Hideaway Strath [m] no shortage of sordid, no protest from me

The Saluki giggled and shifted her head away when Vein's blackberry nose poked into the pink flesh of her wisp-tangled ear, twisting langorously to stretch her spine as a paw waved at him playfully. A soft, yawning growl escaped the sighthound as she batted at her mate teasingly in return. She was too tired for much fun, soon curling into the wide, soft expanse of his dirtied snowpelt. 

A soft trill of laughter escaped her. "Ye needn't vorry so soon, love. Zere's nae telling if I'm even pregnant yet," the midwife reminded him with gentle humor. Then, her grin faded a bit and her silvercoin optics dropped nervously. "If I can get pregnant at all anymore.." the once-mother added more quietly after a moment, gaze still averted with something akin to shame. Maybe she should have told him there was a possibility that she was barren before they chose to tie the knot. She hadn't considered it before but what if it changed things for him? Suppose he wanted a wife guaranteed to bear him children?

"I 'ad a litter once, long ago -- my first. I lost several of ze pups before ze delivery. An' I vas so veak an' injured vhen I delivered my daughter zat I almost died birthing 'er," the medic admitted. The circumstances had been far different then, though. She'd been enslaved, practically, and trapped with an abusive mate. Starved and forced to train with the other expecting mothers in the hopes that it would make their unborn pups stronger -- more likely to be boys. "But I vas a prisoner at ze time." 

"Maybe things could be different zis time.." She was a sub-leader of sorts now, no one would be able to harm her children and get away with it. She'd tear them apart first. She would be in good health, having access to food, water, and medical care. No one would force her to do anything that might harm her unborn children as Aliroth had. The seelie had Vein now too, he wouldn't let anything happen to her and she could think of no better partner to assist her throughout her pregnancy and following labor. 

She really wanted to believe things could be different with this litter -- if they conceived. That things would be okay.