The Sentinels Tiny Blessings Gilded in Black and White

Please allow @Lasher @Emaleth and @Deirdre reply first then everyone else is welcome.

Blue Willow woke with a start and looked all around her. Something was off, then she felt it the absolute raking pain that began at the top of her abdomen and worked it's way back. IT made her entire body rock with hot fiery pain. She yelped and then slowly go to her feet. She looked around for Lasher and realizing he wasn't there, but probably taking care of other things. She dipped her head out of the den entrance for a moment. She sent a long call to him, to let him know the time was near, and then slid back into the darkness, anxiously. Walking around and around her head down, she waited for the right time and then she lay down and pushed. 

Turning quickly she reached around and grasped the small bundle that was their fourth child and pulled her forward. Licking her face free as the tiny thing took it's first breath, Blue smiled. She was already long for a babe and thin, her fur as black as the downy soft Blue wore. Blue smiled again and touched her gently.

Why hello little one. What shall your father and I name you?

Blue sighed as the wracking pains began again, but she stayed her course. Laying down this time to keep the littliest girl warm with her own body heat, and help her search for milk. After what felt like hours, when it was only minutes, the second little bundle of joy came into the world. Blue smiled and licked her clean, chuckling her white fur a startling contrast to her sisters.

Well little white one, what shall your name be as well? Blue thumped her tail happily and waited to hear Lasher's input.

warmth surrounded her, and she only knew peace. although her forming consciousness did not remember her past lives, this time of rebirth was a balm on her old soul. she only knew peace.

until an earthquake shattered this meditative world, and she kicked out  and squalled in a tiny kind of indignation. but only briefly, for she found herself suddenly on a hard and cold surface - not that she understood these quantifiers, nor that they were so only in comparison to where she had been for the last few months.

this change stunned her into silence, and for a moment she did not move. but then something warm and comforting caressed her little body, cleaning her and reassuring her. instinct then seemed to kick in, and the little black body wriggled toward the much larger body and sought out a teat to begin feeding.

her world was what she had known for many months. in it she had made a functional life where she was fed, where she grew from child to adult, where those to be worshipped were outside and who sometimes—more frequently as she grew older—spoke to her and the being with her. it was not just her world after all; there was someone else to share it with her. their method of communication was through kicks. they'd even commune with 'the great ones' that way. 

what they had done to disappoint those beings she did not know. the small, nameless creature inside only felt, suddenly, the absence of her companion. she did not like it. it frightened her, this change. it felt pivotal. from within, the creamy cub resisted only up until the point she felt a heavy squeeze. she could do nothing else. her life was finished. 

but any of that life was near-forgotten. consistent with her sisters line of thought, she was reborn into a new world. naked and afraid, there was not a single second for the paler one to think of silence. it was cold, here. and what she had landed on was nothing like the place she had been, where she float in place and was kept warm. 

she cried and cried, for there was something else absent. it was her companion, the one she had known all of her life. she yearned for her. the youngest child felt safest with her around, a safety blanket if ever there was one. even when her mother spoke, the youth was resistant. if it were at all possible, she might have shrank into herself; as it were, she simply lay there, yelling at the world. she could not hear, but then, she never really could; her mothers "vibrations" were somehow consistent with something else familiar. it was this that let her catch her breath, that calmed her into quiet. she had enjoyed what the tongue brought, but it was the voice she liked best for the moment.

but then the youth cried again; there was something else she needed, beyond her sister, something she did not know. 

typo'd the name last night but asked for assistance with fixing it :) 

he had been thinking of their earlier brood, of casmir and eilidh and constantine, and the wolves they had become. wherever his eldest son had traveled, the druid knew that he too would thrive and make something great of himself. lasher faced the sea, which had formed a pillar of new comfort in his mind; he stood between the boles of two great trees and breathed in the brine-winds. lasher knew that change stirred in donnelaith -- the spirits had whispered such unto him, for he heard them as he never had before. they had been pleased by the move.

taltos would have liked to press into the deeper shadows, to explore this renewed link betwixt his soul and the cacophony of ghostly sussuration, but now came blue willow's wavering cry o'ertop the high trees, and lasher turned toward it immediately. into the warm darkness fragrant with blood and birth the druid peered, for he dared not enter, lest his wife's protective rage be kindled in violence against him.

in tandem, the alpha paced the snows outside, pausing only when he heard the soft tones of her voice, once, then twice. he knew blue willow lay still now, wrapped 'round their cubs as she had done the first time, and the sweet scent of milk greeted his nostrils as at last the man crept forward on his belly to behold the tiny curled bodies of down nestled against their mother's side.

so beautiful! delicate! daughters, both, and lasher felt tears well in his eyes. one dark, one light, and their names spoke themselves from his own throat, as if he himself had no control over those titles which donnelaith granted. "emaleth claudette," taltos murmured over the sable daughter, "and deirdre stella." he leant forward to kiss the pad of one tired foot belonging to his mate, smiled into her face before he let his gaze linger on his daughters.

presently lasher drew himself for the den, throwing back his crown to announce proudly the birth of donnelaith's first children. witches, both, he hoped, for witches they had been named, and the blood of such ran in their veins. and so emaleth and deirdre were welcomed beneath an auspicious series of events into the heart of the place named for his natal glen.

dante quick cameo!

