It's about damn time [Vanator]

[Khiara]

Khiara smiled at the young healer as they entered, unable to help the excited grin she shot Vanator. As Kashik was offered a place to rest, the brunette took a moment to ensure the drykas woman was comfortable. The contractions were obviously strong, fast too. Khiara was no expert, but with the rate they were going, the child would be here sooner than later.

Allowing Kashik a moment as the contraction passed, the vantha quickly ducked outside to follow the golden man. Finding him staring at a pot of yet to be boiled water, and then with a huff he paced.

Reaching him, Khiara hooked a hand in the crook of his arm to still him, pulling herself close and kissing his cheek with a warm smile.

"Your going to be a father, Vanantor." She said with a grin, heart swelling for the man and the woman she cared so much for. Whom had welcomed her into their lives and soothed her soul. She knew Kashik was okay, for the moment, and the young brunette wanted to be sure he was alright too.

[Kashik]

Kashik managed another strained smile as Denen shooed her husband off to accomplish some task, and waved jauntily to Khiara as she followed him out. Then she just rolled her eyes to Denen. "It's his first, so he's like to be even more unmanageable than me," she said, being careful to speak slowly so he could watch her lips. She'd never met anyone who was deaf before, and probably would have bombarded him with questions were she not in such a state. They had time, though. Maybe.

When he led her to a back area, she just shook her head and started pacing back and forth instead of sitting. "Don't know why everyone tries to get a woman on her back for this," she chuckled, pressing her hands to her lower back and wriggling a little as if settling herself more comfortably. "All I want to do is keep moving. I feel as if I'll just crumble and fall over." She peered over at the tent flap a moment to be sure her husband and his second-wife couldn't hear, and then lowered her voice - it wouldn't matter anyway, so long as she moved her mouth. "I actually started contracting this morning, but it wasn't anything really. So it's not that it's happening too quickly, just that I haven't been bitching about it quite as much as everyone expected. But they don't have to know that," she said with a wink. "I headed over as soon as I lost water, though, just as mother told me. Was that all right?" she asked, worry suddenly wrinkling her brow as she paced closer to Denen and took his hand in hers. "It really will be all right, won't it?"

[Denen Sunsinger]

Denen gave a small, silent laugh as she spoke. It exhibited itself more in the sudden tensing and shuddering of his shoulders, and the brilliant smile that graced his features. "Y-You...You won't be on...on y-your back. I j-just...I just need to...to check y-y-your baby's progress." That was another reason he'd asked Vanator to leave. Checking how far a woman was dilated was awkward enough without her husband breathing down your neck. He watched her mouth as she spoke, and a brow arched. It wasn't that abnormal for a woman to labor all day. Some labor pains weren't even real labor, after all. At least she had come when the water broke. He smiled and nodded, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. At her question, he managed a warm, reassuring expression and nodded. "Y-You will h-have a b-b-beautiful, healthy b-baby." He patted her shoulder and glanced towards her knees. "D-Do you mind if I ch-check your progress n-now?"

[Vanator]

Vanator heard soft footsteps approach and he paused in his tracks, turning towards the sound with arms still folded across his chest. Seeing his vanthan wife draw near, the expectant father's face brightened with a smile. Her sudden presence at his side, the warmth of her encouraging kiss on his cheek, brought some measure of peace to the anxious drykas. "It is hard to believe, finally." He replied to his wife, his eyes darting to the pot of water over the fire. "I was starting to believe that I would never father a child, a drykas child." Van's eyes shifted back to Khiara's loving gaze. His last words were spoken with a tone of awkwardness. There was rarely talk of Pygmy's twins. It was a particularly sensitive issue with Khiara, whom he believed still felt pangs of guilt that she ended up as his wife, knowing her friend had loved him as well. Vanator, too, felt strong emotions about the kelvic and her children. He was their father. But Dhanya took them, to raise on her own. His father, never accepting of his son's undefined relationship with the girl, all but denied the children as legitimate members of the pavilion. It was with a heavy heart that he watched the kelvic woman ride out of Endrykas with his son and daughter, most likely never to see them again. Vanator looked deeper into Khiara's eyes, and she would know what was on his mind. "I wonder if they are alright." But this was not a time to wallow in regret. Shrugging off his melancholy, the Denusk turned to face Khiara and took his her in his. "Did she look alright when you left her? Do they need anything else?" He spoke with enthusiasm, then turned again to look at the water with a chuckle. "Do you think they really need boiling water, or am I being handled?"

