In a cluster of trees far outside the range of the patrolling werewolves sat two hidden figures.
“What’s on over there?” asked a quiet squeaky voice.
“Something important must have happened,” said another.
“Should we go and disrupt whatever it is so we can deal a massive blow to them?”
“If we can’t do it without revealing ourselves then it is not worth it.”
“Alright, let’s see what we can do!”
“Remember, no Vussian.”
“What?” “Nothing.”
The two demigods sprinkled a powder over their bodies and then quietly used the shadows and trees to stay out of sight. Fortunately for them, the snow had already melted away making it so no glaring tracks were left behind as they sneaked their way towards Kodria.
***
When Akira reached the castle Maya was waiting outside for him.
“Where is she? Is everything okay?” asked a worried Akira.
“Everything is fine. The midwife is with her right now and is taking care of everything,” said Maya.
“Take me to her.”
Maya led Akira and his entourage through the halls of the castle and reached a stairwell that led down into several secure underground stone rooms.
Ten Werewolf, Orc, and goblin castle guards stood guard near the stairs as an added security measure to make sure nothing interrupted Lady Mileena’s important moment.
Seeing Akira, they all stepped aside allowing Maya and Fluffball to follow him. But the rest of Akira’s guards were forced to wait along with the guards near the stairs.
Akira descended the stairs jumping from step to step skipping several steps at a time.
A second group of soldiers was guarding the bottom of the stairs as well. Akira only returned a sloppy salute to the stiff soldiers that had parted to make a path for him.
“Which room is she in?” Akira asked Maya.
There were several rooms down here that were either used for storage or research rooms by the Holy shaman.
“That one,” said Maya, pointing to the farthest room. Akira and Fluffball raced down the hallway passing a few patrolling guards and burst into a dark cool room. The only light inside was a few burning candles attached to the walls of the medium-sized square room.
“What took you so long,” asked a grouchy Mileena.
Aside from Akira, Maya, and Fluffball that had just arrived there were only 3 other people inside the room. An elderly midwife from the Darkmoon clan, Azura, and Yuki.
While the midwife readied several towels, a large basin of warm water, and sterilized other tools of her trade, Azura and Yuki helped wipe the sweat from Mileena’s brow trying to keep her cool and providing emotional support as she lay on a cushioned bed that had been made just for this moment.
“I was overseeing the rebuilding of the Outer city. I got here as fast as we could,” said Akira.
Mileena silently held out her hand for Akira to grab onto. He did so without her having to say anything. Her grasp was like an iron vise and she had no intention of letting go now that she had clamped onto his hand.
Several waves of pain shot through Mileena’s body as the labor pains intensified causing her grip to squeeze his hand with an even greater force as if she was trying to squeeze the life out of his hand.
“Would it help if I gave you a sip of one of the red potions I have?” asked Akira.
It was not Mileena who answered but the midwife who had stopped her preparations for a moment, “Although those potions are helpful the majority of the time. If you were to use it right now you would be harming not only your wife but also your offspring.”
With that, she turned back to finishing the last preparations before turning to Mileena once again.
“Everything is ready. You can start using the exercises just like I taught you before,” said the midwife.
Akira lost track of time as the midwife worked her magic while talking in a calm manner helping Mileena through the pain she was experiencing. His hand had already grown numb due to Mileena’s constant vice-like squeezing, he could hardly feel anything anymore.
“Keep going just like this! I can see the head!” said the midwife in a firm and encouraging voice.
A heavily sweating Mileena focused on following the midwife’s instructions as she tried to ignore the immense pain that she was in. She used all her will to focus and not get distracted by anyone else in the room as they worked on the tasks given to them by the midwife.
“Push!”
Several more minutes passed as Mileena focused on the new instructions from the Midwife.
“Waaaa!” the sound of a crying baby sounded out as the midwife swooped in and scooped up the newborn. With skilled hands, she used her tools to take care of the umbilical cord and stop the bleeding.
“Congratulations on giving birth to a boy!” said the midwife as she placed the baby boy on a temporary bed made out of one of the large soft towels in a large basket.
Akira’s full attention zeroed in on his newborn son taking in everything that he could see in the dim light.
Unlike human newborns, his son did not have pink skin but was covered in wet fur. Although his fur was wet and a little discolored, Akira could see that the fur that covered his son’s entire body was all one shade of white. His little furry ears twitched at the several sounds inside the room while his little furry nose scrunched up as he smelled the cool air and smoke from the small fire that was warming a basin of water and the greasy smoke from the candles. The small eyelids were only opened slightly revealing his electric blue irises before they closed again.
“We have a son!” said Akira turning to Mileena who was still sweating profusely and constantly having her brow wiped by Azura and Yuki.
“Yap!” said an excited Fluffball who sat next to Akira and looked back and forth between Akira and his newborn son.
“We’re not done yet! Keep up the exercises, only one more to go!” said the midwife.
This shocked Akira, he knew that Mileena’s stomach had been large but she had never mentioned anything about twins!
The process repeated itself once again.
“Congratulations on giving birth to a daughter!” said the midwife as she placed their silver-furred and silver-eyed daughter onto a blanket next to their son.
The midwife checked Mileena’s vitals before giving her a special herbal drink created by a shaman to help her recover her strength and soothe her pain.
When Mileena passed the inspections, the midwife turned her attention to the warm water as she grabbed a clean towel and dipped it into the water before starting to gently wipe down both babies’ fur, cleaning all the gunk and blood off and then gently patting the fur dry with a new towel.
Their clean fur showed off their true colors, a pure white and a deep silver.
Of the two babies, Akira’s son was larger and definitely had more werewolf genes showing. His daughter was slimmer than her brother but she also had more werewolf genes exhibiting only a few noticeable Nyaan traits from her mother.
Ding!
-
Hereditary title granted to your children!
Title: Children of the night!
“Congratulations on the birth of the Snow Prince and the Silver Princess!” said an unusually cheerful Yuki.
When both their son and daughter had been cleaned up, the midwife carefully handed each of them to Mileena who was now propped up with several pillows.
“The Snow prince and Silver princess,” said Mileena repeating the names, as she held the two newborns.
“I have to admit the nickname fits them well,” said Akira. He was somewhat relieved that their fur was more fitting for the snowy landscape in which they would be growing up for the majority of each year. It was far different than his fur which stood out like a sore thumb.
Azura, now an aunt, looked jealously at Yuki for giving her niece and nephew a nickname before she could.
“How long will they stay transformed like this?” asked Mileena.
“The shortest I have seen is a few days, the longest a week or so. They say the longer they stay transformed the stronger they will be when they grow up,” said the midwife, as she continued to clean up the mess made from the birth and cleaning.
“Really?” asked Mileena looking at Akira.
He shrugged his shoulders as he didn’t know stuff like this. It was all a new experience for him as well.
“Let’s hope the summer children can last longer than a few days. The winters and life in Kodria are not easy. The longer they last the brighter Kodria’s and the Darkmoon’s next generation will be!”
Akira agreed that it would be for the best if such a thing happened but either way he would be supportive of them even if they only lasted a few days.
“In an hour when you have regained some of your strength, we’ll have your husband carry you to the new room that I set up for you and your children,” said the midwife while pointing to Akira.
She turned to Maya, Yuki, and Azura. “Two of you will have to carefully carry one of these baskets with the newborns to the room.”
Yuki and Azura stepped forward before Maya could respond and grabbed onto the small baskets that had a soft blanket inside for a bed.
“As an aunt, I will take care of this duty seriously!” said Azura.
