It was a little later on when the Old One finally returned. It was almost as if she knew exactly when to show up, because shortly after she had, Truffle began to groan in pain. The Old One put a hand on Truffle's belly and nodded.
"It's time."
She was like a spooky medicine woman or something. She also kept a watchful eye on the present Stella, just as she had with me at the beginning with Berry. Stella had moved away on principle, giving me room to slide in and help support Truffle along with Ivory, holding her steady throughout each contraction. Vera was handling the formulaic magic which heated up the metal alchemy pot and Berry was standing by with the rags ready to help with the cleanup.
Pear was on standby with Toy, who were torn between watching Truffle and playing checkers.
And Prima… was just sitting down and watching.
Truffle, poor thing, was doing a terrible job at giving birth. I'm not calling her weak in any way, but she… did not have the best pain tolerance, I think. Ivory was in charge of her biting branch, which happened to be the same one both Berry and Lily used that the Old One had brought along when she arrived. It was originally an item kept by the Old One anyway, which was always good to know. Old One was doing her thing, pressing down on the top of Truffle's stomach and telling her to push. Truffle was biting hard, screaming and crying all at once.
There is no question childbirth is tough, especially for goblins.
Both Ivory and I encouraged her to breathe and push, something she clearly was tired of being told and having to do, but one particularly nasty contraction that sucked the very will out of her legs had done the job enough. She cried out as our daughter poked her hands out from within Truffle's vagina and began to extract itself the rest of the way. A dull plop and the baby landed on its head before falling to its side. I was worried for a moment, but there was no need. It lazily righted itself, and after a final push from truffle dumped the brain-matter looking placenta onto the ground, it stumbled right over to it and began to slowly munch on it.
It would be the only strong one inside of Truffle.
The Old One had stooped down to look at her. Prodding her with a finger before my newborn daughter focused on the old one's moving finger instead of eating. She moved her head perfectly following it until the Old One stopped and withdrew her finger, causing my daughter to lose interest and go back to slowly eating her old home.
"Hmm."
The Old One nodded.
"What is it?" I asked her.
"Strong seed." She said, as if that was a good enough reason and turned to leave the room.
I had helped Ivory set Truffle down to rest on the floor, and this time Berry had taken the role of cleaning her torn up and bloody birthing hole with the hot water and rag. I left Truffle there for a moment and chased after the Old One. I had a couple of questions I wanted her to answer if she would.
"What is it, human?"
"How long have you been overseeing strong ones being born?"
She looked up at me and flared the nostrils on her sharp nose.
"I may not be able to count them in moons, but I know I am many many years older than you. Back in the time when men were plentiful in our tribe, back before the Great Protector watched over us Bloodmaws, I have been doing this task."
"That's what I wanted to know. Tell me, please. Goblins… usually have more than one or two strong ones, don't they?"
She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Many, but not all are strong ones. To have even a single strong one is a blessing. Before the strong one born to Ugly-scar with your seed, the strongest one among these goblins is Guardian. This may change in time with the ones made from your big seed."
The old one was not particular in using the names I had given the girls of the tribe. But she was saying something to the ken of Diana being her generation's Prima.
"The weak ones die. A goblin must be strong to survive. Even Runt is strong. She was born a weak one, but became strong. Her strong ones however, were born strong, and will become much stronger as they grow."
"I get that. But how many do goblin woman usually have?"
"No more than six. But having even a single strong one is a great blessing, human. If there were one strong one born among six, then the strong one would be given the best while the weaker ones would fend for themselves. It is the goblin way."
"So… even if all these goblins I'm giving big seed to only have one or two at a time, you are saying it would be better, so long as they are strong ones?"
She nodded solemnly.
"I will not deny that your big seed is strong. While you are human and I do not trust you, I trust the results of your strong seed. If the goblins born are all strong ones from your big seed, that is enough for me to leave you to your task without interference."
She then continued walking away back into the depths of the cave. I returned to Truffle's side just in time for our daughter to have given up eating the placenta mass at about the quarter-way mark and went right for some milkies from her mama.
"What Husband… say... old one?" Truffle asked me slowly.
"I was asking about what she did. She says it is better to have one strong one than many who aren't. I… also agree with that. I hope you don't mind that you might have a smaller family than you expected. But at least they won't be weak ones."
"All goblins… want strong ones…" Truffle said, as if it was perfectly obvious she wasn't disappointed that she only had one daughter who the Old One said was Strong seed.
"Husband… give… strong one… name?"
She winced and growled simultaneously as Berry dabbed the hot wet rag against her torn birthing canal, sopping up the bloody residue from our daughter's emergence.
"I can't think of anything all that good." I told her openly. "The type of mushroom I loved eating the most was a white one with a round cap called a Button. But would she get mad at me if I named her after a mushroom? What if she's not as fond of them as you are?"
"Why like… Button mushroom… most?"
"Because it went well with everything. It tasted fine by itself, but if you mixed it in with any other food, it would gain the flavor of that food and taste better."
"Sounds like… tasty… mushroom."
Button mushrooms were the most common type that could be bought in a supermarket, and were often the type used on pizzas that I ate in my previous life. I only even learned their name in passing one day from someone who knew the type. To me, I never really differentiated mushrooms all that much. I knew of other types, like Shiitake, Enoki, or Portobello but rarely if ever did I try one and know what I was eating.
"Button…" Truffle said as she stroked our daughter who appeared to be every bit as aloof and lazy as her. Truffle then promptly slipped into a nap while Button suckled from her breast. Ivory never let go of Truffle's hand, and I already knew my newest daughter had two mothers and a father. She wouldn't be the only one. It would definitely be a properly blended family when Ivory's turn came.
"Husband, Prima belly next get fat or kick you many many!" Prima was in a wonderful mood after the delivery. Sarcasm wholly intended.
Vera had walked over to Button and poked her cheek.
"Next." She declared antagonistically, pressing her hand against her own belly.
Oh great. If that happened, the next piece of fire meat I'd be eating would be my own sausage.
"No! Me! Vera stupid! Husband stupid! Give fat belly already! Stupid! Stupid!"
Prima… really wanted to have a baby now.
Fuck. Button fell asleep already. She was absently sucking on Truffle's milkies one moment and was out cold the next. It seems laziness runs in that side of the family. That's okay, Truffle is definitely a my-pace kind of girl, and I have no doubt Button will be just like that, too. Conversely, Ivory is almost always busy doing something. I'm sure somehow those two and their daughters will offset each other in a good way. Like how an introvert occasionally needs an extrovert to bring them out of their shell. Also, I got to take a whiff of that blue water, and I'm pretty sure it's some kind of fermented beverage. In all likelihood Ivory is a functional alcoholic and Truffle is a recreational drug-user. Should I have expected anything different from those two?
I'll still care for them both either way.