my heart never stops beating for you; birthing

[Lea]

She hadn’t exactly planned on having another child so soon, but one thing had led to another during the autumn and she had become pregnant yet again.  It had been a bit of a surprise, but she doesn’t mind.  She loves her children and adding another one doesn’t faze her at all.  Not to mention it’ll probably be good for Xiah to have a sibling close to her age - there are so few children in the Tundra.

When the time comes she slips off to the same cave that she’d given birth to Xiah in.  The birth is quick and easy and in no time at all, a little dark bundle is lying at her feet.  She quickly sets to work cleaning the child off, chuckling aloud when she realizes that this is, once again, another daughter.  Poor Errant!  Seven girls out of eight children!

She continues cleaning, humming happily, until she reaches the left side of the girl’s head.  “Oh …!”  She draws back for a moment, shocked.  There, where the girl’s left eye should be, is a sunken hole.  The eye must not have developed in the socket -  the skin never split, the eyelid never formed.  The result is a coat-covered indent in the skull.

She recovers from her surprise and continues cleaning, not wanting the girl to notice her reaction.  She doesn’t want her to know that anything is different.  But, while she cleans, she burns inside.  Had this been her fault?  Should she have waited?  Is she too old?  Or has she simply had too many children?  Or is this an after effect of having been dead for 12 years?

She swallows the ache and, when she’s finished cleaning, nudges at the girl’s side.  “Come on sweetie, up you get.”  The little dark girl is quick to respond and struggles to her feet.  Once, twice she rises and falls, before finally managing to stay upright.  She stumbles over to Lea’s teat and drinks her fill, then snuggles up into a dry hollow on the cave floor.  Lea glances in the direction of the cave mouth, before turning to nuzzle the girl.  “Kida.  I’ll call you Kida.”  Hopefully Errant will be along soon - his presence will be a comfort.

lea

my heart never stops beating for you