Her Beasts Volume Four

Tragedy Strikes Part One

The next morning, Iris was awoken with a rather familiar commotion. As this had already happened a few times, Iris was beginning to grow familiar with this song and dance. Iris quickly dressed and combed her hair before heading downstairs. The house was remarkably empty with only Fern and Birk home while the others were nowhere to be seen. Still, the loud shouting in the distance didn't seem to match with the usual mood of such an early morning. It was also highly unlikely that it was just the usual noises from morning combat training either as her mates would usually invite Iris to join them for it.

Birk looked wearily at Iris before looking back towards Fern. He didn't really want to leave their home, but he knew it was likely that he would have to. Birk sighed before gently removing Rosemary from his lap and going to stand.

"Alright, come on. I'll transform and fly you over so you can see things for yourself. Apparently, there was some commotion at the border earlier and the others had to head out a little earlier than usual to attend to it. They were thinking about letting you sleep in today and skip training as well since we all thought you might be a bit tired still from traveling. Most females tend to have a difficult time traveling so much in such a short time."

Fern just smiled at Iris as he corralled the young cubs towards the kitchen and assured her

"I'm already working on breakfast. I'll get the cubs fed while you are gone, so you don't have to worry about rushing home."

Iris smiled affectionately at Fern before hugging him goodbye. She doubted she'd be gone long enough for breakfast to go cold, but she still liked to bid her mates goodbye before they parted ways.

When Iris and Birk arrived at the outer portion of the city, Iris could see a rather large crowd was beginning to form. It would seem that several of the males in her city were quite excited about something while the rest of the numbers appeared to be more refugees. If it was a deceleration of war, it was unlikely that there would be so many females at the forest's edge.

Caspian, seeing Iris, nodded his head in recognition and Iris walked forward until she was at a comfortable distance to ask

"What's going on? Where are the others?"

Caspian looked worried as he looked at Iris, still he quickly explained

"It would seem a volcano has erupted causing several tribes to be displaced from their homes as they fleed in terror. However, due to the recent wild beastmen attacks, there aren't any other tribes to ask for help between where these tribes lived and where we are.

Ember, in his excitement, flew off right away with rather little explanation. Birk is sorting things out with the inns while we sort things out here. We thought it likely that you would want to consider taking in these refugees as well. So, he is informing anyone from the Wetlands Tribe or Owl Tribe who are still in the inn that they will have to move into tents, start paying the monthly fee, or finally move into proper housing. Most have already moved, but some have stayed a bit longer than they really should."

Iris groaned as she rubbed her nose with her palm in exasperation. She rolled her eyes as she complained

"He really shouldn't have done that. He is just wasting his time. Can you please gather up everyone else? Make sure no one else tries to leave and call them for a city-wide meeting right away. The refugees can join us since they will also need to be aware, if they plan to join us."

Iris was wondering about where Basil was, but he soon came wandering up on his own accord. He quickly transformed so his beast tail was out and wrapped it around Iris in comfort as he inquired

"I guess you already know then? Ember really shouldn't be so easily led by his own emotions. I'm guessing he has gone in search of the immortality lilies. Who even knows if there will be any, especially after so much time has passed. Some of these refugees are from the Rabbit Tribe while others are from the Mountain Lion Tribe. It would have taken several weeks for them to travel this far."

Iris looked confused as she asked

"The Mountain Lion Tribe, why would they be here? The Rabbit Tribe was nearly a month out while the Mountain Lion Tribe was only two weeks away. It wouldn't make sense for the volcano to have affected both tribes."

Basil sighed, his lips pressed firmly together as he looked rather pained. He didn't like talking of such issues with Iris as he knew she would worry, but it was better for him to tell her now rather than later. So, he somberly explained

"You aren't wrong. The Rabbit Tribe and the other nearby tribes scattered in all different directions. The ones who went towards what your map calls south had tried to stay with the Mountain Lion Tribe, at first. However, they were attacked by the Wild Beastmen not long after and both groups ended up having to flee once more. Thanks to the Mountain Lion Tribe, the group headed our way."

Iris's expression grew weary as she said

"This area has been almost entirely removed of tribes over the course of the past year. Surely this isn't normal?"

Basil shook his head as he replied

"Natural disasters and wild beastmen aren't uncommon, but they usually don't cause this much of a problem. Most of the time, the tribes just temporarily relocated before settling back down and rebuilding. However, the wild beastmen who are in this area seem to be very organized and strong, which is affecting the natural balance of things."

Iris wasn't sure what to say about that. She didn't want to make everyone move away and risk their lives on a gamble that another area might be safer. However, there was no denying that their city was certainly at risk of being attacked again, eventually. Instead of continuing to discuss the wild beastmen, Iris decided to change the conversation

"How much of the Rabbit Tribe came our way? How many of them survived? That was the tribe that Fern's sister lived in."

Basil furrowed his eyebrows as he asked another question instead of answering

"What was her name? What did she look like? I had to help administer first aid to some of the refugees and I may have seen her, but I wouldn't remember a random female I'd only met once so easily."

Iris wasn't sure to say about that. She had remembered Fern's sister due to their first meeting being a rather rough one. Besides, the female was important to Fern and it only made sense to Iris to remember who her sister-in-law was.

"She was a blondish half-orc female with pink eyes named Alicia. She had gotten angry thinking I was bullying Fern for offering to become mates with him. He had a rather difficult time due to his lavender fur and pink eyes being rather unusual, even amongst his tribemates."

Basil nodded as his eyes showed some recognition.

"Ah, yes, there was one female like that among the group. She seemed a bit upset because a few of her children seem to have gotten lost or died along the way. I'm unsure if it would be a good idea to approach her right now or not."

Iris's heart clenched at the news. She was sure Fern would be heartbroken to know that the cubs he had helped raise and doted on had been lost to such tragic circumstances. Although, Iris had to wonder if it wasn't a female cub or a newer group of cubs that had been lost. From what her mates said, it was unlikely a female would mourn her older male cubs as it was seen as only natural for a female to become uninterested in her male cubs as they grew older.

Iris didn't ask any more questions from Basil, just letting the silence hang heavily over them. She'd really rather not hear any more bad news right now. Iris would have to behave in a manner fitting of a leader soon as she would have to lead the city meeting once Caspian returned with everyone else in tow.