Larksong Grotto Adidas

<3 @Hiram

It had been a long day-- and really it hadn't even been a full day. It was hardly noon by now, and Jhala could hardly even stay on her feet. She laid curled in the back of where she and Reek usually slept, her ears pinned against her head and her breathing heavy. Damn this sickness-- whatever disease she'd managed to catch. It was going to kill her, slowly but surely. She'd been nauseous every single morning and it moved into dizziness the more she moved. Today she couldn't handle it, and instead of powering through she skipped her patrols and went straight back to bed. Reek wouldn't mind, she didn't think, but she still felt like she was letting him down. He wasn't sick, he was doing all his chores. What a nightmare.

Jhala's absence around the borders of the territory was keenly felt for the past week or so. It was of no issue to Hiram, but he had to pick up the slack she left for him -- leaving him little time to spend with his daughters. She believed her condition to be deteriorating, but being a seasoned healer, Hiram knew her ailment all too well. His wife was not sick, but pregnant, and it was obvious to all but her.

He returned to his grotto after a making a quick pit-stop at the cache. He unearthed a small meal to bring with him to present to Jhala; a rabbit, crusted with a thin layer of dirt. "Morning Sunshine," he spoke gingerly as he dropped her delivery right between her outstretched forepaws before attempting to nose her awake.

To her surprise, Reek had come to visit her that morning. Maybe that was what a husband was supposed to do-- but what did she know? He nosed gently at her, and she raised her head slowly to keep from dizzying herself further. The scent of rabbit made her feel queasy, but she refrained from gagging in his face. With a weak smile, she gave him a shy kiss on the side of his muzzle, her neck craning to reach. "Hey, Reek," she mutters, tail thumping gently against the floor. Maybe she was not in love with him, but it was nice to have someone she cared so deeply about so near to her-- especially now. 

She shifts, trying to sit more comfortably to see him. The rabbit remains untouched for now, but she doesn't push it away. "Anything fun out there?" she asks, hoping for some sort of news from the borders. Maybe he fought someone off-- or chased a coyote! Endless possibilities-- if only she wasn't cooped up in here.

Jhala roused, kissing Hiram softly as she moved to greet him. She struggled to reach his face, but Hiram moved closer -- bridging the gap between husband and wife. He circled around to lay against her flank. His head came to rest against her. His body, coiled tightly in embrace around her swelling belly. With his eye-lids beginning to feel heavy, Hiram took a long breath of the musty cave air. This was home.

However, as comfortable home was to Hiram, it seemed Jhala would rather be anywhere else. Surely, her bedridden state had made her stir crazy. "It's been quiet, but nice," he replied to her inquiry about the outside world. "I had to turn someone away from joining us," he continued, remembering the blasphemous wolf who had turned up on the border. "She was incredibly disrespectful." He shook his head and sighed.

"Are you feeling any better?" He asked with genuine concern though he already knew the answer.

"A heathen," Jhala answers quietly, her gaze narrowing at the ground. She shifts slightly to let Reek lay more comfortably against her, not thinking once about her own comfort-- feeling there was no need to worry about her comfort. His question breaks her thoughtful stare and causes a smile to warm her features, but she shakes her head. "I think this'll kill me," she mutters. Though sarcastic it was laced with genuine concern, causing her smile to fade again. 

Giving him a quick glance, she lets out a bitter huff. "I feel worse than yesterday-- I couldn't even finish my fucking patrols." 

Jhala's righteous anger was something Hiram respected, despite coming from a place in her heart that was completely fake. She kept up with her lie well, deflecting at all signs that pointed toward blaspheme, heresy, or non-belief. Perhaps Hiram would never know of his own wife's reluctance to accept the faith. Nevertheless, it was probably for the best that Hiram did not dig deeper for the sake of souls she carried in utero. He smiled, but spoke no more on the subject.

The signs of pregnancy were painfully obvious. Hiram figured she knew by now -- like it was some sort of unspoken knowledge imparted by instinct or whatever. "Everything's gonna be fine Jhala," the Cardinal softly spoke. "Place your trust in Raas." Or rather... he thought to himself -- the ego of a cult leader growing inside of him. "If you would like, you can place your trust in me. I'm a trained healer, and I will see you through this."

