Blacktail Deer Plateau and all god's people find their place

The stranger gave with a puzzlingly vague response. The south? No, no, Lane needed to go back north. Well, not now, but eventually. 

She added something about the south being easier, and Lane realized she might be trying to suggest that the expecting mother remain south of the mountains permanently, given her obvious condition. She wasn't wrong. The mountains and the northern territories were harsh, but with them came the added bonus that any children raised there would certainly be tough. 

"I--" Lane opened her mouth to rephrase her original question, intending to provide a bit more information on the exact kind of route she was seeking. However, the stranger chose that moment to voice her blunt observation.

"Uh.. yeah," Lane confirmed. Yeah, she was pregnant, what about it? On one paw, Lane was relieved that the woman seemed to be warming up to the idea of a conversation, but on the other, this wasn't really Lane's preferred topic. Particularly with a stranger. 

"Yeah, that's a big reason why I'm not really trying to climb back up that thing, when I get ready to go home." Again, she gestured toward The Wall looming in the distance behind her. She hoped that might be enough to redirect the conversation back to land-mapping.