I think that she is giving birth![spoilers perhaps ]

[Gamerlord]

What was her name again? kazkumi i think, right? I think in the first few panels she is giving birth! It is just a guess, but why on earth do:

A: BOTH of them look happy
B: Why is she looking like she is about to cry with joy?
C: It is like that dead Australian dude once said: one door closes, one door opens.
D: It is the perfect moment!


I bet i am wrong, but i may be right!

[Totally Guy]

I think she ws concerned about the battle perhaps causing some kind of trauma to the baby. Durkon has just assured her that everything is alright. And she wept a tear of joy.

[Caleniel]

What was her name again? kazkumi i think, right? I think in the first few panels she is giving birth! It is just a guess, but why on earth do:

A: BOTH of them look happy
B: Why is she looking like she is about to cry with joy?
C: It is like that dead Australian dude once said: one door closes, one door opens.
D: It is the perfect moment!


I bet i am wrong, but i may be right!

*Ahem* You take LOOKING HAPPY as a sign that she just gave birth??!!

I will forgive you, on account of your probably not having been there. Let me tell you, as a (fairly recent) mother of two, that smiling is NOT an option at that point. Even with the tear.

I'm quite positive that we see one panel with anxious Kazumi + happy Durkon, followed by a panel of a "crying-with-joy"-Kazumi to show the following: Durkon investigates whether the baby is alright after the fight, he concludes that it is, he tells Kazumi, Kazumi is very happy and relieved.

IF she had been giving (very instantaneous and quiet) birth right next to Daigo and Hinjo, and THEY were entirely absorbed with talking politics meanwhile, well, if I'd been Kazumi I would absolutely kick them both in the kneecaps as soon as I was able! Talk about priorities!

[DomaDoma]

She's basically just started to show, so no.

[Laurentio II]

*Ahem* You take LOOKING HAPPY as a sign that she just gave birth??!!

Well, the hypothesis is that she gave birth off panel, in a matter of seconds, without pain. Smiling is more than an option!
Maybe, in the OP idea, Durkon casted "Expedite Birthgaving", a specialized spell that extract the baby some month early, with no pain.

[Caleniel]

Well, the hypothesis is that she gave birth off panel, in a matter of seconds, without pain. Smiling is more than an option!
Maybe, in the OP idea, Durkon casted "Expedite Birthgaving", a specialized spell that extract the baby some month early, with no pain.

Good point. I want that spell.

[Roderick_BR]

Hmm.. at first, I though Durkon was just healing and treating her, so she was feeling better... but I haven't noticed the tear... and the fact that Daigo is holding her hand.
Could be.

[Desilva]

I suppose anything is possible with this strip, although it seems a break in tradition to write something as significant as the birth of Daigo/Kazumi's baby as a dialogue-less background event.

Plus, wasn't it very recently in strip-time that they were married, at which point it was said she was eight weeks pregnant?

[JaxGaret]

I think she ws concerned about the battle perhaps causing some kind of trauma to the baby. Durkon has just assured her that everything is alright. And she wept a tear of joy.

Ninja'ed.

This is exactly what I think was going on there.

[AKA_Bait]

Ninja'ed.

This is exactly what I think was going on there.

Me three. I just assumed it when I saw it. The first thing I would expect Kazumi to do when she say Durkon was to ask about the baby, since she took damage during the battle. It's the first thing I'd do in her shoes.

[RosesOnConcrete]

I also thought it was pretty obvious that Durkon was checking to make sure the littlest Kato was alright after Kazumi's episode of asskickery. Baby's fine, Durkon says so, Kazumi is happy.

[David Argall]

Kato Jr. arrives in December-comic time, which is when Belkar is due to check out. But the Oracle's asside tells us Belkar is not croaking until at least January our time. So there is no chance she is birthing just yet.

[Lowkey]

She was 8 weeks pregnant at the time of the wedding, and Durkon just mentioned that V has been getting on everyone's nerves for 6 months. The Wedding was when we first saw V's attitude upsetting anyone. So that would put her at 8 months, a month premature.

[fractal]

Kato Jr. arrives in December-comic time, which is when Belkar is due to check out. But the Oracle's asside tells us Belkar is not croaking until at least January our time. So there is no chance she is birthing just yet.

No, we don't know when Belkar disappears. We know he has only one birthday post-first visit to the Oracle, which put a cap of less than two years after that, but we're nowhere close to that yet. The more recent "one year" prediction is, if anything, more binding (since we haven't yet heard about a birthday).

[gamerboy6000]

I also thought it was pretty obvious that Durkon was checking to make sure the littlest Kato was alright after Kazumi's episode of asskickery. Baby's fine, Durkon says so, Kazumi is happy.

Yeah, probably, with all those wounds, she would be worried about the baby.

[Emanick]

She was 8 weeks pregnant at the time of the wedding, and Durkon just mentioned that V has been getting on everyone's nerves for 6 months. The Wedding was when we first saw V's attitude upsetting anyone. So that would put her at 8 months, a month premature.

She was getting on everyone's nerves long before then, reading between the lines.
Since the joke in the flash from Haley to Elan in 581 was that Elan was most likely in much greater danger than her right now, and he's shown meeting with a peaceable Therkla, the storylines are probably running parallel. Let's face it, Greysky City isn't six months away from Azure.

[keilyn]

Let's see, the emotions I experienced over the long hours when giving birth:

- contractions start

- Contractions really get going

- telling the nurse that the breathing excersizes don't help

- telling my husband not to touch me because that's how I got in this situation in the first place

((If there was a 'massive pain screaming' smiley it would be here)) - actual delivery

- panting, exhausted, in one case half falling asleep

Now about fifteen minutes after the whole thing was over I might have managed a smile/tear of joy. Yeah. I don't think Kazumi's popping that kid out yet.

[David Argall]

Greysky City isn't six months away from Azure.

True. There seems to be a serious plothole between the two timelines. However, it is easier to assign off camera time to Haley than to explain Kazumi's belly.
The casual assumption is that Haley leaves Azure City within a couple of days of our first seeing her in 511. However, this assumes she can arrange the peace conference, and deal with its aftermath in almost zero time. As any of us who just need to arrange a meeting with a friend know, there can be massive calendar problems, and that's among friends who all want the meeting. With 3 hostile groups, there is the additional problems of arranging things so all are comfortable with the conference. In this sort of situation, arranging the conference can take years.
Then there is the after conference problems. The simple matter of a ceremony for the new ruler takes time. Then there are arguments about who gets what post, and ... Again, the discussions can take years. Haley might be able to dodge some of this, but there is considerable morale value to having all three of the former leaders publically acknowledging the authority of the new one and quite possibly, she doesn't leave until that happens.
All in all, we don't have to have Haley leave Azure City until years after we know she did.

So we should assume Haley spent a couple of boring months arranging the peace conference before heading North, and it's now about Sep-Oct comic time, with baby and Belkar death expected in Dec-comic time.

we don't know when Belkar disappears. We know he has only one birthday post-first visit to the Oracle, which put a cap of less than two years after that, but we're nowhere close to that yet. The more recent "one year" prediction is, if anything, more binding (since we haven't yet heard about a birthday).

The lack of hearing about a birthday is not a problem. We know we have missed large sections of the PC's lives. Simple math tells us Belkar has probably had that birthday already. It just wasn't on screen and there is no big reason for it to be.
But the Oracle's prediction was "within the year". The obvious year is the Southern, and so unless we just want to fiddle, Belkar has only about 3 months left.

[Estovus]

{Scrubbed}