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At Oblivion’s assurance that to his knowledge, so far, the children seemed to be developing like Magescian infants in their mother’s womb, Lithian relaxed a touch. It reaffirmed what he had observed, at least, in his initial check up of Avani, and with luck and prayer, perhaps the pregnancy would continue safely on that route, leaving only the issue of raw size — which was no small problem in and of itself. Lithian supposed there was no benefit to stressing their father out more than he already was, however, and the facts were what they were. Any complications that came with Avani’s petite size and her large infants would and could only be dealt with when they arose. So, offering a smile and what reassurances he had, Lithian thanked Oblivion again for the room and began to unload what few things he had brought with him.

Lithian spent that night in the Autumntree household, ate supper with them and was introduced to Avani’s attentive — and equally nervous, but less cross — parents. Several days passed without incident other than the occasional false alarm, and Lithian continued to watch over Avani’s progress, praying with every day that the children saw fit to join the world soon — for every day gone was another day they grew, making the eventual birth potentially all the more hazardous.

Then, well into his third night there, after all of the house’s residents had retired to sleep, the children apparently found their moment ideal.

Levi slept lightly, perched forever on the edge of the bed, tense even during a time of rest and quiet, even with Avani in his arms, snuggling securly into him. Even when he could feel the warmth of her frame, the steady rise and fall of her chest, and the rhythmic beating of her heart. He was ever-aware of these things, starting jarringly from his sleep every time his mind concocted the idea that something was missing.

The first of Avani's still-asleep whimperings roused him enough to reach for her, absently patting familiar bumps and curves to reassure himself of her presence and security without so much as coaxing him to open his eyes. Fine, she was fine, he told himself blearily. Dreaming about things he couldn't discern, but otherwise fine. He settled his hand on her stomach, thoughtlessly ignoring the erratic pulsing from within and minute shifting from her form.

Oblivion jerked awake at her scream, head snapping up and eyes popping open as he scrambled to face her. Though fuzzy and confused, he reached for and caught her fumbling hand, drawing it to himself and feeling fleeting and extraordinarily unimportant surprise at the intensity of her grip. "I'm here, my love, I'm here," he told her persistently, attempting to absorb necessary information through his muddled train of thought.

She screamed when she woke. Not of fear, but of pain. Blindly, he reached for her, lightly tucking fingers beneath her frame as if to lift her. But no, he pulled back sharply, suddenly unsure of how likely that would be to accomplish anything. Probably not much.

The babies.

Levi shook himself. This was unlike previous times. Generally when Avani feared she was going into labor it didn't involve quite so much frantic screaming. They were hurting. Her. he dipped close, pressing his lips to her cheek and whispering, "Stay. Don't move. I will only be a moment. I must get Lithian."

With some difficulty, he disentangled his fingers from hers, and moved away from the bedside.

Nix, the small little creature she was, hopped about as the two occupants of the bed moved around quickly at her mistress' screams. As her mistress' mate moved out of the room she licked Avani's face and then went about doing what her mistress told her to do when this thing about "babies being born" was going to happen. It took long talks with Honoka and much translation to figure out what "babies being born" was. She was glad her species laid eggs.

She went to the open window and took off into the air towards her mistress' parent's house. She knew the way, and was quick to reach it. Her mistress' parent's were to have a window open so she could climb in and wake them, also at the house where the other person lived. Honoka called her "Auntie Shenra".

As Nix entered the window that had been left open, she jumped onto the bed. The occupants were fast asleep, and so, Honoka went to the larger of the two and started chattering away. The figure grunted and swatted at her, so, anoyed, she bit the subject's nose.

"AAAAHHH!"

Nix jumped back chattering as the large figure shot up in bed.

"Something bit me!"

"Huh?"

"Something bit my nose!"

A light went on and Nix saw her mistress' father rubbing his nose. Nix jumped up and down and chattered wildly. Her mistress needed her mother!

"It's Nix!" said her mistress' mother. The woman leaned forward and placed her hand out, "Is it time Nix?"

Nix nodded her head and licked the hand, jumping off the bed and scampering towards the door.

"All right Nix, go get Shenra." said her mistress' father, still rubbing his nose, "We'll be there as soon as we can!"

Nix nodded at the word Shenra and jumped up to the open window. With one last long chatter of hurring, she turned and flew out the window towards the other house she needed to see. After Shenra, she would go get Honoka. Soon her mistress' house would be rather crowded.


'Where did it hurt?' Was Lithian kidding?

Avani wantted Oblivion. She opened her eyes as the pain lessened and looked for him. She wanted her mate, her other half, the one person in the world who could ground her. But the logical, calm side of her mind heard Lithian's words and she looked to him, his calm face and presence. She felt his magic working, looking in on her and her children. It was a little reassuring he knew what to do. She was flying blind. Her mother, aunt, and shenra knew about births and would assist Lithian in anyway he needed them, but she had never seen a birth before, at least not an orderite birth.

She focused on her breathing and when she felt better, felt ready to talk without screaming, she looked once again at her dovva friend.

"Mama said there would be contractions" Avani said finding relief in the break between the pain, "I guess right now it is only contractions, but it's rather... painful." she scrunched up her face and said, "I didn't think it would be this painful, she said it was like ripples, but I feel like something inside me is bending..."

Avani shook her head, and felt the pain coming back. She looked for Oblivion again, her hand moving out for him, "Where is Oblivion? I want Oblivion..."

She felt tears come into her eyes as she braced for another wave of pain. She wanted her anchor, her rock. She choked on a sob, she wanted to know that the person she loved more than her own life was next to her to help her.


Talmei gripped the door frame of his daughter's front door as he ushered his mate and sister-in-law into his daughter's house. He heard his daughter's screams come from the bedroom upstairs and gritted his teeth as memories come flooding back to him.

