Her Beasts Volume Four

Family Reunion

Alicia seemed a bit reluctant as she followed Iris to her home. The five mates Alicia had remaining as well as her twelve cubs followed Iris quietly and Iris couldn't say she blamed them. Their family had suffered quite a bit in the past few weeks and now they were once more in an unfamiliar land where they had nothing to their names.

Caspian and Hazel had jobs to do, so that left only Basil and Birk to accompany Iris and help maintain the peace. Basil likely could have stayed and helped to look over more of the injured and sick, but he had a rather persistent habit of insisting on putting Iris first before all else. Iris could only accept this as she had promised herself not to fight her mates over what they considered best for her safety, as often, after she returned from the ethereal realm.

Iris sighed in relief as she finally came upon her home. While it looked rather similar to the others around it, nearly identical and very cookie-cutter in nature, there were still some things that made it stand out. Basil had planted some pretty flowers outside their home with the help of Birk's earth powers to speed up their growth. This was something that happened recently and, while the space to plant the flowers was minimal, it certainly added some personality to their home. Basil had wanted to have fresh flowers for making new beauty products, but Iris was sure that part of the placement could certainly be attributed to Basil wanting to do something nice for Iris. He did have an entire acre of farmland for his herb-growing experiments, after all.

Of course, the thing that made her home feel like home the most was the people within it. Hearing Iris outside, her young cubs clamored to run to the front door and Fern was not far behind as he tried to coral the rather rambunctious young cubs. 

Seeing her brother for the first time in a year, Alicia began to choke back tears, her emotions once more overwhelming her. Alicia's mates stepped forward in concern to comfort her. Fern looked towards the sound, looking rather startled when he recognized his sister.

However, something else caught Iris's attention. Alicia's young cubs did not try to step forward to comfort their mother, instead choosing to remain out of the way, acting rather well-behaved and polite. If it was Iris crying, she knew her own cubs would either remain at play or would quickly rush to her side in concern, but they would never sit to one side as if they were worried about being a burden to their mother.

Of course, this was normal behavior for the young cubs of the beastworld. Only female cubs were allowed to throw tantrums as a male doing the same would be met with frustration before one of their fathers would see to it that their attitudes were straightened out. Even the Rabbit Tribe and the family that Fern cherished so much were not immune to this. Males receiving slightly more praise or physical forms of affection did not change how hard life was for males in the beastworld. It was just that Iris hadn't had much opportunity to observe young cubs and see how they grew up. Iris only knew what her mates had to say about the matter and how she treated her cubs to go on.

Iris's thoughts were interrupted as Alicia pushed forward through her mates and loudly cried

"I'm so glad to see you are okay! Our parents are gone as are all of my youngest cubs."

Alicia looked pitiful and heartbroken and Fern could only offer words of sympathy as he wouldn't risk upsetting Alicia's mates or Iris by being the first to step forward to offer any physical consolation.

"I'm sorry, sister. That must have been difficult for you. You can rest assured that you will be safe here. My mate is a very generous leader and this area is, mostly safe. Well, there are some particularly dangerous wild beastmen here, but we are taking steps to increase our defenses and protect those most vulnerable from their attacks. I think you will like it here."

Alicia felt alone as she noticed how her own brother hesitated to be affectionate with her. She couldn't help but feel this was largely due to his new mate, but Alicia set that aside. Alicia couldn't hold any will against Iris, even if she were to be the jealous sort. As long as Fern was alive and well, Alicia could be satisfied that her brother had finally found a mate who was actually willing to accept him as he was.

"You look... well, brother. You seem like you have put on more weight and muscle, although you look more pale than I last remember."

Fern smiled affectionately as he stepped towards Iris, taking his rightful place beside his mate.

"Yes, well, our family has young cubs now, as you can see. I don't spend as much time working in the fields or playing outside with our cubs as I did when I babysat your young ones. I have new hobbies and skills that I have been working on that add value to our city. I also babysit the cubs alongside, Birk, who I see you have already met.

Our lead warrior, Ember, another member of our family, leads morning combat practice every morning. I was fortunate enough to be able to level up a few months after I left home thanks to his help. I think it might be good for your mates to consider joining in as well. I know our tribe tends to be weak, but there are ways we can grow stronger and use our beast forms to our advantage instead of letting it be a burden."

Alicia looked at Iris, taking in her own strong and proud form. She sighed as she thought of just how combative she had been now and in the past.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble... I don't mean to cause offense. I've just always worried about my brother and it is even worse now that I have lost most of our family. I'm not sure how well my family, or any of our tribe really, will fit in here. We aren't a very strong group and we are used to having a closer-knit group where we rely on each other to get by.

I hope you can forgive me, though, and you won't hold it against my fellow tribesmen."

Iris smiled generously before replying

"I'm not, generally, one to hold grudges. I understand that things were difficult for your brother before we met, but he really has grown quite a bit since you last saw him. There are plenty of ways to contribute besides just being strong.

We cook with fire here, which I realize sounds scary, but we do practice proper fire safety. Everyone has to be taught what to do and my mate Caspian can use his ice elemental abilities if things get out of hand. Anyhow, your brother is quite talented and has helped quite a bit with teaching the others how to farm and developing new recipes to make with the food we have available.

He also is quite impressive combat-wise. Instead of fighting in his beast form, he uses knives made from sharpened bones. His rabbit beast form makes him fast and agile so he can quickly slash out at his opponents before dodging out of the way. I wouldn't be surprised if he even levels up again in the next year or two."

Alicia merely hummed as she looked at her brother, wondering just how much of this was true. It wasn't a bad thing for her brother's mate to think highly of him, though, and it wasn't like Alicia hadn't seen some strange things in this city already. She could only wonder what else there might be to see in the future.