Megan watched Laurene closely as she suckled. The baby's face began to crinkle and turn red, then she let loose the nipple with a loud squall.
"I think she's wet," Megan commented.
Blair pulled his shirt closed and stuck a finger inside the elastic lining of the diaper's leg opening. "You're right," he confirmed, getting up to change Laurene. "It's barely damp. How did you know that was the problem?"
"Just a lucky guess," Megan answered, mulling over a thought in her mind. As Blair changed the diaper, she asked, "In your study of sentinels, did you find the trait was inherited? Did it pass through family lines?"
"Oh, very definitely," Blair affirmed. "Sentinels were often ceremonially mated to the tribe chieftain's daughter, in order to perpetuate the line."
"How often did the child turn out to be a sentinel?"
"Well, it was still rare to have a full sentinel, with all five senses on-line, but they frequently fathered children with at least one heightened sense."
"Like hearing?" Megan asked.
"Hearing seemed to be a commonly passed trait, yes," Blair agreed.
"How about sight?"
"That one seemed to be the least passed, but one of the more important to the tribe."
"Touch?"
"Very common, as well as taste. Smell was another one not passed on as regularly."
"Laurene has a marked preference for your breast milk, doesn't she?" Megan asked, seemingly going off in another direction.
"Oh, yeah. It was really hard on Jim when I was in the hospital," Blair explained. "Before we could start pumping the breast milk for her, Jim ran out. I didn't have enough stored in the freezer. Now I make sure to have at least one day's supply, two if I can manage."
"Is she a light sleeper?" Megan continued to probe.
"She didn't used to be," Blair replied. "But lately, any little sound has her awake and screaming."
"She didn't like her wet diaper, either," Megan pointed out.
"Most babies don't," Blair countered.
"But that soon? That sensitive to the wet?"
"Megan, what are you trying to say?" Blair's voice had grown serious.
"Have you considered that what you may have here isn't a case of colic, but a case of an emerging sentinel?" She cocked her head, watching for Blair's reaction.
The young man sat, frozen, across from her. She could almost see the wheels spinning inside his head. "A sentinel? Laurene's a sentinel?" His voice trailed off, and a small grin graced the corners of his lips. "It could be . . . maybe," he agreed.
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