Little Fiery One

Manea's gaze hardly left the beautiful children nestled against her stomach as Irilyth moved around the den to get more supplies and finish cleaning up from the birth. She only briefly looked up to take the medicines that her handmaiden gave her for immunity and to help her produce more milk, but she had a hard time swallowing the concoction as Irilyth made a comment about how the large, melanistic boy would surely need a lot of food. It made her heart ache, but she knew that Irilyh meant nothing by it and Manea just gave the well intentioned healer a thankful smile as she finished giving her orders to stay on bedrest and that she would bring her more supplements later. "Yes, thank you, Irilyth," she said and watched the little woman as she left the den, watching where she disappeared to for a moment before her smile slipped away and she looked back down at the perfect pups they had created.

Her paw lifted and she gently stroked each of the pup's backs quietly for a moment while she leaned into Alastor's touch as he nuzzled her cheek. "They are..." she whispered back in agreement, a small, sad smile tugging at her lips. Each one of them was perfect in their own way and as she had come to expect she loved each of them immediately. When she had helped others of her family, even her own sister, with their gleening ceremonies she hadn't felt more than a moment of hesitation. But this... She leaned back into him and turned her head to nuzzle into his neck for a moment as he complimented her and had a small moment of celebration. No matter what was about to happen, they had successfully made it through another pregnancy and another brith with more healthy pups on the other side. Even though they were about to face the inevitable heartache, she could be grateful for the fact that they were parents again. "Only because I had you here with me," she replied softly.

Bringing her gaze back down to their newborns, her ears folded back and her paw gently rubbed each of their backs once again. She started looking for any of those tell tale signs of gifts that she had been taught to look for. She felt lightly over each of their heads, gently rubbed their tiny paws, examined their little limbs. The smallest girl didn't have any of those noticeable signs, the ebony black boy felt like he might have a couple of little bumps forming on the top of his head, and the fire brindled girl's paws felt like there were the beginnings of little retractable claws like her own. Of course there were always ones that they wouldn't be able to see right away, like Saracyn's teeth, but those were just surprises to be found as they continued to grow. As stunning as the smallest pup's colors were, Manea worried about her size and whether the little girl would catch up to the others. The boy certainly had size on his side, but he lacked her violets or Alastor's reds. The first born, the girl made of fire, seemed to be a perfect balance between the other two.

"You don't have to stay," she said softly with a quiet sadness to her tone as she lifted her gaze back up to Alastor's. She knew how deep his love of pups went and even though she was heartbroken to have to kill any of these perfect children she was even more heartbroken that she was going to have to hurt Alastor like this. "I won't be offended and I won't think any less of you. I can bear this on my own if you need me to," she assured him, giving him the opportunity to leave if he needed it. Whether he left of stayed, she knew she needed to do this now before she gave herself any amount of time to second guess herself any more than she already was.

"Manea Mendacium"