It was as she had feared. The contractions caught her far from the den she shared with X'yrin and Saluce and they came quick and painful. Earlier Nayru had risen, comfortable and warm in her nest of pelts and pine needles, and had taken what she felt was only a small walk away from home. The tiny room dug out by Saluce was perfect for her and the coming pups, but the Jiryu could not keep herself shut up for too long. When the pups played upon her bladder in the early morning she exited silently, as to not wake the others, and moved a fair amount away from the den before she pissed the urine strong with hormones out onto the frozen January soil. Afterwards, feeling revived and glad of the fresh air, she had simply taken to strolling in no direction in particular, until the sudden and sharp pain.

At the first pain Nayru's heart quickened in a way she was unaccustomed to. So well trained was her mind and body she at first did not recognize the rush of sudden emotion. Fear. Quickly she turned to face where she had come from and realized that she had wandered much further than she had intended. She had wandered much further than had been wise. The sun was not even up and perhaps wouldn't be by the time the ordeal was over, and Nayru quickened her pace to return to the den, desperation sinking in all of a sudden. The lady only moved a few uncertain steps before another, stronger, pain rushed over her small body.

The pain started in her womb but spread to every part of her. From what Nayru knew of birthing, and admittedly it was little, the contractions should have come upon her more slowly at first, but that they came quick and more severe each moment seemed the first indication that something was wrong. The second clue that something was amiss was when the gush of water that seemed to come too quickly was accompanied by the flow of bright red blood. Nayru recognized the liquid only by smell then, her eyes shut hard against each contraction that wrecked her body.

The waves of contractions came stronger then, trying to expel what clung to the walls of Nayru's womb. When the lady did open her eyes there was only a blinding white light to accompany the heat that ripped through her body, that caused her to believe her spine was breaking into two. Between each contraction Nayru took to crawling on hands and knees in the direction she came, calling out sharply with yelps when the hurt became unbearable. Surely X'yrin or Saluce would hear her? She meant to call out to them, a long howl for help, but her breath was taken away when she threw back her head to try as she felt again her body attempting to force the pups out.

Just how close she had come to returning to the den she did not know, and in her attempts the woman blacked out. In her unconsciousness she saw the familiar face, snow white and navy eyes, urging her back to the living world. Nayru resisted the lady, too weary to fight life and birth and death but the phantom white lady pushed her, and Nayru again knew consciousness. How the small thing had worked its way out of her body Nayru did not know, but when her eyes opened the small, black creature was laying among a mass of blood. His or her's it did not matter; Nayru did not believe a living thing could be accompanied by such gore. Weakly she reached for the body, found it unmoving and pulled her hand back quickly. For a long moment she stared at the dead thing, seeing no breath rise in its chest, unable to express her grief properly for another contraction woke her from the spell.

"Salvador… Sadira…" The name burst from her lips in a scream, for even in such misery she knew better than to send any being to the afterlife without a name. Yet when the pain subsided she wasted no time. She'd have to come back for the body for a proper burial, getting back to the den and saving herself and any unborn pups left within her was all that mattered just then. Turning her back to the child she crawling away, a trail of blood and after birth smearing in the snow after her.

It took some time before she was close enough that her yelps and shouts would penetrate the earth that X'yrin and Saluce slept beneath. The contractions died down enough that she carried herself on feet for sometime before resorting to hands and knees once more. By then she had long since left the newly born boy behind and could have no idea that life had decided to stir within him after all.

The pain tore through her again, and again as the fairy girl stumbled closer to home. Soon Nayru knew that another creature, alive or dead, would come forth from her and she was determined not to let this one be born out in the open, exposed to all the elements and quite possibly forced to be left behind as the other had. That Salvador was alive was impossible, but the dead boy stuck to her conscious. Whether her cries and exclamations of pain and grief had woken X'yrin, Saluce or any other soul she had no idea, but it matter little for already she had made it to the opening of the den and crawled in, still trailing blood behind her. Dirt and small pine needles clung to her she realized, and it was a strange thought to enter her head just then as the smell of pine and soil wafted up through the stench of sweat and blood.

Inside her eyes could not adjust and merely she let herself collapsed onto the floor. Nayru was inside and as far as she was concerned just then her mission was complete. Whatever happened after did not concern her as she once more let her body slip into unconsciousness. The pain was too great, her strength used up and the contractions continued to pulse through her body whether the Jiryu was aware of it or not. When the others did find her they would find her a pile of ebony and ivory fur, the majority of white stained a ruby red with the life that seeped out of. Somehow the girl had managed to smear the blood and afterbirth over most every inch of her body as she had dragged herself home, but Nayru was far from such a sight, unknowing of what took place around her any longer.

The white lady came to her again, navy eyes both soothing and sorrowful. They were knowing eyes, as if they had seen this all before time and time again. Nayru saw only the white lady, the kind white lady who placed a comforting hand upon the girl's head and smiled in her own, strange way. Rest Child. It will be okay. Just rest. And Nayru was only too happy to act upon such a request.

Nayru was awoken to the screaming of a name, a name that was certainly not her own. Eyes peeled open again and instantly Nayru was aware of one thing and one thing only: the seemingly never ending pain. The petite lady struggled to move and hit a warm body before she got very far. Peering up with crimson eyes she saw a golden lady and distantly wondered why the white lady had changed face. As her other sense came back to her, the smell of her own bodily fluids as well as the familiar scents of the den were again apparent, logic slowly trickled through her hazy mind. As she realized where she was and remembered the agonizing crawl back home she suddenly could put a name to the lady beside her. "X'yrin?"

