Redsand Canyon Cyberiad theory.

The daily doses of peppermint did not appear to have an effect, at least not yet. Towhee would give it another few days before she went back to @Aquene about next steps. In the meantime, it was more of a mild inconvenience than anything, prompting her to stop and clean herself throughout the day.

She hadn’t spent much time at the palazzo in the past couple of days, usually standing guard outside to give @Ruenna time to bond with her newborns. But as she approached and peeked inside today, a thought struck her. The pups would likely be drawn to by the scent of milk and they might attempt to feed. She paused in the doorway.

Honestly, Towhee wouldn’t mind nursing Rue’s kids, especially if it meant she wouldn’t have to walk around leaking everywhere. Perhaps the Matrona might even appreciate the support, after her difficult delivery. But the Redhawk refused to infringe, so before she entered, she would ask.

Rue?

In her hazy dream-fog, Ruenna heard Towhee's voice without really hearing it. Her eyelids fluttered in the dim lighting as she fought her way into consciousness. She squinted at the figure standing in the doorway, blocking the light. 

"Towhee?" It was Towhee.. right? Her silhouette seemed a little bulky, but the familiarity of her bearing could hardly be mistaken by a friend as longstanding as Rue. "Hey." A smile formed on her wan features. 

It was quickly replaced by a look of sympathy as she caught sight and smell of Towhee's predicament. "Is the milk still driving you crazy?" she asked, recalling how frustrated Towhee had been with the issue. Rue could certainly see the annoyance with being wet and leaking all the time. Towhee had to feel like the last piece of cereal left floating in the bowl; a milk-logged mini-wheat, gorged and soggy.

Towhee didn’t hear Rue’s response, though she stuck her snout inside, eyes adjusting to the dim quickly enough to catch sight of the Matrona blinking at her sleepily, a greeting on her lips.

Hey, the Redhawk breathed in reply, taking a single step inside so they could see one another better. Towhee’s eyes dropped to the four bundles of joy squirming at the Matrona’s belly before they flicked up to catch her question.

Ah, it’s not so bad. Aquene gave me something for it, it’s just… not working quite yet. Towhee shifted her weight, feeling a little presumptuous as she weighed her words but decided to just lean into her usual frankness. Please don’t hesitate to shoot me down if you’d rather not, but… remember how you were my ‘baby daddy’ last year? Well, I think I’d pay it forward and offer to be your—wait for it—backup boobs.

Ruenna nodded, recalling her unofficial "baby daddy" title with a light chuckle. She might have also laughed at Towhee's suggested title for herself, if she hadn't been caught off guard by the implication. 

"Oh! You mean nurse the kids? Would it help, you think..?" Her surprise was genuine, as was her curiosity. It wasn't a solution she had ever considered, since stemming the milk production had been Towhee's original goal. Rue supposed it made a certain kind of sense though, given that they weren't trying to erase Towhee's supply entirely, only diminish it until her own pups came. 

Ruenna gave a thoughtful nod. "I'm game. Let's give it a try." She then adjusted her position, making her own supply unavailable to the pups. Soon the distressed, protesting squeaks would begin.

Judging by her facial expression, the proposition caught the Matrona a little off guard. That said, she didn’t seem opposed. Towhee still lingered in the doorway, studying Ruenna’s familiar face, then nodded and moved inside. She came to hover over Rue, feeling a rush of protective affection as she peered down at little @Alivia, @Aquillius, @Cornelius and @Valiria.

She missed Rue’s remark in her moment of adoration, though her attention flicked back to the woman as she scooted away from the children. Towhee remained quiet, though her expression asked, You sure? She then slowly eased down beside the foursome, maneuvering so she was the yin to Rue’s yang and resting her weight on her elbow.

Hiya, kiddies. Welcome to Aunt T’s Milk Bar. Come get you a pint, Towhee murmured, wondering just how this was going to go.

INT. MATRONA'S DEN. DAY.

Towhee, a new wet-nurse approximately the same age as the child's own mother, descends the short distance to the dirt.

While Cornelius cannot see or hear them, their smell is something else entirely. Part tantalizing, part medicinal. Sharp in the way of a grandmother with a violent abundance of perfume.

Cornelius struggles to make sense of that peppermint smell and decides he does not like it. It is too different from the sweet milk aroma that caresses his fat nose. He squirms and refuses to latch to any of the offered teats.

Of course Nealy the Fatass wasn't hungry; he'd spent the last week-and-a-half hogging all of mom's teats, manspreading himself as he pleased and edging out his comparatively puny sister. 

...Or so Alivia would have thought, if she had been old enough to have such thoughts. 

Alivia's nose worked the air curiously, her interest piqued. She wiggled eagerly to the offered sustenance and latched quickly. It tasted different from Mom's, but beggars could hardly be choosers.

