You'll Blow Us All Away

Briar leaned a bit into Artorias' affections as he nuzzled her cheek, smiling a tired smile when he asked how she was feeling. "I'm alright..." she replied with a slightly breathless chuckle. "I hope we're close to the end... Or at the very least that the remaining pups take it easy on me..." She was undeniably tired, but the little pups that were now getting their first meal and resting comfortably at her stomach were more than worth every bit of effort that they took to bring into this world. She would go through this a hundred, thousand times if it meant being able to see their perfect, adorable little faces and hear their sweet, squeaky cries. Already it felt like her heart was so full it would burst and she knew that there was still more to add to their new family. Gwynevere's paws moved over her stomach, feeling gently for the remaining pups and after a few moments declared that there were still two on the way. It seemed that their first litter was going to match the size of her own and Artorias' litters after all. She took a breath and nodded with understanding as she readied herself and gathered up her energy to push through to the end.

Her contractions picked up once more, slowly building back to the now familiar pressure and pain that the rippling, contracting muscles caused as they moved the next pup through to join them. The rhythm and pace of things was easy to follow now, at least in the sense that she knew what to expect. Gwyn no longer really needed to coach her through when she needed to push, instead just focusing on encouraging her onward and giving her updates on the progress of the pup she was working hard to birth. It was always toward the end when the pain was at its peak that she squeezed the hardest on Artorias' paw while she clenched her teeth, her eyes squeezing shut against he effort of it while whines and groans escaped her. Luckily their fourth child didn't cause the same issues that their third had and even though there was still plenty of effort needed to bring them into the world, there wasn't nearly as much worry involved. Putting all of her effort into one final push, their next child slid free and she was able to collapse back into Artorias again with a heavy sigh while she panted hard to catch her breath. She would be forever grateful for the fact that Gwynevere was so attentive and so willing to clean up each pup through this whole process. She was certain not all women—or many, if she had to guess—had this kind of care through their briths and she would forever be in debt to her sister-in-law. Their second daughter was placed next to her siblings and Briar grinned when she saw the mix of tans and creams that painted the little girl. While their boys did show some markings similar to hers, they were very much done up in their father's colors. It wasn't until their fourth child that they finally saw any of her earthen-hued coloring. "Your blue and black genes finally met their match..." she joked with a little chuckle, admiring their newest daughter with a loving smile.

There was little time before their final pup began to make their appearance, but in a way Briar was grateful. As powerful as this experience had been and as grateful as she was for the chance to experience it, she was ready to be done. She was tired and in pain and beyond ready to be able to rest and enjoy their new family. But first she needed to struggle through one more birth. That was her motivation as she bore the strain of her final contractions and the pain that this last pup brought. She very quickly realized that the last had decided to take after its brothers in size and she couldn't help but wish that the fifth had come third before she was so exhausted. Each push as she worked to bring this last, large pup into the world began to make her tremble lightly with the effort and strain she was under, hardly even hearing any of Gwyn or Art's encouragements any more as she focused every bit of energy she had left into pushing the pup free. At one point she wondered if she was going to be able to manage, but several screams and one last hard push later it was finally over. She collapsed into Artorias, her head laying on the upper part of his foreleg like a pillow, panting hard to catch her breath and chase away the dizziness she felt in her exhaustion.

Still, when she heard the cries of their third and final daughter a smile still pulled across her features, blinking open her eyes and feeling them fill with overwhelmed, emotional, relieved tears. She was still too tired to lift her head to look at their last pup, but she tipped her head up enough to look at Artorias, a grin pulling at her lips as she looked at the father of her children, her husband, her mate. Together they had made this wonderful, perfect family that she had the distinct honor of saying she brought into this world. Finally she was able to lift her head with a bit of effort and she saw the girl had a blend of her browns with hints of her turquoise and Art's blue along her sides. "She's beautiful... They're all beautiful..." she mused in amazement, having to blink away tears as she looked down at where they were laying at her stomach.

"Artorias & Briar Carpathius"