Daine's contractions started slowly just a few days later. At first they were a dull ache, like a monthly cramp. They came and went infrequently and Daine didn't think much of them. That night, they woke her up. At first just a mild pain, she slowly grew more and more uncomfortable as she lay in the bed. She levered herself from the mattress and hobbled into the privy, her feet the delicate hooves of some animal - she was too tired to try to figure out which. After she finally found a way to sit on the chamberpot and relieve herself, she slowly made her way back to the bed and sat on the side of it, rubbing her belly.

The moon was almost out of view of the windows across from the bed, meaning it was past midnight. Another pain swept through her belly and she took a deep, hissing breath as it peaked.

"Numair," she said quietly. He mumbled a sound of sleepy comprehension. "I think I am having contractions."

He shot up on the opposite side of the bed. "What?"

"I think…I think I am having contractions, but they are fair far apart."

He rubbed sleep from his face and scooted over to sit beside her on her side of the bed. "Do we call the midwife, then?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

A quarter of an hour later, the midwife's head apprentice showed up at their door. Numair led her to the bedchamber. Daine noticed, with a small grin, that he had missed a button in his shirt as he had hastily thrown on clothes. His shirt was lopsided and unbuttoned the entire way down his chest.

"Have you timed the contractions?" Hester, the apprentice midwife, asked. Daine liked Hester the most of all the midwives. She was kind and gentle where Mistress Elnid could be harsh.

"No, I didn't think to," Daine said, embarrassed. Really, as a midwife's daughter herself, she should have know to do that.

Hester sat beside her and counted out seconds between one contraction and the next. They did this four more times while Numair paced nervously.

"You're vexing me," Daine told him in between the pains. "Stop pacing. You're not the one having contractions."

He stopped.

"Eight minutes between, thought that last one was closer to seven." Hester shook her head. "It may be the start of labor or it may not be. You can walk around some to get them going more. When they get down to five minutes or less between, or your water breaks, call on us again."

Daine tried not to groan in annoyance. She was desperately hoping this going to be a quick matter.

The midwife left them and they tried to rest. Daine drifted in and out of sleep but was up before dawn pacing the bedchamber. Numair timed out her contractions, but they were still too far apart. She walked the hall outside their rooms. She did circles around the run in their keeping room. Finally, before lunch, the contractions came quicker and Numair sent for the midwife.

Mistress Elnid came with two of her assistants. They timed Daine's contractions themselves to confirm and then had her lie on the bed as they examined her belly. For once, Numair was not relegated to the other room, but he stood well out of the way so Mistress Elnid wouldn't notice.

"I wish I could check your progress but…that seems impossible, at the moment." Elnid glanced to Daine's belly, which was currently the shape of a wolf. "I do think you are progressing, though. I will leave an attendant with you until it is time to push." She turned to Numair, who suddenly looked like a deer before an arrow. "You may remain with her, but remember, when it is time for her to deliver you will need to leave the rooms."

"The…rooms? Surely I can just sit in the next room."

The midwife shook her head. "I do not trust you in the next room. You can still hear her from in there."

"I have sound wards up on the bedchamber—" he started, then blushed crimson and stopped. Everyone could guess why he kept sound wards around the bedchamber walls.

"Wards of your own creating?" Elnid shook her head. "You can wait somewhere else, Master Salmalin."

"Surely I could—"

"Numair, leave it be," Daine told him sternly and another contraction took her over. She huffed through the pain and ground out, "Please."

He didn't say anything, but Mistress Elnid took that as acceptance enough and took her leave.

The midwife assistant suggested that Daine walk around, and she did. The pains increased terribly, so much so that she would have to stop and grab hold of the nearest piece of furniture with every sweeping cramp of her middle. Numair started to walk with her, holding her arms so that she could brace against him every time a contraction hit. In the late afternoon, her water broke as she was getting off the couch after trying to rest. Elnid returned but said she still had a way to go before she could try pushing. The assistant traded out with Hester, who poured Daine a bath to soak in so she could hopefully get some relief from the pain, which was now coursing through her belly and up her back at an excruciating level. She was also dealing with terrible pressure in her pelvis. She fell like the child would fall out of her at any moment.

Hester prepared the bath and left Numair to attend her. He helped her out of her huge nightgown and steadied her into the tub. She lowered herself on the shaking legs of a dairy cow.

"Of course it's a cow," she muttered as she sank into the hot water.

