Redsand Canyon Stars are born in litters.

She screamed, the sound drowned out by a roll of thunder. Not one but two puppies came tearing out of her body in quick succession. For a split second, Towhee was sure she would not survive the agony of it. But within seconds of the latter pup’s unceremonious expulsion, she knew relief. Her labor was over just as startlingly as it had begun.

Towhee was left to blink down at the two newborns through the rainfall, before Maxim’s motioning caught her eye. -You grab one, I’ll get the other,- she signed at him sloppily, her legs feeling queerly jellylike.

Snatching up the secondborn, Towhee hastened toward their den, leaving behind a puddle of blood that quickly washed away. Despite feeling very shaky, she made it there without further incident and ducked inside, sighing in relief around the puppy’s midriff.

Gently, she stepped to the bedding and flopped down on it, mindless of her soaking pelt as she began to clean and dry what turned out to be a baby boy. She nudged him in the direction of a teat as soon as he was tended, then collected the firstborn from her hovering partner and repeated her ministrations.

Aside from its sudden onset—and, well, giving birth in a sparring pit—the delivery had gone more or less fine. Towhee kept prodding the babies with her nose, not quite believing they were here, before finally glancing over at her mate. Water dripped from the tip of her snout, which she flicked to avoid dampening the freshly bathed pups.

I think we have a boy and a girl, she said.