Mount Apikuni she had nowhere else to go

""

Lecter's teeth flashed in a grim smile. "Sos is no friend to children, though I too am surprised that the Bear Goddess came to her, and was able to find entry." Perhaps it was through the shade of maternity, or perhaps through a darker conspiration; it was nigh until impossible, but not inconceivable, that Clarice's flighty ways had led her away from Sos for a time.

Atka had also spoken to Jinx; Lecter pondered this with a tensing in his jaw, before it softened as the pearlescent sylph drew closer. Extending his muzzle, he closed the space between their bodies with a slow step. Sacrifice. "It has been a time since Sos last demanded such blood," the shaman observed, and though his heart was pierced with the brief sting of wondering why he had not been chosen for the role of the one who was to bring death, it was immediately thrust aside by the soft flood of Jinx's scent.

And he knew then, and his heart brightened. "You are with child, Jinx," Lecter murmured gently, seeking the proud fire of her eyes with his own. He could not keep the brief pride from his gaze, nor the question that his lips next posed: "Did you intend to tell me?"

It was not an inquiry made out of annoyance or anger; Jinx had proven herself fierce and mature beyond her years, but she remained youthful, and gravidity was not something to be taken lightly. And so he stood in the blessed shadow of his lover gratefully, not yet daring himself to think of the tiny lives she carried in the as-of-yet uncurved swell of her belly.