The delicate tip of Cwmfen's favored spear lowered, as she slowly let her guard down around him. He shook his head in a mute denial - she certainly had helped him, whether she admitted to it or not - and hunched his shoulders to stoop to her level. Cwmfen was not a short werewolf, but Slay was now well over a head taller than the Caledonian. Her woad-marked hand slipped to her fertile abdomen, and a mixture of expressions flashed in those hueless eyes. "It doesn't hurt at all?" Slay probed, tilting his head quizzically. Surely her posture must be affected... her back, or her feet? "Can you feel how many there are?" he added curiously, icewater eyes fixated on the werewolf's pregnancy. His ebony-daubed tail waved slowly behind him, friendly and inquisitive. He'd need to learn more about this stuff, if his Cercelee was to undergo it too. Was only the birthing the difficult part?
Then it was his turn to respond to queries. "I... I don't know," he admitted, a lopsided smile playing on his lips.
"I suppose I just needed to change... It finally felt like the right thing to do." He turned his large hands over, studying the black pawpads embedded in his palms, the subtle way the knuckles shaped his furry white fingers. "I still feel pretty out of place, though," he added ruefully, brushing the tangles of mane from his faded eyes. It was a very alien experience. He had gone for his entire adult life never knowing what this was like. Most luperci were mere children when they first stood upright, and whether they were terrified or ecstatic, they had family members and packmates and friends to assure them they did it right. It was doubly strange to shift for the first time as an adult, all by himself.
He raised his gaze again, meeting Cwmfen's calm misty eyes. Did she feel out of place now, too? Since it must be hard for her to carry out her familiar duties with the new weight around her midsection. She seemed to take everything life threw at her with such grace... Slay felt a twang of guilt, coloured with jealousy. He had abandoned his duties for far too long, fallen into old habits he'd thought he'd shed, all because of his bitter defeat. He should have gained resolve from the cruel lesson. At least it had unlocked a new transformation for him... opened a new door after all.