"We haven't had a mystic in four generations," the older vark shouted to the gnoll, "fix it!" 

Dhryn instinctively pinned his ears back to try and block out some of the noise, but he could only do so much. 

The vark that was speaking looked to be roughly Dhryn's age, almost past his prime for a vark. His snout was large and wrinkled, and his skin was saturated with painted marks, dots, lines, and other icons, almost like a map. The most prominent of his markings was a thick dark line around his right hip partially obscured by his loincloth, almost circling his groin. His name was Aad, and his clan were known as the Vaansh - a small, tightly-knit, almost cult-like clan of vark characterized by pale jade skin, dark hair, and the use of black or brown skin dyes that contrasted sharply with their lighter skin tone. They worshipped the power of blood and elevated their elders and ancestors, believing that spiritual abilities were passed down from parent to child along family lines. As with most spiritual matters, the truth was more complicated, But Dhryn wasn't about to argue - especially not when he was being pressed to add more "jaadoo" to their tribe.

"In there," Aad gestured to the circular hut, "is my daughter Aaya. With her is my granddaughter Saav. Saav is to learn the ways of childbearing from her mother, she must be shown everything. Hide nothing from her."

Dhryn nodded, looking towards the hut. He spied another young vark behind the structure, gingerly lifting up the hide flap at its entrance to peek inside. "What about him?" the gnoll asked.

"That," the older vark growled, "is my moorkh of a son, Aatur, putting his snout where it doesn't belong! again!"

Aatur's head turned suddenly at the mention of his name, and his pointed ears flushed pink underneath his pallid skin. He was large and awkward, likely on the cusp of adolescence, but his body was still soft and lacking muscle. His head was shaved aside from a round patch near the top, which had grown long enough to be tightly braided and hung down to his neck. He had only one mark on his body, three bold vertical lines over his left breast, connected by a slanted horizontal line at the bottom.

"He's interested," Dhryn observed.

"He's foolish," Aad countered.

"He comes with me," Dhryn decided, "If he wants to learn, I will teach him."

"The boy isn't teachable," Aad snarled, "the blood knows I've tried."

"Then he will learn nothing," Dhryn countered, "But I won't deny him the opportunity."

Aad bared his tusks. "Fine," he relented, waving a hand dismissively, "Do as you wish."

Dhryn bared his own teeth in a pleased grin, and bowed his head in thanks before turning to Aatur who was still standing at the entrance to the hut. "I hope you heard all that."

Aatur nodded hesitantly. 

"Your father seems to think you're stupid," Dhryn challenged, putting a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. He could feel him tense up underneath his leathery palm. "We're going to prove him wrong. Saav is your sister's daughter, right? Did you see where she came from?"

"Aaya told me she came out of her," Aatur answered, "but I don't know. I just know that Aaya just kept growing bigger and bigger until one day Saav was there."

"So you didn't get to see her born?"

Aatur shook his head, and Dhryn nodded understandingly. The boy was going to learn today. He pushed him through the hide flap and followed closely behind.

The hut was dim inside, with only thin strands of light leaking in between the cracks in the wooden walls and through the roof around a large upright log in the middle of the building. There was a nude vark girl around Aatur's age leaning against the pillar, slouched over in exhaustion. She had small, dense breasts and a swollen belly that stuck almost straight out. Her body had a few markings on it, the most obvious of which was a jagged black line on the inside of her left arm. The sides of her head were clean-shaven, and the longer hair down the middle had been braided and pushed to one side. 

She looked up, and Dhryn could see her brow furrow even in the sparse light. "Thank the blood you're here," the figure strained, "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"

"Aaya's making a baby," came a small voice from the corner before Dhryn could respond. The figure was huddled in a coarsely-woven blanket with only their head sticking out, bald except for a round circle of dark hair on top, tied into a braid that was short and stiff enough to stick almost straight up. This toddler vark's face was unmarked by the paint that decorated the rest of their family, and Dhryn immediately wanted to see if their entire body was just as bare and unblemished.

"Is she?" Dhryn replied to the bundle of blankets with a grin. "Well that's good, because I'm here to make that baby into a shaman. You must be Saav." 

Saav nodded, her top-braid bobbing back and forth.

"Saav," Dhryn nodded back, "Aaya - Aatur is here to learn."

"How?" Aaya grunted, "Father said he would never-"

"Aad knows what's best for his family," Dhryn countered, "and if he wants a mystic in the clan, that means listening to me."

