we're a strange herd

Rave settled in beside Plague for the main event. The moment she worried and lost sleep over. It wasn’t the pain or the process, it was the possibility they wouldn’t even have live puppies. She was thrust into the throws of labor with those thoughts, but like he could read her mind Plague soothed her. He kissed her brow and whispered assuring words as she tried not to panic. Rava took steadying breaths as she leaned into his pale fur.

There was much struggle before anything really happened. The birthing process was anything but a swift one. Kiyo eventually offered the second part of her medications, a sweetened bitter herb that she didn’t really notice go down as her body progressed to birth. Eventually she felt the urge to push and after some painful vocalizations and much reassurance from Plague their first child was born.

Relief wouldn’t seep through her until the girl’s cries were in the air. Rava felt like the weight of the world literally lifted off her shoulders to know her daughter was alive. Everything became a blur after that as Kiyo attended to her, and both fathers helped to welcome their children into the world. Rava got little glimpses of her first child and already knew her name. She struggled and heaved with four more large babies, each one’s voice just as magical as the last. Two boys and two girls, and then she was done. Exhausted and happier than she ever had been.

As she caught her breath the healer congratulated her softly along with Plague and Void. Rava was far to caught up in the four perfect children at her belly to look up, but sleepily she thanked the woman once more. ”Thank you, Lady Kiyo.” She had her family. A real family and it was more than she would have ever imagined.