Walking through the now quiet tunnels, Ka'z eventually stopped when he noticed a familiar figure standing ahead of him. Lady Zira was waiting in the passage, her eyes watery and her lips pressed tightly together as she struggled to restrain the tears threatening to fall.
She looked as though she had been waiting for him for some time, and Ka'z could immediately tell that she had something important to say. Yet before he could ask, his attention dropped toward the obvious bulge beneath her clothes.
His eyes widened.
"Is that....." he mumbled.
Lady Zira nodded heavily, placing one hand protectively over her stomach. "We planned to call him Toji if he was a boy and Tia if he was a girl."
Ka'z stared at her belly for another moment before a smile slowly spread across his face. He found himself smiling like a fool, and strangely, the sight of that growing life affected him more deeply than he expected.
