When it Rains on This Side of Town, it Touches Everything

The next morning, Anna and Shuule were fed well by Iro again, another feast that Shuule had never had: fish paste balls and sour oranges. Shuule wasn't very in love with the oranges, but Anna explained that the vitamins in the fruits were supposed to help your immune system - which also had to be explained. As Anna should be going into heat soon, as most of the women in the city, she wanted to be as healthy as possible to give herself the best chance of conception.

"Iro and I are trying again this year," she explained between bites of the bitter juicy fruit, which she had brought out into the backyard. "One pregnancy in three years is really good, but he deserves a litter so badly, as do all of them. It's so hard thinking about the fact that they may not all get children." She sighed. "And of course Arthur is the one that managed the first litter."