[Khiara]

Khiara felt an unwanted twist in her stomach as Vanator spoke. A drykas child. Her thoughts wandered to a time, only a year ago, where things had been different. She missed Pygmy, like a sister lost. What happened, was both a shame and a hurt. Shame for the fact she couldn't be stronger for Pygmy's sake. Hurt for the moments leading up to that which Vanator's father would not accept.

The vantha's eyes swirled as she looked at him, wondering if children born to herself would be as welcome as Kashik's. Of course, she was a drykas wife...but she was a Vantha woman. The awkward moment between them lingered to heavily, and with a small smile, Khiara shook it off. This was not a time for regret or sorrow.

"They are fine, Kashik is a strong woman. I don't see any problems." Khiara had the feeling Kashik had been holding out on them. The labour was too advanced to have just started. Her smile widening, Khiara rubbed his shoulders and stared at the pot of water.

"Oh no love, boiled water is a very important item in birth. Its useful for heatpacks for her back, and tea. Lots of tea. Sterilizing." There was a slight tone of amusement in her voice, even if she was being serious. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, the brunette kissed her cheek again and hummed softly.

"I promise, you will not miss anything important. Not if I can help it. Look, your water's starting to steam. I'll see you inside." Smiling widely, Khiara turned away and walked back to the tent, scratching on the opening.

"It's only me, Khiara." She annouced, not wanting to disturb anything delicate. She had seen the examinations required and knew some women found it demeaning.
 

[Kashik]

Kashik blinked a moment, and then started giggling - and couldn't stop. "Oh, sweet gods, you're so polite about it! 'Pardon, ma'am, can I just crawl under your skirts and do my job?' Of course, of course," she laughed, patting him on the shoulder before turning to waddle over to the pile of blankets and pillows and carefully lowering herself down. It was rather like watching a dog try to walk backwards. There really wasn't anything less graceful than a pregnant woman trying to sit down.

As she did, though, her breath hissed out of her. She heard Khiara enter, and without even opening her eyes she reached a hand out for her, knowing that she would be there to help her through it. "Another one," she managed, and then there wasn't more than clenched teeth and moaning as she squirmed and looked quite mad for a few long moments. "Oh, sweet gods of my fathers, forgive me whatever I did to deserve this," she ground out, panting as the last of the contraction finally stopped. By that time she was covered in a sheen of sweat, her dark face flushed and her eyes wide. "Make it quick, my friend. If I don't get back to pacing, I might start screaming."

[Denen Sunsinger]

Color blossomed on Denen's fair cheek. He watched her move to lay down on the furs, and moved to kneel at her knees. He folded back her tunic, leaving it at her knees, and bent slightly to check how far dilated she was. He tried not to think of how glad he was to be a homosexual. Women had the strangest parts. "Y-You are...c-c-close," he said gently. He estimated that it might take, perhaps, another hour at the most for the labor to progress to the point of delivery. It would be a waiting game until then. And he had things to get ready. "I...w-will...ch-check you in...half...half...an hour." He covered her again, and glanced toward the front of the tent, where the second wife was entering. "S-Soon," he said gently.

