Sunspire Mountains Professor Universe

The young Blackthorn fired back, speaking at such great length that it rattled Towhee’s eyeballs trying to keep up with the lipreading. She had a sharp tongue, this one, and couldn’t possibly be the offspring of Eljay and Maia. On second thought, the way she spun a yarn made her think of her brother’s softhearted mate and her dearly departed sister, Wraen.

Okay, Towhee said right around the topic change from food distribution to name dropping. Okay. But she couldn’t get a word in edgewise, it seemed. OKAY, she said simultaneously with the word “generation,” eyes bugging now. STOP. TALKING, she begged, wiping a paw down her face and pulling down the skin beneath her eyeballs.

Her other paw moved to rub at her temple for a moment as Towhee tried to rest her eyes. When she felt recovered, they reopened and narrowed shrewdly on the gray girl again, though there was a flicker of amusement in that burning orange gaze.

Am I getting fat? she asked in an entirely hopeful way, blinking down at her disappointingly trim flank and frowning.

There was no baby bump yet, though as she raised her eyes back to her small guest, Towhee’s gravid state made itself known in a fountain of vomit suddenly and forcefully deposited at the young woman’s feet.