Redtail Rise strange things are happening to me,

This can absolutely be a read only! Or, if anyone has any medical trade interest, feel free to hop in!

The life within had begun to move. Sunday Morning marveled each time it occurred. Now, she hunted even less. It felt too great a risk. And her success rate had been quite low, what with the added weight slowing her down (never mind the fact that she was not used to it). Sunday knew she had buried some leftovers she had hunted before then, though, in a cache nearby within the highlands plains.

Drawing near to one of the few trees that had made it after the orange flowers ravaging, Sunday began to dig. A cramp pressed against her abdomen, but Sunday Morning had experienced such feelings before without trouble. So she pressed on, when a cramp seemed to seize her stomach. This pain was new, and great. Sunday stopped at once, loosing a whine. She remained very, very still while the feeling gripped her, gritting her teeth. She was in too much pain to move presently, all she could do was breathe.

The pain rippled through her in another wave. Sunday leaned against the tree for support, attempting to see through the stars as she rumbled a note of discontent.

Ashlar had recognized that Augur's other was pregnant, but he had tried not to hover. Just as he had with Arielle, he moved to be prepared, but he would allow her to come to him if there was anything she needed. It was his place to offer, but not to require.

When he saw her leaning, however, the bard was immediately concerned. It was possible she was just tired, but even that could be a sign of trouble. Was it her time yet? Avicus he'd known, but neither she nor Augur could tell him.

Are you okay? Do you need something? She wouldn't answer, but he watched her anxiously anyway. He didn't crowd, but moved to stand in front. He could help her if she could show him what was wrong. He didn't want to miss, or misunderstand, if she tried.

Sunday Morning knew she ought to turn around and return to the deeper parts of the Rise. Out here, she was more exposed and should danger come there would be precious little she could do about it while in this particular state. But it was that very state that rendered her immobile, suspended in between the seconds of the longest minute of her life. Sunday Morning began to pant as the feeling tore through her abdomen, inch by awful inch.

A voice surprised her. Sunday Morning looked wild-eyed toward the approaching Dark Man. She did not understand his words, but the look in his own gaze, his scent similar to her own... she understood that. Sunday Morning shook her head with a whine, limbs trembling from the effort it took to stand.

The feeling had passed, but it left her exhausted. Sunday Morning watched him, waiting in anticipation for any other pain. And when none came, she loosed a heavy sigh that carried her nerves. Sunday licked her chops and gestured toward the place she had felt the pain, and looked back to him. Other than what he had just seen, there was no visible evidence of the pains she had just endured. No blood, no tangible wounds. But she was left exhausted by it, trying to catch her breath.

In one of those labored breaths, Sunday seemed to remember some of herself then. She lowered her head before greeting Dark Man with a gentle touch of her nose to his chin in greeting and subservience.

He didn't understand. He knew that it would be harder to diagnose when the others couldn't communicate with him, but he hadn't realized what that meant when the issues weren't at all visible. She gestured, but he still couldn't tell what was wrong. Pain? Was it a stomach-ache, like Baba had said was common with pregnancy, or deeper pain?

Ashlar shifted uncertainly, suddenly intensely uncomfortable with presenting any kind of expertise. This was his role... but how did he perform it here?

I don't understand. I'm sorry. He wilted a bit, thinking of Augur, then of how he would perhaps be letting the both of them down here. Maybe it was nothing serious, but that was a gamble with pregnancy, and it wasn't something he should be relying on. The guilt was powerful.