The next morning, Dmitri woke up early to check on the mares. They were still sleeping, so he decided to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking them up. He entered Sassy's stall and immediately became nervous. The white mare was distinctly rounder than she had been the day before. He silently cast a spell to examine her. His heart began to race. Sassy had been a week or so along the day before. Now, she was halfway through her pregnancy. Dmitri went to get his beloved wife Ellany. There was a chance his spell didn't work right. Her Horse Witch magic, guided by his expertise, would guarantee the spell worked accurately.
When they returned, the mares were awake. Though it pained him to do so, Dmitri cast the soothing charm Theia had used on them before. He didn't want them realizing something was wrong and getting upset before they knew exactly what was going on.
Ellany placed her hands on Sassy's side. Dmitri put his over hers, guiding her through the spell. He swore softly. His initial spell had been accurate.
"Go get Yevgeney," he told Ellany. As she left, Dmitri moved to check on Anya. He swore again. Anya was even rounder than Sassy! When Ellany came back with Yevgeney, they cast the examination spell on Anya. Her pregnancy was also halfway along, but the cause of her size was something Theia hadn't told him: Anya was carrying twins.
The three Witches spent the morning casting spells and going over their results, trying to figure out what happened. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that Anya accidentally sped up Sassy's pregnancy when she made her a different breed. Anya, meanwhile, was still being affected by the lingering fertility charm.
"What do we do?" Ellany asked. "They will come out of the soothing charm soon. We need a plan for when we tell them of their situation." The brothers nodded. "Honestly, I wonder if we should just stay until they give birth..."
"What about pausing their pregnancies?" Yevgeney suggested. "We would unpause once we reached Wind's Grove."
"There is always the chance this was a one time acceleration, and they will develop at a normal pace now," Dmitri pointed out. "We could continue our original plan with that assumption. Or leave now just in case."
The three Witches debated for some time. By the time the mares woke from the soothing charm, however, they had come to an agreement.