Rising Sun Valley the power of voodoo (discovery)

A cool breeze cut through her wet fur and reminded her that she needed to be more careful in unknown settings. Part of her yearned to chart the marsh and find its safe paths and its treacherous depths, but another part of her held back. A normal mother-to-be might have thought of the well-being and health of her pups, but for them, Jinx spared little thought. If she held even remote joy for their existence, it wasn't something she was public about. Long ago, she accepted their fate, and even if their purpose had been less sinister, she would never have loved them. They were much better off without their negligent mother.

That wasn't to say she was foolhardy, though. She knew that the lives of the pups were important, but not for herself or for them. They weren't even important for Lecter, although Jinx would have spared no effort in pleasing him. Their destinies had been decided the moment she and the shaman had coupled and conceived them. For this reason, Jinx didn't slosh into the deadly waters of the marsh, and remained instead on the edge, pensive.

Perhaps if it had been different, and she hadn't been carrying babes of such importance, Pied would have found her half-frozen in the middle of the snow-covered marsh. Instead, she found Jinx lingering where the ground and ice had given way. Her approach wasn't subtle, so Jinx wasn't surprised when she spoke, but she was surprised that it was Pied, and that she was so far out."What are you doing here?" she wondered, putting aside the Ridge wolf's question for the moment as she turned, devoid of any malice she might have expressed before. There was no reason to hold Pied in disregard any longer.

Besides, any scorn Pied once spoke for her Gods was put aside as heathen folly. She need not be offended by it, for her rekindled piety told her that heathens would all die anyway. To argue their beliefs was wasted breath, and even though Pied was allegedly going to one day carry and birth a child of Atka's blessing, she nevertheless did not, Jinx thought, believe in the Bear Gods.

Had the question asked her been less clear, she might have answered something else, much like she had done with Fox before realizing she was pregnant. Pied left almost no room for confusion, however. "They are Lecter's," she responded, unable to keep a hint of pride that he was hers from her voice. "But they are of no consequence." By which she meant they would never see the light of day, but that meaning was cryptic and uncertain.