Ashley and Casper decided to pay the former mage a visit. Walking down the street, squeaky hand in squeaky hand, Casper had a lot to think about. He should tell Ashley that the ring told him she was pregnant, he just wasn't sure how. Was he ready to be a father? Was she ready to be a mother? They hadn't even finished school, much less gotten married...plus, he didn't even know how she could 'give birth.'
"You're awfully quiet all a sudden, everything okay?" she asked, looking up at the shiny inflatable ram.
"Yeah," he mumbled, "I've just...been thinking about a lot of stuff lately..." Casper trailed off.
Ashley turned to him, taking his other three-fingered hand in her green one, and looked up into his eyes.
"Hey, we're in this together. Don't forget that."
He smiled down at her, leaning down to kiss her, her lips meeting his halfway.
Casper made up his mind.
"I...need to tell you something, but I'm afraid this might not be the right time or place." He said.
She continued to look him in the eyes, smiling.
"You can tell me anything, anytime." was her reply.
Casper blushed, as much as a purple and red inflatable latex ram-man can, and nodded.
"Ashley...about last night. The ring told me...you're pregnant."
Ashley continued to look at him, seemingly unaffected by his statement. She smiled up at him again, in only the way she could, warm, loving, unfalteringly compassionate.
"I know."
Casper blinked in surprise, "you do? How?"
The bright green lizard girl giggled, releasing one of his hands and lowering it to her belly.
"I could feel it...somehow. When your air mixed with mine, I could feel something within me."
Casper reeled, "And...you're okay with this?"
She nodded, "of course I am, I told you, I love you, Casper, no matter what. Besides, with the way our species works, or at least our current understanding of it, you could have just as easily gotten pregnant too, you know."
Casper blinked again, having not considered that result, and strangely, not all that worried about the thought of being a male, or at least male appearing, Synthetic and being pregnant.
"Huh," he mused aloud, "yeah, I guess you're right."
She gave him another peck on the cheek, and the two of them resumed their squeaking trek to the mage's house.
When they arrived, they stood before a rather plain looking house, early colonial style architecture, and a well manicured lawn. Casper figured that he really had nothing to base his assumptions on. Did he expect that Haeliax would be living in a decrepit stone tower, replete with torches? No, he chided himself, apart from the magic, Haeliax was about as normal as the rest of the world, being an inflatable rubber dragon included.