Aaya tried to reply but a contraction forced her to grit her teeth as she doubled over and gripped her hands against her knees. Dhryn watched the surge of energy slowly roll its way through her teenage body, forcing each of her muscles to clench in turn. He could also see that one of her tusks was chipped. Aatur stood, silently and awkwardly. 

"First," Dhryn commanded to the two younger vark, "We need to see how Aaya is doing." He walked towards the central pillar, urging Saav and Aatur to follow. Aaya was still hunched over, and the larger gnoll gently gripped her by the shoulders and eased her down until she was sitting with her back against the pillar. Aatur and Saav watched quietly, Aatur from behind the gnoll's left and Saav from much further away on the right, craning her neck with her blanket still wrapped around her as if she was afraid to move closer. "I see," Dhryn observed, nudging her legs apart. He could see the vague impression of the baby's head between her hips, making a bulge under her skin right above her groin. This baby was massive, and it probably wasn't going to come out in a hurry. 

"See what?" Aaya replied hesitantly.

"Feel right here," Dhryn grabbed Aaya's hand and moved it down just above her mound, "That's the baby's head! And if you feel down here . . ." The gnoll moved Aaya's hand further down, pushing her fingers between her thighs, "You might even be able to reach in and touch it!"

Aaya started to wriggle her fingers around in the gnoll's grip, slowly at first, and then more intensely between her legs. She was eager, Dhryn realized, just inexperienced and in need of a helping hand. So he pushed his fingers down alongside hers into the slippery birth canal, each digit fishing for the baby just out of view. "There we go," Dhryn encouraged, digging his fingers deeper and deeper, "just like that!" The baby was a ways from being born yet, Dhryn realized as he pulled his sticky fingers out, and he needed a way to pass the time and let Aaya stretch as her labour intensified. He turned to Saav, the much-younger vark still huddled in her blanket, and narrowed his eyes as he hatched a plan.

"Do you have a baby in your belly, too?" he asked, and descended on Saav with his clawed hands like a bird of prey, plucking the vark child from her cozy nest and lifting her up into the air, his one hand still coated in Aaya's fluids. Saav squealed and flailed, nearly kicking the gnoll in the face. "Let's see!," Dhryn grinned playfully, making a show out of turning the toddler this way and that. Her body was almost as smooth and unmarked as he hoped, with the exception of a large black tattoo across her back - a bold line tracing down her spine, and a smaller, wing-like line across the top of her left right shoulder. Her body was surprisingly firm and fit for a toddler, and the gnoll could feel the hard ribs under her skin as she giggled and thrashed in his grip, padded by a thin layer of muscle. "Hmm," the gnoll observed, planting the vark back on her bare feet, "it doesn't look like you do, but we'd better check closer! See what your momma's doing over there?" He pointed to Aaya, who still had one hand between her legs as she leaned against the central pillar of the hut, "Can you check inside yourself like that?"

"Umm," Saav replied, putting one hand to her lips as she stared at her mother Aaya, still leaning against the pillar with her legs spread and one hand digging between them She tried to imitate what she saw, lowering one hand between her legs and rubbing clumsily.

"Deeper," Dhryn insisted, putting his large, leathery hand over her small, rubbery one. He pushed in slightly, spreading her soft lower lips gently apart and rubbing the pad of his index finger gently along her clitoris. The vark gasped in response to the sudden stimulation. "Like that," the gnoll encouraged, leaning into her ear as the tot went weak at the knees. Saav tried to keep up with her own fingers but was largely overpowered by the larger male, and reached her hands back to try and hold herself up as Dhryn did the work between her legs. 

"Can I feel too?" Aatur asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Dhryn grinned toothily, "come here and help me check inside Saav first, then you can go help Aaya." He moved his hands out of the way, revealing the toddler's reddened genitals.

"In there?" Aatur asked.

Dhryn nodded. "That's where babies come from! Sometimes you have to dig for them, though!"

Aatur clearly wasn't the most experienced vark. He lowered himself to his knees and then fumbled his fingers between Saav's legs until one slipped inside. The little vark yelped and jumped, and she would have fallen over if Dhryn wasn't holding her up by the arms. 

"Very good!" Dhryn praised, "just like that. Keep digging, in and out, in and out!"

Saav protested, scrunching up her face and trying to squirm away.

