Sun Mote Copse glitter and gold

“Refreshing” was the perfect word for it. “Rejuvenating” suited too. Meerkat mused as she ate. Her thoughts might be silent but she devoured the meat with noisy gusto, complete with happy growling whenever she tore a particularly juicy chunk from the carcass.

You have, Meerkat said simply, not too busy consuming the food to forget the woman who’d brought it to her. Woo, she exclaimed breathily, then explained, The bairns are kicking hard. Sometimes it knocks the wind out of me a little bit. On that note…

But before she continued, Meerkat was forced to sit up straight for a moment. She breathed through the flurry of movement in her midsection, then belched abruptly and laughed, cheeks warm.

Shew, pardon me! I guess it was bairns and bubbles, she said, hiding another burp behind an upraised paw. Anyway, I was going to ask you if you’d ever thought of building a family of your own: finding a husband and having children?