I moved, shifted, wrapping myself around her, laying myself against her shaking form to offer all the warmth I could, resting my head against her back in an effort to soothe her though it hardly seemed to work. I was never…good at this, at dealing with these kind of things. I am not…incapable, I am merely not trained for it. I bring death, not life. I am trained to take away, not to heal and indeed I feel, out of place in these moments as I cling to her, though I am powerless to do anything but. I won’t leave, I couldn’t if I tried though indeed frustration grates against my form, a loathing for fate itself, for my own inability to do anything but offer her the warmth of my frame teasing at my mind. I never did accept being idle well, I never could handle being made effectively redundant and yet I can do almost nothing to help her. I suppose, really, it is a feeling of….powerlessness, of being vulnerable to the possibility that my own emotions may be able to- hurt me. This is why we do not love, why our rules say we do not take mates of Father children until we retire and hell, maybe I am retired, but it hurts no less to see this- to watch her bleed away. I cannot and will not lose anyone else. I watched one mate die and I will not watch another. I will not die alone and nor will she, not today at least. Maybe it is not much, yet surely the warmth does something? I have seen this before, I have seen wolves survive this though indeed I have never seen a female of Zen’s age manage to live through such a thing. Yet….Zen has lived through the fall of the sky, she can survive this, she will, because I demand it. Maybe I am no longer King of Trenus but I’ll be damned if I didn’t step up to unofficial King of Moladion and if I say Zen will live, then so be it.

The violet of my gaze lingered on Meryl as he worked, watching the boy as he moved though each cry of pain from my mate saw my lip lift slightly and a growl rumble within my throat, I would not attack him, I had no intention of such a thing, more so I simply….reacted to her pain. I am her mate, her protector against such things and if all I can do is snarl in this manner, warning the boy to be gentle, then so be it. I have always watched over her, My Shadow, for more years then she surely knows and I will continue to do so in both life and the shadow of death itself. I have chased this ‘death’ from my den before and I will do so again tonight. Angels always were…persuasive. Her words were soft, tired and yet there all the same, ears flicking forward as my head laid against her, the sentence…odd at best and yet I hardly cared. She didn’t need my permission to sleep, silly creature and yet in this moment I was rather glad she thought she did. She cannot sleep, not yet, not until the bleeding is stopped at least. She needed to continue to talk and as it happens that would appear to be one of my talents, though I worked to keep worry from my voice, keeping my tone smooth and calm, easy and deep in the dark and gloom as she spoke of naming the children, of their perfection. I nodded, jaws parting to kiss her cheek in a stolen moment of affection, uncaring that the boy was present.

“Let us call the girl Neveah. Heaven.”

I paused a moment as the girl herself crawled from her Mother, moving until she rested against my paws, a tiny smile touching my lips as I lowered my muzzle to press softly against the perfection of her gleaming pelt, inhaling the scent of life and newness that surrounded her like a halo all her own, jaws parting to lick at her, soothe her, before moving to carefully take her within my jaws, placing her more firmly against my chest where it was warmest, sheltered by my long forelimbs either side. For a moment, just a moment all was forgotten. It is no secret I have always adored my children, particularly my daughters and she shall be no less. Zen was right, they were perfect, the both of them, though the boy seemed, slower perhaps…tired. Surely only the result of his hard birth though my gaze moved from the black child and up to Meryl’s own, seeking some knowledge within before resting my head against Zen once more, Neveah tucked into my chest while the boy slept near his Mothers heart.

“You should name our son- anything you desire. What will you call him?”

She needed to keep talking, she could name him Dirt for all I cared, as long as she didn’t sleep, her final comment bringing a passing grin to my lips as I chuckled softly against her pelt.

“Perhaps we shall endeavour to break that trend, hmmm?”

Meryl spoke once more, my gaze lifting to his own as he did, eyes narrowing slightly. If these stronger herbs were a risk to the pups then I had no doubt Zen would decline them, as for being nursed by another- unthinkable. The Mother of their birth will nurse them and no other and I have no doubt that to take them from her, to remove her newborn children would only seek to…weaken her. Mothers live and die for the young they bare. She will not let them be taken, of that I am sure, though for now I am content to nod.

“Thank you, I will find you if things go…awry. For now what you have given her will be enough. When you see your Father, tell him he has a new half-sister and half-brother. It will bring him no joy I am sure and yet he needs to know.”