Once home, we settled back into routine. Li tried to slack off while I was away, of course, but I was happy with the reports that he’d been pushed even harder as a punishment. As a result, he’d actually broken through to the Novice stage.

I was proud of the idiot.

When the other cultivators heard the news about Kaoru and myself, they laughed. But so did we. It was a bit absurd, after all, and we had our assurances that we’d be looked after, as would our children.

And more than a few bawdy offers if we ever wanted more, but I only threatened mild violence in response. The men generally only meant it as a joke.

Human pregnancy was… a little less pleasant than the rabbit variety, I found. Lots more soreness and sickness in the early stages, and trying to cultivate didn’t help as much as I would’ve liked. Kaoru, not having an elemental affinity or two that was well-known for healing properties, had it even worse. We both missed shifting too, though at least Kaoru could reclaim her tails and ears. I was a little worried that wouldn’t be allowed either, but Mistress assured me it was just that we needed to keep a shape that could carry a human pregnancy, and our bodies instinctively knew this.

So we trained as we could, worked as we could, and resten more often than we wanted to. Mistress forbade us from sparring, and I had to send a proxy to keep Li on his toes.

Summer passed, and Kaoru and I started to swell up. It was fairly familiar to me, even if the shape I was feeling so full in was slightly different, but Kaoru was always kept a little anxious by the novelties of her experience. I think she nearly did shift in sheer panic when her child quickened. Mistress and I tried to keep her calm and let her know everything she was going through was normal… but she was also a bit prone to mood swings, so there was only so much we could do.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

But there was always the autumn harvest.

Everyone helped with that, it was simply too much work otherwise. But the end result of a full storehouse and freshly-pickled vegetables was worth it.

Kaoru had a slight anxiety attack at enjoying the pickled beets, but I assured her that craving foods you normally wouldn’t touch was just a part of the experience. And was eating a leg of roast chicken to prove it.

Not bad, but not something I think I’d stomach if I wasn’t feeding a couple of human babies.

Yes, a couple. Twins. One of the benefits of cultivation is that you can know exactly what’s squirming inside you when it gets big enough to notice, apparently. Kaoru only had the one, but we were both a touch surprised that the girl would be born with fox ears and a tail.

Mistress was less surprised, saying she’d known Fu to lay a few eggs over her lifetime. Apparently children having traits of their non-human parent was a thing that could happen, and the ones that took up cultivation would be able to shift the way we could when they were advanced enough.

Harvest went well, and winter set in. Maybe Kaoru and I shouldn’t have given into our winter dormancy instincts so much, but the idea of leaving a small room near a big fire to train out in cold, wind, and wet didn’t appeal right now. Even the snow, which Kaoru usually loved to frolic in, didn’t make her want to bundle up and leave.

So we stayed bundled up and inside for most of the winter, assured that we would be perfectly safe and secure when our times came the following spring.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.