Hushed Willows wohlhabend

for @Olive, pups, & anyone who would be attending them. backdated about a week, closer to their birth.

a summons had come for the midwife in the warm light of a midafternoon. children had been born to the gentle midwife of elysium; would mahler not come to call upon her in a way that befit both their standings? he had at once wrapped a few herbs in a stiffening pelt and padded after the courier, their wolf-trot eating away the miles until he stood at the threshold of elysium.
here the willows beckoned with movements of their wispy leaves. the gargoyle inhaled the peaceful scent, no longer perturbed that this place harboured a wolf who had once been his enemy. morningside had fallen. diaspora thrived. there was little reason to bear enmity.
because he had come as guest of the leaders, the messenger led him over the borders and to the shelter wherein olive lay with her little ones. mahler hung back somewhat, announcing himself with a rough clearing of his throat; he would not enter until the midwife had laid forth an invitation.

Olive had not delayed in requesting Mahler’s presence. The druid had seen what the man was capable of at Aure’s delivery and knew that her high standards would be met by no one else — and, this time around, she needed an expert’s guiding hand to ensure her that everything was fine. Everything did seem fine, despite the circumstances of their birth — but the stress and the worry did not wane after Stigmata had dutifully fetched her Seraphim and the new family was moved to the sanctuary. 

Olive was not convinced of the total and complete health of @Sundance, @Reif and @Atwood. Sure, they appeared to be fine, for all intents and purposes, but her judgement was skewed by the panic and the pain and the weird cocktail of new mommy hormones that had overtaken her. The labor and delivery had been too sudden and too difficult for she and her babies to have gotten away without a scratch, a defect or stillbirth. Could she be that lucky, and that unlucky, at the same time? She was addled, and needed another to give her the confidence to finally settle into her third round of motherhood. 

He arrived as she was resting with @Seabreeze and @Ariel. “Mahler,”  she greeted and lifted her head, her voice strained with a sense of urgency. Perhaps she should have thanked him for coming, or introduced her wives to the Doctor, but she got right to the point. “They came early,”  she explained, almost embarrassed to say it out loud. She knew it wasn’t true, but it felt as if she had failed her sons in some way — had put them in danger by traveling so far along in her pregnancy, and robbed them of a critical week of prenatal development. But, Mahler needed to know the details. “About a week.” 

Her ivy gaze flicked down, to the earth. “— and the delivery was… difficult.” 

he entered her shelter quietly, putting aside the things he had brought. there were three wolves here, the ocean-woman he had seen once, and another, a delicate creature that matched both the other she-wolves in loveliness. they were not his concern, however — there were many factors at play here, and mahler must analyze each one. 
first, olive; the shadowpriest extended to her a fatted bit of beaver-tail, his traditional gift to new mothers. "how much blood between each child during delivery?" he asked softly. "and your milk; has it come or do they feed on what comes before?" lastly, and here he glanced again toward the other elysians, rather uncomfortable with their silent presence. "may i inspect you, olive?" mahler murmured, intending to check for tearing albeit briefly.
no matter the outcome of that inquiry, the gargoyle was glad to turn his attention to the children. three boys, all smaller than he would have liked, though given their early birth that was to be expected. his breath wavered over each in turn; he could scent no malady for now. "how is their nursink?" was his last question, not wanting to bombard the poor delicate dove.

The spirit felt immediately better with Mahler here; now she could hand the reins over to someone else and not be in control of this situation for a short while. Ariel and Seabreeze and Lily were wonderful help, but it was she who had the traumatic birth and only she who could feed them; and though she and her wives had a tendency to worry all the same, Olive somehow felt that her responsibility weighed more heavily than theirs. 

The weakened mother accepted the gift quietly, appreciate of the gesture — beavertail tasted just like candy, she knew, and she felt as though it would nourish her well. “There was a lot before, a little during, and not so much after,” she spoke softly and gave a sidelong glance to her wives. Olive had spared them both the gruesome details of it all — perhaps it had something to do with Cortez vomiting upon seeing her bloodied that made her reluctant to tell others. “I could walk home with some… help,” at least that was how the rest of Elysium had seen her, upon her return, bolstered by stigmata and cortez and those who carried the children. 

Mahler continued to ask questions, hoping to fully grasp the situation. “It has, but I suspect that’s because this is my third litter,” she gave a small laugh, as if she was grateful for that, which she was, but… she thought about this often, and considered it extremely unfair. “My third… isn’t it supposed to get easier?” she bemoaned gently, masking her nervousness with a bit of humor.

