Redsand Canyon (M) The needle.

She saw the way her laughter died, and she regretted saying anything. She was quick to assure the woman. “Not all of them… just a few, and some have come around since… Ruenna will be the first to tell you that Mereo was not originally designed to support civilians, only soldiers.” Her mind specifically drifted to Kallik in that moment. It was as she had told Towhee when they first met, he had just needed a little guidance on the roles that civilians could play. Tamar did a lovely job tidying things, and Malila was coming along as her apprentice. Her own role was quite obvious as well.
 
Everything felt better now. She pulled some of the scrub pine from the compartment she kept it, shaking some from the hide she stored them in so as to avoid drooling all over her supplies in the process of getting them to her patients. “Chew on these… it’ll help.” She explained to the woman. She saw every treatment as a way to also educate so future treatments could be done in faster times and everyone knew what was causing their aches. In her experience, it brought most ease.
 
The statement came and she hummed, and then her eyes widened. “That is… many.” She was clearly just a little shocked. She did not think she could survive hurling a dozen children out of her lady bits. She mentioned grandchildren and Aquene offered her a smile. “I am not meant to be a mother… at least not yet. I have far too many of my own issues to work through at the moment.” She brushed the question off. “I take herbs to suppress my heat… just in case I find myself succumbing to the season. It prevents pregnancy that I am not prepared for, and quite frankly one that would get me kicked out of Mereo.” She was not yet married, and that meant she was not yet allowed children, even if she did want them. “Perhaps in a season… or maybe two… when I’ll be ready, or if, is anyone’s guess.”