"I'm sorry," he told her. He got on his knees behind her head and rubbed her shoulders. "I know the pain is terrible. Is there anything else I can do?"

"You can shut up," she said darkly, and groaned as a contraction hit her. Once it passed she sighed loudly and rubbed her face. "I'm sorry. I'm just—"

"Doing the impossible right now." He kissed the top of her head. "It's alright, magelet. You can be cross with me if you need to be."

"It's all your fault you know. You and your seductive ways." She breathed through more pain and he chuckled.

She labored the rest of the evening and into the night. Mistress Elnid returned and checked her again, then shook her head at her findings. "The labor seems to have stalled."

"Stalled?" Daine gasped, clutching Numair's hand as they sat on the edge of the bed together. He was confident his hand would be black and blue by the time the baby came.

"It happens frequently," Elnid told them calmly.

"How long does labor typically stall?" Numair asked as Daine struggled through more pain.

"A few hours, at most." The head midwife turned to Hester. "Give her the prune and herb potion, that may help. Then try another bath with lavender."

Hester went to prepare the potion, and Elnid left them again, leaving behind another assistant to help Hester. Daine grabbed her husband and struggled through another contraction, her groan turning into a scream. Her voice was hoarse and her eyes were bloodshot with exhaustion. The shifting hadn't stopped; in fact, the baby was shifting more. Numair knew that her magic was as exhausted as her body was.

"What if I were to bring you some animals, and you could draw some power from them?" he asked as she recovered from the contraction.

"That could help, though I can't call any of them right…right…" she groaned in agony.

"If you're looking for animals, you needed go far," the assistant said from where she was grinding herbs across the room. "There's a whole gaggle of them outside the door."

Numair went to look and, sure enough, it seemed as every cat and dog in the palace had taken up residence in their hall. They all looked up at him in anticipation.

"I need a few of you to come and help Daine," he said to the mass. Three cats came forward, two of them simple rat catchers, one a long haired beauty with the collar of a pet. Three hounds also followed, coming through the front door with tails wagging. He led them to the bedchamber, where Daine was now on her knees in front of the bed, elbows on the mattress, head between her arms and she breathed deeply through her pain. The assistant was beside her, supporting her.

The animals gathered around, curling up beside her as best they could. Numair saw her visibly relax as the animals transferred some of their wild magic to her.

Hester approached with a cup in hand. "Let's try to get this down," she told Daine. Both midwife and Numair pulled her to stand, and then helped her sit on the bed's edge again. The young midwife put the cup under Daine's nose and she instantly turned her head.

"I can't," she whispered.

"I promise it will help. One big gulp and it will be down." The midwife sat on the other side of Daine, a hand on her back. Numair was thankful she was there and not the harsh Elnid.

Daine took the cup in hand and drank the dark liquid. Her face paled and turned a sickly shade of yellow. Hester grabbed a basin just as Daine threw up the potion and whatever else was in her stomach - not much, as neither of them had eaten all day.

Numair took a towel from the other assistant and wiped his wife's face and hair as she began to sob. Hester rubbed her back and assured her that vomiting was normal. "We will try the potion again in a little while. Let me go start another bath for you."

Daine was shaking with exhaustion. The dogs crowded around her feet, the cats leapt up beside her in the bed and pushed themselves onto her. Numair held her tightly and let her rest her head on his chest and she panted with pain. "I don't think I can do this," she whispered, tears falling in earnest. "It's too hard…I…I don't think I can…" Her body seized in another contraction. Numair slipped to his knees before her and she leaned heavily onto his shoulders, screaming her agony into his shirt. He had never, in the entire time he had known her, heard her say she could not do something with such conviction. It frightened him to his core.

When the contraction eased she sobbed heavily, and he pulled away and cradled her face in his hands. "You can do this, Daine. I have seen you do so many impossible things before." He wiped her tears with his thumbs. "Think about what all you have done. How you survived losing your mother. How you fought so very hard for yourself and for the People. How you killed enemies and won wars." He gently tweaked her nose. "How you burned down an entire palace once for me." She gave him a ghost of a smile, and he lowered his hands to grip her shoulders. "You can do this. I know you can."

She nodded, seeming a bit more steady. The animals pressed into her, buoying her spirits with their magic. Hester reappeared to lead her to the bath. "Master Salmalin, why don't you try to eat something? We will get Daine started in here."

"Please go eat," Daine whispered as they helped her stand. She started shape shifting again, and the dogs came up around her and licked her hands.