[Vanator]

OOCSorry, I didn't realize it was my turn! Vanator watched Khiara walk back to the tent, eternally grateful that the goddess of Avanthal allowed one of her children to wander into the Sea of Grass. He wasn't sure what he would do without her tender support. His gaze turned back to the steaming water, then intentionally looked away. A watched pot never boils. The expectant father-to-be stared at everything but the water. The sky, the tents, the dirt on his shoes, the fly on a pile of horse manure. Yet time seemed to crawl along like an inch worm. What god is responsible for this tediously long process, he complained in his mind, for what reason would it profit a god to dectate the world stop for so long just to boil water? The impatient man was not sure how many chimes passed, or if even one oozed by, but he could not resist and his gaze dropped once again to the pot. Joy burst out of his heart as Van saw tiny bubbles rising to the top of the water, the surface beginning to roil. Enthusiastically, he reached out his hand to grab the pot handle, coming to his senses just in time. Frantically he looked around for something to use to pull the pot off of the fire. Finally, leaning against a rock, Vanator saw an iron hook. Seizing the thing, he lifted the pot from the fire, and with awkward caution, carried it carefully back to the tent where Kashik was giving birth. Eventually Van made it into the tent and lumbered to the entrance to the birthing room. "Um, its me...I have the water." He could here voices, Kashik's distinct tone a bit desperate. His anxiety returned. "Its Van, I have the water." He declared a bit louder.

[Kashik]

OOCOkay, it's time to speed this along, so I'm gonna take some liberties and you guys can fill in. If you have any problem with anything I'm doing, just PM me and I'll change it. I just want to get things moving! <3 you!

"Get in here, you glassbeak-humping arsehole!" Kashik yelled back, obviously not in the best of moods.

It was a long few minutes, with quite a bit of cursing on the expectant mother's part. She paced and snarled like a caged lion, and every now and then she descended into tears, but there wasn't much else to expect.

Less than an hour, far less, and she grabbed Denen by the robe and hauled him closer. "Get this wanker out of me," she hissed, shaking him a little as she gasped and reached out for her husband. One hand rested on his shoulder and another on Khiara's as she stood between them.

Pain, and groaning, but now that she'd given herself over to it it didn't consume her world quite so much. Twisting and churning and a somewhat frightening amount of blood even with the reassurances that such things were normal. A last shout, and horrible pressure, and then... relief.

She looked down, and gave a harsh cry as Denen reached up to shove something into her hands. Warm and wet, and she was crying again, tears of joy now as the small thing in her hands moved and then gave a gurgling cry. Time stopped, and she looked down at the face of her son. And everything changed.

Euphoria swept over her, a joy she'd never known she was even capable of feeling. Her heart beat again, so strong that at first she thought it the beat of a drum, and the silence that followed between that and the next swelled with Kihala's own voice raised in song at the creation of life that they had wrought.

Her fingers curled around him even as Khiara made to wipe the viscera from his face and check to be sure he was healthy - but the yowl he gave in protest of the cloth rubbed against his skin was enough to convince everyone in the tent that there was no lack of strength in this one. But the cleaning reveled more than just his voice. A head full of Vanator's bronze hair, and eyes the same deep blue-green of his mother - and a delicate silver swirl etched into his shoulder.

Kashik caught her breath in amazement, and then looked up to Vanator with wonder in her eyes. "Our son," she whispered, cradling him against her chest and looking back down at him with a dazed smile. "Our son is a Stormwarden."

And then she laughed - gay and bright, before dissolving into tears once more.

[Denen Sunsinger]

Kashik was a great deal more forceful than any women he had grown up with. Brokensong women were quiet forces, and they most certainly didn't shake the healers who treated them. Denen did what he had been trained to do. He helped to guide Kashik through her labor, monitoring her and making certain that the child came smoothly and easily. Kashik's body did most of the work. Soon enough, she had delivered. This part was the shortest. He wanted to guide her breathing, but he was scared she'd take off a finger or something while he was trying to twist the baby out. Like a screw. That was what Jada had taught him. It was the crying face that touched him the most. The baby was given its initial check-up, his mouth and lungs cleared of the fluid he'd been swimming in for the past nine months. He was trembling, and as he pushed the baby into his mother's hands, and moved just as quickly to allow them their privacy. He stepped back. The unpleasant part would come later. The cutting of the cord and the delivery of the placenta. Still, he moved out of the way, kneeling near the tent flap, and allowed them a few minutes to enjoy their baby.