The contraction came again and Nayru doubled over, arms going quickly to her side. As the child inside her demanded to be let out the lady realized why the throbbing pain spread like wildfire from her pelvic region outward. The puppies were too big for her birth canal. Yet one had already cleared the path and the next was trying to follow suit. That she had managed to keep the thing inside of her thus far seemed a miracle to the woman, and through gritted teeth she tried to convey the death of her son to her friend. "X'ryin… the other…"

Yet the words were hardly understandable and Nayru was afforded no more time. Her body focused its self on pushing the creature still clinging to her womb out. Muscles expanded and contracted and heaved and Nayru knew the blinding agony again. Almost she wished that again she could know nothing, black out from the misery of it all. Just to wake and have the ordeal be over with, children that were once within now out, would have been a blessing. Yet no such luxury was afforded the lady and her body felt every sensation as female work her way out of her mother.

"BRIS." The name came forth from her lips as the puppy forced her way from her mother. Nayru was hardly aware that she cried out for a mother she had once known, but the comfort the woman had once provided her clung to her subconscious. It was not Bris' face, nor the white lady's, but her own biological mother she pictured then. Eyes lighter than the ghost's, kinder. That she thought of these women now of all times was hardly strange, and the distraction was just enough to ease Nayru through the last moments of birthing.

The dark colored whelp moved instantly and Nayru felt a flood of relief despite the havoc still being wrecked upon her body. The afterbirth was next to be expelled and then Nayru felt her body settle into an acute ache. Between her thighs and up her spine she felt a searing sort of pain, but managed to contort her body so she lay close to the hybrid girl. The child was large, like her brother had been, and Nayru cleared the mucus and membrane away from the small body. Forgotten were all others and the Jiryu pulled the tiny thing close to her body, and exhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she focused on the warmth of her daughter.

"Kahlo Lykoi." The name came to her suddenly, and she spoke it softly enough so that it was murmured only to herself and the child, now sung against her chest and searching for something to nurse upon. Nayru clung to the babe desperately, as if she too would be whisked away to the other world before Nayru had a chance to really know her. Yet the small thing was stubborn and strong and resisted her mother's attempts to reposition the wiggling thing and Nayru smiled at the rich chocolate colored creature.

That the Lykoi name should be bestowed upon the girl only made sense. Nayru had never used her own family name for herself, but perhaps Kahlo then would grow up with a sense of family--sharing the name with Razekiel and Sage. Perhaps the girl would grow up to have their easy going temperament and love of life and nature. Salvador was only afford the Sadira name as a last resort, because how else would her ghostly ancestor know to take in the boy's spirit as one of their own? Nayru did not think of him, or where he was now, she focused only on Kahlo and the girl's tiny whines and squeaks.

X'yrin had not spoken and Saluce had been in but was now out and slowly Nayru was drawn back out of her own little world and became aware of the warm body of the warrior beside her. Ruby eyes turned to face X'yrin, whom had seemingly quite magically supplied her with a blanket to drape on her shoulders and a steady arm to support her as they moved into the small room dug out for Nayru. The lady settled into the nest of pine needles and pelts she had prepared in anticipation of this day. It had not gone at all as Nayru had imagined.

Once as comfortable as the lady could be in her own bed, she cradled the now sleeping child for a long moment before looking back to X'yrin. When she spoke, her voice was steady and smooth, no hint of hurt in it despite the news she gave the woman and the throbbing ache that would not leave her body. "X'yrin. I had another. A boy." There was no reason to hide this, it was better she say it outloud now than Saluce return with the poor thing's body as surely he would any moment. "He was stillborn." Nayru recoiled at the thought and let silence elapse between them. If X'yrin had any words to spoke Nayru did not hear them, for Saluce soon popped in, and said nothing of the boy or the blood but only inquired after herself and the babe. Weakly she smiled at the brute and his mate, before turning her own attention back to the sleeping coyote-wolf child.

Kahlo stirred slightly, as if the blind and deaf girl could sense the arrival of another. Nayru gently rocked the pup with her own body, it was comforting and calming perhaps more to the woman that than to the babe. As Kahlo became sleepy, so did Nayru, and through her tired haze she heard Saluce's words, spoken as if already she was not present, spoken only to X'yrin. I buried him, Out on top of the mountain overlooking Ichika. When Nayru feels better I’ll take her there. Nayru wanted to shake her head and protest but was too weak and tired to. Burying was not how it was done. He should have been burned up, like a phoenix, so that his passage to the next life was more swift. He should have been carried to the top of the mountain and burned up so that the ashes floated down and settled over everything and everyone. Yet the boy had had a tough life, so why not then a tough death? Surely sooner or later he would find his way through the afterlife, at least he had a name. The boy would find the white lady and she would care for him, Nayru felt comforted in this.

Easily her ruby eyes slid shut and she curled into Kahlo. Still she could feel her own weak body leeching the warmth of X'yrin, but she was only half aware. If Saluce and X'yrin murmured among themselves it no longer concerned her. Slowly her breathing became more shallow but even, her heart slowed and though the pain still threatened to keep her away, the sheer exhaustion of her ordeal was over whelming. That she was still coated in blood did not matter, that could be taken care of later. That a trickle of blood, her own, still leaked from between her two legs did not bother her either. That would stop—or not—and she would wake in the morning—or not. Nothing mattered much just then, except that the birth was over, Kahlo was asleep now and as Nayru herself drifted into unconsciousness two dark navy eyes seemed to congratulate her.