Was there really a bright side? She had become pregnant by the male she was gifted to and he was ever vigilant preventing her escape. This was a difficult thing she supposed, could she ever love a child she was forced to conceive? Perhaps when she saw her child’s face she would fall in love with them despite the means of conception. For now she couldn’t bring herself to think about that, over the past few days she had grown more restless than usual.
It was sudden, more so than she anticipated. The pain racked her very being and she found herself desperately pressed into the den she had grown accustom to over the winter. When the contractions began Inara’s sharp whines turned into an outward cry of agony. The panic filled her eyes as she wondered if everything was alright or if something had gone very wrong. Was she cursed? It seemed like hours but certainly it had been almost that long hadn’t it?
Inara was exhausted to the point she almost passed out. The pain and the energy drain was really taking it’s tole on her body. Finally after one last push the child lay at her hips. She pulled the girl forward and Inara dutifully cleaned the child. The girl looked quite similar to her own coat and yet perhaps she despised the russet on her daughter. Soon the father would come and it seemed he would only have one child from her. For now she nuzzled her daughter to a teat and laid her head down trying to stay awake.