He looked to the slight curve of her belly. She had yet to show the physical signs of her pregnancy. "Be honored," Hiram continued after a beat. "For you carry the children of God." And he, he was His emissary -- His prophet, carrying out His will on the earth.

The world kind of stopped for a moment. It was weird, like a bunch of puzzle pieces all somehow fit together. The picture it made was foreign, and she wasn't sure how all the pieces fit-- but they did, and whatever they were they led up to this.

She's silent, frozen in place and rigid in her posture. A twinge of pain ripples through her underside-- another gadamn cramp-- but she doesn't move. 

"I... carry... children...?" she says slowly, her head slowly moving to face Reek. Her gaze stays locked on the ground, like they weren't quite caught up with her movements, but they soon follow after. "But... I didn't... I didn't ask for children..." she adds in a mumble, shock beginning to numb the uncomfortable feelings that jabbed at her abdomen. 

Jhala's apprehension was apparent in both her tone and her action as she cast her gaze downward. Her reaction, while subdued, had been similar to Tavi's. Hiram, to say the least, was fretful. Surprise pregnancies were not an odd thing in the Cardinal's life, but each time -- no matter the circumstance -- Hiram ended up broken and lonely. This time, he would not let another wolf he cared so deeply about run out of his life. Jhala, however, was not like Tavi. In fact, she was the opposite: malleable, obedient... a proper wife.

Calmly, Hiram nodded his head. She had not asked for children, yet this was not something one typically asked for. This was the will of God -- far beyond the reaches of mortal beings. "We are a mated pair Jhala," he spoke. "It was simply a matter of time." That's just how things worked, he felt.

"What does being mates have to do with anything?" Jhala asks, her voice somewhat harsher than it was a moment ago. "Did you ask Raas for this?" she then accuses, though she really knows that that wouldn't have done a thing-- it simply filled a hole in her confusion."You should've asked me before asking him-- I... I don't want kids, I don't know the first fucking thing about kids." Her head shakes, the blood draining out of her. In a quick moment, her nausea returns, and she tightens every muscle and her eyelids shut, focusing on not throwing up all over Reek. When the moment passed, her eyes opened, but her gaze did not return to Reek. "I don't understand."

Her tone was scathing, slicing into Hiram's chest like the sharp end of a scalpel, with the same surgical precision to boot. He hung his head, feeling a painful sting in his heart, and he muttered, "No." He did not ask for her to fall pregnant, the Lord had simply dictated it for him. "But the Lord has willed it." Raas had brought her to him in her time of need. Hiram had simply done what was natural. 

He wished to take away her confusion -- to ease her pain. "I know this will be hard, but I am your husband and I will be there with you every step of the way," he spoke in earnest.

She swallowed, holding back tears of confusion and anger. "Okay," she said plainly, resting her head on her paws. She didn't want this, not in the slightest, but Reek seemed set on it. She knew better than to argue with her alpha-- she'd worked so hard to put so much of her trust in him that... well, it just seemed ridiculous to stop trusting him. Raas was a load of bullshit, and anything he said about the religion that would never truly exist went straight into one ear and straight out the other. But he said he would be with her the rest of the way, and that was something she could make sense of, it was something she'd believe. 

"I'm just tired," she muttered, amber eyes staring forward. It was an apology for snapping, for growing so angry, though maybe she didn't need to apologize-- she hadn't really done anything wrong. But she'd never know that. 

Though it went unspoken, her apologetic tone was evident. He breathed deep and felt a wave of relief wash over him. She would not run like Tavi had. He had worried that history would repeat itself yet again. He leaned in close, moving beside her to rest his head against the scruff of her neck. He sighed, muttering "I understand" under his breath. A brief, yet sharp pang of guilt flared in his chest for what he had done to her -- but the cardinal shoved it away before it had time to manifest proper. This was the Lord's will. He would not falter. He would comply.

"You need your rest," he said before setting his teeth to work against her pelt, grooming her to give whatever comfort he could provide.

Her only response came as a sort of grunt, something that acknowledged his comment but didn't put forth the energy for a complete answer. She would eventually fall asleep, but it was restless and frustrating. New thoughts and knowledge swirled in her mind, and though Reek's touch was comforting, it felt foreign and almost hostile. She would never shoo him away, but the young Vicar was too overwhelmed to be as thrilled as Reek was about the current situation. Children were wonderful, but maybe not to someone who didn't want them.