Page 27

Dern

Many years ago on Pharenos

“I think I’m bigger than the nest,”

I told Ormund early one morning.

I had been pregnant for longer than any wolf I knew. If I hadn’t caught the occasional sight of a tail moving under my skin, I’d have been certain I was going to lay an egg or two. But I had. These were wolf pups. At least two.

“It’s bigger than it looks,”

Ormund promised, wrapping his arm around my waist. “You’re not the first wolf mate to be unsure about the nesting grounds. We’ve had one opt out of staying here all together. We still helped him, though. So, if you want to hunker down at the house for the last weeks of your pregnancy, that will be okay too.”

“Does it have a bathroom? I’m not using the bathroom over the ledge like a barbarian,”

I huffed and slid both of my hands under my belly to relieve some of the pressure off my back.

“It does and ewww. We don’t do that. We’re shifters too, thank you very much,”

Ormund laughed, slipping behind me and sliding his arms around me. His hands laid over mine and took on the weight. I let out a long sigh as I felt lighter than I had in months. I leaned back against him, trusting him to take on my full weight.

“Then I think we’ll try it out. If it means, you’re around more because they expect sires to stay in the nests with their mates, I’ll take it.”

“That’s why the nesting grounds were built,”

Ormund nodded and kissed my neck.

Tingles cascaded down my spine and gave me goosebumps. Even as pregnant as I was everything about the man gave me goosebumps. I didn’t have long to wonder if he intended on following them up with anything else because he scooped me up and carried me up the steps and down into the nest.

The whole thing was made from feathers from the peck and furs and hides from the animals they hunted. I settled down in a cozy corner and squinted around the room until I located the doors that led off to the bathroom, kitchen, and the rest of the house. I put my feet up on a pile of feathers seemingly left there for just that reason.

While above ground had been a festival of noise celebrating me and the few late ‘layers’ of the season climbing into the nests for the first time down here was quiet and cozy. It was nothing like the birthing dens pregnant women were dragged off to by the pack. There was nothing hard, dark, or damp about the place.

“Marshmallow?”

Someone called from outside.

“No, I’m Dern! I don’t know who Marshmallow is!”

I called back.

“No! Do you want a marshmallow?”

the stranger called back. “Or I should say a bag of them.”

“Huh? Who is Marshmallow?”

I called back. “Ormund! Some guy is looking for someone called Marshmallow!”

“Hang on!”

Ormund called from beyond one of the doors.

“I’m just going to toss them in, okay?”

the stranger called out.

“YOU MOST CERTAINLY ARE NOT TOSSING HIM IN HERE!”

I growled.

A second later, the door opened, and a bag of white fluff came over the edge of the nest. Ormund caught it as if he did so every day.

“They’re a sweet food, mate. We had them out to nesters to keep your energy up,”

he said, crossing the nest and sitting down next to me, crossed legged. He opened the bag and sniffed inside before pulling out one of the white, fluffy pillows and handing it to me. I sniffed it and bit into it and then I fell in love.

That night two very important things happened that changed my life forever. I had my first phoenix fire roasted smore and my water broke a few bites into it. We had moved to the nesting grounds just in time. I figured we’d be on our own for the birth since Kaladar and the other healers were used to egg layers. Only when it came time to push and everything inside me growled and snarled for me to do so, Kaladar descended the steps with warm towels and ice chips. Even with his help it was a long night. It was as if my womb knew someone had tried to hack it out of me and as a result considered the world an unsafe place for the twin pups it had housed all this time. First, came a snowy white wolf pup, all tinged pink from whatever fluids housed him inside me. Kaladar scrubbed him clean, giving him little jabs to ward of disease before coaxing me to shift and let him eat. The second pup, a sandy colored one came into the world much easier. He was given the same treatment as the first and then Kaladar kissed me on top of the head before disappearing to leave us to our privacy.

“Marshmallow and Graham,”

I whispered under my breath.

For most of my pregnancy I wondered what to name my kids. I always thought I’d name at least one future child after my parents but couldn’t now. The grief was too raw, too new. It was too much. Besides, I was a superstitious wolf and naming my pups after someone who met a grisly and untimely end left a bad taste in my mouth. So, I named them after something happy. Something everyone loved. Ormund thought it was a little strange, but cute. So, he didn’t argue with me over it. The kids both kept their names even when they grew up and moved out on their own. They had happier lives than I could have ever imagined. They were safe even when the worlds we visited were turned upside down. I never regretted what I named my babies and encouraged them to give all their kids happy names too. As far as I knew, they followed the tradition I started there in the nesting grounds.