Northstar Vale If we drop a stone in a pond, the ripples begin to move.

Dude, Towhee countered, don’t wish that kind of nonsense on my vag.

She cackled quietly, then the pair of them fell into a comfortably mutual silence. Towhee’s orange eyes returned to the water, which was now smooth as glass. When the breeze kicked up a few moments later and ruffled it again, the ripples expanded in perfect synchrony with her next contraction.

Towhee waded suddenly into the water, sloshing around to face Maxim on the bank. She then hesitated for half a second before sinking into the shallows. The cold tore a hiss from between her teeth, though Towhee soon adjusted and settled there.

You ever heard of a water birth? she quipped.