Rain pattered against the moss of the thatched roof tapping out a rhythm to which her memories could dance. It had rained on and off all day, clouds casting a shroud of shadow over the fertile belt, left stunned and lethargic after the death of their guardian.

Thousands upon thousands of Drev, from hundreds of fertile belt clans, sat camped in the valley just beyond the sacred mountain. Even having seen it with her own eyes, Sunny had trouble believing that many Drev could coexist together without causing problems. All day, through the drizzle and the rain, the Drev clans had sat packed together under the same shrouded sky hardly moving, barely speaking, not a dueling circle in sight.

Naktan's death had left an entire nation of warriors shellshocked.

And now, lying in the stillness, upon her borrowed bed of moss, Sunny tried not to think about Naktan's body, resting quietly against a waiting slab of stone, waiting for his burial rights within the nearest temple's main atrium. An honor guard would be posted at the doors for him: two Drev from two different clans. At first Sunny had protested, insisting that she should be the one to guard the body, but on Adam's words she had grudgingly relented. At first she hadn't liked the idea of two separate Drev clans working together to guard the body, worried that a fight might break out, but they had assured her in no uncertain terms that they would not dishonor his memory like that.

And she was forced to trust them.

Tomorrow they would begin the week-long burial ceremony, and she wasn't sure what she would do.

There was no one to replace him.

And the sacred mountain was still burning.

She turned onto her side struggling to get comfortable against her bed of moss. Her back and hips ached furiously, but no matter which way she moved, she couldn't seem to ease the pain.

At her side, Adam lay asleep and silent in the near darkness, lulled to sleep, like many humans before him, by the gentle sound of rain. His breath was soft, but if she concentrated, she could just hear the slow rush of air as it passed through his parted lips.

Her back continued to ache, and with a sigh of frustration she stood quietly leaving Adam curled in the moss. Usually a light sleeper, Adam didn't wake when she got to her feet, exhausted by a day of running interference for her. She felt bad for the way she had treated him, snappy and irritable all day, but he had gone forward without complaint, jumping at her every whim and lighting a fire under anyone who didn't move fast enough for her liking.

She would let him sleep.

Unwilling to potentially wake him with her pacing, Sunny slipped out the door and into the gentle night time mist. Despite the rain, the night air wasn't cold, and the air that filled her lungs was clear and clean, filled with the scent of moss and wet stone.

Her legs and back continued to throb, the pain abating only somewhat as she tracked her way over pathways of flattened moss, and out towards the edge of the village. Dim firelight, hooded under small conical lids, flickered from the torches that lined the pathways and surrounded the village.

Overhead, the small cathedral loomed black against a cloudy sky, lit from behind by the faintest light from Anin's two moons. Black stone shimmered with orange firelight, and sunny watched as a shadow passed over the stone: one of the guards making rounds about the cathedral.

She sighed and rested her hands against her back

The ache seemed to have deepened, concentrated in her lower back, and wrapping its way around either of her hips where it radiated into her thighs and knees. The rain that pattered against her carapace suddenly seemed very chill.

She shivered and contemplated returning to the warmth of the hut where Adam lay asleep, but before that thought could even become a real possibility, her eyes were drawn by the rolling blue flame that still shed itself from the sacred mountain. Even from here it seemed she could imagine the heat that must have radiated from the fire, and like a moth drawn to a light, she turned away from the warmth of the little hut to trapse her way out into darkness, her feet plodding over mossy stone.

Towards the edge of the village, she wasn't surprised to find a standing guard posted sentinel in the darkness. Rain rattled gently against their armor, though the rivulets of rain didn't seem to brother them even as it dripped from their faces.

Alert, one of the guards noticed her, turning to dwarf her in his shadow.

He seemed surprised to see her out at such an hour, though there was no doubt that he recognized her

He raised his spear to her in greeting "Eeda."

She nodded to him.

He lowered his spear, "You're out late. Is everything alright?"

Sunny nodded, "Everything is fine." She turned her head towards the distant blue flame and the inexplicable pull that drew her forward, "Just.... Need some heat." She didn't know why she said it, and coming from her mouth the words seemed silly. Briefly she wondered if she was going mad, but upon hearing those words, the Drev guard gave her a knowing look, and stepped aside.

Sunny gave the guard a look of confusion, but he simply motioned her forward, and without another word she began her trek towards the fiery blue glow that promised her its warmth.

WIth every step, the ache in her back and hips only increased until, at some point she thought something might be terribly wrong. It wasn't until the first twist of her stomach which seemed intent on throttling her insides, did she finally put two and two together. Three quarters of the way to the mountain, Sunny bent double in agony clutching at her middle as the muscles of her abdomen contracted violently.

She stood there, half curled in a ball for a long moment before the muscle spasm subsided, and she was able to straighten herself. Blue light washed over her body, providing her a distant heat.

She cursed.

Now was not the time!

She contemplated going back to the village, to call for help, to get krill.

