The courier was awoken in the middle of the night by a dull and heavy pain in her lower abdomen. Before she could sit up, however, she realised she was lying in a puddle of water. “Oh god...”
Beside her, Vulpes shot up, making the transition from deep sleep to wide awake in less than two seconds. “What?”
“My water broke... I... Vulpes, I think I’m going into labour.”
He shot out of the bed as if stung by a cazadore and went for his clothes, cringing when behind him, the courier doubled over with a moan.
“Vulpes...”
His attire resembling decency, he walked back to the bed and tilted his head. “Yes?”
“I might not...” She swallowed and licked her lips. “I don’t think I’ll be able to suffer this in silence.”
He looked down at her for a long, silent moment before he gently took her chin in his hand and kissed her. Without another word, he was out of the tent to get the midwife, leaving the courier to stare at his back with a mystified frown.

The first thing the midwife did was shoo Vulpes out of the tent and he stood there for the next few hours, listening to the courier scream in agony over and over again. At one point, shortly after dawn, Lucius passed the tent and Vulpes on his silent vigil and stood beside him for a few moments.
“She’ll do fine”, the elder warrior finally said. “She’s a strong woman, Vulpes.”
“I know. That’s what worries me. I couldn’t have imagined anything making her scream that way.”
Lucius patted his shoulder with a laugh. “In that case, maybe you should practise your lovemaking a little more.” With that, he left, after Vulpes had dutifully emitted a respectful chuckle.

The screaming went on for a few hours more until shortly before noon, it rose to a pitch and was followed by a deadly silence. Staring at the closed tent flap with a white face and narrow lips, Vulpes crossed his arms and braced himself for the news about the death of his wife and child. Inexplicably, he felt as if someone had plunged a knife into his heart and was twisting it by the hilt.

The tent flap opened and Vulpes straightened his back.
“Come in”, the midwife said, a robust, strongly build woman with forearms like lesser men had legs. “And congratulations. You have a fine, healthy son.”
Vulpes was at his wife’s side within three heartbeats.

She was lying on the bed, pale, tired, but smiling. “We have a son.”
Vulpes leaned forward to look at the tiny bundle in her arms. “When will he begin to walk?”
The courier snorted under her breath. “He’s not even an hour old, Vulpes. You’ll have to wait a little before you can begin to train him.”
Vulpes nodded and held out his arms. Somewhat hesitatingly, the courier peeled the baby out of her arms and held him out to his father. With an awkward, clumsy move, Vulpes took the child and stared at the tiny, naked body. “He is not very well endowed.”
“For god’s sake, Vulpes!” The courier laughed shakily. “He won’t need his penis for anything but piss for the next decade, and for that, it’ll be perfectly large enough.”
He stared at the tiny form of his son in his arms, the wrinkled body and the dark, tousled hair. The boy looked up at him, frowned in concentration and proceeded to urinate over his father’s armour.
Vulpes emitted a tiny, mildly annoyed sigh. “I guess that misbehaviour can be forgiven due to your tender age”, he said with a frown. “But I won’t tolerate it again.”
The courier tried to suppress a laugh, with meagre success. Vulpes handed the child back to her and picked up one of the midwife’s rags to wipe his armour down. After that, he positioned himself in a corner and waited as the midwife packed her things together and left, after giving the courier a few more instructions. When she was gone, Vulpes closed the tent flap behind her and went down onto his knees beside the bed, and watched the courier put their son to her breast.

“Do you need anything else?”, Vulpes asked after a while in a low voice.
“I don’t”, was the reply. “Thank you.”
“No, I thank you”, Vulpes said and lifted her chin with his forefinger. When the courier looked up, she found him look at her with an unfamiliar soft look in his eyes before he leaned over the child in her arms to kiss her.