Truths Revealed

Briar was up unusually early—at least for her. Normally she slept into the morning, well after Artorias got up for his first patrol, but as soon as Artorias was gone for his rounds she was awake and eagerly pacing back and forth, waiting for Lia to come help her with her usual morning routine as she always did. Occasionally she'd trip herself up on her own tail as she crossed in front of the fireplace again and again, pausing periodically at the window to just double check that Artorias hadn't doubled back for some reason. She had too much anxious energy to lay back down, but too many nerves to just go find Lia and cut to the chase. There had been a slow build up to this moment with a couple of weeks of trying to get pregnant with Artorias since her heat began, but this was the first day that she was really able to notice that the symptoms of that heat had begun to dissipate and some different symptoms had begun to take their place. She felt more sure now from her own guessing and intuition, but she needed her friend to confirm it for her.

Her ears perked when she finally heard the door open and she turned, seeing Lia's fire-marked frame step through the doorway. She smiled brightly and waved Lia in, meeting her half way as the door closed behind her. "Come in! Come in! I um... I need you to do something for me." She was nervous that she had guessed wrong, she was anxious and excited about being pregnant at all, but most of all she was just happy that this was all finally happening. She smiled as she settled on her haunches in front of Lia, her tail wagging with nervous excitement while her ears flicked back shyly. "Could you... Is there a way to tell if..." She laughed a little at herself, giving a shake of her antlered head as she tried to get over her own energy. It wasn't like Lia didn't already know what they were trying to do. Lia surely would have already guessed when she didn't ask her for contraceptives as she went into her heat season. "Can you tell if I'm pregnant yet?" she asked softly, as if she was sharing a secret with her dear friend, hardly able to sit still as she asked.

"Briar Carpathius"