Pebai watched Frux pace with a patience that really wasn't like her, normally. Then again, seeing Frux actually this agitated wasn't really normal, either, so perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised that she wasn't acting like herself, either. Her response to his usual calm was with energy; now, her response to his stress was to relax and let him tell her about it.

Then again, pregnancy might just be calming her. It certainly did make her tire more easily, as however many offspring she carried-- she couldn't talk to them yet, they were still too young-- pulled at her energy. She'd been eating much more than usual, too, though she didn't really seem to be getting much fatter.... Perhaps by the time she was actually ready to give birth-- a frightening idea, but an exciting one, as well-- she would look fatter. It hadn't been all that long, after all.

But her thoughts were wandering. Frux turned again, started pacing back the way he'd come again, crossing the room over and over again.

Forge Eden, at least, wasn't acting strangely. Unless napping was considered "acting strangely". Somehow, he was managing to sleep through Frux's tirade-- which, actually, wasn't particularly loud. Frux just wasn't a particularly loud person, even when angry or upset.

It had been years since she'd seen him like this. Not since that day, the one right after the Flurry's results had hatched and Mico Ramaya turned out not to be destined to return to Avengaea with his father, and in her childlike innocence, she had just said whatever came to mind on the matter. She had been only two, at the time, after all.

He hadn't even been this worked up when everyone had landed and reconvened after the massive flight, and he'd learned that she, Brio, Ontellonji, and his own daughter-- the one he'd actually sired-- had flown in it. Then, actually, he'd been oddly calm, even withdrawn, especially after Hansha had shied away from telling him who had caught her. She'd been worried about him, then, certainly, and she'd done what she could to be available for him, then, though he hadn't come to her. Not that she'd really expected him to.

And now, he had come to her-- she had no idea why, but she guessed that he simply had to tell someone, and he didn't know who else to come to-- and this time she wasn't even sure what to do or say. Maybe, she thought, she wouldn't have known what to do or say then, either, since she only had daydreams in which to try it. So, for now, she just let him pace, and talk when he wanted to talk. It was actually a little disturbing, seeing the person one adored the most, respected the most, who had always been the strong and supportive one, suddenly find himself without support.

"I don't know why they went," he was saying. "Flights, frenzies, flurries... they're not at all what they're cracked up to be!"

Pebai had gathered that the Flurry, the very one he had sired his two sons and one daughter at seven years ago, was being held again. And two of his children, his sons, had flown at it. For some reason, this was even more disturbing to him than his daughter flying at the school. Or maybe, she mused to herself, it's that all three of his children are now having children. Even three of us who he actually raised are having children. We're growing up, and he's hardly aged a bit.

And the symmetry of it being the very same setting, under the very same name, when he'd had to give them up... that made sense, too.

"They could have settled down with good mates," Frux continued, oblivious to her thoughts, sounding as much like a disappointed father as an unhappy young adult. "They could have had legitimate children, raised them themselves. But they had to go to that Flurry, that-- that-- orgy, and now their children will scatter to the worlds and they'll probably never see them again!"

But you saw yours, Pebai thought. You wanted to. Though she wasn't even sure how he managed to keep such good tabs on his children and their activities, he still always seemed to know. She suspected some kind of magic, since any connections his parents might have had were hardly going to help-- as far as she knew, the Ivous on Avengaea didn't know he even had children-- and most of them didn't have electronic communications available. He didn't usually speak with them, or they with him, but he always knew what they were doing, somehow.

But whether or not they saw their children again, or cared to, what Frux really meant was that he would never see them.

And that gave Pebai an idea.

"Frux," she said into the next pause. He stopped pacing to look at her, as if he'd forgotten exactly who he had been venting at. "Your three didn't stay with you. Because at this Flurry, that's the way things are done."

"Yes, that's what I just--"

She interrupted him before he could get going again. "What's to stop you from being the one to try to adopt one of them, this time? Your grandchildren?" At his stunned-seeming silence, she added nervously, "That is what they do, right? Sign people up to adopt the children?"

"It is, actually," he answered quietly, thoughtfully. Pebai congratulated herself silently: already he was relaxing, thinking again instead of just feeling. For Frux, that was a necessity. "That's a good idea, actually, Pebai. It will certainly be a nice change, visiting Ryslen again...."

Pebai remembered staying at Nidus Ryslen, while they waited for his eggs to hatch. It had been fun, mostly. Boring now and again, but Frux had done his best to keep her entertained. Since he was so content, it had seemed better, though. "You can just go for the hatching, right? The school will give you a few days off."

"Especially if I warn them in advance. And all I'd need was a weekend trip to check and see how long it will take.... Not much longer, they've already clutched, after all."

"It will be nice to visit Nidus Ryslen," Pebai said, curling her paws against her chest, cupping the snoozing Forge Eden, with a smile.

At that, he glanced at her, and his eyes narrowed as he understood. "Oh, no. Pebai, you're not coming."

"Why not? I want to see your grand-babies, too." She grinned at the faintly embarrassed expression.

"You're pregnant, Pebai. With who knows how many children--"

"You could tell me."

He continued as if she hadn't spoken; he had refused to tell her how many she bore until she could find out, for herself. "--and you know how badly pregnancy wears on a mother. I won't risk it. Your children could be hurt-- you could be hurt."

"Oh, Frux, think about it. You're an amniomancer. If anything went wrong, you'd know, and you could fix it immediately!" It was a good point, and he knew it, but she continued: "You certainly couldn't do that if I weren't with you. What if they were to be born while you were away? You're not just an amniomancer, you're my amniomancer, and I don't want you to not be there!"

That was an even better point, because Frux had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to be there when her kits were born, as well. He looked aside rather than at her. "But what about you--"

"I'll make sure to take it easy," she promised. "And besides, it hasn't done me much harm yet. Maybe I just have so much energy already that being pregnant is just making me normal."

"Goddess forbid," Frux said dryly. "And what about your mate?" By now, he'd found out just who had caught her, and it actually seemed like he approved, in a vague sort of fashion.

"I'll let him know when I'm going to be gone. He'll know where I am."

"And if your time comes while you're away with me?"

That was a point, as Chario had wanted to be there, as well, but she had a counter. "You're an amniomancer," she said sweetly. "You can tell them to wait until we get home."

And because he could do that, he just made a sour face. She settled back smugly, because he knew she'd won.