"I will," he told her. "And then I will be right back by your side."

She was able to keep the nasty tasting potion down the second time, and that and the bath seemed to do the trick. Just after the midnight hour, Hester had called Mistriss Elnid, who had arrived with more assistants.

"Do you feel a need to push?" she asked Daine, who was back on the edge of the bed with Numair holding her as she worked through the pain. All Daine could do was nod to the midwife's question. "Then I believe it is time indeed," Elnid said. "Ladies, prepare the bed and start boiling the water."

The attendants all took to action, each doing their own jobs without further instruction. Numair helped Daine stand as one of them started to strip the linens from the bed. It had been decided that Daine could possibly break a birthing chair would have to deliver on the bed or the floor instead.

Mistress Elnid approached the couple. "It's time, Master Salmalin," she said quietly, and to both their surprise, kindly.

Numair took his wife's face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "I know you can do this," he whispered. She nodded, resting against him. "I love you, magelet. More than you will ever know."

"I think I do know," she whispered. Her voice was scratchy and her body felt so weak against his. He was terrified to leave her, but knew if he put up a fight to stay she would just tell him to leave.

"I will be in the hall if you need me," he told her, caressing the back of her head.

"Go to Lindhall's rooms. At least you will be out of the way there. It's just down the hall." Another contraction started to hit, and she gripped his forearms in pain and yelled. "I…I need to push!" she said to no one in particular, and started to sink towards the floor as she bore down. Elnid and Hester came to her side to move her to the bed, which had been covered in a waterproof canvas and then covered with clean linens.

"Go, Master Salmalin. I will send someone to update you." Mistress Elnid nodded towards the door. Numair hastily kissed his wife's forehead, whispered to her that he loved her, and walked towards the door. He glanced back to see Daine on the bed, her feet held by assistants as she pushed with all her might. Someone in the bedchamber shut the door, and he was alone in the keeping room.

The hallway was eerily quiet and dark after the commotion of the bedchamber, reminding him that life still existed outside their rooms. The palace was asleep, unaware that their Wildmage was fighting so hard to bring her child into the world. It was an off-putting feeling.

Animals still filled the hall outside their door, all looking up at him as he exited. "She is alright," he told them, reaching to pet a few of the dogs on the head. They returned to lying down, cats and dogs alike, and he journeyed down the hall to Lindhall's rooms.

His old teacher didn't take long to answer the door. He was dressed, much to Numair's surprise.

"The animals won't settle," Lindhall explained. "Is she…alright?" He stepped back to let the younger man in.

"She has just started to push, which is why I was kicked out." Numair went to sit in one of the chairs by the fireplace. "She's…" He rubbed his face tiredly. "She's exhausted, and she's scared, and I'm worried about her."

Lindhall patted his shoulder, then went to start a kettle for tea. Numair fingered his bracelet, sending his magic through it. The focus would be able to tell him if she was alive or not. That, and the animals. He would have to be alright with those small assurances.

"What is that?" Lindhall asked, sitting in the chair opposite. He nodded to the bracelet, and Numair chuckled with embarrassment.

"It's a focus for Daine. I've had it for years. It's usually hidden."

Lindhall looked thoughtful. "I'm surprised she would let you make one."

"She didn't know about it, when I originally crafted it. It's come in handy a few times, so she doesn't say anything of it."

"Meaning you made it before she knew how you felt about her?"

Numair blushed, but nodded.

"Then you have indeed had it a while."

Numair felt something on his leg, and looked down to see Zek there. The marmoset climbed into his lap and rubbed his face on the mage's hand.

"You will be able to tell me if she is alright, won't you?" Numair asked. The little monkey nodded its head enthusiastically.

An hour passed. Lindhall tried to take his mind off things by talking about their shared interests, but Numair's heart and mind weren't in the conversations. After he had downed three cups of tea, there a was knock on the door. Numair nearly leapt to open it.

It was one of the midwife's assistants. She gave him a sad smile. "She is still pushing, but making progress. Mistress Elnid wanted you to know."

"Still…how long can she keep that up?" he asked, his stomach dropping.

"It can sometimes take several hours, especially with the first child. She is doing well, and making good progress. I will let you know if anything changes." She turned on her heel and left quickly. Numair returned to the chair and tried not to throw up with anticipation.

"You should go to bed," he told Lindhall, but the older man just smiled and shook his head.

"I will stay with you, until we have word the baby has arrived."

