Blackfeather Woods tolling on the iron bell

Who had been the last to be born, here? Averna and Astara? It had been some time since pups had graced Spiderlings' Glen (Maegi had left before the Ateneq brood, biological and adopted, had been whelped). She wondered how long it would be before it happened again.

For now, she sniffed at the walls of the den, trying to find deficiencies in the structure. It was entirely possible that pregnant women could come here; Maegi wouldn't be prone to turning them away, in most circumstances. Children were special, unsullied by the ugliness of life. The children born here would be spiderlings, if not in name then in spirit, and they deserved the best.

If Mou wanted children, she was unaware. He'd have to be verbally forthright with the desire, and even then. . .how? How did it happen? Maegi didn't know; she hadn't had the benefit of sex education. She'd have to be taught.

All she knew, when it came to pups, was that she wanted to be better than her own mother. Which, honestly, wasn't a very high bar, anyway.