But by now she knew it would be too late for that, and the heat of the fire was simply too tempting for her to ignore.

Sunny hurried forward over the damp moss, racing the next contraction that was already beginning to build inside her. Krill said that there could be complications, said that it might be likely. He had even predicted that the birth would come early, but... now???

It was hardly the time.

Another contraction had her bent double, clutching at her stomach, but gasping she made it back to her feet, and began the shallow climb up the shallow foothill. The air around her was already beginning to heat, the air muggy and humid.

Beyond the rise she could hear the roar of a lava flow and taste the sulfur in the air.

She was panting when she made it to the top of the hill, nearly brought to her knees by another contraction and an incredible wave of pain that left her panting hard.

This was no sterile hospital room, and when she came over the next rise, her aching body was bathed in an incredible wave of heat as she looked down upon the burning blue river of lava cast down from the sacred mountain.

This time the pain did bring her to her knees, hips and back screaming with pain.

With all four hands she gripped fistfulls of moss and dirt slumping forward when another wave passed. Fire flared up beneath her, and condensation formed against her skin as it was pulled from the humid air.

It is the human tradition to be surrounded by people in a moment like this.

But for Drev, it was preferable to be alone.

And in that moment the idea of being in the presence of others was nothing but revolting.

She was glad to be alone.

Another sharp wave of pain washed through her and she tilted her head back towards the sky and screamed, bellowing Drev war cry competing with the roaring of the rolling lava flow, until the two sounds mixed and became one against a black sky, dissipating within the curtain of rain.

Just another battle

And with that battle came attack after attack, each one constituting a new wave of pain.

Fire roared below her and she roared back. Her skin flared hot, her chest squeezed tight. Overhead the sky opened up and the drizzle turned to rain which sizzled and cast off steam, evaporating in great waves before it could even reach the lava flow.

And then her voice was joined by another, quivering and confused, pitched several octaves higher than her own.

Her hands did not tremble soaked in her own blood as they were and raised the tiny creature to the sky.

Small, incredibly small, its skin wet and glistening, warmed by the hat of the fire and washed by the tears of a distant sky. The nearly human baby cried long, and loud, its pale skin skin a livid red with heat and exertion, or what skin she could see, because though its body was mostly human, its chest, arms, and back were covered in a familiar pattern of Drev Carapace, pearly and white against the blue of the roaring flame. Its hair, for it did have hair was a mass of matted spikes, not quite hair and not quite carapace, perfectly white.

A girl.

But still it wasn't' over.

Another wave of pain racked her body, and she bent double again.

The pain was amplified now, but at least this time it was quick.

Deep, shimmering purple, an almost whole Drev child, though the tiny thing was completely missing its second set of arms, and had five fingers on each hand, just like a human, and then Sunny noticed...

The tiny creature was missing the entirety of her left arm below the elbow.... And she wasn't breathing.

"No no no." Sunny muttered, still holding one crying kit in her lower set of arms, she reached up and desperately rubbed her hand against the second Kit's chest. It wobbled lifelessly under her hands, its limbs wobbling and limp, its head flopped to one side.

"No.... no no no. Come on." Sunny muttered, "Come on." her begging became a demand, as she continued to rub its unmoving chest.

"Come on! Breathe!"

Her shout was lost under the roar of fire.

Rain poured down over all three of them, washing blood from their skin.

"BREATHE!"

Her anger battled with despair, and she was nearly overcome with a sudden wave of grief.

Grief until the moment, the tiny kit took a long, shuddering breath and began to cry. The relief she felt then could not have been measured, and she didn't bother to quantify it, as she held the tiny creature's good hand in hers. It cried long and hard, but Sunny laughed, "That's okay little one. " her stunted little arm waved along with the rest of her, but sunny couldn't have cared less. "That's alright, your dad doesn't have all his limbs either."

She was tired.

Exhausted, and for a long while she lay with her newborns in the moss and the heat and the rain until the distant sky began to lighten, and the clouds broke overhead.

Slowly, she clambered to her feet, washed by the rain, and slogged her way back towards the settlement. She kept the kits close to her chest, warming them with her own heat as she made her way away from the warmth of the fire, and for now, their cries were music rather than annoyance because at least they were alive.

A fine mist rolled in, but the distant settlement was still visible, and the Drev guards raised their spears as she approached hooting in triumph, not caring who they woke with their voices.

She lifted her head proudly as she carried her precious cargo through the village.

To where Adam waited outside the little hut, just like Any Drev father might have waited.

Unlike a Drev he looked practically green and sick with worry, and ran to her as soon as she appeared in sight. For a moment she thought he would scold her, but when he saw what she had brought whatever breath he might have used was robbed from him, his eyes widening in amazement.

She handed them gently over, and then stepped past him towards the hut.

He turned to look at her, "Wait, where-"

"To take a nap," She opened the door leaving him stunned with his two arms full on the doorstep, "As is your right, name them well, but make sure it's nothing too stupid." and then she shut the door.