It was warm, the blanket underneath her was furry and she was rocking gently. Her eyes were closed and she was in that state between sleep and waking, not fully conscious yet, but able to perceive the world around her. There were footsteps and rustling, as if someone was rummaging through drawers, she assumed there mother was wondering around. Was that a good idea for someone who just gave birth? Then again she supposed she didn't have many options without their father or the midwife.
A voice came from nearby, much closer then the footsteps, though voice might have been the wrong word. It was more of a gurgling shriek, not actual words. One of her siblings must have been awake. The gurgling continued for several minutes before it was joined by the babbling of another baby. It sounded like the rest of her siblings were waking up. Part of her knew she couldn't sleep forever, if she wanted to learn more about this new world it required her to be awake and present. But another part of her petulantly refused, begging for a little more time in this warm and cozy place where she didn't have to think.
The thought of slipping into that endless black was so appealing, but she pushed the thought away and forced her eyes to open. What struck her first was she appeared to be moving. That wasn't too odd in it of itself, their mother could be carrying her. Except she clearly saw her across the room rummaging in a wooden chest. Wiggling slightly she found herself wrapped in a light blanket and overtop was some sort of leather carrier secured by belts to a massive harness around the furry blanket.
Now that her eyes were open though she could see clearly that she had not been nuzzling a blanket, but fur. The deep red fur of a massive wolf-like creature, the same creature as the one from her rebirth test. It padded around the room on its massive paws following their mother as she flitted from one chest of drawers to another.
It appeared she was gathering an assortment of items and placing them on a table near the center of the room. There was no rhyme or reason to the assortment as far as she could tell. There were kitchen items mixed with weapons, random tools and a few things she couldn't identify. Once she was satisfied with her collection of odds and ends, their mother beckoned the large wolf to her. The animal happily complied and stood near the table allowing her access to the infants.
Their mother reached out an unlatched the nearest baby on the wolfs right side, cradling them in one arm she brought them to the table. She managed to catch a glimpse of the child, she wasn't certain but she thought it looked to be the baby born right after her. At the table there mother proceeded to guide her sibling to touch each item, speaking as they went. Was she trying to teach them? It was the most logical reason.
This idea was discarded however when her sibling touched a small metal shield and their body glowed with a strange maroon light. It seemed to emanate from every pore and she watched in awe as their body shifted and grew. Where had once been what looked to be a newborn baby was now a much older infant, nearly double the size. Their mother did not look at all surprised, in fact she looked pleased, leaning over a piece of parchment and scribbled on it with a quill. She returned to the massive canine and after adjusting the straps secured the baby back in their place.
Moving to the other side her mother leaned over and unhooked her from the wolf's harness. The two of them made their way to the table and she guided her to touch the various items. Her mother would hold her chubby little hand on an item for roughly a minute, when nothing happened she moved onto the next object. While she had seen her sibling grow suddenly, she wasn't sure what to expect otherwise, when her hand was placed on what appeared to be a wide bladed butchers knife she felt something.
A strange tingling sensation filled her body, not unlike the one when she touched the stone as a soul, which caused her a moment of anxiety. But her head did not buzz, instead she felt her bones vibrate and stretch while her muscles creaked. Everything about her body shifted slightly, there was a slight burning but nothing overbearing, it was akin to the burn in your muscles after a workout.
As the sensation subsided she looked down at herself and saw her limbs were longer, she also felt a better sense of control over her body. Mesmerized she stared at her longer and slightly chubbier limbs, experimentally opening and closing her hands, the motion feeling more intentional. Turning to look up at her mother, she noticed that the expression on the woman's face was one of contentment and pride as her golden eyes almost glowed.
Her mother picked up the quill from the table and quickly jotted something down on the parchment. She looked at the paper curiously, her mother's writing was quick and precise, but just like with their language she didn't recognize the writing. As she observed her mother write she saw it was structured in columns from the left hand side of the page to the right. The symbols she wrote consisted of many swooping lines, small dashes and dots and appeared to build on one another creating long braided lines down the page.
While there was no way to be certain, it didn't look like the writing system was logographic as each symbol seamed to build on to one another. That made her hopeful. If she didn't need to memorize a specific symbol for every word, but a type of alphabet instead, reading and writing would be less of an undertaking. She wondered if her mother had any books lying around she could look at, the prospect of learning a language was daunting but exciting and being able to read was a huge benefit.
Her thoughts were interrupted as her mother said something to herself, looking pleased, before facing her and speaking. The woman's tone was light as she spoke and her tone pitched up on the last word, and sounded as if she was asking a question. While she had no clue what her mother had said she figured responding anyway was best, she opened her mouth and let out a stream of garbled nonsense. The result was a wide smile from her mother before she walked back to the massive wolf and secured her in the harness once again. Though this took several minutes as her mother fiddled with various buckles and straps to adjust it to her new size.
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This series of events continued as she went from one child to the next, the result was always the same. They would touch each object on the table, eventually growing after making contact with a specific item, and their mother would make some notations before on to the next one. Two did stand out to her, one of her siblings grew after they touched a strange orb, roughly the size of a baseball and covered in intricate carvings. Their mother looked surprised and a little thoughtful after that. The other odd one was one of the siblings near the end, the didn't react to any of the items on the table, but when their mother went to place them back in the harness they touched the wolfs red fur and grew.
