The thought was what drove her out of the treeline and sent her on approach to the dark doe -- that, and the fact that the doe was pregnant and Wood Spider knew her heart was almost too soft at times. It was why she had followed her here, first inconspicuously as a foxbun and then in her doe-shape. There were little lives growing inside of her and they could benefit from a leg up on the world.
The dark doe looked up in alarm as Wood Spider approached, ears fanned out and eyes wide, but she said nothing.
Wood Spider tipped her head, "Hello," she called, hitching to a stop. "I'm sorry if I alarmed you," she added, "but I don't mean you any harm." As if to put a point on that statement the little foxbun gamboled half the distance towards the other doe, and then stopped, one paw in the air.
The dark doe cocked her head, and then nodded. Still no voice.
Wood Spider set her shoulders back; this was odd. She was so quiet. "Do you know that you're pregnant? You have little lives within you," she said, and the dark doe's expression did register surprise, but there was no shout, no murmur of surprise [or, like in one horrible memory, a wild, angry accusation].
The doe nodded, and then she looked around the clearing -- and then managed to twist around to look at her own gently rounded flanks. Vault supposed she was pregnant. Well. Interesting.
Wood Spider approached her -- Vault steeled herself for something to happen, but was met with a kindly, gentle smile. The legendary doe was no taller than she was, and certainly wasn't the imposing figure she'd imagined they were. She was petite and pleasantly compact, and her touch felt like the first cool drops of rain on a summer day. Something shivered through her skin and Vault felt as though her hair might all stand on end.
"Eat some watercress. It will help your appetite," Wood Spider said, "and maybe some figs for sweetness, watercress is awfully bitter. You'll be alright," she added, "and they will be, too -- strong and self-sufficient like their mother." But likely able to talk, she thought, and herself did not voice it.
