A secret, metells, in today's episode of "Playing with Babies": the ending of our epic nears. What, did you think I could write this forever? I have a job, you know. As a WRITER nonetheless. Got to nag Tyndali for more. But there are still many chapters yet! Just...not that many. Only like *counts fingers* Thirteen? Maybe an epilogue or two? Though if you guys wanna write fanfiction continuing the story, I only require that you let me know so I can read it too. ^.^ 

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Hane did return. He took the full week, and he came back looking more battered than ever, but he came back, escorted by Stars. Shay could see the development of a rule that any patients would need to be escorted by a snake, or else be killed by one. Made sense in another way, as a baby snake could send word for Shay to cover her face ahead of time.

After the week they'd had taking care of the helpless babies, Curtis was actually happy to see the scorpion.

"They're the most helpless, weak things I've ever seen, and their mother can't even take care of herself let alone them," said Curtis. "I can't believe I'd see the day I'm actually happy to see a scorpion in my territory."

Shay was happy for a whole other reason. While taking care of babies, she had to restrain herself from loving them and wanting to take them away, unsuccessfully, and it left a considerable emotional and mental weight on her. The moment the scorpion bearing its bundled females upon his back left, she collapsed in the sunshine, which was growing increasingly rarer with the nearing of the wet season, and promptly fell asleep.

She woke up sometime later to a cloudy sky and, once more, surrounded by a wall of cuddling baby snakes and a dragon.

On seeing her awake, Asher picked up his head and prrbt at her, like a cat. His big, black, doleful eyes sparkled.

She smiled and pet his soft mane and his following opal scales. He really was such a pretty little beast, even if he was close to the size of large, very long dog.

Lazy Boi picked up his head from around her ear next, his tongue flickering out to leave a butterfly wing kiss on her cheek. She hugged his head to her and kissed his brow.

"Why'd you have to grow so quick," she murmured.

He puttered something, not quite a cry, more like a murmur, then tapped Sky awake from where she had slung herself across Shay's lap. She woke up slowly, as snakes were want to do when disturbed from a warm nap in the sun. The weather getting colder gave her cold-blooded babies all the more reason to want to nap with her in the sun.

Lazy Boi hissed something to her. Sky rubbed her eyes hard.

"Boi wants to know," Sky broke into a jaw-cracking yawn, which displayed her little fangs. "Wants to know how that lady pooped out those big babies."

Shay snorted. "Well, first off, babies aren't pooped out. Girls have a separate hole which babies come out of."

The snake pile twitched a bit and another curious head came up, tongue flickering. She saw the dots and recognized Dice. She wondered if all her babies were here, despite it not being their day to all come together.

"Secondly, the soft bits holding the hip bone soften so it can stretch a bit bigger, and the baby heads are soft too so they can squeeze out better."

Sky, who was obviously interested but still struggling to wake up, rubbed her eyes as she asked, "Mommy, why weren't we born that way?"

"You baby snakes?"

"No. Girls. Sisters."

When she gave another jaw-cracking yawn, Lazy Boi leaned his head across Sky for her to flop over, slightly nudging Asher aside from his spot on her stomach. He wasn't mean about it, though, even giving Asher a light nuzzle to show his well-meaning and let Asher lean against his neck. Shay couldn't help thinking that he really had become such a sweetheart.

Though it meant more weight on her hips and legs. She could already feel the circulation cutting off, but she couldn't bring herself to push them away. If she could, she'd coil up like a snake against them too.

"I was snake," Sky said. "Dad says I came out as an egg, like boys. Why? Is it because I'm a snake?"

Shay shook her head. "No. The rabbits were born the same. I had fourteen girls and only two boys."

The nest of snakes about her grew disturbed like water on a pond, rippling as coils moved and snakeheads untucked themselves from various nooks. The messy, groggy head of Dawn popped up as well, blinking madly in an attempt to wake up quicker.

"I have fourteen sisters?" she asked.

"Bunnies bad," said Sky oddly somberly. "Bunny babies ate mom. They're no sisters. We eat bunnies."

The boy snakes bobbed their heads in agreement. All but Lazy Boi, who only turned his eye which was facing Shay to meet her gaze. She read a rather somber note in that red look of his, as though he alone really understood what his siblings were saying.

Shay couldn't smile. Ever since they had arrived at their new home, maybe even long before that, everyone had been very careful to never mention the rabbit babies. Maybe they were afraid that if they reminded her of them, she'd insist they go back to retrieve them. Or perhaps they were afraid of opening old wounds. And when the girls had chirped about eating rabbits it had been swallowed up in her joy of just being reunited with her family. She hadn't even given it a second thought. Though she vaguely recalled telling someone to not kill the baby rabbits, as she had given too much effort into birthing them.

