Another fantastic piece, created by the masterful artist Queenhyena for the chapter of 'Touch of a Goddess' from Plight of the Rose.

Enjoy.

Latest chapter entry on: 6/24/2015
Original chapter started on: 9/8/2012

Day #1: Touch of a Goddess.

"Help!" yelped a half fear stricken Foxen. "It's To-Yoh! Her labor has gone seriously wrong! We need the tribal doctor, immediately!" Although his words were in Common, the incredible forces of the Universe were at work, making it possible for non-Foxen's to understand their language. (English)
Faces turned towards the grief ridden youthling, without delay. Chatter began to erupt throughout the village of Darosia.
Finally, someone loudly replied, "Doc's been out of town for a week, due to a neighboring community emergency. Get the priestess, instead!"

Quick as could be, To-Yoh's hut was surrounded by several dozen Foxen's as the lead priestess entered with lantern in paw. "It's going to be alright, To-Yoh. The Gods will carry you through, under my care. Everything is going..."
"No!" shouted the female, laying on little more then a blanket upon her meager bed. "The child is going to be stillborn! It hasn't kicked in hours! My doom is certain! I just know it!"
The priestess laid her hand upon the swollen belly and started to chant several preachy paragraphs about comfort and the ways of life as To-Yoh continued to exclaim about her predicament.
The chants included some sacred call words that the traveling spirit Teela would recognize, no matter how distant she may have been. After all, she had written this particular book that they considered to be sacred law. It did not matter that she was preoccupied with observing the activities of another saved colony on a distant world. Distress came before observational assistance.
Teela came to them, like a charm in her spirit form. The distressed prayers bridged space and time, so that she could rush to their aid, only to see the distressed matter playing out first hand.
Something was odd, though. Teela felt a strange calling on a level she was very much unfamiliar with. And, as she touched To-Yoh to give comfort, it was To-Yoh that somehow pulled on Teela's spirit.
Like a black hole, Teela became powerless to fight the pull and was sucked in to total blackness.
Nobody knew that she had come. Nor, that the strange event had just claimed her.