"It's all sticky," Aatur grumbled, grabbing one of Saav's thighs to keep her steady, "does that mean there's a baby in there?"

"Maybe," Dhryn replied, "Why don't you go help your sister so you know what it feels like when there is a baby there?"

Aatur turned to Aaya, who had her legs tucked into her chest and her hand pressed tightly against her groin. 

"Can I see?" Aatur asked, swiveling on his knees.

Aaya nodded, straining slightly, then moved her hands under her knees to try and pull her legs up further into her budding chest. "Get as close as you want."

Aatur stared, tilted his head, and investigated with a single finger. "What's that?" he asked, looking first to Aaya and then to Dhryn, who was still busy molesting little Saav, "What's coming out from between her legs? Is that hair? Is that the baby?" He pushed another finger inside and then tried to pry his sister's birth canal wider for a better view. "Is this how babies are born?"

Aaya strained and pushed against her brother's fingers, and the mass inside her shifted slightly. 

"Wah!" Aatur exclaimed, stepping back, "It moved! Is it coming out?"

"Soon," Dhryn answered with a wry smile, "very soon! just keep helping, okay?"

With Aatur occupied and keeping an eye on his sister, Dhryn turned his attention back to Saav. "Well, little one," he started, "I've got good news, and bad news. The bad news is I don't think there's a baby in there just yet!" he patted the tot's toned midsection, his one finger still sticky from poking around inside her. "The good news," he continued, "is that we can change that with the help of my special shaman magic!"

"Really?" Saav brightened, then shrank back again and glanced at her mother. "But it looks like it hurts . . ."

Dhryn waved a hand dismissively. "It's worth it," he assured her, "here, let me show you how it works!" He pushed his loincloth aside and revealed his own private parts to the young vark and her older kin - a thick black sheath with a pink fleshy rod inside, the base covered in a tuft of dense pubic fur. "My magic staff," the gnoll explained, "when you rub it, it gets bigger. And when you rub it enough, magic seed comes out. That's what we're gonna use to turn your new brother or sister into a mystic like your grandfather wants!

Saav reached out to grip it in her tiny hands, rubbing up and down the shaft. "Like this?" she asked, "when does the magic come out? And can you give me a baby and still do the thing for grandpa?"

"I think I have enough magic for both," the gnoll answered with a smile, "But it's not enough to get the magic seed on you, it has to be inside for it to work!"

"Inside?" Saav repeated, looking down hesitantly.

"That's right," Dhryn insisted, "if you can't fit my magic staff in there, you'll never fit a whole baby!" He sat down on the ground near Aaya and Aatur, and pulled Saav over onto his lap. "Gently," he encouraged, pulling the little vark in close. Saav grabbed the gnoll's scruffy shoulder and used it to balance, while Dhryn aimed his member between the vark's thighs and rubbed the head of his member against her wet labia, teasing them open. "And then just push forward," he instructed, grabbing Saav's bottom and giving it a healthy squeeze. Saav lurched her hips forward instinctively and almost stumbled over the gnoll's lap, and Dhryn took the opportunity to roll his hips up, jamming the tip of his staff inside her. The little vark squealed in surprise, but Dhryn kept her firmly in place on his lap.

Saav's insides felt feverishly hot, and her tight frame made the gnoll feel like his bits were being squeezed in someone's fist. But that only made him more determined to push deeper inside until the vark was well and truly skewered on him. She tried to pull off, but Dhryn gently guided her bottom back down until his tip disappeared between her legs again. "Up and down," he reminded her, "then the magic comes out!"

While Saave was focused on the gnoll's magic staff, Dhryn turned his attention to the other two vark. Aatur was still clumsily fingering and trying to stretch Aaya out to get a better view of the baby, while Aaya continually tried to steer her brother's hands in the right direction between contractions. The head of the baby was just barely visible, with a teardrop-shaped mass of black hair slipping in and out of sight every time the mother vark pushed.

"See that?" Dhryn pointed, grabbing Saav's attention, "That's the baby!"

"That's it?" Saav replied, her eyes wide.

"Get up close," Dhryn ordered, keeping the varklet impaled on his shaft, "Want to grab the head?"

"No, bleh!" she protested, moving her arms away from the sticky-looking head, still half-buried in the vark teenager's cunt. 

