Sun Mote Copse How can we live in charcoal towns?

Towhee didn't hear Figment's heartfelt, "I'm here," or Eljay's equally sincere, "I'm sorry." She didn't know anyone was speaking at all until her current position allowed her to feel the brush of Fen's mouth and the telltale vibration of her throat. The mercenary leaned back just in time to catch her daughter's question. She looked into Fennec's sightless eyes, then caught Fig's for a moment before drawing back even more to look into both their faces. She continued to ignore the two others still lurking in the background.

"If I was pregnant, I would be showing symptoms by now. Based on the timeline, Rave could tell that I wasn't carrying. This happened last year: I..." Towhee paused, wondering if this was too much information for her kids. But this was a serious matter of her heart, so she swallowed and finished her sentence. "...bred, or tried to, but nothing came of it. Same goes for this year." A lump lodged in her throat then and she couldn't continue, which was probably for the best. Perhaps Fig and Fen would have other questions and she would do her best to answer them.