Flashback ( PDFDrive )

“Is it me, or is it super stuffy down here?” Fitz asked, tugging on
the neckline of his tunic and fanning his face.
“Our babies thrive in heat,” Tarina explained. “The solution they’re
developing in is kept at one hundred and fifty degrees—much too hot
for your fragile elvin bodies.”
“Will that be too hot for the alicorns?” Sophie wondered.
“We’ll likely have to adjust. It generally matches the mother’s body
temperature, so we’ll need to take a reading of Silveny’s. And here we
are.” She pointed to a wall of shelves filled with what looked like glass
clamshells the size of beach balls.
“Will those be big enough?” Sophie worried, trying to imagine what
size Silveny’s babies would be.
“The material they’re made from can expand. But we may have to
get creative with how we position them. I suspect this whole process
is going to be an exercise in problem solving—but we’ll make it work.”
Tarina handed Sophie and Fitz each a transport pod to carry as she
filled a satchel with metal flasks from a different shelf.
“You okay?” Fitz asked as Sophie struggled to adjust her grip on
the pod. “Is that too much for your arm?”
“No, it’s actually lighter than I expected,” Sophie told him,
wondering what the pod was made of. “What about you—how’s your
leg?”
“I’m fine.”
Sophie hoped that was true, because they still had more walking
ahead. They were closer to the troll exit than Luzia’s house at that
point, but it still took them several endless minutes before they
emerged back into daylight and caught a glimpse of the trollish world.