She glanced down to the three boys, who dozed gently at her belly. @Atwood even still had his small mouth attached to a nipple, and would sometimes suck as he slept. “They nurse like fiends,” she commented, happy for that. It was as if they were hoping to make up for the womb-time they missed out on.At Mahler’s prompt to inspect her, she nodded. “Yes… Of course.” she said amenably, shifting to the side with the intention of making it easy for Mahler to see whatever he needed to see.

olive moved, and mahler crept forward to inspect her more intimate details. perhaps another might have mantled and weakened, but he knew well his role. "you may need a salve for a few days," the gargoyle intoned, sitting back. "i have herbs to mix it, if you vill have help." here his stare flickered to the silent wolves beside olive; perhaps they would be of assistance once he had gone.
pleasure lit his dour features as olive spoke of her children's hardiness and their willingness to nurse often. "you vould think a third litter would be easier, ja," mahler agreed with a smile, "but sometimes it is the third one that throws a vildcard into the mix." he had seen it before. all the same, he could not help a private marvel at olive's slight and trim figure for being a mother of many.
"i think you vill all be fine," he murmured, sweeping his eyes over her sons once more. "the first hours are the most important, as you know." immediately after birth, or a short time later, puppies doomed to die usually succumbed, fever set in, and mothers could be lost. 
mahler saw none of that in this small family, however, simply a trio of hungry children who had decided to descend early. "vas there anything else of note, olive?" he asked quietly, attention turning back to the midwife of elysium.

Olive leaned back and made an attempt to relax as Mahler examined her — it was not that she wasn’t open about these sorts of things, because she was, but her traumatized body was still quite tender. Moving around too much caused her soreness deep in the core of her being, and every once in a while the bleeding would resume, but it was more like spotting and did not concern Olive half as much as it concerned her wives.

With Mahler’s inspection complete, she shifted herself to lay normally and listened intently to his review. She agreed and was thankful, for Olive was the only one within Elysium who knew her garden’s contents and Seabreeze, a nurse, had no idea which to use in order to create medicines — that had always been Olive’s job — that, plus Seabreeze was reluctant to leave the side of her new sons and healing wife for longer than single, solitary moments. “We will help,” assured Seabreeze, and Ariel nodded in silent agreement.

That alone helped to serve Olive’s anxiety about the whole thing, and so did Mahler’s next comments. She visibly and audibly exhaled a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. “It makes me so relieved to hear that," she breathed, letting her gaze fall and linger on the three small pups at her belly. For the most part they had snoozed right through her examination, which was a little reminiscent of how they had entered the world. 

Well, it looked like the doctor had completed his mission — he assured the mother of her health, the puppies of their health, and left joy where there once was only worry. But still, Olive could not help but wonder one thing. “Why do you think it happened?” she asked, a little mournful. “Did I do something wrong?”

he nodded at the ocean-woman alongside olive, satisfied that she would have help in the days to come. he was silently flattered that olive seemed to place so much emphasis upon his opinion of her condition and children, but he supposed he had earned the honour through his own skill. and if ever the time came for his own children to be born, he would ask for the elysium leader as well.
the thought was briefly jarring; he covered his surprise at himself with a shake of his muzzle at olive's question. "i expect you are a careful and vise voman where children are concerned. you vould not have exerted yourself unduly. sometimes little vones simply rush to be born, ja?" he chuckled gently, gaze falling to the rooting boys again.
"if you plan to have more litters in the future, this may happen again, olive," mahler said gently, not wanting to worry her, but speaking as one tradesman to another. "i recommend you begin your rest early then, but for now, there is nothing to do but to heal and enjoy these new little lives."

Olive nodded along, heeding Mahler’s final lesson. Just a matter of fate, like she had assumed. At least it hadn’t been something she had done, or worse — something she hadn’t done.

Now that her examine was over, Olive attempted to hold herself with some dignity, but she was tired from the experience. Leaning against her wives for never-ending support, she attempted to bow her head at Mahler. “Thank you,” she state sincerely. “You have no idea what your service means to me… and Elysium.” There was a beautiful relationship blossoming between Elysium and Diaspora, and this only nurtured it. The Shakti women wished to repay her debts. “Please, stay here this night, and eat from our caches and drink our sweet water. Rest for your journey back to your mountains.” Both Seabreeze and Ariel nodded, releasing the Doctor from his duties and allowing him a night or two beneath the willows.