There would be time later for baths. There would be a time, and a safer place, that they could attend to her wounds and where they could clean themselves up before anyone else found them. The silence between them was not uncomfortable for any reason other than her sorrows, but Vidarr was not afraid of being uncomfortable. What Svajone had wanted, what she thought she was soon to have, it was something miraculous. To love something even before seeing them, that was nothing short of a miracle. Instead, he was meant to play witness, as he was no good on his own with healing and so all he could offer her was moral support. It was what he felt was minimum - and he thought himself no better a man for staying.

He let her process, he let her think, finding his words insufficient to quell any of the emotions no doubt swarming inside her. His ears twitched and shifted, cupping her words as they were often. I think they will. He said earnestly, because surely they would be tethered together, wouldn't they? They were made of the same bits of stardust, and while they had not made it safely earthside together, he felt confident that their souls would still have found each other. I believe that they can stay close to us at times, that they come to visit. They will know your love, they will see your joys, they will see your hardships, and see you through them, too. Vidarr had not heard of many of the other wolves of the community had felt the same. But his personal thought? It comforted him to think of his father visiting him. Maybe he didn't had family here, but he had made family here. And maybe his father could see this to, a moment of kindness and support to someone who needed it.

He shook his head when she said she was not good enough. He started to say something but her side eye was strong and her pursed his lips together, trying to fight the urge to speak. You would not say that to another, if you were in my place. He said after a while. And it wasn't to argue. He knew her, and he knew who she was. She was not cruel, and he did not care to sit by silently and allow her to be cruel to herself in her time of need. Vidarr didn't know if she would want to bury the children anywhere in particular. Did she have a place that was sacred to her? Did she have somewhere she felt the most safe? That was where he would have wanted to bury his babes, if it was up to him.

Liefi means beloved, or treasured. It is an endearment. Vidarr explained. He was quiet when she explained where her name came from, a gentle smile on his face when she offered that little smile of her own. They still have time to come true, don't they? He would not suggest anything, knowing what she had just endured, and no doubt it would be hard to consider having children again. Of even trying. It was perhaps the selfish blindness he had to the plights that women carried on their own so quietly. He appreciated the opportunity to learn and grow, but he did not want it to come at the cost of someone he cared for and their happiness. And this was perhaps the cruelest twist of the natural order. Not every child would grow up.

His brow furrowed when she asked if his Mother would care for them. For a moment he had to struggle with the thought - that his mother could ever fall. Here in Mythris he wouldn’t ever know though. Aye, she would. If she has passed - but my Father has, and would surely teach them all the best games to play. He is also quite the teller of tales, too. He knew the comfort of a woman tended to be stronger than that of a man, but, he had a beautiful example in his father of how to be strong and be a pillar of his community. Still the mental image of Bjarke with a gaggle of pups crawling on him wasn’t hard to conjure up. His father was no small consolation prize, the man was almost as big as Vidarr - always claiming that he needed broad shoulders to support their clan. Vidarr felt his throat tighten when she set to naming each child - somehow gifting his mother’s name to the little cub made his heart shatter anew.

Drifa, Sorinel, Liefi. Three tiny little souls who would escape the plight of the world that their mother could not. Each would wait for her, surely, to come with eager kisses to her chin when they were reunited. Vidarr only offered a gentle nudge to her chin - as if he might tuck the worlds right back into her and the notion they came along with. She didn’t owe him anything. But his train of thought was interrupted before he could explain his actions, watching as she bore down again. This time, though, was unlike the unfortunate fate of the three little pups nestled with them. This time there was a sound, tiny, fragile, but real and Vidarr’s head shot up from where it had ended up on the ground while she labored. Wide eyed, this time he could even see movement, though his brain had short circuited. The quick succession of emotions was as sharp as the joy and then tragedy that he had been reunited with Hilda only to lose her. Maybe finding Svajone in her time of need was somehow just as fated. Maybe the loss of the first three pups helped tip the scales in favor of this puppy.

It was an unfair exchange. He thought of Ormr and Eira and losing them. He thought of Thyra. He thought of the losses he had faced, and it finally motivated him into moving. Gently he reached back - still mindful of Leifi tucked in his arm - and picked up the cub, this was different. The body was warm of its own accord, the tiny little thing would need to grow its strength and the way to do that was to nurse. He placed the puppy between them, guiding it closer to Svajone so that it might latch and nurse. It would be the most beneficial to the cub. Svajone, they’re beautiful. Vidarr said with a beaming smile.

Welcome to the world, little one.