He did not hear Blue Willow's summons for Lasher, but was on his way back to where Osprey and he had spent the night before when Lasher's joyous announcement rang out. Instantly his face lit up, tail waving ecstatically. He would not approach, for he would not bring his sporadic cough near the pups, but he sang out his own joy and congratulations for the father to hear. The beta would hover close, as he had with the first brood, keeping careful watch on their borders and on the other creatures that dwelt within. The pups would thrive despite winter, he would make sure of that.

As Blue willow's time had drawn nearer, Osprey had found it harder and harder to be in the presence of her friend and not feel envy. Outwardly she was happy for the couple and their luck and was careful not to show any ill feelings, but the shadow within her heart grew and, when it had become too hard to contain, she sought out the most quiet corners of the territory to fight her demons alone. 

It was yet another evening and after a long day Osprey had returned to the same spot she and Dante had claimed last night. She had fallen into a light sleep, where one is still aware of the everything that happens around you, when Lasher's victorious and proud call announced the arrival of two new souls in this world. The elder opened her eyes, lifted her head and listened, feeling, how the pain she thought she had left forever in the past, was tearing her newly healed heart apart. 

Osprey closed her eyes and curled up in a tight ball, as if that could help to contain the emptiness and darkness within, when it got too hard, she got to her feet and ran, hoping that maybe putting the distance between her and them would make things easier.

Hearing the Blue Willow's call, Pearl was distracted from her most recent discovery of a family of opossums near her den that had been stealing from some of the caches. Looking up at the trees and smiling, she knew to wait until Lasher announced the birth of his new brood before she came and continued on with her search of the opossum's home.

When the call did come, she was overjoyed and made her way over to the happy den that had welcomed the pups. Daring not to look in just yet, she hovered some feet away with tail waving and a smile plastered on her face. She could hardly wait to meet the newest additions to Donnelaith.

Ever since her father had told her she would become a big sister, Eilidh had doted upon her mother with offerings of food and herbs and things to keep her occupied. It was not easy for her mother to move around, especially as her time drew near. She knew little of the act of birthing, and had hoped her mother would allow her to be nearby to learn. She sadly had been hunting fish when her mother's faint call summoned her father. Some while later, her father's stronger howl announced that she had two new siblings, two sisters, to love and cherish and teach everything she knew.

Calling back a joyous howl, the girl quickly ran toward her parents' den with the fish in her mouth. She placed it gently on the ground and turned back, to gather some things her mother would need. Eilidh picked herbs for relaxation - chamomile and lavender - from her mother's healing den and brought them in her mouth, careful not to chew on them as she walked. She wasn't the one who needed to relax! When she was close, she saw the fish had been spirited away, and smiled softly. She laid the bundle of herbs at her paws and whispered, "Mamma, I brought you something to help your recovery. I will leave it here for you." She tucked it beneath a rock so they wouldn't fly away on the wind, then left them in peace. There would be time enough to see her new sisters.

It was almost time to turn back to Pearls den when the young wolf heard the loud call of Lasher. She turned, a few stems hanging from her mouth, towards the direction of the howl, listening intently. 

Puppies! While more than excited to meet the leaders children, a sense of bitterness washing over her. Aria had wished for a family her whole life, lacking a true one as a pup. It was not to say that she was old enough just yet to start a family, but she still dreamed of it every day. 

Lasher's howl was loud and clear, and nearby, she noted. Perhaps she would have time to visit. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't traveled too far from Pearls den; she'd mostly circled it at a further distance. She was still spending a large portion of her day mentally mapping out the territory. As of right now she could point you in the direction of many different landmarks, including the possible home of a darling little red fox who went by the name Tilki. Not only so, but the wolf was mapping locations of possible herb growing areas and where herbs were being grown. Today, despite the cold, she had found a small patch of Lavender as well as some weed-like dandelions; she wondered if those would be useful to take to storage, and so she had grabbed a bit of each. 

Deciding it would be well worth he time regardless of the distance, Aria headed towards Lashers howl, glad she had decided to take the plants that she had found. She was not able to make anything of them, she was still learning, but she knew of their use and of Blue Willow's skill with them. If someone had not already done so she would gladly listen to instructions in order to put them to use.

When she arrived, she found Pearl already outside the den. She gave a yip of greeting through the herbs and nudged her happily, tail wagging. Aria stood beside the white wolf (like standing beside a mirror) and waiting along with her, her eyes lighting up at the idea of getting to see a pair of newborns. She noticed the shape of another white wolf, one she noted as Lasher and Blue Willow's first daughter. She longed to see the puppies, but saw nothing more than the occasional white coat of Eilidh and the dark shadow cast by the inside of the den.

Blue was tired and weak after birthing the babies. She wanted nothing more than to sleep. She noted the coming and goings of other's feet. She smiled softly at the soft whisperings of her eldest daughter letting her know of the herbs she left for her. Eilidh was fast learning to ply the trade of healer, and Blue had no objections to allowing anyone else to learn if they should like. 

Blue sighed softly and closed her eyes, confident that Lasher would deep what he felt fit as far as sharing the puppies or not. Even if she had wished to voice an opinion she was far too tired to do so. So instead she followed on the coat tails of sleep into darkness.