The gnoll didn't give her a choice. He leaned in and pushed his tiny partner forward, using his other hand to steady himself against the other vark's toned buttocks. "Grab it," he insisted, leaning so close that the toddler's cheek was mashed against the baby's matted hair, "don't you want to be the first to meet the new mystic?"

"It's gross!" Saav fussed, "it's all sticky!"

"Can I grab it?" Aatur asked the gnoll. Dhryn nodded. The vark boy put his hand on the bulge of matted hair, hesitantly at first, then pushed into it firmly. "It's all wet. I can't get a grip!"

"Feel around," Dhryn encouraged, peering over Saav's shoulder, "see how big it is? Feel around the edges, try and push the skin back and help it come out more."

Aatur didn't need to be told twice. He was eager to see this new shaman, and started trying to dig into Aaya's birth canal like a badger digging a den.

"Ow!" Aaya protested, reaching down to swat Aatur away with the back of her hand.

"Gently," Dhryn reminded him, "You're trying to stretch the skin, not rip it." 

Aatur deflated slightly, and resumed using just a few fingers, spiralling around the baby's head each time it appeared.

Dhryn watched the pair for a few moments then returned his attention to Saav, pulling her gently back down into his lap. The little orc seemed torn, distracted by both the new and powerful sensations in her own body and by Aatur trying to dig out her new sibling. she whimpered each time Dhryn grabbed her hips and pulled, and eventually grabbed onto the gnoll's shoulders for stability and let him to most of the work thrusting his hips forward and back - not that there was much room to thrust into!

The gnoll could feel Saav's grip tighten and relax with each thrust, like she wasn't quite sure what to do with the rest of her body when Dhryn was hammering away at her cervix. He watched her face contort into pain, then slip into pleasure and back again as she tried to understand these new sensations. The gnoll gripped her backside tightly and groped her buttocks, locking her in place as his member visibly throbbed, the tip pulsing inside her.  He clenched his jaw to keep from biting into her shoulder.

Saav could clearly sense the change as well, as she looked at the gnoll and asked if the magic was going to come out now right before Dhryn assaulted her tiny womb with a flood of gnoll seed. The little vark drew a sharp breath and pulled away, just in time for the second rope of cum to splatter her belly and leg. The rest sputtered feebly over the gnoll's groin and dribbled uselessly to the ground. 

"Why did you pull away?" Dhryn growled, then quickly sighed and changed his approach. She was just a tot, he reminded himself, she didn't know any better. "That's not enough magic seed for a whole baby," he chastised, "it has to be inside, remember!"

Saav looked down at the off-white trail down her midsection. She touched it with her finger and dragged it around, giggling to herself. She was probably too overwhelmed and overstimulated to listen, Dhryn thought, so he turned his attention back to the two older vark.

Aaya's baby was more visible this time, the dark form of the baby's head remaining visible even when the mother vark stopped to catch her breath.

"I think it's stuck," Aatur mumbled, "it's not coming out any more."

Dhryn rose to his feet, wiping off his groin and shaking his hand off while Saav explored the new sensation of the gnoll's 'magic seed' coating her inside and out. "It's a big baby," he reminded them both, "it's not going to be easy. We still need to stretch the skin around the head so it can come out!"

"She's stretching so big," Aatur replied, his eyes darting between the gnoll and the emerging infant, "A whole baby is in there!"

"That's right," Dhryn nodded, "and it needs our help to leave the spirit world and enter our world here. Try pulling the skin back around the head to help it stretch."

 Aatur pushed both hands against Aaya's groin and pushed apart, aiming to peel the labia back around the baby's head like he was tearing into a stone-fruit. But before he could do any more damage he gnoll put his hands over the boy's and pushed his palms flat against Aaya's hips, pulling gently outwards. "Like this." 

Aaya grunted and writhed in discomfort, but the technique worked. The baby's head progressed further and further out, growing in size as it molded to the birth canal. It looked far too large to be coming out of a body so small. The more Aatur pressed and massaged the more Dhryn was sure something was going to give, but the baby continued its slow, methodical descent. Both mother and baby still needed time to adjust to each other, to stretch and soften before the birth could continue naturally. Dhryn still needed a way to distract the boy for a bit to let things happen on their own. So he slid his palms off Aatur's hands and up his arms, then gripped his sides like he was going to lift him off the ground. He could feel his claws digging into the boy's soft sides. He could feel the stiff peaks of his nipples, and even the irregular bumps on his flesh left behind by the caustic dye used to mark his chest. "Lots of padding on you," Dhryn teased, sliding his hands down to the boy's hips before moving his right hand lower down between the boy's legs and lightly squeezed his hairless manhood. Late bloomer, indeed, Dhryn thought. 