Their mother was surprised and let out a laugh before making more notes. In the end they had all grown to roughly the size of a six month old baby. She also noted that each of them reacted to something different. What did that mean? Did what they change to mean something? It had to, why else would their mother be recording their progress? But without being able to actually read her notes everything was just conjecture at this point.
Now that they were all back in their harnesses, the red wolf followed their mother around the room as she returned the various tools and items to their proper places. In between cleaning up she would think out loud, sounding happy as she continued to write on her parchment. Once the table had been cleared their mother called the wolf to her, giving the animal several pats and scratches behind their ears before turning to them. One by one they were removed from their confines and placed on the floor on their backs.
A few busied themselves with sucking on their thumb or playing with their feet, but most of them managed to roll onto their stomachs. She watched as several squirmed about, managing to inch forward ever so slightly. Without anything to distract her she took in the site of her siblings. All of them had yellow-green skin, though some were darker and some lighter, and swaths of red hair on their head in various shades. There were still no tusks to be seen and they had the same catlike pupils as their mother, but their iris were all in shades of orange or burnt yellow, none in the same brilliant gold as their mother. She wondered what her eyes looked like, but without a mirror there was no way for her to check.
Continuing to observe she realized that, counting herself, there were eight of them in total and she was the only girl. All seven of her siblings were boys. It was surprising, given how many of them there were, she assumed the split would be more even. Was that the normal ratio of boys to girls? Was it even normal to have this many children at once? More questions without answers. She decided that sitting here stewing was getting her nowhere and decided to try something.
Being on her stomach had provided her with the best view of her surroundings, it now provided the best starting point for her first goal. Crawling. As she already knew how the process worked she felt confident it wouldn't take her long to start moving. Placing her hands under her shoulders and scooting her knees underneath her she attempted to push up onto all fours. She was surprised by the amount of effort the action took, having greatly overestimated the strength of her new body. Shakily, she managed to lift herself up, but she teetered back and forth her balance uncertain before her limbs gave out and she plopped back onto her stomach. This was going to take longer than she thought.
She repeated the process, each time lifting herself got a little easier and less shaky, and she was able to hold herself up for longer with each attempt. During one of her rest bits she noticed their mother watching them, presumably to make sure they were safe, but there was a discerning look in her eye. As if she was observing what they did. Several times she noticed her mother watching her and was sure she caught the ghost of a smile on her lips during her attempts to lift herself off the floor. In fact it seemed to her like their mother tended to orbit around the part of the room she was at specifically, paying close attention to her in particular. Was it because she was her only daughter?
Lifting herself up once again she decided it was time to attempt some forward movement. Shifting her weight to balance on her left arm she tried to slide her right hand across the floor. Her hand barely moved an inch before she lost all coordination and face planted into the floor. A frustrated cry escaped her lips and her mother stood up from her chair in the corner, with a few quick strides she was by her side scooping her up. Her mother sat cross legged on the floor and cradled her. The rocking motion was soothing and she watched their mothers face as she spoke, still unable to make sense of the words. Something did stand out to her though, the word ‘Idika’.
She had been listening intently as her mother spoke, still attempting to pick out patterns, but without much success. However the word ‘Idika’ had been one she noticed her mother said frequently, specifically when talking to her. Or at her, she guessed was more accurate. A theory had been forming as to the meaning of the word, once her mother placed her back on the ground she decided now was a good time to test it.
Their mother's back was to her as the woman made her way back to the chair, she opened her mouth and let out a loud cry. It had the desired effect, causing their mother to stop and turn to look at her. Once she had her attention she opened her mouth and let out a stream of incomprehensible babble. The woman crossed her arms and quirked an eyebrow at her, the reply sounding like a question and at the end that same word. She felt certain now. It was a name, her name. She was Idika,
As the morning went on she continued her attempts to crawl, but in between she paid closer attention to her mother’s interactions with her brothers. Similar to when she spoke to her, Idika noticed their mother repeating certain words when talking to some of her siblings. It was more difficult to pick out as she would sometimes address a few of them at a time or they would be clustered together so it made it hard to determine who she was talking to specifically. However she had managed to pick out one name she was sure of.
The oldest boy, the one she remembered clearly from the basket with the glint in his eye, that was Malkadian. He had caught her attention as she saw he also was attempting to crawl, so far he had been able to shuffle both his hands forward, but when attempting to move his legs he ended up face down on the floor. What really surprised her was how quickly he propped himself back up on all fours, the action seaming to take little effort, his arms and legs sturdy as stone pillars. She thought back to when he managed worm his hand free of his ridiculously tight swaddle.
At the time she thought it was just luck or the blanket had come loose, but looking at him now she realized he was just naturally strong. Her mind drifted back to the table of items, he had touched a shield to grow, was it because he was some sort of protector? It would make sense if he was so naturally strong. Idika watched her brother as he scrunched his face in concentration, moved both hands forward, then his right knee before flopping forward onto his face once more. This caught her off guard, at this rate he would be the first to start crawling before the day was over.
Deep down she knew she would be crawling very soon and without a doubt before the rest of their brothers. She was also aware that which of them crawled first didn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. But a competitive part of her really wanted to be the first. With a newfound determination she raised herself to all fours and scooted one hand forward, then the other and then quickly toppled forward onto her face. Unable to see anything she could clearly hear the gurgling sound of laughter and she had a very strong suspicion who it belonged to.
