Two Months Later
THUNK! The knife flew into the target, not quite in the center, but closer than it had come in the past. Leela nodded approvingly. "Your technique is improving, but you are still not compensating for your changing center of balance."
Ace glanced down at her stomach ruefully. The tiny bump had ballooned rapidly, until now there was no doubt as to her condition. "Patience won't let me find my balance as easily as I used to," she admitted with a grin. "My technique may not improve at all if she keeps growing like this." She paused, suddenly uncertain. "Was it like this for you?"
"My pregnancies? Yes, I had a difficult time adjusting, at least with Noni. It was easier with the others."
Ace shook her head, half-trotting to keep up as Leela strode to the target five meters away. "No, not that, not the balance thing. Was it the same, how your body changed?" She unconsciously lowered her voice. "You're the only other person I know who's had half-Gallifreyan children. How long were you pregnant, nine months? Longer? Less?" The questions tumbled out as Leela stopped and stared at Ace over her shoulder. The younger woman came to a stop as well, still several meters from the target and knives they'd been going to retrieve. "I've been wanting to ask, but it never seemed like a good time." She shrugged. "I'm six months pregnant now; it's getting a bit late to be putting things off."
"My pregnancies were all normal for my people. For our people," Leela corrected herself. "Human normal. Each lasted nine months. Noni was the latest, by two weeks, Anji the earliest by a week. Are you worried? Andred's sister should be able to answer your questions and ease your fears, as she did for me." Ace had already met Drea, and found her calm demeanor and discreet manner soothing, even if her healing abilities were strictly medical. Not like Kyris. "When your time comes, she will be there," Leela reminded her. She hesitated, then added: "I have not attended another's birthing since I left my home, but I would be honored to attend, if you wish."
Ace smiled. "Yeah, I wish. Boy do I wish! Thanks!" They continued walking, and she looked at the target as they reached it. Her knife wasn't quite as close to the center as it had seemed from a distance, and hadn't sunk nearly as deeply into the wood as Leela's. "Just like I wish I could bloody well get the hang of this," she muttered. She yanked the knife out of the target. As if to protest her mother's use of time, the baby kicked. Hard. Ace grimaced and massaged the side of her abdomen soothingly. "Puts me off balance every time she does that, kicks or stretches or gets the hiccups," she complained good-naturedly.
"It is something you must learn to compensate for," Leela replied, pulling her own knife out far more smoothly than Ace had. "Think of it as a challenge. You must overcome it to reach your goal."
Ace wrinkled her nose. "No thanks. I'd rather not start off motherhood by thinking of my baby as a challenge to be overcome."
"All children are challenges to be overcome," Leela countered as she studied her blade. Looking for defects. "It does not make them any less precious."
With a sigh, Ace examined her own blade. "I guess. But it still won't help my knife throwing."
"Then think of the target as the Master. Use your daughter's movements to strengthen your resolve, to remind you what you fight for. It will sharpen your focus instead of distracting you."
Ace considered Leela's words, then nodded. "Right. Let's have another go at it." She headed back, knife in hand, a determined look in her eyes.
