The bay looked up at Mercury when she spoke. She seemed a bit surprised by the question, making Mercury thoroughly confused. Was this normal? She felt as if she were largely missing out on something obvious.

”A colt?” she asked. ”Are you pregnant or something?” Mercury gazed at the approaching mare, the connection going completely over her head. She knew that mothers carried babies until they were big enough to survive on the ground, but that was literally the extent of her knowledge on the subject. It had never occurred to the mare what exactly ‘carrying’ meant.

”I suspect I am,” she said to answer the other mare’s question. ”My stomach has filled out strangely and I’ve found white hairs in my coat. No one else has white hairs, but almost everyone has the stomach problem.” She looked away, irritated that she couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. ”I feel fine, though, aside from heavy,” she added. ”I’m not dizzy or anything.”

Her tail flicked, but Mercury did her best to hide her nerves. She wanted to paw at the ground or roll herself back to her usual shape, but that would give away how frightened she was, and no one could know she was frightened. Felony would learn she was frightened and think she was even weaker; surely he thought she was pathetic already. She didn’t need to give him any more evidence.

”Have you had this before, then? Do you know what’s going on?” Mercury asked, keeping a firm hold on her voice so that it wouldn’t shake. Perhaps this was nothing; perhaps Mercury had been worrying for no reason at all. She hoped the arabian mare could confirm that Mercury was not, in fact, going to die.