Jade Fern Grove sediments

The river had become her lifeblood.

Often, she would scavenge fish from the otters that came to play on the banks. Sometimes she would attempt to catch one herself, but her technique remained sloppy and her success low. Hunger wormed at her belly, and a strange burning sensation had taken root where her broken tooth still remained in her gum. It had opened a black hole in her stomach where her appetite once was. She knew she must eat, but it hurt.

A seasoned medic would have recognised the signs of infection, but Leifa was no healer. Her paws carried her east down a small tributary into a lush forest in search of something soft to eat, when a harsh noise stopped her in her tracks. "Cassian? Is that you?" It didn't sound much like the man. Ears on high alert, she wet her nose and began to investigate jadedly.

"Nope," She responded, as she waddled forward. 

Every day she walked, with hopes that it would bring her pregnancy to a close, and prompt labour. Her sides felt swollen beyond any repair, which made her dread what her figure would become after she'd given birth, but also made her more hopeful that she would have a full batch of children. 

Her nose quivered as she caught the scent of the wolf, and something odd about her breath. When she moved from the tall grasses, she caught sight of a yearling, and the scent became stronger. "Hey, uh; everything alright?" She asked. Bad breath could be a sign of disease, but it didn't smell like sickness to her- it smelled more like an infection.

Moving cat-like towards the rustle of leaves, it wasn't long before the noise revealed itself to be a very large, very round wolf. "Wow, you are-" recoiling visibly in surprise, she glanced over the woman's gargantuan figure. "You are so fat." Blunt as usual, Leifa had not bothered to ask about the birds and the bees before her departure. She only wondered what this stranger could've eaten to get so bloated. A whole elk, maybe?

The woman asked if she was alright and a wave of self-consciousness made her examine herself briefly. There was nothing visibly wrong, she thought, though her ribs had begun to show a little more than she'd like. "Just peachy, why'd you ask?" Had she seen something Leifa had missed?

For a moment, the girl was given an icy stare- but a moment later, Ameline tossed her head back and cackled, delighted. She sat down, and tried to wrap her tail around her feet- only to find she could no longer do so as her belly spilled so far forward, she had to spread her front legs around it. She embraced her own belly gently, fondly. "I am; I'm full of children, an' I'm gonna have 'em any day now," She said proudly. It did not occur to her that this would be *news* for the yearling. She'd merely written the statement off as yearling cheek. 

Ameline squinted as the girl spoke again, sniffing the air for her breath. She caught sight of what she thought was a dark spot in the girl's gums. "Huh, 'cauthe you got a funny thmell on your breath- no offenthe." She said. "Open up an' lemme have a look?"

Luckily for Leifa, her honesty was met with amusement. Lip quirking, she watched in mild disgust as the woman struggled to sit herself down, swearing that she felt the ground shake with each shift of her fat belly. Repulsion turned to confusion, and then disbelief as she explained that the reason she was so large was because of children.



After a moment of dumbfounded staring, the yearling had almost put two and two together. But before she had time to ask any questions, the woman accused her of having smelly breath! "Hey! Thats-" huffing into her paw, she recoiled at the stench. "That's mean." Taking full offense to her statement. She hadn't noticed it before and wondered what had caused it. The other offered to take a look inside, which was quite invasive - mind you. Dimly, she recognised she was only trying to help, though part of her was reluctant to have her body examined any further.

Ironic, since she had been doing exactly that. "Only if you tell me how in Hel they got in there," she wagered, waving a paw towards the woman's abdomen.

Oh. Oh.

The girl didn't know...She would learn soon enough- whether it was because someone told her, or because she saw other animals doing the deed. Ameline was amused by the girl's naivety, and merely shrugged when she was called mean. "You called me fat firtht," She pointed out blithely. 

The girl smelled her own breath, and seemed to agree- it was off. And not just 'I ate a dirty, thirty day old squirrel' off. She tried to make a bargain, but naturally, Ameline was inclined to toy with the girl's sense of humour for a moment, and grinned. "Of courthe." She agreed, good-naturedly, before a glint of wickedness sparkled in her eyes. She leaned forward, as if to impart a secret, and whispered the answer in a singsong voice. 

"I ate them becauthe they wouldn't do what I athked them to do. Now they're in my belly, waiting to come out."