Moonspear Stardust

Birth thread!! Date: June 1st, 2024. @Kinusi, @Tarkik, @Alaric. Tagging @Sialuk, @Chakliux, @Acrux & @Maggak for reference. All welcome. Please let the pups & Alaric post first!<3

The weeks sped by. And as Elentari's pregnancy progressed, the more anxious she grew. Unlike her first one last year which had been smooth and easy, this one was starkly different. More often than not she was plagued with rolling waves of nausea. Her moods shifted un-predictably. Sporadically, lancing jabs of pain cut through her belly. Sometimes the pups within were feisty and kicking nonstop. Other times they didn't move for days.

It made her fret. Wonder what to expect when the big day finally arrived. 

She sought out Alaric frequently to reassure him and herself. To ease her nerves. She consulted with Sialuk, basking in the time she could spend with her and her latest brood, on her better days. When the Archer was not feeling so great, she retreated to the privacy of her ulaq, to ride out the discomforting symptoms. She loathed to feel so disconnected from the rest of the pack, but she must conserve her energy. She would make it up to them.

The final week of her term had been the most trying. She felt like she would explode at any moment. A great pressure pushing out from within. On her stomach and ribs and most uncomfortably, the very base of her tail. She was ready to get these babies out of her.

She awoke early that day stiff, bloated and crampy. Her appetite she noted, was better than normal. A good sign. She forced herself up out of bed, determined to pace and walk. To find herself something to eat and keep hydrated. It was with a sad but happy look in her eye, that she acknowledged @Acrux and @Maggak were no longer present here on the mountain. Not here for this day, to welcome younger brothers or sisters into their lives.

The thought was interrupted by a slicing white hot pain in her womb. The black Archer doubled over, grimacing. Maybe if she gave it a moment, it would subside. The pain only radiated and spread into more persistent cramping, seconds apart. She had been through this once before. She knew the signs. As she made a hasty beeline back for the shelter of her ulaq, a pooling warmth between her legs told her she was not far off yet.

If she could be sweating, it would be in bullets. With flushed cheeks and labored breathing. In the short time between contractions, she sucked in a breath and called out. A message for @Alaric and Sialuk. Even for @Chakliux, should he be within range. For @Maggak and @Acrux, who she prayed this news may reach! 

Her ulaq was a stones throw from Alaric's. Within easy distance of Sialuk's. This was not like last time, when she gave birth with her lover, together. What she had with Alaric was intimate in a different way. Unique. Men were not allowed inside last time. Now, she wanted her tall dark and handsome medicine man close. Curled around her, wrapped close, his warmth reassuring.

She did not look to see if he was already there or not. Instinct drove her forward and inside, where she laid down atop meticulously prepared skins and furs for just such a day. Minutes blurred into hours. The sun grew high and dipped low. When it kissed the horizon, Elentari had at last brought forth her first into the world! A son. @Tarkik. Wrapped in silvers and white, tipped in ink. Cleaned, warmed and nuzzled lovingly in her embrace, to a teat full of mother's milk.
Her respite lasted as long as the last rays of sunlight. It was when, finally, the stars came out, winking into existence, did her second and final newborn come heralding into the world. A daughter, @Kinusi. A perfect dark blend of her and Alaric, kissed with brown freckles and silver smudged eyeshadow! Exhausted from having delivered not one, but two healthy puppies this year, Elentari admired her new, expanded family.