Blacktail Deer Plateau with heavy heart

As predicted, Saena's ears tilted back toward her scalp and she winced. "You chose being sick and being off-balance just to have pups? That sounds... awful," she said, feeling her insides squirm a little at the idea. She was still too self-centered and young to even tolerate the idea of being forcibly ill and uncomfortable just to have kids, a thought that would likely change in time. "Why would it hurt? Don't they just... Pop out?"

The birds and the bees wasn't a discussion Saena had ever really had with anyone. She instinctively knew how babies were made and where they came from, but always imagined they would pop out painlessly in the middle of the night. She disliked the thought of pain even more, and was now finding it hard to believe that any female would willingly have children. She was even going so far as to wonder why a male would put his mate through such a thing, but stopped her train of thought before it got too radical.

There had to be a good reason to suffer, she thought, and that prompted Saena's next question: "Is it really worth all that?" She didn't think it was, but only because her parents barring Peregrine hadn't seemed very thrilled with their existence. Her true mother had even died... and with this thought, a fresh wave of horror and concern swept over Saena. "You won't be hurt like my mom was, will you?"