So they settled back into home life. Flame Song hunted in preparation for the oncoming winter while Aidan kept things up at home. Before long Flame’s pregnancy started to show, and by the time winter had passed into spring she was waddling awkwardly even in firecat form. Aidan insisted that she stop hunting as often, and though she protested a bit, she didn’t mind being babied too much. Aidan even got some traps from Coppertop and set up a trap line so that he could provide food now that Flame was no longer hunting much.

Spring passed slowly, the snow was still on the ground come May, but as it began to turn into summer the weather got steadily warmer. Flame Song also got steadily more irritable. “I know this is going to be worth it, baby, but your nine months are up now. Time to come out.” It was two full weeks into June before at last the day arrived.

Aidan was in the kitchen, skinning a rabbit for dinner. Generally Flame Song handled things like that for the simple reason that she made less of a mess of them. Aidan had insisted on doing it himself though, and Flame was feeling too tired to argue with him. She was in firecat form, lounging on a heap of cushions in the front room. Aidan had just got past the really tricky part of getting the skin itself off, and was cutting the rabbit into sections when he heard her call “Um, Aidan? Could you come in here?” He continued working, asking, “Why, what’s up?”

“I think that the baby is coming.”

“What! Ow!” Sucking on a sliced thumb, Aidan dashed into the room. “It is? What can I do? Are you all right?”

Flame Song sucked in her breath in a gasp of pain, and then relaxed. “Yes, I’m just fine. No, I don’t need you to do anything. I want you here for moral support. This may take a while though, so you might,” she paused for another indrawn gasp, “want to go do something about that thumb and about the rabbit before you come back.”

“I, yes, I, I’ll go…” He walked dazedly back into the kitchen. A few minutes later he emerged with a bandage on his thumb. “Ok, I’m here, I… er…”

“It’s all right, Aidan. You’re not the one this is hurting. But don’t worry too much, this is a lot easier for firecats than it is for humans.”

“I think I’d have an easier time if it was me suffering.”

“Don’t worry so,” gasp, “much. Just sit by me. I’d ask you to hold my hand, if I had one right now.”

Things did indeed go more quickly and easily than Aidan had expected. In a little over an hour Flame Song was licking off a little ball of fluff. She cleaned the baby all over then told Aidan, “Go on now, pick her up. I’d do it, but I’m too tired to shift any time soon.”

Gingerly Aidan picked up the fuzzy baby and examined it. It was a little girl, pretty much like a human infant in proportions and general appearance, but covered in fine white fur and with a distinctly feline face. Her tiny nose was pink and she had rather kittenish ears. Her eyes were open and they were pure emerald green. Her fur was still somewhat damp and she was waving her arms about. He turned her over to check, and sure enough there was a pair of funny-looking featherless wings sprouting from her back. He cradled her closer then and just stared. Certainly she was a strange looking infant, but she seemed absolutely perfect. And there was no sign of… of the vampiric nature coming through. There was nothing wrong with her at all. Every detail was there. And she was his! All at once he was caught up in the wonder of it. She was his own child, a part of him and a part of Flame Song. A living symbol of their love, a new part of their lives. A miracle, a spark of light lit in a very dark place, but bright all the same.

“How come she doesn’t have any stripes?” Aidan asked.

“Firecat cubs are born white. Their stripes come in when they’re about seven or eight. Her hair will probably go orange about the same time. Either that, or striped, which would be interesting.” She gave him an impish smile.

He smiled back and sat down next to Flame Song. “What shall we name her?”

“Well, the firecat way is to choose a cub name, a nickname until she is old enough to choose her own. But if you want to name her a human name, I have no objection.”

“If you were going to give her a cub name, what would it be?”

“Littlespark, I think.”

“Why?”

“Because she is a little spark that was kindled amid a very great dark, and against all odds, but here she is.” She smiled up at Aidan with a look of tired contentment on her feline face.

“Littlespark. I could get used to it. And oddly enough, that’s what I was just thinking.” The baby closed her eyes and appeared to fall sleep. Aidan slowly rocked the tiny girl back and forth as he considered the name.

“Then let’s call her Littlespark Rhiannon,” said Flame.

“Rhiannon? You don’t have to…”

“No, but since she’s a part of both of us, her name should be too, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I guess you’re right.” He smiled again. He just couldn’t seem to stop.

Flame Song yawned. “She seems to be asleep already. That sounds like a good idea to me.” Slowly she got to her feet and padded into the bedroom. Aidan followed, carrying Littlespark. Flame plopped down on the low bed strewn with cushions. Aidan undressed and lay down beside her, placing Littlespark between them. Soon all three were fast asleep.

In the coming days Littlespark grew quickly. She learned to crawl within a few weeks and could soon climb over the low cushion barriers that they had used to keep her in place. The practical necessities of raising a child soon became an everyday part of their lives. Breakables had to be out of reach, as well as dangerous objects. Aidan grumbled a bit, but packed away his huge collection of daggers readily enough. Sleep patterns were thrown out by midnight wails, and daytime was filled with more feeding, diaper changing and everything else that comes with babies.

Flame Song explained Littlespark’s fast development as a part of her firecat heritage. “The northern tundra is a harsh place. We have to grow up fast in order to survive. I was considered adult enough to find my name song when I was only about twelve. She’ll probably go along a bit slower than that, but she’ll most likely be grown by the time she’s fifteen or so.”