Valiria, for her part, was unperturbed by the removal of her food source. She'd filled her belly not too long ago and had settled down for her fifth nap of the day. So when she began to protest, it wasn't because her mother had cut her off from her milk. It was because she had been jostled awake by the movement.

Deaf though she was to her own cries, she had a natural talent for achieving high marks in both volume and pitch. She cried out indignantly as her mother moved, then cried harder when the siblings around her began to move. She'd barely been jostled in truth, but to the tiny pup, it was as though an earth quake had occurred and she was not a fan.

Liri let that be known with her wails as she too began to shuffle--not towards Towhee (her distress made her blind to the new scents her siblings perhaps found interesting), nor towards Rue. Just away towards what she hoped was a more stable corner of the world. This was bullshit, and she was done with it.

The eaglet proved to be an unobtrusive pup. He found his routine, he set it, and any disruption meant a screeching fit. 

That was how the world worked. No excuses, no changes, Aquillius wanted everything to stay exact. To his specifications.

And then nothing did. His siblings woke him, he didn’t get the teat he wanted and frankly, he was floundering most of the time trying to make them stop. Make everyone stop, so he could make them start again at his go.

So when the new smell descended, Aquillius noticed. His siblings didn’t appreciate it, but none of them let out the chick like shrieking that Aquillius did as the boy finally put his foot down, letting his opinion be known at as loud of a volume as he could possibly go.

It took a few moments for the pups to wizen up to the situation, but once they did they became a chorus of chaos. 

Cornelius thrashed around, jostling his brother and sisters and waking the entire bunch. 

Alivia, already adaptable and adventurous despite her small size, wasted little time in scooting her way to the offered sustenance. Ruenna met Towhee's gaze with a raised eyebrow. Towhee had one taker, at least. 

Liri and Aquillius were engaged it what appeared to be a screaming match. Rue winced, wishing not for the first time since the birth of the pups that she had Towhee's ears. 

Eventually, Liri tired of yelling and began to scoot away. Ruenna did not gather her back just yet, but she kept a careful eye on the girl. 

Aquillius's voice was still going strong. In a desperate bid for mercy, Ruenna descended upon him with her tongue, lapping across his back in an attempt to sooth him. She nudged both boys toward Towhee, hoping they might warm to the unfamiliar teats with a little encouragement.

She didn’t know quite what to expect, though it turned out to be a mixed bag, just like the pups themselves. Little Cornelius seemed patently disinterested in trying out the new tap. On the other hand, the pale Alivia seemed enthused to give it a try. Towhee was too distracted beaming at the little girl to initially take notice as Valiria stole an opportunity to venture elsewhere altogether and, naturally, she couldn’t hear a single decibel of little Aquillius’s noisy fit.

She eventually glanced up from her one tiny taker and saw the look on Rue’s face right before the Matrona bent and licked at her discomfited sons. Towhee watched for a moment. Encouraged by the fact Ruenna was trying to nudge them closer, the Redhawk took it upon herself to gently grab Cornelius and airlift him directly to a nipple. She did the same to Aquillius, then glanced over at the scooter, who was simply out of her reach.

Guess my milkshake doesn’t bring all the boys to the yard, Towhee quipped to Ruenna, smiling and then gazing down at Alivia with fondness. Thanks for helping a leaky bitch out, she murmured for the tiny girl’s deaf ears only, giving her head an appreciative lick and wondering if the others would follow her example or continue to turn up their little pug noses at their auntie’s libations.

The sensation of a warm hug surrounded Cornelius prior to the feeling that he was weightless, hanging briefly in the air, as he was placed before a teat. The smell of food didn't reach him through his pugged nose; the physicality of the moment transitioned quickly from something novel to something unwanted, so he lashed out with a spastic rabbit-kick, straight in to Towhee's full jugs, and mewled with a rare note of annoyance.

Alivia was annoyed too now: annoyed with the shifting that happened when Towhee leaned to pick up her brother, and doubly annoyed with the appearance of the mewling, thrashing Nealy at her previously-private milk bar. 

With the tiniest little huff, shifted down one nipple, reluctantly creating space for her sibling's ridiculous antics. She continued to feed greedily, desperate to take in as much sustenance as possible before Nealy steamrolled over her, or her other siblings somehow managed to ruin this rare treat with their nonstop drama.

Quick wrap before this starts smelling like sour milk. ;)

There was a lot more complaining and thrashing, though Towhee reminded herself this was only the first attempt, a disruption to their usual routine. If she kept coming by, they would get used to her and what she had to offer. In the meantime, she just laid back and let the pups—each already demonstrating a distinct personality—choose for themselves.