Deepwood Weald Ahead by a Century

Three! For a time, the small family reveled in one another, forgetting their audience. Dutch even found a moment to step outside and howl to @Chakliux — Three! All beautiful! — and it was as he came back into the small space, thanking Raindrop as he did, that things began to change.

He knew that still births were common enough. He thought back to that strange moment with Towhee, which she had brushed off so easily. Yet when his wife wept, he found himself shaken with a deep sob that almost frightened him, and he saw the faces of his other lost children flash through his mind. What were Catamaran and Coachwhip doing now? And did Krait and Kucing ever think of him?

He murmured to the five of them in his father's tongue — that they were safe, that he would protect them always, that they filled his heart with love. But he mourned deeply for those he could not hold, already making plans to go and sweep up Chakliux and the seal hunter children in his arms.

Later, though. For now, he wanted to be nowhere but here.

"I will take them to my mother," he said to Simbelmyne, soft a quiet. A suggestion more than an assertion. "She will bless them. So their spirits will be safe."