Her Beasts Volume Four

Mounting Concerns

The next week or so was spent relaxing at home as Iris actually had relatively little she needed to accomplish now that all of her plans had already been set in motion. Occasionally, she would be consulted about what she thought, but most of the work around the city required time rather than knowledge. Iris was happy to have time to spend with her young cubs and mates, but she still couldn't help but feel like she was quickly getting bored with so much free time on her hands.

Iris couldn't start anymore big projects until the next rainy season since everyone was far too busy constructing the new trade routes and bolstering their defenses via strong, tall stone brick walls, guard towers, and useful stone brick streets. It was possible that Iris could try to work on smaller projects like new beauty projects, but she didn't want to bother her mates too much either. Basil really did need the time to stabilize his position as the lead witch doctor as well as to get the new clinic and pharmacy areas organized. So, Iris could only try to find some peace and relax despite her anxiousness to work on something, anything to keep the boredom at bay.

Her cubs were quite adorable and sweet, so Iris quite often enjoyed watching them as they played or napped in various awkward yet amusing positions. However, there was only so much playing fetch or watching her young cubs play tug-o-war with their new sweet root rope toy that she could do. Iris really had no idea how her ancestors had suffered through such long and boring days in the days before reading, television, and video games were commonplace.

"We could play one of the games you made? I could even see if Holly, Fawn, or Alicia is available to join us for dinner so you can socialize some?"

Fern was as sweet as ever as he tried to help Iris figure out something to entertain herself, but she could only reply in the negative

"No, Holly and Fawn have been busy with their businesses and don't have the time to visit all of the time. Your sister might be free, but it will be difficult for her to make other friends and adjust if we don't give her some time to herself."

Iris kept the fact that she was bored to death of playing checkers, mancala, and various card games to herself. Fern was trying and Iris wasn't about to make her boredom his problem any more than she had to. Her mates always could read her like a book and were always trying to ensure she was both happy and healthy. Iris felt guilty that she couldn't hide the more minor issues like boredom from her mates, but she couldn't say that it wasn't nice to have husbands who cared for her so much.

Birk was laying on the floor where Rosemary was climbing on him, trying to act tough and engage Birk in some playfighting. Birk, not wanting to disappoint the young female was doing his best to go along with her antics, even though it was more than obvious to the adults present that Rosemary didn't stand any real chance of winning against Birk. Still, despite his circumstances, Birk called out to offer

"I could take you out flying and then we could check out the new hot spring baths? You did insist on having one of them set aside as private baths for our family so you might as well enjoy them."

Iris thought the offer over for a short while before nodding in acceptance. The reason she had insisted on making the hot springs mostly private areas was that they needed to be able to have time to naturally clean and purify themselves. Without things like bleach or chlorine, the only thing that Iris could do was to give the hot springs time to naturally filter new water in and old water out to clean itself.

It wasn't like the hot springs were the only source of water in the area either. Everyone had free access to the river that was located in the nearby forest. It was just that the few hot spring baths that they had would be rented out on a yearly basis to others. Iris hated to deny the males the chance to enjoy something that the females could, but the hot springs were a rather limited resource and so she had to limit who could rent it. She had made it so only families with a female could rent it, but both the females and males of the family were free to use their rented property.