B+Bs: To Stand In A Beast's World

63. Fun Work

The days got colder, and Curtis went down for the season. He came to say goodbye, and I promised we wouldn't disappear on him. The groggy Curtis could barely hold a conversation, and I had to encourage him along.

I know he's been behaving, but I liked the idea of having a break from him. It'll give me and my family time and privacy to talk about him. Because as happy as I was that he was changing, I couldn't just let everything go.

So if I am really going to consider Curtis seriously, my spouses need to weigh in their thoughts on the matter and determine what Curtis needs to do to earn redemption. And I have to figure out what would satisfy me as well.

With Curtis temporarily out of the picture, my mind was virtually negative-stress-free. What remained was the positive kind. The kind that didn't directly involve me or my family's well-being.

I threw myself into my self-elected duties. I asked for wooden and stone slabs to write on and got to taking a stock of what we had. The stone, coffin-shaped vault held nothing—can't say I was surprised given the scale of the battle. The number and types of fur were counted and categorized.

The former ruler left a bag of weevil-eaten rice and two bags of wild grains. The weevils were deemed harmless, so long as we rinsed the rice well. Muir picked through the bag and disposed of the pests. Unfortunately, one bag of wild grains molded leaving one.

The castle had no rations aside from that, so Winston built a smoke shed along with the guards. It was late to be smoking meat, but curing was also possible with all the salt.

I shared the idea. I lacked the specifics, but I was positive salt could be used to preserve meat. I let the males experiment with it since we had more than enough salt for that.

That was something that the castle had in abundance. Four barrels to be exact. All were clean and ready for use.

I grabbed a few guards for myself and had them build a pen for me both in and out of the castle. Winston had already erected a coop for shortbirds, but I wanted to keep goats, deer, cows, or anything that responded well to domestication really.

We could use them if things got tough in the winter, but I also needed to make sure Curtis doesn't go crazy from hunger when he wakes up. He really should've mentioned that to me beforehand, but luckily I know better thanks to the novel.

I don't give a shit about his feral upbringing or any other excuse. If he eats someone's kids, we're done. He's done. So I think it's best not to chance that at all. I'll have a meal ready for him.

Muir was on animal collection duty, and I had him rope in six eagles for the next idea I had. I took the brightest and most artistic of them and requested a map of the city to be drawn.

"You can use these symbols to indicate paths and homes. This... for a castle," I drew in the dirt. "This for a gate. If you have a better idea, you are free to draw it. Just make sure that the symbols don't get too crowded and that each has a distinction that separates them from another."

I liked having eagle employees. Because eagle males were quiet. They didn't drown me in compliments like the tigers did and they got to work much quicker.

I sent another party, made up of eagles, tigers, and wolves, off to gather foodstuff that I would preserve and/or serve to the females. I kept as busy as the others and loved it. I don't think my spouses did though.

More time working meant less time with them. But no one complained since they were also quite busy. Harvey had to deal with sick females with colds. Muir was running errands for me constantly. Winston was helping the guards smoke meat and fish while also trying to bring to life my idea of heating for the castle. Shuu was busy organizing—and I quote—'stone-headed' tigers and teaching them how to operate in teams.

It made me giggle to hear him talk like that. He was always so sweet around me, but he clearly wasn't always. His frustrations with the tigers let his opinions slip through.

One such errand I had Muir run, was to the ape king...

"The tiger queen sent you?" The ape king paled and braced for the worst.

Surely Grace wasn't hungry for power. She didn't seem to be the type. But then, what did she want from him?

"Yes. She wishes to hold a joint event with you," said Muir.

Bard blinked then heaved a sigh. "What kind of event?"

"When you treat the females of the city to the warm juice, Grace wants the tiger castle to provide soup."

Bard dabbed the cold sweat off his forehead and relaxed. That request was hardly inconceivable, just unusual. It was one thing if she simply did it without involving him, but she wanted to combine the two.

Even if she gained favor for this, so too would the ape king. "I approve it." He didn't think too hard on this. There was no immediate downside. And if he said no, Grace could do it anyway.

"The first snow will happen in two days. Word will be sent," supplied the ape king.

Muir nodded and left.

Bard leaned his head against his throne, grateful that it wasn't a difficult request to agree on.

Once Muir brought the information back, Grace got to work ordering and guiding the tigers on how to assist her. Muir was sad to see her so busy, but he didn't remain that way. Grace looked...satisfied. And despite the workload, she appeared relaxed. How could he remain dissatisfied then?

Not every female will come to the handout at the ape castle, but I needed to prepare for as many as possible. It was okay to have soup leftover since there was no chance of it going to waste. The tiger guards offered to personally consume all of it if anyone dared to leave it behind.

I chuckled and let them have their way. After all, I'm positive they were being sincere.

Grace didn't know just how much her few days of work had already moved the guards and won loyalties. The last two tiger queens did no work for the castle. Not that they were expected to—because they weren't—but it left a strong impact to see a female taking the role and making it useful.

There were a few naysayers among them who thought a female had no business taking the duties of a king, but they found themselves unintentionally placated whenever they interacted with their queen.

The tiger castle had already changed a lot in these few days and spirits were higher than they had been in a while. When the summons of the ape king were heard, the tiger males used their strong bodies to haul large pots of soup to the ape castle. They took the utmost care not to spill any on their way.