Stone Circle You are proof that love before first sight is possible

Nanook felt kind of like the moon right now, incredibly round, but nowhere near as pretty. The skin around her abdomen had swollen to what felt like astronomical widths (though in reality, her pregnancy would have looked certainly average to any passerby), and though her waist had trimmed a little, she hardly noticed. Patrolling was still increasingly difficult. More cumbersome than anything, with the added weight and girth. She looked very much forward to the day when the kids would be able to trot their way around the perimeters with her on their own four or eight or sixteen legs (divided between the lot of them, of course).

This morning found her well away from the borders, and nearer the stream, gnawing at a scored up piece of fallen tree. The surface etched with previous marks, all similar to the one she made now -- 56 in total. Her current work would click that number up to 57, which meant if her calculations were correct, and if she was just like any of the other females she'd tracked the pregnancies of over the years, then she'd be popping any day.

Oh joy. As much as she wanted to meet her kids and get back to moving like something less like a buffalo, she wasn't looking forward to these next few days it would take for her to get there.