The World Still Turns

Gwyn was pulled from her sleep by Eilwen pecking and nudging at her cheek and before she could even ask the raven what was going on she heard the tapping at her door. She got up as she was blinking the sleep from her eyes and yawning, making her way to the door and pulling it open with a groggy, "What is it?" As soon as she saw Bishop frantically flapping and telling her to go to Bowen she was immediately awake with a gasp, turning back into her room to gather a few supplies. Towels, her bag of medications, all of the usual things she might need for a birth. Thanks to Briar and Artorias this was by far not the first birth she had assisted with. When she turned back toward the door she saw Bishop fly off in the opposite direction of Bowen's room, but when she glanced down the hall toward where the bird had gone she realized he was at Artorias and Briar's room and that he was probably gathering them as well since he wasn't waiting on her to follow.

She hurried next door to Bowen's room, but when she pushed open the partially open door she was surprised to not find Bowen in labor, but instead her sister was asleep with four pups nursing at her belly. She blinked with surprise, but moved forward toward them all the same. Bishop must have gone to the infirmary looking for her first or maybe she just took that long to be woken up or maybe the pups truly came that fast. Or maybe a combination of all three. She was used to that mix of smells that came with a birth so she wasn't immediately concerned when the hint of blood caught her attention since it was entirely normal for there to be some blood, but as she drew closer to start examining the pups she noticed that the dark stain around Bowen was quite large and seemingly getting larger even in the moments that she was standing there. She noticed how large the three boys were and for someone as small as Bowen it wasn't hard to put the pieces of what was wrong together.

"Bowen? Bowen, wake up for me, okay?" she said with the calm seriousness of a seasoned healer as she gently shook her sister's shoulder before starting to dig through her bag for some supplies and medicines. "It looks like your babies might have torn something internal on the way out so I'm going to have to give you some stitches, but I need you to take these for me first." Right about then she heard someone come in the room and she glanced back over her shoulder to see Briar. She nodded for her sister in law to join her as she portioned out doses of medications that would help slow the bleeding, something for the pain, and something to chase away any potential infection. She motioned for Briar to help her prop Bowen up enough to take the condensed extracts that she gently placed on her tongue, making sure she swallowed them all before she laid her back down again. She whistled for Blue, the lemur quickly scampering over from her room next door as she began to prepare a small needle and a fine thread. She wasn't dexterous to make these kind of stitches herself so she'd need his help.

"Just keep her calm and awake if you can," she said quietly to her sister in law before she prepared a bowl of water that she added trillium to, using that on a damp rag to clean away as much of the blood as she could and applying a numbing balm wherever she could reach. Her ears flicked with a bit of frustration as she struggled to see what she needed to and she finally looked to Briar to ask, "Could you add more wood to the fire? I need more light." With that done both her and Blue had an easier time seeing what they were working with and got to work. “Sorry, Bo, this is probably going to be pretty uncomfortable,” she admitted regretfully as she supported her sister’s leg and helped reveal the tears for Blue so her companion could begin to stitch them up.

"Gwynevere Carpathius"