Instinctively she knows her child is coming soon. The shifting in her belly, the ebb and flow of pain in her flanks, she has felt it all before. She keeps to the border, Ashamin's promise like a rolling bell echoing in her head. Nobody will stop her beloved from crossing the borders into their home to witness the birth of his child, and she will make it all the easier for him. She is Queen, and a birthing mother at that. A force of nature herself. She will tear this world apart if anyone even thinks of barring Ashamin entrance. Because she doesn't think she can do this alone a second time. Not with the weight of her worries contesting the abnormal weight in her womb. She wants to be a perfect mother but she is an imperfect soul. She wants to raise her children to be strong and capable, when she maintains those qualities only as an illusion herself. Her children have disappeared into the snow and ice, a marking of failure upon Hotaru's skin that she bears constantly. She doesn't want the same to happen to the child she will meet today. 

Throughout the day the contractions grow stronger, and she sends Alice out into the evening with a message on her heels and a father to seek out. There are no real crevices to utilize just inside the borders, but a small cove of evergreens instead. The nettles rustle and crack as she gracelessly lowers herself to rest upon them. It reminds her of the place where Ashamin had finally captured her, hands tender on her battered heart. Maybe it will bring better luck to her children. 

Her cheek touches the bed of pine, and she inhales the pleasant aroma. Closes her eyes and lets her body take hold. 

It is an agonizing process. She is small, of delicate frame and breed, but her child is decidedly not. She laughs through her labored breaths, wondering hysterically where her child had inherited its genes. Her thoughts are her only company, Alice's absence a gaping hole in her soul that she tries to ignore. The relief of success is a rubber band snapping, like a wave passing over her to grant her momentary grace. Hotaru doesn't linger in the moment. She shoves her forelegs beneath her, turning and stretching and huffing, wanting to see her new child take its first breath. 

For a moment she is blind to his appearance, the physical differences between she and him. She only sees a spotted body and - and -

He's her son.

She loves him, instantly and overwhelmingly. Even as her eyes move to notice the differences he is born with, that love does not waver. Possessive and unapologetic. But seriously, what the fuck? Ashamin what the fuck seriously. A deer? Did I just give birth to a fucking DEER?! But whatever panic she can muster is instantly killed when she feels the ripple of contractions a second time, insistent. Gritting her teeth against it she leans forward stubbornly to rasp her tongue across the slick sides of her son, paying careful attention to the soft nose and the ridges of his eyes. Scenting and sharing her breaths beneath the pine boughs, imprinting her love into him from the moment he's born. 

But his sibling is insistent and demanding, righteously furious at the delay, and Hotaru's body can't deny the child any longer. Her sweat neck returns to the earth with a soft groan, and she gives herself over to the pull and push of life once more. 

She fucking knew she was having twins. 

When it's over, she barely has the energy to look. But if a mother would move mountains for her children, this would be a far easier feat. Needles stick to the sweat and foam of her skin as she levers herself back up to gaze upon the second child. A girl, this time. Same odd features and gangly body, but smaller than her brother. It hurts to bend and twist in order to clean her, but she does so regardless. 

Pups? she hears distantly, like a warbling echo across the tundra. Her heart eases with a deep sigh. Alice has returned. 

Pups is probably a stretch considering they don't even look like foals, she huffs fondly as she lunges tiredly to her hooves. Finally she can gaze upon them properly, big colorful eyes blinking at their surroundings. Her son had two thick horn buds sprouting from his muzzle, and her daughter had little white nubs between her ears. One like snow and obsidian, the other like acorns and seashells. Her lips kiss softly across their skin in light brushes, encouraging them even in her exhaustion. They are odd, they are different. But she loves them, and to hell with the rest of the world. 

"Ru'in and Romina," she murmurs into their skin just as Alice arrives, a proud mother in her own right as her black nose pokes gently at gangly bodies, love pouring from her as surely as it does from Hotaru. Their eyes catch and Hotaru smiles. 

OOC thingies here