My Life is Brighter Because of You

From the day Tamsyn had told him she wanted their children to bear the name "of the Sea", Kane had known exactly where to build their birthing den. He'd prowled the shoreline numerous times and found a perfect little nook in the side of a grassy knoll just beside the start of the sandy beach. A few days to dig it out to a comfortable size and another to fill it with plush furs and soft grasses and it was ready for them. Once he and Tamsyn had moved in closer to her due date, Kane spent most of his time gathering and preparing the medicinal herbs he'd need to help ease Tamsyn through the last stretch of her pregnancy as well as make her birth more endurable. Sure, he could have gone and raided the Hallows' stores for some supplies, but he chose to do things the traditional way, hunting the fresh herbs himself and storing them away in their den for later use while Tamsyn continued to fuss and debate over the arrangement of their temporary living space.

By now, his mate had gotten quite round with their growing children. Each day, Kane's love and wonder for her grew, and each day he found himself more and more anxious to finally meet the new spirits they had created together. As had been their usual routine, he and Tam shared a dinner before settling in for bed while evening took over the land. The ocean outside began its ethereal glow with the bioluminescent plankton and the stars danced about in a partly cloudy sky. The gentle lapping of the waves on the shore acted almost like a lullaby, and while Kane was snuggling with his restless mate, he found himself beginning to doze—until he heard Tam gasp and felt a dampness seeping into their bedding. Hazel eyes flew open abruptly and he scrambled to right himself, seeing Tamsyn smiling despite her labored breathing. It was time.

"This is it, my little blackbird. Time to do what you did best once before." Kane leaned in to plant an affectionate lick to the side of Tamsyn's muzzle before he slowly unwound himself from around her so he could gather up the herbs he'd gathered for this moment. Motherwort for the contractions and trillium to the side in case the pain got to be too much for her. He passed Tamsyn the motherwort to consume first, then moved to curl protectively around her in the opposite direction, offering his hindquarters for her to rest her head on or his thigh to bite if she needed to while he prepared to receive their children into the world. "You know what to do, but I will be here for you every step, my Moon and Stars. Deep breaths, push when you feel your muscles contract." Kane then turned bright, shimmering eyes to his lover as he added, "I can't wait to meet our pieces of the Universe."

"Kaneonuskatew"