Hoshor Plains allotment

The girl tensed; Dutch was in a position to know this intimately, and he pressed his chin down just a little harder for a moment, following the give of her spine as she shrank. If she wanted to make herself small, Dutch was happy enough to reinforce this.

"Is that what you want?" he asked her, reading the uncertainty in her voice. "Ariadne will bear us as many children as we need. You will not be relied on for this thing."

He thought that others still might bring life to the glacier, but that would be their choice just as much as this would be hers. Perhaps a little moreso — the panther disliked the idea of her creating a family other than the one he had invited her into. Perhaps he would feel differently when she could speak firm her desires.