Aatur shivered at the gnoll's touch. "It's okay," Dhryn insisted, "just seeing if there's any 'magic' in your little staff yet!"

the vark boy's shaft was short and stout, hidden in layers of bare, wrinkled foreskin even when partially aroused. Dhryn fondled and groped, teasing and coaxing the rod with his palm and then pulling the foreskin back with his thumb and forefinger to expose the slippery olive-coloured flesh beneath. "It's getting bigger," Dhryn praised, "maybe you've got some magic seed in there after all!"

Aatur looked down at the strong, furry hand gripping his shaft, like he'd never seen such a thing before. 

"What," Dhryn teased, his nose almost tickling the boy's pointed ear, "you've never done this? Impossible!" The vark were a notoriously sexual people, and everything Dhryn knew about them suggested that most of them were trying to breed around the same time they were figuring out how to walk upright. 

"Never someone else," Aatur replied shakily, "sometimes . . . sometimes it gets big, and, and, and I sometimes I can stick it in one of the pack-beasts until it tickles . . ."

"His beevee is a cow," Saav piped up with a smile, the varklet having returned to the corner for her blanket.

"Choop'pii!" Aatur retorted, "she's lying!"

Dhryn only smiled, using his other hand to grip the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "My beevee is a zebra," he replied, doing his best to pronounce the new word and hoping he got the meaning right, "sometimes my beevee is a lioness. And sometimes I have to use my magic staff on my new friends, like you and your sister!"

"Are you gonna use your magic staff on me, too?" Aatur asked hesitantly. 

Dhryn gave Aatur's own 'staff' a healthy squeeze before replying. It still felt fairly soft, but Dhryn thought that might have been because the boy was particularly well-insulated. "We're going to see if yours works first," Dhryn answered, nodding to the baby's still-crowning head, "help me rub it and we'll see if we can help your new sibling with some magic seed, hmm?"

It wasn't a suggestion. Dhryn moved one hand quickly down to the base of Aatur's spine and lightly tapped the top of his buttocks. The vark yelped and instinctively thrust his hips forward, right into Aaya and her emerging baby. Aaya grunted in sudden discomfort, but the gnoll grinned toothily with approval. "That's right," he praised, "rub your staff against the head until all the magic comes out!" He held the young vark in place with his body, now using one hand to keep Aaya's legs spread and the other to help rub Aatur's manhood until it was properly stiff. He could feel it pulse between his palm and the baby's head, but it didn't feel much bigger than it was before - it seemed Aatur was unfortunately neither a shower nor a grower, but what he lacked in length he made up for in girth. He kept his hand in place, squishing the meaty member between his palm and the head, rubbing the boy's foreskin and pushing it around the sides of the head to coat it with slimy, slippery birth fluids. "Back and forth," Dhryn encouraged, seeing Aatur start to roll his hips, "just like with your beevee!"

"It's . . . starting to feel strange," Aatur commented after a few moments of awkward rubbing. His hands groped and grasped aimlessly, trying to hold in to both the gnoll and his sister, like he wasn't sure what to do with them. Dhryn thought the boy might have been leaking, but there was so much vernix and mucus and amniotic fluid mixing together it was honestly impossible to tell what was coming from where. He kept it up until Aatur started to shiver, and his knees started to shake. Even little Saav, who had been standing quietly in the corner, leaned over to see what was going on. 

"Whatever you're doing," Aaya strained, scrunching her body up, "Do it fast! Something's happeninnnnngg!"

Dhryn expected the baby's head to come shooting out, but instead the baby slipped out to its nose and just . . . stopped. It really was stuck, Dhryn realized. "Looks like we need a bit more magic to encourage the little one," he announced, then pushed Aaya's thigh to close her legs. "Aaya, you need to move," he commanded, "try a different position!"

