Sky's Blessing

It was another one of those moments away from the branding that I strode with purpose to Asria's wagons. She greeted me excitedly .. asking if I had checked on her herd .. I told her indeed ... that it was from her bosk that I had come. Asria would reap the hard work of Trayu .. his herd had done well and there were many calves.

Now I was tired .. sore ... sweaty bloody and my own scent had taken on a life of its own. It was bad enough it could get up and walk around and have a conversation with me. But this needed to be done and I had let it go long enough .. mostly because of my own temper. Right now I was too tired to have a temper .. and at this point I had begun to figure it all out and realize that Asria's questions about the pregnant Year Keeper were most likely not about her .. "friend". Cana probably figured it out a hell of a lot quicker .. takes me a while especially if my temper is involved.

So .. I was not angry ... when I arrived at Asria's wagons. But I was not in the mood for a lot of small chit chat either. First thing that got cleared up was the misunderstanding that I had spoken of spanking Lei .. far from it ... I found Lei rarely in need of such behavior modification .. Asria on the other hand ...

She asked me .. if this was all about Serge. I told her .. I did not know ... had she been making babies with Serge? If so .. I supposed I could see it was about him ... indirectly.

Asria .. had a moment. One of those verbose moments under duress and defensive. How could I .. did I actually ... what could possess me ...ect. I waited for it to clear before I just stepped around it all .. as if it were a charging bosk ... and went right to the heart of the matter.

"Are you pregnant Asria?"

Sniff. "Yes"

I nodded. Then she started to cry.

figures

Somewhere in between the sniffing and weeping she asked me why I was upset and if it was such a bad thing. Another moment. I told her of course it was not a bad thing .. that it was a blessing from the Sky. Amused me Trayu had the last word .. so like him. I told her to be proud .. proud of the blood and spirit and bones of Tuchuk heritage that she carried in her belly. She hugged me .. cried on me.

fuck

She wanted to tell people. I told her to tell everyone .. including Trayu though I figured he all ready knew and was just waiting for us all to catch up.

There was no more thought in my head about any desire or need to talk to Asria further .. at least until she dried out a little. I told her to go rest .. and to tell Lei I was not the bad guy for making her mother cry.

And then I made my hasty escape.

But lingering around the edges of my thoughts was the real and horrific thought that I was responsible for a pregnant woman.

If Trayu was not dead I would kill him. In fact .. I might just use all the power of my Haruspex training and bring him back just long enough to kill him again. Might even do it more than once. Enough times I felt better .. at this point I figured it was going to be .. a lot ... of times.