What the Season Demands

Vi tossed another jumpsuit onto the end of the bed.

That made five.

She stared at the pile. Wrinkled fabric, zippers half-undone. Clothes she couldn't wear anymore. Couldn't being the key word.

She turned back to the mirror—obsidian glass embedded into the wall. The kind that reflected more than just light. It reflected truth. And there it was.

She stood in nothing but her bra and underwear, bare feet flat on the cool floor, arms crossed loosely over her chest as she studied the swell of her belly.

Hadn't she just started showing three weeks ago?

She twisted a little. Side profile. The curve of her lower abdomen pushed out, no longer subtle. No longer deniable. It didn't seem that long ago she'd laughed with Jyn over her tightening waistbands. Now her reflection looked like a stranger's. Familiar pieces reshaped around something impossible.

Five months in a few days. That's what she'd counted.

But her body? It didn't care what the math said.

It had been a chaotic few weeks. Between the truth about Corisai—not pregnant, not even a little—and her sudden disappearance, and that conversation she hadn't meant to overhear between Ryhos and his mother... well. There hadn't exactly been time to sit down and process anything.

She still remembered Ryhos's voice, low but sharp with conviction. "She's more than just my friend. She's the mother of my child."

She'd left before she heard his mother's response.

Since then, things had shifted. Around them. Between them. Within her.

Vi dragged her fingers across her skin, just beneath the navel, half expecting to feel nothing.

But there it was.

A movement.

Not the featherlight flutters from before. Not the dreamy maybe-that-was-it sensations she'd whispered about in bed, too afraid to name. This was more certain. Firm. Alive.

She stilled.

Pressed her palm flat against the spot and waited.

Another push. Small, but real.

Her heart skipped. Then started again, harder.

Was it supposed to be this soon? Her brain spiraled fast. She didn't know what to compare it to. She hadn't grown up around babies or pregnant people. And back on the station, pregnancy had been so medicalized it was basically outsourced to AI.

She didn't even know the gestation period for Veytharian pregnancies. Ryhos was only half. Which made this baby what? A quarter Veytharian?

She should've asked. Weeks ago. But now the questions were louder than the answers.

First things first—clothes. She needed to find something to wear that wasn't sleepwear or sweatpants.

She opened the suitcase again. Tried to shove one of her station tops over her head and got stuck halfway. It made her want to cry and laugh at the same time.

When she finally gave up, she crossed the room and pulled open Ryhos's bag.

"Humiliating," she muttered, yanking out one of his soft cotton shirts and a pair of drawstring pants. She folded the waistband three times and still had to hold them up.

Just a quick walk to Sorenia's room. That was all.

She padded down the hallway, bare feet silent against the tile. Didn't bother knocking—just walked in.

Sorenia was curled on her couch, legs tucked beneath her, stitching something with careful focus. She looked up when Vi entered, one brow arching high at her outfit.

"Do you know anything at all about Veytharian pregnancy?" Vi asked without preamble.

Sorenia smiled and patted the cushion beside her. "Of course. It's a woman's responsibility to know such things. Isn't it?"

Vi sank onto the seat with a groan. "On the station, we have doctors. AIs that track development down to the hour. I didn't even think to ask the basics."

She pulled the too-big shirt tight around her midsection. "Doesn't this look... too big to you?"

Sorenia tilted her head and hummed, thoughtful. "Too big?"

"Yea. Too big. I started showing a month ago."

Without asking, Sorenia leaned over and tugged the shirt up. Vi's face flushed, but she didn't stop her.

"Well?" she asked, throat dry.

"Stand."

Vi did.

Sorenia stepped back and studied her, gaze clinical but kind. Then she said, without fanfare, "You're smaller than most of the blessed females. If anything."

Vi blinked. "What?"

"There's only one more moon cycle left," Sorenia added, her tone maddeningly casual. "Deliveries will begin soon. With the Celebration of Life."

Vi almost choked. "One more month?"

Sorenia nodded. "Give or take."

Vi stared at her. Speechless.

I'm not ready for that.

"But like I said," Sorenia added, "you're on the smaller side. That's not bad. Just different."

Vi's hands moved to her belly again. Different didn't feel reassuring.

"I need someone to look at me," she said quickly. "Just to make sure everything's right. That the baby's okay."

"There are some," Sorenia said. "Women sworn to Osh'Rava. Deliverers. They will know."

"Can you take me to one of them? Today?"

Sorenia nodded. "Of course."

"And maternity clothes. Please." Vi tugged at the pants again. "I can't keep wearing Ryhos's sweats. I feel ridiculous."

Sorenia arched a brow at the word maternity, but said only, "Yes. I'll help you find something more suitable. Something for the blessed."

Vi sat back into the cushions, exhaling slowly.

She was going to have a baby. Soon. Too soon.

She was going to be a mother.

The word still felt foreign in her mind.

But there was no denying the truth of it now.

Not with the way her body moved from the inside out.

Not with a baby already stretching toward the world.