Luna heaved herself into a sitting position with a groan. She rested her head on her knees for a moment, then said, “I’m okay now. I can walk. I should go tell Chickadee I’m okay.”

Dr Mags walked with Luna through the sprinkling rain toward Chickadee’s encampment, where a guard gestured for the doctor to leave the cage. He slammed the door closed with a clank, almost in Luna’s face, and locked it with added animosity.

Chickadee glared at him. “You mark my words, I will have your job.” Then she turned with a sweet smile to the fence and Luna behind it. “Are you okay, Dear?”

Luna nodded.

Dr Mags said, “Can Luna and I speak to you alone?”

Chickadee turned flapping her arms. “Shoo, shoo.” The surrounding crowd got up and shifted away.

Luna said, “I need to sit down.” She collapsed into a cross legged position.

Chickadee clutched the fence. “I’m sorry, but you still don’t look good dear. I think you need a hospital. Don’t worry I’ll get you to—”

Dr Mags said, “Chickadee, I believe Luna might be pregnant.”

“Pregnant?”

Luna nodded.

“With Beckie’s baby?”

Luna nodded again.

“Oh, honey.” Chickadee’s eyes swept around the pen and the surrounding encampment, it was all sadly, terribly, bleak. “Oh honey. Now this is amazing news but. . . You’re inside a—” She turned to Dr Mags. “Will the baby make it? I mean, it’s so rare. . .”

Dr Mags shrugged. “It’s rare to even get pregnant, who knows. We’ll need to run a lot of tests. I have a friend at the Heighton Hospital that Luna can see.”

Chickadee ran her hands up and down her face. “What is Beckett going to — he’ll come back here. He’ll get himself arrested.”

Dan appeared through the crowd, arm thrown around Sarah, headed their way. When they were close enough, Dan grinned. “Man, Army barely got on the bus. I had to watch the doors to make sure he didn’t desert again. And I hope Luna is okay now, because I promised I’d report back, pronto.” His expression dropped. “What?”

Dr Mags and Chickadee looked from Dan and Sarah to Luna. She bit her lip and screwed up her face. “I’m probably pregnant.”

Dan’s eyes opened wide. “Oh. Oh. Oh man.”

Sarah slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh!” She crouched down eye level with Luna. “Luna what will you do?”

“I need to talk to Beckett—”

Dan said, “Definitely. He needs to know.”

Luna nodded and sat for a while staring off into space. Then she turned to Dr Mags. “What are the odds?”

“I have limited knowledge, but carrying a baby to term is increasingly rare. Is it rare for Waterfolk too?”

“It’s rare to have babies, but also complicated. I’m not sure many Waterfolk families want to. It means they have to split up, live on land for a bit, drastically change their circumstances. We usually try not to, and I just, I don’t — I guess I forgot that I would—”

Chickadee said, “You would what, dear?”

Luna twisted the hem of her cotton dress. “I forgot that I would keep living.”

Chickadee said, “Well, you did dear, and we are so grateful for that. But now we need to call Beckett, immediately.”

Dan said, “Yes, he’s waiting, worried already. I promised. But he’ll come back here for sure if you tell him.”

Luna nodded. “I don’t — wait, let me think.” Luna sat for a moment. She dug her fingers into the mud and thought about what this meant, to her, Luna, Waterfolk. Pregnancy meant that you had to look for a nesting spot. A place to rest. A place to have the baby. A place to nurse the baby until you could move again. And wasn’t that what her plan already was, nesting?

It was a good plan.

Beckett, without even knowing, was giving her a nest.

She only had to get there.

And she had to get him there.

Safely.

And she had no idea if the baby would make it. So many didn’t, so she had to go with the flow.

She was good at that. It was in her DNA. Trouble was she was surrounded by stiff-neck, land-dwellers who would want to stop everything and fix it. She looked up in their faces, they were worried and afraid.

She would need to make sure she stayed strong. And kept Beckett safe. That was the only thing to do.

She took a deep long breath, stood, and swiped the gravel off the back of her legs. “We won’t tell Beckett. Not yet. Not until he comes back in three months.”

Sarah, crouched beside her in the rain, asked, “Are you sure?”

Chickadee said “It seems like something he ought to know, even if it—”

Luna said, “You said so yourself, he’ll come back. He’ll get himself arrested. I need him. I have to keep him safe. I owe him that. Even if it means keeping this from him. That’s my decision. No one can tell Beckett.”

Dan said, “I think he deserves the right to hear about this, but also, so far, he has terrible decision-making skills. And worse where Luna is concerned. So, I guess I agree with Luna. For what it’s worth. New friend and all.”

Sarah nodded. “New friend vote, I agree with Dan and Luna — yes. And oh Luna, I’m so—a baby, really?”

Dan reached down and squeezed her hand.

Chickadee squinted her eyes. “Fine, I’m in agreement. We won’t tell him until he comes home in three months.”

They nodded at each other solemnly.

Until Dan said, “But seriously, what am I going to tell Army?”

“Tell him I’m fine, it was something I ate.”