When the bath was over, they wrapped Thalina in a thick hide cloth that smelled faintly of wildflower oils. Warm hands gently towel-dried her shiny-red hair, and several of the women kept gasping every few seconds like they'd just seen a spirit descend from the sky.
"She doesn't even look real," one of them whispered, almost offended.
"Child," another said, popping a groundnut between her teeth as she gave Thalina a sharp side-eye, "who's the father?"
"W-Well, um—I…" Thalina stammered, clutching Vanora tighter to her chest like a fluffy pink shield.
She hadn't even gotten the words out when another woman leaned forward, her face alive with gossip.
"It must be that snake beastman," she said with the certainty of someone revealing heavenly secrets. "Did you not see how he looks at her? Like he's ready to swallow her whole!"
Thalina's jaw dropped. Her face turned beet purple in a second flat.
