--MOONS OF JUPITER--

Deep in the confines of the mangroves in a fair-sized, nearly-covered dip in the secure roots was where instinct had driven her, and in silence she had followed it, working painstakingly as if she were the drone ant serving the queen that was instinct. The 'hidden sanctuary' of Laxago had turned out to be false, as it seemed that the lass had parted ways with her mate and had in fact left the territory as far as Deteste knew. He assumed it to be temporary, but permanent or not it had brought up a long-present problem for Jupiter and Marvel. It had been one that she'd fretted over, having been unable to find a place she liked, and the irony was that in the end her body did it naturally for her, leading her to the one small area she hadn't looked--at the spot snugly fit into the 'Y' of the splitting river where the land's foliage was the most tightly-packed.



The path she'd pushed through it was less than conspicuous, but with the fast recovery rate of the territory it would be back to normal within a week or so, but the Sol knew that she was not so lucky. Her life would forever be changed--by both the pups in her womb and the paranoia that haunted her mind.



So many things to do, so many measures to take, but damn it, she was pregnant and there had been nothing that she could have changed about that except in this moment. It had been looming over her like a giant, casting a shadow of dread and pitch, and with the very questioning thought of where it was it began.



The first convulsion ripped down her body and a whimper of pain escaped her lips. Immediately her mouth parted and she sent out a call that rang through the territory.



"M-Mercury! Mar-" Her cry had begun relatively calm, but in mid-name another labor-induced spasm thundered through her body. The final calling burst without restraint from her, louder and higher than the first. "MARVEL!"