"What?" Sileas yelled, rushing to the door.

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt!" Ila was horrified.

Sileas raced up the stairs. "Mama!"

Yehudit hobbled after Sileas.

"So, how long ago?" Difyr asked Sileas.

Brie closed the door behind her and did her very best to not appear judgmental.

In reply to Difyr Bateman (msg # 154):

Sileas paced. "About a month and a half before the raid. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to be intimate with Larrigan and I didn't wish to consign him to that type of marriage. It was only one time." Sileas looked at her mother and cringed. She didn't like the look she was getting.

"Sometimes just once is enough." Difyr said quietly. "You've been throwing up every day but haven't you noticed weight gain?"

Yehudit let herself in the room as if she belonged there.

Sileas arched her eyebrow, still not quite grasping what Difyr was saying. "I don't really pay attention, I guess. But I guess I'm a little rounder in a few places."

"This..." Difyr gently felt Sileas's belly. "You may be pregnant."

"Oh come now," Sileas scoffed. Then she laughed. "I can't be. You told me yourself there was far too much damage. Something disagreed with me, that's all."

"I said it was very unlikely you would ever get pregnant." Difyr said. "I didn't want you to hope for something that would probably never happen and live in disappointment."

Sileas gave another laugh then sobered, blinking at Difyr. "You're serious."

"I could be mistaken again." Difyr admitted. "But everything indicates that you're pregnant."

Sileas glanced at her mother, then quickly away. Her mother was angry. Sileas had never seen her Mama so angry. What would she do now? Wulfsen wouldn't want her, she had probably pushed her luck bringing Oscar home. Oh why did the raiders have to murder her Larrigan? She sunk down on the bed.

Yehudit indignantly stomp-hobbled over to Sileas.

"You should keep on not telling jokes Difyr, you're not funny." Yehudit snarled at the healer and flopped on the bed next to Sileas. "She can't be pregnant, even if she hadn't gotten hurt she never got a chance. I made sure of it."

"Do you remember the night you were following the sugar clouds that had spilled and you had gotten trapped in the cloakroom in the schoolhouse?"

"Yeah, you and Larrigan wore yourselves out looking all over the village for me." Yehudit said. "I thought I was never going to get out of there. It was terrifying."

Sileas blushed and scooted over from Yehudit. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it. "You just thought that was why we were exhausted."

"Wait- you were canoodling while I was breaking my walking stick on the cloakroom door?!" Yehudit was incredulous.

Sileas blushed a red deeper than her hair color. "We needed to distract you so we could have some alone time."

"Were you at it all night?! I had to pee in someone's shoes!" Yehudit said.

"No, most of that time we were either cuddling and enjoying time alone or we were sleeping," Sileas admitted.

Yehudit scowled. "I let myself get distracted by some sugar clouds and this happens." She was angry at Sileas for leaving her trapped, and at herself for letting herself get trapped.