A mother five times over, Oswin was quite used to the entirety of carrying a child and also understanding the changes in her body as the approach to birth came. It was early morning when she woke from where she’d been dozing, never once allowing her to fall into any deeper sort of sleep. The sharp pain came again, a grunt stifled in her throat as she fought to keep from making too much noise. Her youngest, Calder, a yearling now, stirred anyways. She heard the change in his breath from the restful candor it had during his sleep, and before he could say anything she whispered into the dark, “Go back to sleep, sweetheart. It’s time.”

Oswin did not need to specify any further, she knew he would understand what she meant. She began to walk, carefully picking her way from the trees and undergrowth they’d sheltered in to sleep, down a familiar path she had already learned. It would be the same place she’d birthed Calder that she brought this child into the world. Easy to get to but tucked away into the jungle and not in the direct line-of-sight for any predators. Close enough to where the herd often traveled that it seemed the big cats of the islands didn’t often tempt. Close enough too, if there was any trouble, Tyr would be able to hear her when she called for him.

There was plenty of room in the clearing not only for her to comfortable lay and stretch out, but also to pace as she waited for the contractions to come closer together.

Oswin lowered herself without much grace when the sharp pains grew too much to stand through. She groaned and stretched her legs, swollen side almost comically jutting upward from her slender figure. Pain ricocheted down her back legs and made her groan and whine, pushing her cheek into the damp, soft, dark dirt she was laid out on. Her eyes rolled, eyelids closing shut, and when time came, Oswin began to push.

The birth was easy as Calder’s had been, which never failed to surprise her, given the size of Tyr’s children she brought into the world. Too, even before she’d managed to lift her head to see, Oswin could feel that the child she’d pushed free was just as large as her prior three had been. Catching her breath and clearing her mind through the fog, she managed to finally roll herself forward on her shoulder and pull her neck up, turning her head so she could look at the new sight of life stirring at her hind. She expected to see another variation of some red and white, as all hers and Tyr’s past children had been, but lying among the birthing sac, half-in, half-out, was a large foal of the prettiest gold, spattered all over in white.

A soft breath of awe and love chased the surprise that left her lips. A few comforting noises came from her throat as she looked at the little babe, struggling to understand it’s very existence, expelled from the safe, dark, warm place it’d known. It took Oswin some time to lurch up to her feet, legs shaky and weak, muscles cramped and tired from all her body had undergone to bring new life into the world. But she managed, mind still hyper-focused on the babe she’d birthed, knowing she needed to encourage it to stand and take its first meal.

A girl.

Oswin’s heart swelled as she licked her new daughter’s coat, cleaning her of the wetness that clung tightly to her wispy baby hair. When the girl managed to stand, she guided her to her hind, letting the babe poke about and standing as still as she could to help her latch. Then, she turned her neck and continued to clean the girl as she took her first meal, considering names. Oswin never planned too great in advance for her children’s names, often just feeling something that came to her shortly after they’d arrived. Here, beneath the soft swell of jungle humidity, as she listed to the gold and white girl suckle, a name swirled up in her mind.

“Móirín,” she whispered the name aloud, smiling further at how well it seemed to fit. The smile settled happily across her lips, and Oswin decided she would let the little girl eat her fill before she moved them away from their clearing. They would stay from the edges of the Ridge, but she would seek out one of the more common gathering areas, hoping Tyr would come across them after his morning patrol was through. Oswin’s smile deepened as she thought of Tyr meeting their newest child.

“Come on, little one,” she encouraged lovingly, stepping away from the girl to entice her to follow her and grow more confidence in her long, wobbly legs. The sun was just rising above the Atlantis jungle, making the top of the leafy canopy appear gilded, and spikes of sunlight poked through the gaps underneath, dappling the path the pair walked along. Oswin laughed softly and with some sympathy as her daughter learned to get her legs under her, then tilted her chin upward and sang a soft call out to alert any of the herd nearby of her presence. Whether it be Tyr, either one of their sons who lived in the Ridge with them as well, or anyone else in the herd, Oswin hoped they would enjoy getting to meet the newest face of their family.

oswin
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.