The teenage vark whined but slowly rolled over onto her side, the baby's enormous head preventing her from closing her legs all the way. "This is really hard!" she protested, eventually heaving herself onto all fours and then grabbing onto the central pillar to pull herself about halfway up before she folded herself over trying to push. More of the baby's head slowly squeezed out, and both Dhryn and Aatur got a good look at the baby's visible features now that it was facing upwards - it had a mountainous, pale green forehead molded into a cone by the birth canal and capped by the thick black hair characteristic of the family line. Its round flat snout oozed an off-white mucus, its two eyes that were scrunched shut from all the pressure. Dhryn grabbed both sides of the baby's head and tried to pull, but the resistance was too great. Even with the varks' reputation for hardiness he didn't want to risk actually hurting the newborn by applying brute force. He'd need to think intelligently. 

Dhryn jabbed his claws into the back of Aaya's left thigh when the contraction subsided. "Ow!" Aaya grunted, and moved her left leg forward, planting her foot on the ground in a lunge. Dhryn hoped that would shift Aaya's hips enough to unlock whatever was stuck in there. Sure enough, the next time Aaya pushed, the rest of the baby's head slipped out, along with a glob of fluid that splattered to the ground. Dhryn got an eyeful of the baby's plush, glistening lips, and he got an idea. "We need to give the baby some of the magic seed too," he explained, "so it can continue its journey from the spirit world."

"Just hurry," Aaya grumbled, "please!"

Dhryn kneeled down behind Aaya and aimed his semi-erect staff at the baby's lips, smearing the tip and the leftover seed over them. The infant responded by opening its mouth and trying to root, and then the shaman shoved his member down the baby's throat as far as it would go.

"I can feel it moving," Aaya panted, "Whatever you're doing is working!"

"Are you giving the baby magic seed, too?" Saav asked, pointing her finger. 

Dhryn nodded, grabbing the back of the baby's sticky head with one hand to hold it still while he face-fucked it. "The seed has to be inside to work," he reminded her.

"Is the baby gonna get a baby?"

"No," Dhryn shook his head, "this is just to give it strength. It's hard work making the journey to our world from the spirit realm!" In reality the gnoll was more focused on getting off again after Saav ruined his orgasm earlier. This newborn wasn't about to be so rude. He used the baby's head as an object, pushing it to his groin with his hand so hard that he could feel his sac slamming against the baby's flat porcine snout with each thrust.

"It's really moving now!" Aaya announced, "you did it!"

"N-not yet," Dhryn replied, eyes closed in bliss as his staff slid over the unborn vark's tongue and against the back of its throat. He held the baby's head tight against his crotch as he came again, splattering the vark infant's gullet with the rest of his seed. He held the baby in place so long that if it wasn't connected to the umbilical cord still, Dhryn was sure he would have suffocated it. When he finally pulled away and let his staff pop out of the baby's mouth, he could see that one of the baby's shoulders had been dislodged by the violent back-and-forth action. 

"This is it," Dhryn motioned to Aatur, "Want to catch the new mystic?"

"I wanna!" Saav interrupted as Aatur shuffled up beside the gnoll.

"You can catch your own baby some day, remember?" Dhryn reminded her.

"How do I catch it?" Aatur asked, holding out his hands underneath Aaya's legs.

"Just pull it!" Aaya shouted before Dhryn could answer, "just get it out!"

Aatur did as he was told after getting a nod from the gnoll, grabbing the head of the baby and pulling straight out towards him, freeing the other shoulder before the rest of the baby burst out in a shower of amniotic fluid. Dhryn quickly helped the boy get a grip on the slippery, squirming newborn who immediately let out a cough as the gnoll's seed drained from its mouth and nose.

"Don't pull too far," Dhryn warned Aatur, "the cord. Now show everyone!" 

Aatur awkwardly held the slimy creature up in his arms. The baby was as big as Dhryn expected, with thick little arms and legs covered in a shimmering layer of streaky fluid. Its ears were pressed into the side of its head, and Dhryn could make out a set of slightly perky, darker-skinned nipples on the baby's otherwise round, featureless midsection. Before he could peer between the baby's legs, Saav grinned and pointed, almost close enough to touch.

"Daka Hu!" she announced.

"A boy," Aaya translated, now slumped over on her side and reclining against the pillar, exhausted but grinning with satisfaction. "Father said that a male mystic would be named Jaad, for the magic in his blood." 

Sure enough, Aatur lifted one of the baby's legs to reveal a slightly darker-skinned phallus perched above a round, wrinkled scrotum. He was just as big and healthy down there as he was everywhere else, Dhryn noted.

