“No matter the race, in general a child would be extremely dependent on their parents for the first six months to a year of their lives. Some races matured faster, as for example goblin children could be quite self-sufficient as early as a year old, while others matured slower and were dependent on their parents for longer in return, like the human children who were often completely helpless until they reached four or five years of age or so.
For some races, a child might be far more independent at a much younger age, yet lacked the proper intelligence to perceive the world properly. Therian children were notorious for this, as many of them tended to be rather feral, almost like animals, for the early infancy period of their life, despite their rapid physical maturity. For them, a parent’s role was often relegated to that of a supervisory and protective figure, one who kept them from biting off more than they could chew.” - Miranda Cèbrúnæ, Psychologist, Soulweaver, and Head of the Sev-Galas Orphanage, circa 675 FP.
Elfriede had heard plenty of stories - and had witnessed more than a few cases herself through her magical perception - that related how caring for a child was a difficult, time-consuming, and draining ordeal on the parent. Fortunately, while pregnancy proved to be something that was grandly beautified by propaganda over the ages for her, childcare turned out to be the reverse.
Her little baby girl - that she and Reinhardt had named Erycea after some discussion - was not like a typical human child, which could generally only squirm helplessly wherever they were laid down to rest and cry for attention intermittently. Her child tended to stay awake for a few hours, then slept soundly for the rest of the day until she woke up again the next day, which easily allowed her to get a good night’s rest as well.
At first she had worried for the child - a foreign feeling that she rarely had for others, other than maybe her two old friends - but after she asked around, both Reinhardt and his adoptive father Hogarth, who had taken care of Reinhardt when he was but a toddler himself, as well as several other therian members of the Company confirmed for her that it was nothing unusual for therian children.
Where human children would sleep for a bit, then wake up and cry, then repeat the process at all times of the day, therian children seemed to conserve their energy for their wakeful period, then ran through it in one go before they slept straight to the next day. Elfriede herself took advantage of her child’s long sleeps to get herself back into shape as soon as she could.
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Pregnancy had left her feeling as if her body had not belonged to her for many months, and she wanted to scrub off every semblance of that feeling as soon as she could. With the sort of intense workout she did, she quickly regained the strength and flexibility that she had temporarily lost over those months of forced inactivity, and finally she smiled in contentment as she felt like her body truly became hers again.
Where a human child would mostly demand one’s attention and care all the time, though, her child needed attention of a different sort. Therian-blooded children, especially one whose therian blood was still thick like Erycea, tended to physically mature much faster than human children. Indeed, a couple days after the baby girl was born, she had already opened her eyes, her pupils a pretty shade of bluish-gray, a mix of her parents, or at least that was what Elfriede was told by the others. She couldn’t exactly tell colors apart after all.
At a mere week and a half old, the little baby girl had already begun to crawl around when she was awake. Between her active nature and how she was still incapable of sheathing her claws, it meant that whoever was taking care of her would end up with an armful of scratches from the little girl’s claws. Reinhardt had actually filed and dulled those claws to prevent the child from hurting themselves, though, so at least those scratches weren’t as bad as they could be.
That was something Elfriede appreciated, as she also had to breastfeed the child when Erycea was awake, which inadvertently meant that her breasts would also end up getting scratched up all over by the little girl. While Therian children could also be weaned early from breast milk - as early as the first couple of months of their life for some breeds - Elfriede allowed Erycea to keep breastfeeding for longer, since otherwise her breasts would feel swollen and painful.
When Erycea was a couple months old, the little girl had managed to move around far more quickly, if on all fours. It was a normal thing for therian children, as their instincts would generally cause them to learn to move on all fours first. From that point onwards, Elfriede felt less like she was taking care of a baby, and more like she was taking care of a cat instead, because her little girl definitely acted that way.
Therian children were somewhat feral in their infancy, where they lived primarily by instinct as their intelligence had yet to grow enough to temper it. Like all children, they were also horribly curious about everything, but unlike most children their age, they tend to be far more mobile, which meant that at times Elfriede or Reinhardt had to chase the little girl around the encampment when she slipped their watch.
The sight of either of them chasing after their child - who to many might have looked just like a large cat with fluffy white spotted fur and a positively luxurious looking tail - as she ran around the place merrily, be it chasing after some insects or rat, or just out of sheer curiosity, brought no small amount of mirth to the mercenaries who witnessed it.
Reinhardt always proved better at chasing down their child, since he was faster and stronger, and could easily catch up to the girl with several leaping bounds. On the other hand, Elfriede’s magical perception meant that she easily found Erycea on the times where the little girl tried to hide from them, as she could easily notice the girl’s presence regardless of which nook or cranny she hid herself in.
Fortunately, roughly when Erycea was a year old, her intellect developed enough that she understood more, which helped keep her escapades under control.