Ouroboros Spine am I settling up or settling down

Kukutux was quick to arrive. It was good to see her moving a bit more easily on that ankle. 

Lane smiled as the duck gave her a warm reception, and she joined Kukutux on the other side of the Moonglow border without hesitation once she was waved inside. 

Kukutux looked a bit different without her usual shawl-- no less beautiful, of course, but perhaps a little more.. casual? That along with the use of "sister," and Lane found herself moving forward to brush her cheek against the regal's shoulder, offering a more affectionate greeting than they had used in past meetings. It was those pregnancy hormones making her sappy, Lane would tell herself, beginning what was sure to be a long-standing habit of blaming the children for the emerging sentimentality in her personality. 

"Umm.. yeah," Lane affirmed hesitantly, still unable to quite reach the mentality in which she might consider herself "favored." 

"Things didn't quite go according to plan." She threw a look over her shoulder, gesturing to her pregnant belly. "On a related note, I met your friend Wintersbane..." Her words drifted off as she allowed that sink in, hoping that Kukutux would connect the dots without requiring Lane to spell it out for her.