Duskfire Glacier [m] grace, this is fucking birmingham

She waited for him to say something else-- to say something comforting, or encouraging. He was the leader, right? Don't leaders always have an inspirational speech up their sleeve? 

The silence drew out, and Lane began to understand that he wasn't going to rescue her. He wasn't going to swoop in with promises, declarations, or reassurances. Granted, even if he had done so, she probably wouldn't have liked it-- she probably would have felt patronized, and she'd never had any patience for any of that. 

"I know about you," she blurted, breaking off their eye contact. "You want a strong, loyal woman by your side. To put down roots." They had a mutual acquaintance who styled herself a matchmaker, so it would be fairly obvious who had provided the information. "That's not me. None of that is me." Lane had told Kukutux as much back then, and she meant it. Even if Lane was.. you know.. even if there were kids, she meant it. 

So they would be bastards, then. You know, hypothetically. The hypothetical children would be bastards. Lane's brow wrinkled. Half of her-- the practical half-- wanted to set things straight and start planning, but the other half was screaming, it was only one time, you don't even know for sure yet! 

"Will they have a surname?" she spoke suddenly once more, abruptly shifting the topic. Her mind was whirling, and Lane could hardly keep up.