Blackfeather Woods into the living sea of waking dreams,

The priestess gestured downwards, toward the Web, and Maegi nodded in understanding. The girl hadn't returned underground since emerging; she had hidden, and met up with the adults as they fled. She wondered for a brief instant whether it would have been more sensible to remain with Relmyna.

She wouldn't have seen war, destruction. She wouldn't have seen Miraak die.

Relmyna took in the scent of her collar, smile fading, and Maegi shook her head once the priestess had drawn away again, sighing a little mournfully. "It's okay," she assured the woman, with a timid smile. "It doesn't hurt. It's just. . .there." She paused for a moment, swallowing thickly. "I think it's a punishment of some sort. From the gods. For not going with my brothers." She looked at Relmyna, a hollow expression too old for her childish face. "Is that stupid?  What do you think?"

She kept forgetting Relmyna had no speech. Before she could change her query into more of a statement, the woman had rolled back a little, showing Maegi her stomach. The girl's head tilted to one side, confused. Why. . .

"Is there something wrong?" Maegi asked, her lips drawing into a worried frown. "Are you hurt?"

Potema had nursed them so infrequently that the girl was wholly unfamiliar with the sight of a swollen, pregnant belly.