"Bram's all Mother's stamp, and Acorn's showing every sign of becoming all me. Niabheara was born to be a Niall." She gave Marcello an impish grin. "Donal will just have to wait."

Marcello chuckled back. "Hopefully not long," she said, patting Morgana's shoulder. "I...if Miranda comes here, it will be nice for her baby to have a cousin of sorts."

She smiled warmly. "There's still a chance you two might get a baby out of this yourselves, you know. Don't discount it just yet."

Marcello hesitated. "Niabheara isn't ready for it," she said, after a moment. "I think she feels like we ought to try, because it would be silly not to secure her line. And I'd like one, but in some ways it's easier this way. I would worry it would be too much, all at once for her, and even so, I worry about us both getting our hopes up and being disappointed. I'll content myself with my niece or nephew for now."

"Ah . . . a word of warning, since you've not been here for the season before. There's a very lot of women who get terribly let down once the season's over, whether they were trying or not. And it's not likely her first child will stay; most women's don't." She raked her fingers through the leaves. "That's what most of this is about, really--getting ready for all the people who are going to be disappointed."

The girl's expression sobered. "Well, let's hope I'm back to my own self so I won't drift into depression when that happens," she said, grimacing. "Not that I want..." she shuddered. "But. You know...it's strange, I...being a woman right now. As much as men do it themselves, we don't realize how much women think with their-- er. You know," she said, nodding down toward her crotch. "We think you lot are perfectly capable of controlling yourselves and can pick and choose when to be aroused."

Morgana tried not to smirk. "Well," she said modestly, "season's not the best time to judge."

"It's still awful!" Marcello exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "Every time I talk to a man, I find myself sizing him up!"

"Oh no, what a terrible person you are," Morgana replied, clearly enjoying this. "And this is so much different from being a man how?"

"I don't like men!" Marcello explained miserably. "So I'm at once intrigued and disgusted with myself. It was different when Niabheara was a man, because I knew it was still her. This isn't that!"