"No," she said quietly. "If you ever meet your rabbit siblings, don't eat them. Please."

She could feel her children's confusion. All but Lazy Boi, who simply closed his eye and rested his head more heavily on her lap.

"But...bunnies hurt Mommy," said Sky. "We eat bunnies."

"Bunnies are tasty," said Dawn with one of her trademark wicked smirks.

"Wild bunnies," said Shay. "Not bunny beastmen. And it isn't their fault for being born. They had no control over that. It was the big bunnies, the adult ones in charge, that put them in me. No, if you ever meet them, be kind to them. They had to grow up without their mom because of the choice of the others. How would you feel if I had to leave you only after being with you for a little time because I belong to someone else?"

Their wide eyes considered these words. Tongues flickered out like little shivers. Dawn frowned very deep and Sky looked down at Lazy Boi's head.

"But they did take our mommy..." Sky said very quietly.

"No. Not them. Their fathers. The other rabbits. They're just like you, even if they have fur instead of scales. That's what makes them very, very different from the rabbits you have hunted. They think like you, talk like you..." Shay smiled. "And they probably would have loved their big sisters and sweet, big brothers." She rubbed Lazy Boi's head as she said this.

Lazy Boi opened his eyes to meet hers once more. There was a faint fear in them. He hissed something, making Sky tense up and look up fearfully.

"What if we already ate them?" Sky asked, a bit breathlessly. Her voice raised to a squeak. "What if I ate my baby sister?!"

The snakes about her tightened and roiled, upsetting her seat.

Dawn looked like she might feel sick.

"I highly doubt that," said Shay. "For one, they are kept closely guarded up in the valley in the mountains. For seconds, just like you girls, the girl rabbits transformed early. They wouldn't have looked like rabbits. They would have looked like toddlers with perfect fingers and toes just like you, sweetheart." Shay gave her cold little fingers a squeeze.

"Then brothers?"

"Again, no. And if you're afraid, just don't ever eat a bunny with blue eyes. All your bunny siblings had blue eyes, just like mine. Though, eating beastmen isn't generally a good thing in the first place...boys."

They all blinked at her innocently. Obviously, they didn't think mermen counted as beastmen.

"But enough of that. It's gotten chilly out here, let's go inside and see about getting some dinner. Maybe one of your fathers has brought something tasty."

She wouldn't have been able to stand without the help of her children, seeing that said children had draped at least some part of themselves onto her. It definitely made her feel like some sort of Pied Piper to head towards the house surrounded by snakes. She burst into a bit of skipping over the last bit when looking at her children's beautiful and healthy forms gave her a rush of sheer happiness. There really was no better day than the day she got to be with all her babies.

Her joy only increased when Harvey trotted up to meet her from where he had been working on a pot of something delicious on the fire. He gave her a warm hug that dispelled the last chill of outside and kissed her on the mouth. He didn't so much as flinch, as Ryan still sometimes did, when the baby snakes took turns rubbing their long sides against his legs in greeting.

"Where's Luna?"

"With Curtis, of course. She wanted to fish with him. Ryan's bringing in the drying meats before it rains and Parker's still trying to get the smell out of his hut. I don't know where Miur is, but he's most likely tinkering with his nest. Did you have a nice nap?" he asked.

"One that kind of came at me out of nowhere."

"To be expected. The twins and their mother were exhausting. But no thinking about that. It will just stress you out."

And it did. She had been constantly reconsidering whether she should just kidnap the twins for their sake, rather than leaving them with inept parents. It was hard. But even stupid people had a right to struggle and learn to be parents. She couldn't take away that joy from them, and she'd seen their joy. Inept they may be, they loved those kids. She knew it.

Without a serpentine body, Dawn settled for rubbing her head against Harvey's leg when it came her turn for warm greetings.

On Sky's turn, however, she tugged on his white tunic.

"Harvey, don't ever hunt a rabbit with blue eyes, okay?"

Harvey blinked. "Why is that, sweetheart?"

"They could be my brother or sister."

Something cold crossed Harvey's face. It clashed with his usual demeanor and hadn't been seen since Shay had left the rabbits. It tightened his jaw, darkened his eyes, and made his nostrils flare.

But then it was gone, and he had a hand on Sky's soft head.

"I got that. Thank you for the warning."

Shay, however, shivered. Without thinking, she hugged herself, as though to comfort something small and vulnerable inside her.