He paced in circles unable to stop. Not once, since he re-awoke many dawns past, had he ever felt so out of control. Sundamar glanced at Yahiro lying upon a nest he had painstakingly made—he had put in more dawns, noons, and evenings than he could count. He had never spent so long on one thing in his life. He had never created something for the sake of creation.
It never occurred to him to try until after Yahiro appeared in a vision, and eventually into his world. Sundamar was pleased with the home he had made; it kept his mind off of the fact he was as grounded as his female. But in that, he was happy. It was something only the two of them shared when they watched his brothers jump off the sides of the city or land heavily on their feet.
“I HATE YOU!” Yahiro screeched, making him flinch and clench his hands. His muscles bulged and tensed to the point where he had to strip off the metal plates of his armor. He had no place in the process, useless with the horrible disorder of his female going through childbirth.
Childbirth.Galan had told them all what he had found out and even now his second was kneeled between Yahiro’s spread legs, his eyes nearly as wild but far stronger than he was currently.
Sundamar wetted another gauze and wiped it across his female’s forehead before he went back to pacing.
‘Calm down.’
Yahiro continued to groan and release noises he couldn’t handle, continued to screech and cry between intervals.
‘I can’t.’
‘She’s in pain. You’re not helping.’
‘I don’t know what to do!’
‘Hold her hand.’
Sundamar steeled his nerve and took her hand, regretting it immediately as he felt his finger bones strain under the pressure.
“Galan, please, please just kill me!” she begged between sobs.
“Keep pushing, pale one, death won’t come for you today,” he said with such serenity that Sundamar saw the betrayal in Yahiro’s eyes.
She was leaning into Quist’s chest, who held her from behind and kneaded her muscles. His younger brother’s eyes remained closed. Sundamar twitched when the fresh smell of blood pooled between the four of them and acrid copper took over his senses.
“I see something,” Galan said under his breath. The blood was visible now, spreading into the linens between his second and Yahiro. Sundamar did his best to stay strong even though there was no control for him to have over this situation and he was increasingly bothered by it.
The next half hour was much worse and by the end, he wasn’t sure if he or his family would ever come back from it. Yahiro was drenched and pale, her eyes hooded and body limp from the effort of the miracle she had created. He wished he could take away her misery and absorb it into himself.
And then pure surprise and joy filled him.
Because in his and Galan’s arms were three beautiful babies with raven black and golden streaked hair. Two beautiful little females and one male.
Three. Three. One for me and each of my brothers...and yet, Sundamar couldn’t bear to let go of either child under the curves of his arms. He was already attached to all of them, and each had little stems on their backs for wings.
He was pleased.
“Let me see,” Yahiro whispered.
“I don’t think Sundamar is willing to give those two up, but here is the youngest.” Galan placed the now clean and squirming child upon Yahiro’s chest where it curled up and relaxed.
Fresh tears trailed down his female’s cheeks and Quist did what he could to coo and relax her, his third utterly fixated on Yahiro and her comfort and nothing else. Galan had begun the gruesome process of clean up, taking everything from the birthing nest into the light.
Which left him to care for the babies. Yahiro had endlessly teased him that the job of being a father would be the most difficult one he’d ever have.
Sundamar hadn’t believed her.
He believed her now.
One of the babies released a weak cry and squirmed under his arm. He hefted it closer to his beating heart and watched it with something close to reverence—the same way he watched their mother. When the other two babies quickly followed suit, he shared a look with Yahiro who mimicked the babies cries with a soft smile on her face.
“They’re hungry I think,” she said.
“Do they feed from you or from the sun?”