"Jaad," Dhryn repeated, "very fitting! Look how his little staff already swells with magic seed!" He reached down and stroked the baby's slimy member, feeling the warm rubbery skin throb and twitch in his grip. Jaad screeched in response, kicking out with his chubby, wrinkled feet. Dhryn turned his gaze to Saav, now an older sister, and the gnoll bared his teeth in a toothy grin. "Saav, why don't you come and get some of Jaad's magic seed as well? He still has a strong connection to the spirit world, and his magic will be very strong!" He jerked Jaad in Aatur's arms as he talked, and even Aatur looked impressed by how fast and how big Jaad's little staff grew.

Saav reached out to touch her new little brother, and Dhryn guided her hand to Jaad's groin, letting the big sister feel for herself. "He's warm," she observed, "and wet!"

"So are you," Dhryn countered, reaching between Saav's legs where his seed still stuck to the inside of her thighs. He reached to slowly relieve Aatur of the slimy, flailing newborn and held him facing Saav, and arm wrapped around his chest to keep him mostly in one spot. The turgid umbilical cord was almost pulled taut, digging into the fat under Jaad's armpit. "You've already got my seed down there," the gnoll reminded Saav, "so you'll need to get Jaad's magic seed inside you another way!" he held the baby up to Saav's mouth, gripping one of his legs to expose his private parts again. 

Saav tilted her head. "How?" she asked earnestly.

"Lick it," Dhryn answered, "rub it back and forth with your tongue, just like you did with your hands and your hips with me."

Saav drew back slightly. 

"Here, " the gnoll offered, "I'll clean it off for you." He rubbed Jaad's little staff again between his fingers, smearing the slime around and pulling back his foreskin to reveal a glistening, sensitive head. After a few moments he was stiff and erect as one of Aatur's fingers. "Now use your mouth," Dhryn insisted, up and down to make the magic seed come out, just like before."

Saav leaned in slowly, then drew her tongue across the head of Jaad's member and smacked her lips. "Tastes funny," she observed.

"Keep going," Dhryn commanded, jostling Jaad slightly to make his shaft bounce up and down.

Now familiar with the flavour, Saav leaned in again, shuffling closer to get more comfortable, and drew Jaad's staff into her mouth. Dhryn adjusted his grip to hold onto Jaad's bottom, and stealthily started curling one of his fingers between his buttocks. The newborn squealed and bucked his hips forward. "You're doing great," Dhryn praised, trying to make Saav think it was all her doing.

The big sister was encouraged and leaned in closer, slurping Jaad's little magic staff down to the base and back up again. Dhryn dug his finger into Jaad's rear, twisting deeper and deeper to try and reach the infant's prostate "That's right," he crooned, "get that magic out!"

Jaad wailed, kicking out with his feet, hitting Saav's shoulders with his heels before Saav suddenly recoiled, turning away with a retching sound. Jaad's little staff was throbbing in mid-air, flinging clear fluid onto the ground. It could have been slobber, Dhryn thought, or it could have been something else. He kept his finger inside Jaad's behind and pushed with the pad of his finger, making sure he milked the newborn for every last drop of whatever he had saved up in there.

Aaya moaned from behind them, and Aatur turned around in time to see the veiny placenta slide out into a sloppy heap on the ground.

"Good timing," Dhryn noted, "Jaad has finished his journey from the spirit realm. He dwells with us now." In his arms, the new arrival was much calmer, now thoroughly spent and exhausted. Dhryn gently withdrew his finger, wondering if anyone noticed. 

With that, Dhryn put Jaad down and wrapped him up - cord, placenta and all - in Saav's blanket and handed the bundle to the proud big sister. "He's heavy," she mentioned.

"Very," Dhryn agreed.

Aatur and Dhryn then set to work helping Aaya up and off the pillar, one under each of her arms. The five of them left the hut and returned to the light outside, where Aad was waiting. Aaya and Saav introduced the new arrival, and Aad nodded his thanks to the gnoll, who offered a subtle bow in gratitude. He wondered if Jaad really would grow up to to inherit some of the gnoll's spiritual abilities, or if the seed he planted in Saav would ever take root. Or if somehow Aaya caught a stray seed from Dhryn's pounding of Jaad before he was fully born - or even from Aatur's attempt at sowing his own seed inside her. Stranger still, perhaps Aatur's beevee would be the one to bear the tribe's next mystic some day.

Regardless of what would transpire, Dhryn's adventures called him ever onward, and he would be long gone by the time his actions today began to bear fruit.