Blackbeak Bluff I'll admit I tripped on your waistline

She shouted. He flinched, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I know — I do," he agreed. Pained sincerity in his quiet tone. But drowning, he thought after, would have been a far more merciful fate and he did not deserve that mercy.

He did not so much as look up to her until she spoke again. For a fleeting moment, his listless expression came alive in surprise. He swallowed and chewed his cheek. "Err..." He was not sure how to correct her. He doubted himself; how could he not when he was so often wrong. But he pressed on after searching for the words and not really finding any impressive ones.

"I think you will..." he said. "I mean we... did that... and you were in season. That's what happens after... usually. Your scent has changed. Smells like other pregnant females I've been around."