Her Beasts Volume Four

Final Preparations

The rest of the week, before they set off, Iris had to spend running around preparing for their trip. Extra food was prepared so that Iris could put it in her dimensional bag and they wouldn't have to worry about always hunting for fresh prey when they stopped. As they already had fresh plants stored in the dimensional bag, most of the food that was prepared was just the nicer quality foods that required cooking. Well, some of it wasn't for Iris's group to eat.

Iris also had to prepare things like sweets, high-quality jerky, and dried fruits to bring with her as products to show off to the leader of the mermaid tribe. It was actually rather difficult for Iris to figure out what her city had to offer in trade to the mermaid tribe in the long-term. They were a tribe who lived underwater and were largely self-sufficient. Many things either wouldn't function underwater or were at risk of being ruined by the water.

Even food was something that was likely to be affected by the water. It was only because Pearl had mentioned that some females also had underwater caves to live in that Iris had hope that the food could be transported in firmly sealed containers before being opened in these underwater caves. Still, that limited Iris to items that could be enjoyed by females and those that could function in the ocean's depths.

As Iris was no longer focusing on making clothing and mattresses, leaving that plan to Pearl's family to take over, she didn't think it would be a good plan to bring clothes over to entice the tribal leader. It would be far too misleading to offer a product that wouldn't be available for any sort of amount of time.

The soaps and other beauty products that Basil made were also a bit questionable. While Basil was still more than happy to set time aside to make them, Iris wasn't sure how useful they would be while surrounded by water. The only part that seemed like it could be useful were the bone combs that were well crafted with intricate designs on them. Iris could easily imagine the females feeling frustrated by their hair once they left the water and were in their cave homes. It wasn't like they were completely different from other females who lived on land, after all.

One of the items that Iris was certain would be able to function under water just fine was the games she had developed. Checkers, manacala, BINGO, dominoes, and the card games were all possible contenders. However, due to the lack of ability to read and recognize numbers that most beastmen had, Iris crossed BINGO off the list entirely and had to have the cards altered so that anyone could easily use them.

Iris drew various types of flowers, butterflies, and simple animal images onto the cards before having one of her mates help her carve the symbols onto the cards. The cards could then be used to play memory games or go fish. Either option would work just fine with the cards as they were.

When Iris asked Basil to work on some bone combs, he actually offered to make some specialty pre-made medicines while he was at it. Iris easily accepted his offer as she was sure medicine was likely something the mermaids could use. They likely wouldn't be able to use it under the water, but Iris was sure they could always enter a cave and treat the wounds there. Luckily, Hazel taught the stone masonry workers the new twist cap container method, so the medicine was likely to remain closed until it was actually needed.

Finally, the last thing that Iris considered a viable option to bring with them as a potential product was actually something that Hazel had to make himself. Unfortunately, these items were not the new toys they had been working on. Instead, Iris was bringing some of the intricately carved wooden statues that Hazel liked to make. They were quite popular as decorations for one's home and they would stand up to the water for some time. Although, Iris did worry that it was likely they would eventually rot or otherwise deteriorate should they remain in the water too long. Still, that seemed like a natural hazard of living in the water rather than something that would be their fault.

Any time that wasn't spent on travel preparations, Iris spent playing with her cubs. She made sure to keep her distance to some degree with her male cubs, but no one was going to convince her to not shower her daughter with affection. The only reason Iris was even willing to give in to the norms of raising cubs in the beastworld to any extent was that she didn't want to feel like she was harming her male cubs. Still, playing with them with the new toys and occasionally praising the male cubs with a few kind words and a head pat here and there was the least amount of affection Iris was willing to lie with. There was no way she was going to forsake any of her cubs entirely.

None of Iris's mates felt the need to argue with this. While Iris was still paying far more attention to the cubs than most females did, it could still safely be considered within the realms of normal. Iris was just playing with the male cubs and providing praise and Rosemary was free to have all the love and attention her mother could provide. If anything, Iris's males wanted to spoil their daughter more since she needed to be used to being pampered so she wouldn't be easily be swayed by males when she grew up. After all, unless they had another daughter, it was likely that Rosemary would inherit Iris's position and it would be important for her to only accept capable males.

Still, there was plenty of time before they would have to worry about that. They could slowly teach Rosemary all that she would need to know as she grew up.

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Last chance call! There's only 10x chapters left before volume five and this series ends on my Patreon! That's about two weeks from now. I'll also be posting the fifth volume PDF downloadable copy the week after the chapters finish posting, so you can own a PDF of all of the volumes.

After everyone currently subscribed cancels, I plan to do a major overhaul on the Patreon. I'll be deleting all the chapters and bonus content, only leaving the PDF copies and exclusive side stories remaining. These will all be filed under the same collection for ease of access. However, I will be doubling the price to $10 as I'll basically be selling digital copies of the full series instead of early access to chapters. That's roughly $2 / volume, which is still a bargain for a copy you get to keep forever!

Anyway, the current price is $5 / month, so this is your last chance call to get everything my Patreon has to offer for the current price. This includes:

Ad-free reading of all of the older chapters

107 early access chapters

3 side stories

4 PDF copies of completed volumes

2 different phone / iPad wallpapers

12 printable coloring pages

14 printable stickers

A 2024 printable calendar

End of chapter shout-out

Exclusive Discord role

Plus there is the following content, which is available for free and open for anyone to enjoy:

Monthly Newsletters

Polls & Surveys

Guidebook Content (character arts & useful information)

Author's Notes

A special thanks to the following Patreon subscribers:

Cubs: Fictional F., Ryanna B.

Beasts: Ann, Argon, Austin J., Byloderus, Care, Catherine W., Cheyenne O., Chong Y., Christen F., Cindy S., CooCoo C., Courtney H., Denise G., Dreamer, Emma B., GeminiDragon, Gracie, InjaP., Izzzy B., Jasmine H., Jenn L., Kayla N., Kelly, Lisa C., Martina I., Michelle S., Michelle W., Miranda M., Myungjun R., Nova H., Nyrobi J., Nyxie N., Parul N., Reyanne B., Rochelle N., Satya P., Shaunna H., Shawna B.

Lovely Beasts: Dagoon320, David Z., Doc., Juha, Killer K., Nick T., Sboss678, ScorpioPerk, Steven B., Travis S.

Patreon Link: patreon.com/AutumnPlunkett

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Don't forget to check out the Discord! I've got several channels set up for story discussion, useful story information, and even chapter alerts so you can get notified right away when a new chapter is released!

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/YWcHrsGVHv

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