It is dark for a while. I cannot say what happens during this time. I know that Eden did come to me, and he witnessed the birth of his siblings. Yet I could not remain in the world to welcome them to it. I could not keep myself afloat. I had given them much, and deep down I feel the pang in my heart wondering if I had twisted and deformed the boy's leg when I pulled him out.

The darkness of my world is slowly washed over with sounds and noises of voices. I cannot make them out at first, despite the fact that my mind is driven to do so. I am not...pleased that I had this moment, but there is not much that I can do about it. The voice becomes clear though, and it is one I know, missing the voice of another that came before.

The voice I heard was Ayal.

My daughter. My first daughter, much like myself. Her words begin to crystallize in my ears. I do not blame her for her assumptions. If my mother had given birth, I likely would have killed them with my own jaws. Yet I had created these wolves. I put them together with my own flesh and blood, and they were not going to be taken away so easily, not by Ayal. I am the ruler in this den.

I use all of my energy to have my copper eyes flash open, muzzle suddenly darting between Ayal and the deformed boy. My fang twists out of my lips in a threat and possession. This is my boy, and I will determine his usefulness to the world. I...I feel guilty about the leg, I will never say it, but I feel that my own teeth had caused it. I never was the most gentle mother...and perhaps with my age, I know that the very young are indeed weak- regardless of their health, they can never defend themselves from an adult. I was too rough, expecting too much of the stubborn born. After ensuring my boy was not touched- at least I think, my head lowers around the pups, unaware of the healer or even Eden, falling back into darkness and the struggle for breath.