so this is it

She already knew that the second pup would be far more difficult than the first and she spared Aliana a glance after Siren had taken the herbs she offered, a bit of a silent warning while trying not to worry Siren too much. However, without her added worry or not, the second pup caused plenty of pain and trouble on their own. Almost immediately as the contractions began again and the pup made its way into position to enter the world, Siren cried out with the pain of it all. Dalila's ears flicked back and her brows pulled together as she moved to help support Siren's delicate body and keep her from flailing too much, supporting one of her hind legs to help relieve even a bit of the strain and give this pup as free of an opening as they could manage. No amount of herbs could have fully relieved this struggle, but she was grateful they had such a stock of them to help Siren's poor body through this awful moment.

There wasn't much more they could do besides wait and encourage, her free paw resting on Siren's stomach and following the progress of the pup while her screams filled the room. The heavy bleeding began even before they saw the crown of the pup in question and she gave Ali a worried glance, she nodded for Ali to briefly take over holding Siren's leg and hip for just a moment and she darted as quickly as her paws could carry her into the other room. She quickly gathered more supplies from their stores - some cleaned moss, a Yarrow poultice, a bit of ginseng root, fresh cloths and furs, and a jar containing water that had trillium distilled into it for cleaning wounds. With her new supplies gathered she ran back into the room, retaking her place at Siren's side just as she saw the massive pup's head just begin to make its appearance.

Once the pale pup was in Ali's paws she left the pup's care to her and focused her work on Siren who had fallen still, utterly exhausted from the torture she had been put through. Ali hurried out of the way to start tending to the pup that had been put through an ordeal to be born as well and Dalila got to work to help stop the bleeding. She used fresh towels to start cleaning away some of the blood, putting gentle pressure on the tears she could see with some of the moss to help stem the bleeding. With that in place she took the bit of ginseng root and chewed it so that it would be in a paste and easier for her to swallow, coming around to face her with the paste on her paw and giving her a gentle smile as she brushed her cheek with her free paw to get her attention and then held the ginseng root up in front of her muzzle to lick clean. She didn't want to give her any more pain meds since she already had as much trillium as she dared give someone her size, but this would at least help restore her energy a bit and keep shock at bay. "Just a little ginseng. Rest and relax, okay?" She'd need a bit of a boost to make it through passing the afterbirth at least.

With that done she hurried back to working on Siren's lower half and right about then she heard the first cries from the other pup. Her ears flicked toward the sound as she gave a little sigh of relief. Well, at least the boy had made it through this after all. After some time had passed and the birth was finally well and done, after she had cleaned the tears she could see with some of the trillium water, applied the yarrow poultice, and had cleaned up as much of the blood as she could manage without giving Siren a full bath... She finally allowed herself to sit back on her haunches with a heavy sigh, glancing at Aliana with a thankful smile. She was glad Ali had been here to see to the boy since it felt like all she could do to care for Siren in that moment and as long as Chimera was convinced these pups were his then he likely would have had her head if the boy had died. Maybe not as much as if Siren had died in comparison, but even still... It was a huge relief to be on the other side of this with everyone in tact.

"Dalila"