Redsand Canyon lillies

She felt the usual twinge, the confusing cocktail of unpleasant emotions when Towhee came face to face with the fact she required permission to bear a litter now, if the opportunity arose. But that was the thing: there was no reason to expect it would, or that she would even want to take it.

Pushing it from her mind, Towhee said, Two litters will be the mark of a prosperous pack. I don’t know you yet but I can tell you that motherhood is gonna be an adventure. I have a whole mess of kids, a grandkid too, with more on the way this spring. There was a bittersweet look in her eye.

Remind me, what’s the law? Just, she said, curious. Perhaps morbidly curious.