Elves reproduce slowly. In fact it takes two full turns for an elfin pregnancy to come to term. One thing this means is that no two elves born of the same mother and father could ever be closer than two turns. The mother would never recognize immediately upon giving birth, not even if the cub were to die in that same moment. Elven pregnancy progresses in this manner: Recognition, consumation, the first year of pregnancy in which there are almost no noticable changes to a body (a 'glow' is about all the difference there is), the second year of the pregnancy advances much like a normal human pregnancy stretched to three 'quadmesters'.

        It is normal for elfin pairs to have children hundreds of turns apart. What is not normal is for elves to have children closer together than 50 turns, they rarely have children that 'grow up' together. For elves agemates of one cub may span one hundred turns. Those who were young adults at their birth and those who were born while they themselves were a young adult. This being said it is that older agemates are not agemates with the youngest but this is normal too. Clearbrook had a cub we never hear about, a daughter more than a hundred turns before Scouter was born. Strongbow and Moonshade had a cub named Crescent a couple hundred turns before Dart was born. Goodtree had a cub named Wellspeed, born when Goodtree was yet a young chieftess, a great many turns before she gave birth to Mantricker. These are just a small number of the examples of this 'standard' elven sibling situation. We have however very very few that have siblings growing up together. Two examples of siblings growing up together are presented here with the special circumstance explainations for both.

        Twins: In the 10,000 years or so since the birth of Timmorn there have been 6 sets of twins noted in the books, I can't name all of them but one set was Owl and Greywolf, another set were females born of a rockshaper, and the third I can name are Suntop and Ember. None of the elves in either the wolfriders or the SunFolk had ever heard or experienced multiple births, and since Savah founded Sorrow's End it can be assumed it never happened there before Leetah and Cutter's twins. The wolfriders however have had it happen 7 times in the previous 10,000 years so it is a very rare thing. I find no mention of more than two cubs from a single birth.

        Rainsong's cubs: She gave birth to three cubs (Newstar, Wing, and Mender) within a dozen years, a feat unique among elves. Her father was Rain, her brother Pike. Rain was a healer, the last wolfrider with the magic before Mender (his grandson). He experimented with forced recognition and Pike was the outcome. Rainsong possessed no outward signs of the healing magics such as her father and son had, but it is said that her magic was birthing cubs. The healing magics passed on to her by her father and through her to Mender manifested within Rainsong as the ability to give birth frequently. However it is unknown why she had no more cubs after Mender. It is suggested that with three living cubs, each born through recognition, she never recognized again.

        We however do not have a Rainsong, and we do not have twins.

        The main reason behind this long length of time between sibling births is in two parts. The first part is the exceptionally long lives of elves, this is especially true for pure blood elves who do not experience the mortality of animal blooded elves. The second part of the reason is that it is extremely rare and unusual for an elf to recognize twice so close together.

        One may Recognize more than once (though NEVER while pregnant, and never more than one occurrence simultaneously; also, it is highly unlikely that a second Recognition will occur within any short [decade] length of time of the first), if a second ever happens at all.

        Last but not least, the growth from baby to adult occurs over approximately 16 to 25 years. Slower than the mental maturation, or even the development of motor skills. An elven child will send at birth, but for the first 6 to 8 months they are emotions, simple wants, needs, and the beginning words that rule the child's life. Mother, father, siblings, eat, sleep, perhaps tribemates names.. It is at about 10 months old they begin walking and as their sending vocabulary increases they will begin to speak some of the easier words. Speach progresses quickly as the mind is quick and absorbs imformation developing rapidly. By the age of 14 or 15 months the child is running about and chattering with others. Nimble, and more surefooted than human would be at the same developmental stage.

        It will take approximately 12 to 14 years for a female child to reach an age where the onset of puberty occurs, and for male children this is somewhere nearer 14 to 16. Once this stage has been reached the body quickly grows to adult stature, though it may take another 10 years or so to fill out the shape the elf will wear for the next many hundreds of years. This filling out includes the gaining of weight to fill out the form, the gaining of muscle mass, the fullness of breast and hip and the like. Imagine a Dewshine like teenager maturing into a more Clearbrook like figure.