Nova Peak my arms are open

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another scream rips from her as the second comes. smaller, swifter—slipping into the world like a whispered secret. and then, silence again. no cry. no tremble. no breath. the quiet is a blade and it cuts deep, endlessly.

she turns her head, sweat-slicked and trembling, and sees only ayovi’s back, the motion of her paws—fast, urgent. her stomach lurches, heart rising into her throat. please, she wants to say. please, not this one. let my child have a sibling. but her voice is gone.

her entire body strains toward the sound of ayovi’s efforts, willing the air to return. willing breath into tiny lungs. it does not come. elown’s ears ring. tears break past white lashes, hot and unrelenting. she cannot speak. cannot ask. she only knows what absence sounds like.
what it feels like.

but her body offers no reprieve. the final pang tears through her, just as slow as the last two. no cries. no fight. she knows the truth of it long before ayovi or lorcan turn back to her.

they come cold. silent. a hushed goodbye before a greeting was ever made. tears stick to her eyes but they don't fall. she lays her head back, eyes closing briefly, and all she can do is breathe. in. out. in. out.

her child—one child—lives. that is what she clings to now. because if she thinks of the others, even for a second, she will shatter.