Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen

It took a week to fully recover and during that time I did not leave my bedroom. The cubs were voracious and ate frequently which led to my own appetite being insatiable. I am fairly certain I could have eaten an entire hippopotamus if they served it to me. The cubs and I ate and slept and ate and slept and on the morning of the seventh day, my furry potatoes opened their eyes.

"Winston! Get up here!" I called my tiger who was downstairs preparing hot water for me to wash my face with. He was the only one home. The others were off handling business and Lance was playing with Kit at the lake. The thundering sounds of Winston's heavy feet climbing the stairs made the whole house shake and I laughed in anticipation for his reaction once he saw what was waiting for him. He burst through the bedroom door with the whites of his eyes displaying his panic, but when he saw my grinning features, he calmed himself with a deep breath.

"What happened?" His eyes wandered the room in search of anything out of place.

"Look!" I said as I lifted a cub in each hand facing him. Baek's amber eyes and Tora's misty blue ones stared at their father with curiosity. "Aren't they beautiful?" I asked with pride. It was rare for a female's characteristics to be passed down to her male cubs. They tended to take after their fathers for the most part. However, not only did Baek have my eyes, but as Tora hadn't developed any black stripes, his orange stripes resembled my locks. My genetics had been strong enough to show the world that these cubs were mine and I could not contain my happiness.

Winston's face soon reflected my heart and a big toothy smile split his face. "Very beautiful." He said as he walked over to me and took them from my hands for a closer look. He laid the cubs down on the furs and tickled their bellies with his fingers. He teased the cubs, enticing them to chase after his fingertips and checking their eyes for any impairments in their vision. All appeared healthy as they followed his fingers and wobbled at them with their tiny frames, biting down with toothless, gummy mouths.

Winston, satisfied with the results of his exam, came to me and held me in a warm embrace and like the sappiest parents in the world, we watched our cubs discover each other and promptly bounce into each other and tumble in play. I had been worried that their development would be slower as they were born too early but all my fears were like shadows disappearing with the light from my cubs' eyes.

Now, with the tools needed to explore the world, the two would waste no time in wandering about our home. It reminded me that besides floors and walls, we had nothing in the way of interior design.

The first-floor consisted of two bedrooms, a living area, a dining area and a cooking area. The foundations were built to incorporate the underfloor heating system, raising the floor, preventing bugs and damp. Large flat flagstones were placed on top and cracks were sealed with clay like our previous cabin. Since the weather in this valley was milder than the beast city, we wouldn't always need to be sleeping on the floor for heat, which is why most of the bedrooms were on the second floor. The second floor had the master bedroom, which was big enough for myself and three adult beasts, plus three smaller bedrooms. Since the house's roof was built in an A shape, there was also a small attic. The floors were made with solid wood planks connected by tongue and groove. The walls were plaster with wood framing. Since hinges from wood or stone weren't practical, the window and door frames could be closed with sliding wooden panels on tracks, like Japanese fusuma but thicker and cruder looking. The upstairs main bedroom had its own stone fireplace. Two chimneys had to be placed next to each other on one side of the house. One to service the master bedroom and one for the downstairs kitchen which fueled the underfloor heating.

It wasn't a castle, but it was my palace. I incorporated everything I knew about architecture into this building but we were still a long way away from completing it. I still wanted to make a large dining room table with chairs, bedframes, mattresses, pillows, dressers, kitchen cabinets, nightstands, sofa, cellar, and add various decorative touches. With food and hygiene being priority, we had already made the outhouse, smoke shack and a bird coop. We captured a few of the local waterfowl and housed them together with the cocky short-birds who surprisingly accepted their company without much fuss. The Roman style bathhouse was still under construction.

Over the next few weeks, the cubs would explore our home and little by little we could add new objects to keep the thrill of discovery from fading. Alas, I was already going stir crazy from only the first week of twiddling my thumbs. Until the cubs were a couple months old, they wouldn't be able to eat solid foods and needed to be nursed often. So, I either would have to nurse in public, which made my human self-hesitate but my fox self couldn't give rat's ass, or stay home. I decided on the former.

We still had a long day ahead of us so instead of wasting it sitting around, I took the cub basket, wrapped Tora and Baek in pelts and tossed the tiger burritos in.

"Where do you think you're going?" Asked a disapproving Winston leering over my shoulder.

Dressed in Lance's version of soft leather overalls, I sat to tie up my sandals, "I want to go check on Muir and Tristan. I also want to see how the guard recruitment is going." By the look on his face, he wasn't going to let me out of the house for either of those things. Drawing out the conjunctive, I added the real reason. "A~nd I want to brag about my babies. The other females, especially Laura, made me promise to bring them around once they were big enough." I stood up with the basket slung over my arm and inched towards the door.

"I doubt they think one week is 'big enough'." Winston took the basket out of my hands and held it high out of my reach.

I immediately put on my best pouting puppy face and blinked my dewy eyes at him. "Ple~ase?"

"No."

Little rawrs started emanating from the basket.

"See! They want to go too!" I pointed at the basket and hopped.

The corner of Winston's lip twitched but he didn't relent. Instead he moved in close to me, crowding my space and causing me to take a couple steps back. Then he used his one free hand to gently push me, which made me lose my balance and fall butt first into the fur pile. "You still need rest and the cubs are still too small. I will tell Shuu to give you a report on the guard organization. I will allow Tristan, and only Tristan to come see you. The females and the feathered firebug will have to wait until the cubs are at least one month old."

"ONE MONTH?!" I gasped, horrified. "That's too long! I'll die of boredom."

This time Winston let his evil smile crinkle his eyes. "We can't have that. Don't worry. I'll make sure you have plenty of projects you can complete from the comfort of this room." He said with absolute certainty.

I crossed my arms and harrumphed but couldn't keep the scowl on my face for more than a second before I started to giggle. I laid back and sighed, admitting defeat. I was in for a long quarantine. But at least I was in good company.

*Who caught the same virus twice in one month? This chick. I'm sick again guys. I will try to keep writing the best I can. Also I have a new appreciation for Slice-of-life authors. Shit is hard.