Motherhood In The Beast World

Ch. 14 To The Village Part 1

Snap, thump, growl.

In a dark foggy forest carefully moves large groups of beasts, some in their beast form, others in their two legged forms. Behind the long line of bear and wolf beasts walks a tall dirty blond hair male calmly glancing at his surroundings yet if zoomed in, you could see slightly elongated claws coming from his feet.

"Keep moving and stay together," growls Dash as he walks away from the end of this group towards the front. As he passes by his tribesmen, his ear slightly twitches to a small bubble-like sound coming from an area placed to his left.

The golden bear beastmen then walks toward a scarred black bear beast who, noticing his presence, quickly morphs back into his two legged form. "Did you hear?" Dash says as his head keeps looking forward but his glowing light brown eyes quickly glances to their left at a large body of water emitting swirls of fog.

Nodding, Vick growls lowly when he spots one of their allies getting too close to the water. The wolf beastmen couldn't understand until a bat beastmen near him hisses at a spot near the edges of the lake. Taking caution to the beasts with the best hearing, the thirsty wolf beastmen took rapid steps back as a large group of croc beastmans walking behind them growled in warning at whatever was still in the waters.

"We need to rest and drink," states Vick as he speculates what type of beast or beasts could be hidden underneath the presumably calm looking lake. Not to mention the water dilutes their scent so it's unclear if it's a friend or foe. Nodding in agreement and glad that his second in command has taken notice of their allies needs as well as the possible enemy's location, Dash turns to walk back toward the end to speak with the crocodile beasts appointed leader and see if they can come up with a plan without losing any of their allies.

- - Change of Scenery - -

"Today is the day my little one," says Suki as she gives her cub a big smooch to her forehead then turns her around to face the front. "I'll be holding you close as we ride on top of your papa Tawa and then we can head out." As head male and biological father to their cub, Tawa has the right to be the chosen male to carry both of them towards Sanvi's first visit to their village, nods Suki to herself as her cub smiles with expectant sleepy eyes at where she believes the village lays. As they leave, Tawa stomps the ground and neighs, giving the signal for Keokuk to give out his shrill calling. Behind them runs in their beast form the rest of the family for they wanted to make sure that there will be no chance that nothing would touch their darling female cub.

When they finally arrived at the village it was unexpectedly less populated than usual. Broadly smiling, Suki praises herself for choosing a day and time when most beastmen would either be still hunting or preferring to be at the river. In other words, it earrrrlllyyy morning. As for Sanvi, the cub, though still yawning, was happily looking everywhere, be it a beast, a beastmen, or the stalls where odd shaped objects were being shown. However, what grabbed her attention and woke her completely was seeing small sightings of other cubs running playfully around each other.

Tugging at her mother's finger, Sanvi asks in a whisper, "mama, can I play with them?"

Declining, Suki explains while making sure her cub is still covered in her furs, "they're not blood kin."

Tilting her head, the little one scratches her nose and then asks, "mama Lucy keeps saying blood kin, but what is that?"

Laughing, Suki explains, "Lucy is my mama, she'd be your grandma." It can be confusing to differentiate since everytime Lucy visits, obviously Suki would call her mama. It also doesn't help that whenever mama visits she'll shout, "mama Lucy is here!"

After making sure that her cub understood, she continues, "we are bloodkin to Lucy because I was born from her. The two fox cubs that play with you are also born from her. They are bloodkin."

"So anything from ma-, uh grandma Lucy is bloodkin?" self corrects Sanvi.

"Em yes, and anything born from her mama and from me are also blood kin," tries to explain Suki while hoping that her apparently three year old looking cub would understand. Thankfully, a beast cub's intelligence far exceeds a humans, yet unfortunately that has also led to a lot of awkward moments caused by such innocent questions.

"Oh, it's like Papa Wolf's brothers, they're my bloodkin," nods happily Sanvi as she was able to meet them a few days ago when Adan's own mother sent them to ask about the female cub's health. That visit did not amuse Adan as he knew his mother was looking to see if any of her cubs would be liked by theirs.

Ehhh, emmm how to go around that thinks Suki as she unconsciously looks for Radu. Understanding her plight, Radu morphs back into his two legged form and jokingly adds, "they'd be part family, but when you're grown you could add them to your own family." Listening to talking of mates so young, Adan quickly interrupts Radu by tripping him and then morphs into his other self as well, "no, Sanvi!" Coughing into his hand, he smoothly looks back up, "though you can, if you want..., but as your papa I advise you to wait."

The innocent Sanvi who didn't know about adding to her family or what mates meant looks at him curiously as to ask why she should wait. Wait for what exactly?

Noticing her confusion, Adan mutters to himself while his face grows hot, "she's too young.. stupid Radu, wait till you're alone." As Radu skips and whistles from the other side of Tawa and by stepping any hits from Tawa's long whip-like tail, Leo butts in by asking dramatically with hints of playfulness to the ever curious cub, "Sanvi are you ready to meet grumpy grandpa Liam?"

Now excited and forgetting the talk about mates, Sanvi bounces in her seat, "I want to meet grumpy grandpa Liam!"

A gruffy voice, not belonging to either of Suki's males, growls behind a vendor's stall, "I heard that Leo!" Surprising both Leo and Adan who were closest to him. Radu who stopped whistling noticed that the three mark Adan for some reason didn't pick up on the elder male, though glancing toward Tawa, he seemed calm. Quietly sniffing the air and not picking up on the elder's smell either, Radu finally asks "gramps, what happened to your scent?"

"Sigh, it's Healer Liam you skunk.. As for my scent, it's a new potion invented with the Unique One. And I see it can hide your scent from a three mark but not above that.. Or is it the place?" asks Healer Liam the last part to himself as he stares toward where the forest lay. "I may need to try it out there... but someone much younger would need to do it, hmmm."

At this moment, Suki and her cub have been helped down by Tikvah, giving the chance for Tawa to morph back into his two legged form, "Radu would take pleasure in helping you tribe Healer. He is smart and cunning, so to make sure that potion actually works I advise a hunting team to pretend to be after him." Inserts Tawa as he gives the elder a grin.

"What a splendid idea horse beast!" gracefully responds Healer Liam with a twinkle in his blurry eyes as he looks at Radu with a thin smirk.

Trying not to groan out loud, Radu gives the elder a gentle smile instead, "Elder Liam we wish to present to you and to list in the Clear Lake Tribe our youngest family member." The elder first gave Radu an upraised eyebrow then looked at the bundle of fur held in Suki's arms.

"Suki, I'm aware how bear female beasts are supremely protective of their young, but with the sun now coming out, your cub may not be able to breathe comfortably."

Bowing her head in embarrassment Suki takes the fur covers off her flushed color cheeks cub and presents her to the beastmen in charge of knowing and caring for all females. Smiling gently at their tribes newest female, Healer Liam presents himself and guides them toward his stall where a smiling yet still nervous apprentice Charles awaits to see the miracle he alone helped save.  

Posted on December 30, 2022 on W att p aD   Time 16:22