The priestess suddenly hung on one syllable for a full second. "I sense...a miracle!"
The crowd gasped from outside, stuck to her every passing word in otherwise silence.
"Life! I have called forth the life that once tried to depart from this miracle and it has heralded my beck!"
"My child? Alive?" muttered To-Yoh, with a spontaneously joyful glee.
"The heart, it beats once more. I feel the spark of life, coming from within. We have been blessed by the deities, themselves." pronounced the priestess. "The gift you must return shall be for the benefit of us all. I am puzzled as to why there is only one spark of life that I feel."
"I understand, priestess." praised To-Yoh. "It is my honor to be the vessel for a miracle. I shall always be grateful."
Teela's confusion was only intensified by the sharp impact of unexpected senses. She was hot and wet. Tightness was squeezing in all around her. She fought to swim out of the darkness. It only brought on a rapid sensation of complete weakness.
That cramped space was only contracting about her with every passing moment. It pressed to restrict her every movement.
"I think...I think that gratefulness is about to happen, rather quickly, my priestess." spoke To-Yoh, trying to say it as calmly as she could.
"With the return of life to the newborn-to-be, it is seemingly anxious to be brought forth into our presence. Be brave. Listen to your training on how to proceed." advised the priestess. "The pain of today will be the reward of tomorrow."
To-Yoh was soon wincing from the pressures that labor will induce. All the while, the village priestess was preaching into her ear and half the village didn't have the courtesy to depart the vicinity.
The wincing would soon turn to short, labored breathes and To-Yoh's legs began to part.
"...and to the world of which we all become, thine shall introduce into the community a new joy." preached the priestess as she slid away the traditional robing from To-Yoh's lower half, exposing it to the light of her flickering lantern. "The vessel of our future is priming for that which is of us. Embrace, all. Embrace."
Baring her teeth, To-Yoh began to growl and push with all her might. In-between contractions, she found the focus to ask, "Is it true that there's only one kit?"
"A very unusual count for a very unusual set of circumstances. It is unheard of to be with kits...without the presence of a mating male to give claims to." replied the priestess, between chants. "You are sure that you never had a late night caller?"
To-Yoh yelled "Positive!" while pushing as hard as she could. Slowly and surely, the form of a tiny head began to push out from the vaginal lips of the pregnant vixen and into the light.
Getting back to To-Yoh's previous question, the priestess simply said, "Only the one. Keep pushing." In the excitement of the moment, the priestess quite forgot to continue her prayers as she became more of a catcher for the emerging new Foxen.
Suddenly, the pitch blackness was turned into blinding light for Teela. She could slightly hear the odd sounds that go along with child birth. There was a powerful force, trying to strangle her throat. Yet, she seemed to be surviving, without having taken a breath.
"The head has emerged!" informed the priestess with excitement. "Keep pushing, To-Yoh! You are almost there!"
The roar of excitement was quick to emerge from outside the hut's open door.
"I...am!!!" replied the stressed mother-to-be, as it was all she could do.
As the vixen gritted her teeth and pushed with all her might, the form of a slimy, baby girl was slowly emerging into the light. And, the priestess's paws were right there to catch her as she slid free.
"Praise the Goddess for granting us a miracle on this most blessed of days!" pronounced the priestess as she was lightning quick to snatch up and cradled the raw newborn in her arms.
"We are truly blessed!" cried out one of the audience members from outside with peering eyes upon the scene.
The cheers roared on-wards as the newborn was held up. The long umbilical cord was still attached between baby and mother as the slippery, naked creature randomly waggled it's legs and tail about. All the while, the most confident from the group was bringing in a fire heated, sterilized cutting tool to separate the umbilical cord from the baby. Well, as soon as the priestess would allow her to, that was.
As soon as her eyes could see clearly, Teela realized that she now had a body. The body of an infant. Try as she could, she couldn't part her soul with it's physical presence. The only thing that she could grasp was that this was really happening.
"This year is going to be prosperous!" cried out a voice from outside.
Teela tried to speak out as soon as she felt the need to take that first breath, while reaching about for something to grasp. Alas, the poorly developed vocal chords could only produce a kind of rambled moaning sound that many babies might have made. Her new hands were only taking a hold of thin air as she dangled from the priestess's hold, free to wiggle about as much as she wanted to.
"Everyone, upon the first day of Drec at the first moment of Renew, let us welcome our newest female to our colony!" projected the priestess as she turned around from inside the hut. That, alone, renewed the cheering among the eyewitnesses before the priestess handed baby Teela to To-Yoh.
There was an unheard sigh of relief as To-Yoh reclaimed her baby. "My miracle baby. The Gods gave you to me and I shall never let you go."
'I'm not your child. I am your Goddess. Hear my words. Oh, no! Not the nose! Not there!' mentally said Teela.
To-Yoh sniffed her baby like a drug addict sniffs a table. From one end to the other.
'The whiskers are the worst.' thought Teela as she shivered in protest to get the torture to stop. However, Teela's only vocalization was that of a tickle induced laugh.
It would only led to To-Yoh's mothering instinct's kicking in and going right to a tongue bath, in order to remove the slickness of the birthing process. In the process, she could hear her child laughing, uncontrollably.
Something about her tender skin, being cared for by the prickly tongue of this female made Teela notice that she wasn't alone, inside that newborn's skull.
There was another personality.
It was remaining relatively hidden from Teela. Yet, she knew that it was paying attention to To-Yoh and forming that first impression that locks a newborn to it's mother.
Teela also took notice that the sensation was nowhere near as bad as the previous sniffs and such. She was actually beginning to calm down after the first several licks.
"I will never let you go." exclaimed To-Yoh as she reached for a quilt to wrap baby Teela up in and proceeded to copy the priestess's former holding position.
After a few moments with mom, the priestess relinquished the baby into the care of the common public that awaited, outside of To-Yoh's hut. And, they passed the wiggling kit about to familiarize themselves with her. Why, the quilt was almost left in the care of the first Foxen, even under the priestess's advisement to not do so.
Teela did not like this set of being felt up, one bit. Especially, when she would lose that wiggle room as she was passed from the arms of one tribal member to another. Each one was giving her personal licks and sniffs as some type of scent identification. They all wanted to know her personal odors, so it seemed. And, all she could do was wiggle and look cute as she twitched at the contact of some tickling points.
All the while, the interior personality was blushing hard core and trying anything to express her true intentions. It just wasn't shining through, was all.
The rest of the evening was a bit calmer, after To-Yoh reclaimed baby, quilt and some piece of mind. She never let go of her baby, all throughout the night and tended to every cry or need with the utmost of attention.