"What! Nashu, you're pregnant!"
In Tree Snake City, palaces rose in layered tiers. Xolotl stood in the side hall of his living quarters, eyes wide as he stared at "little fox" Nashu kneeling prostrate on the floor, utterly shocked. But when his gaze fell on Nashu's slightly swollen belly, he could not deny the reality before him: he was going to be a father again!
"How could this happen! Nashu, weren't you... unable to get pregnant?"
"Your Highness... my master, I..."
Nashu knelt prostrate on the ground, her body trembling faintly. She knew there was no way to hide it. She had to face the king's decision and meet an unfathomable fate. She bit her paling red lips, lowered her head, and answered softly, without the slightest concealment.
"I... before I served Your Highness, the priestesses did not take away my ability as a woman. They only had me drink Purple Grass juice on schedule to prevent pregnancy. Last autumn, when I served you, I did not drink the Purple Grass juice..."
At this point, Nashu's hands and feet were both shaking. For reasons unknown, when she graduated from the Temple, the Temple priestesses had not, as they did with other Shadow Slaves, fed her excessive Temple decoctions—the poisonous Earth Mother Silver Liquid—to sterilize her permanently. She knew the consequence of using those medicines: from then on, one's lifespan would be greatly shortened, and the body would become unbearably frail.
Before she served His Highness, the High Priest's instruction had been for her to take Purple Grass juice regularly, to stop her monthly courses and maintain contraception. Purple Grass juice was extremely cold in nature; if taken for too long, it would also make one lose the ability to bear children permanently. She had obediently taken Purple Grass juice for