Hideaway Strath I’ll shoulder the load, and I’ll swallow the shame

Enough time had passed that Hemlock no longer felt the raw sense of loss of Ran, brief as her time in Hemlock's care had been. It was still a loss and she had suffered only for the grief to sputter into another swing of emotions as her heat hit her. That had ended, finally, thankfully as though she had not been upset at spending her time wound up in Lotte and Arturo's embrace she had felt so consumed by it all she could think of nothing else. The new, real fear was that Sirius had abandoned her in this time because of something - jealousy, perhaps, or maybe just a fear that things were changing and Hemlock did not know how to address it. 

Early in the morning when the word was still trapped in the murky distant light Hemlock had tracked one of @Arturo's trails, hoping to talk to him. She had debated the past few mornings as her stomach had soured from random moments and smells seemed more intense. Did she even want to bring this to him now, when she'd failed three children - Roarke, Ran, and Sirius? Maybe he would regret everything - regret her. A swell of emotion shook her and she let out a pained, gasping sound. Maybe she would circle back, abandon her plan. She didn't want to burden Arturo with this newest fiasco - not when so much more was happening in their Strath.