Another half hour of waiting passed. Numair paced, or sat with his head in his hands. Lindhall quietly sat with him, offering his support with just presence, which Numair was deeply thankful for. He had just felt like he wasn't going to be sick with worry when all the animals started calling out at once. Zek leapt from the side of the chair and shoot up a bookcase, looking frightened. Numair jumped to his feet as another knock came to the door. In two long strides, he wretched it open to reveal the assistant once more.

"Mistress Elnid says to come quickly."

He all but flew down the hall, quickly outpacing the small young woman who had retrieved him. Yanking their front door open, and hurried to the bedchamber. He reached to open that door as well, but Mistress Elnid beat him to it. She stood directly in his path as he tried to see past her to the bed.

"Master Salmalin, I need you to calm down."

"Let me see her!" he thundered, but the midwife stood her ground. He realized his magic was spilling out of him in anger. He took a deep breath to draw in back in.

Elnid nodded and continued. "She is weary, and cannot keep up with the shape changes. She is very close to delivering but, because she cannot shift as quick as she needs to, the baby has begun to rupture her womb. She is hemorrhaging, quickly. We need to get the child out before we can stop it."

"Let me see her," he begged, his voice under better control. Elnid nodded and opened the door for him.

Daine was still on the bed, feet still held in the air by assistants, but she was gray with exhaustion. She was drenched in sweat and wearing only her breastband. Propped up on her elbows, she was trying to catch her breath at the end of a push. He was at her side in a heartbeat, and sat on the bed next to her, reaching around to support her shoulders. She rested gratefully against him, not even opening her eyes. "Numair?" she whispered. Her voice was nearly gone and he could see broken blood vessels along her neck and face from the force of her pushing.

"I'm here, sweet. You are doing wonderfully."

She whimpered. "The baby…I can't shift anymore." Another contraction took her and Elnid told her to push. She did, throwing her head back onto his chest and letting out a deep yell that broke and disappeared with her lost voice. Her lower half fought for a moment between the shape of a swan, then a fur-covered animal of some kind, and then back to human. He watched nauseously as the baby shifted inside her, growing and shrinking her human skin. Hester passed off a bowl of blood from between Daine's legs and set an empty one in its place.

"Would animals help?" he asked Daine urgently. She finished the push, gasping, and shook her head.

"Too…far gone for that."

The midwives were speaking in low tones, Elnid and Hester both looking grim. Numair looked down at his wife, her head slumped in the crook of his arm, her eyes fluttering in exhaustion. He put a hand to her forehead and closed his eyes.

"Sarra, I know you are watching this," he said aloud, though no one looked at him. "You have to do something. We are going to lose her. Please, please, do something. Do anything."

Another contraction hit Daine and she groaned. "Daine, you have to try to push!" Elnid said firmly. Daine tried, though her strength was long gone. Hester lifted away another bowl of blood.

"Please, Sarra," Numair pleaded to the invisible goddess, holding back his own tears. "Save your daughter."

There was a hint of green light in the room, nothing more. He was sure he would have missed it if he hadn't been desperately looking for a sign. He heard Daine gasp softly and whisper, "Ma?" Suddenly, her eyes opened and she perked up a bit. Numair noticed the green wave of light land on her shuttering belly.

"Daine, I really need you to push as hard as you can this time," Elnid said, and gestured to the assistants to lift Daine's feet once more. A contraction overtook her, and Daine sat up in her husbands arms and pushed with renewed strength, screaming so deeply and so loudly that Numair wondered if it had come from her or some unseen force. Her lower half stopped trying to war for shapes, staying human as she pushed with all her might.

"The babe is crowning, and it is a human head!" Elnid said, relief in her voice. The other assistants took that as some kind of cue and started hurrying to get fresh towels and water. The contraction passed and Daine collapsed against Numair.

"Daine, one more push should do it. Give it everything you have!" Elnid instructed. The contraction hit her and she bore down, screaming again. Distantly, Numair heard the calls of hundreds, if not thousands, of animals in and outside the palace. He watched as the pale green light stayed over his wife's belly like two glowing hands. Holding Daine up a little straighter, he watched, wide-eyed, as their child made its entrance into the world.

The green light went out suddenly, and Daine slumped back onto him.

"You did it," he whispered, kissing her head. The midwives quickly cut the cord and carried the screaming baby off - had it been a girl? "Daine, you did it. It's all over, magelet." He looked down to her face and realized that she was unconscious in his arms.