Heron Lake Plateau [m] your hands can heal, your hands can bruise

The one he had pulled away wasn't right. It was even more lifeless than the one before it, causing Phox to suddenly wonder if any of his children would live. He thought of Towhee, and how angry she would be if he and Camilla ruined their children. How distraught she would be. Phox, not thinking of himself, as usual. He was vaguely aware of Poe talking in the background, of Camilla writhing there too. But all he could do was stare at the two lifeless things that now lay at his feet.

A cry tore him from his thoughts, and he glanced back expecting (like Camilla) to see yet another body. Instead, he saw life. One tiny, precious life that he felt could be snuffed out in an instant. Phox left the two bodies on the ground and inched closer, worried that if he took a breath this one might disappear, too. But it didn't. It writhed and wriggled and he nudged it toward Camilla's bosom.

Maybe something good would come out of all this after all. He felt his heart swell six times as large as it had ever been, and he was instantly protective of Camilla and their new child all over again.