Nova Peak dearly

skip him hes in shock and not helpful, just holding the babies for now <3

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ayovi.

a boy.

a girl.

and another daughter.

skorpa was beside himself. it was as if the battle was here now, in this den. ayovi. ayovi! ayovi!

she was all he could see.

the boy, shouting. the second girl, crying aloud.

the third, silent.

skorpa was numbed, worthless, as bodies filled the den. first elowen, then silatuyok, then raven's call.

he worked over the child against her mother's bleeding belly until the life spark was forced, and her baby cry filled the den. "hun lever, ayovi. hun lever, mit regnvand."

so tiny they are! his paws shook; his eyes dragged back to ayovi on their furs. his brave, fierce, beautiful wife! skjaldmaer of winsook, bringing life through blood.

and her own?

and her own! oh, Frigg; do not let her die!

to elowen, his voice a garbled mumble; "she said i — she said they would die." and now she lay poised to give all of her own lifespirit for the babes he had cut from her belly.

worthless; ginger; skorpa gathered their children one by one into his arms, bundling them to fur as he drew to the side of the den, leaving as much room as was able. his burning eyes found each of their scarlet-smeared little faces, and a strange kind of tears stung the eyes of the war-hardened man.

but over their tiny folded velvet ears he watched the scene before him, only catching glimpses of ayovi.

ayovi.

ayovi.

his tears fell silent to pup-soft fur, glancing between the incredible blessing of their lives and his own lying in pieces upon the denfloor.

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