of the world met his skin for the first time. Still, he did not cry out. Snuffling and snorting like a suckling piglet, he squirmed out of reach of whatever tongue had come to bathe him and burrowed into the soft comfort of Jakoul's belly, instead.

Rooting along, searching for something he didn't know—ah.

A gush of warmth, milk dribbling down his chin. It didn't take his tiny belly long to fill up, and before long, he was drifting off still stuck on the nipple, his body easing into deep and boneless sleep.