He remembered Avani's screams as a child when he had turned just in time to see her jump from the swing in the old farm yard in order to see if she could fly yet. She had landed as hard as a sack of potatoes, and had screamed and cried in pain. Fear had flooded him then, fear that her little, fragile orderite bones would break and he would have to endure the pain of his little girl going through a healer painfully setting them into place again. She had only suffered bumps, bruises and cuts, but it still frightened him to death.

His memories shifted to that of Maiika giving birth to her. He had feared that his child would be too big for Maiika to give birth to. He was broad and tall, his mate, to him, was as small and fragile as a song bird. But it had been the screams that had undone him. His father, brother and father-in-law had to take him out to the fields to get away from the screams that drove him to bark at those attending his wife; his sister and mother-in-law, his mother and the village midwife and healer. It had taken a long time, longer than his sister-in-law's birthing, for Avani to enter the world. 'Normal complications of an orderite birth' they had said, but his wife had been a fighter and had survived the pain, even with him not at her side.

Avani's screams jarred him back to the present, his grip on the door frame tightening.

He felt a calm hand on his shoulder, one he knew came from his twin. They shared a bond for this kind of moment, one that came from spending time in the same womb for nine months, one that came from being identical in almost every way.

"She will be fine." said Akali, "Her mother is there."

Talmei relaxed a bit, but didn't let go of the door frame.

"She is her mother's child." was all he said looking up the stairs, up towards the place he would not be allowed till afterward. He would be in the way of the ones who could help her. He lowered his head and sighed, "She will be alright."

As others filtered into the house and into the room, Lithian barely registered the activity, his attention trained to his patient and her alone. Oblivion’s words, likewise, went all but completely unnoticed. Instead, Lithian honed his focus on his magic and the shifting pulses and fluctuations of Avani’s body. He kept tabs on her pulse, her temperature, and, in particular, the movements of her children. The raw size difference along concerned him enough, but he did not want to begin to cast any relaxants on her lower body to help ease their way out until they were on their way out for fear of relaxing her too much too quickly and delaying the process.

Instead, he kept up small pulses of soothing magic with the aim to ease pain as much as possible without expending energy he might need, later. The process, as it often did, seemed to drag — one long moment into the next, all running together in a blur of pants and intermittent screams. He spoke to her, but the words were mostly for consolation: assuring her that she was doing well, explaining the positioning of the infants, instructing her to continue to take as deep breaths as she could manage, and do not be afraid to push. Then, everything moved in rapid succession.

Previously staggered, chopped groans and screams became pained wailing, the infants having apparently decided it was ‘time’ and stirring in dangerous ways. Immediately, Lithian touched a hand to her belly, focussing his magic inward and pinning on the infants. Eyes shut, he curved his fingers, murmuring a guiding spellword to lace the magic through them and put them into a very brief, tranquilized state to avoid them damaging her with their more feral instincts and appendages. As her muscles began to contract in earnest, Lithian followed her through it, pushing magic low into her pelvis as her body bent with the strain of infants so oversized for her petite body.

And then, the process was halfway over.

Lithian moved deftly, lifting the first of two and applying a perfunctory cleansing and washing before gathering the nearest swaddling cloth to bundle the simpering—

He checked, tilting his head. “Boy,” he said, turning and — after a moment spared to ascertain that the father looked capable of such a responsibility — layering the first into Oblivion’s arms. The second was soon to follow, to which Lithian similarly announced, “And another boy…” as he washed, carefully tucked another cloth around, and offered the second infant to his mother. He spared Avani a smile, flushed and drained himself, but determined to run through the last of his precautionary measures of clean up and after maintenance before saying: “They are both beautiful. Congratulations.”

It was certainly an unfortunate day, when Levi could not even coerce himself to turn his head away at the sight of his mate's nether regions likely being torn asunder to make way for slimy new specimens to enter the world. The whole process was vile, and if he thought it was unpleasant for him, Avani's wails assured him she wasn't particularly thrilled herself. Frankly, he had no ideaof how far along the process was until the first goo-covered creature oozed free. Lithian tended to it, and then moved toward him.

"Don't give it to me-" Levi barked, taking a half step back before the little bundle was layered in his arms. He sent an disenchanted glower in Lithian's direction, likely unseen as the Dovaa returned to Avani. Oblivion grunted as he held it, gaze flickering briefly to Avani's parents in the fleeting hope that they would swoon over a newborn child and rush to relieve him of it.

They did not.

His tail lashed, and he rolled his eyes as the creature emitted the most piteous whining sounds. Levi huffed and dipped a hand in to gingerly tug away a bit of the cloth. Vaguely he wondered if all two-legged infants were this hideous, or if his were just special. It was certainly lighter than an Orakoi, even swaddled in blankets as it was. It's face scrunched, eyes clenching shut, and a tiny paw- er, hand appeared from the blankets, shaking violently. It wailed briefly, then petered out just as rapidly into sniffles. It's lip quivered, the frown it sent him suggesting more crying on the way.

"What's the matter with you, huh?" Levi rumbled, inadvertently swaying as the little bundle threatened to cry again. "You've no business being upset. You should be happy. Your mother went through a lot for you."

It's brows pinched, nostrils flared, and the soft, damp, short black feathers lining its ears puffed. If a newborn could look angry, it did. The creature promptly expressed itself with more wailing. So with a quiet sigh, Levi perched on the edge of Avani's bed, gingerly offering her a peek, while craning his head to peer at the bundle she'd been offered.

They really both were terribly ugly, and he quirked a brow at Lithian's comment to the contrary. Regardless, his mate seemed pleased.