The Roselands

Chapter 17

   "Oh my God! Yes! I will!"

   I lurched awake and sat up so quick, my head struck the branch our blanket was laid on. I groaned in pain and laid back, rubbing my head. Dusty sat up as well and his antlers stuck through the blanket, ripping it as he floundered about, trying to escape it. Jeepa and Sprite gasped and grabbed him, slipping him out of the blanket to prevent any more damage done to the blanket or him. I stuck my head out of the tent and saw that Zazil and Blossom must have slept next to the fire last night because of the rolled out blanket out there. I glanced to the right and I saw…something bizarre.

   Zazil and Blossom were hugging off to the side, but Blossom had a ring on her finger. Her left ring finger to be correct. I gasped, frozen with both shock and admiration. Zazil had proposed? Why so soon? Had they suddenly become madly in love overnight?

   Sprite stepped out of the tent and I stood as well, wanting to see her reaction. She turned, spotted the ring, and squealed. "Oh my God! Blossom!"

   The Marhet squealed as well and rushed over, hugging her and jumping up and down. "I know! I'm gonna get married!"

   Jeepa came out and they told her what happened, earning them a loud meow and then hyper purrs. I walked over to Zazil and rested my arm on his shoulder. "Well…this is new."

   He sighed and shoved me off him. "I know, but since we were marching into this place, not knowing if we'd come out alive…I figured I'd make her happy in case we die or something."

   "Yeah, but are you prepared for it? How old are you guys anyway?"

   Zazil sat down on the log seat and sighed, cupping his jaw and poking the fire embers awkwardly. "I'm eighteen and she's only sixteen, but we don't have parents to tell us off. Her mother was killed by a Beerth shortly after Blossom turned thirteen. She was saved by other Marhets before the Beerth could get her as well. The Marhets who found her thought she'd been an actual Marhet, but when they saw she was a hybrid, they turned her over to the soldiers for money."

   I glanced over at Blossom and saw her ears were fully erect, a sign she was definitely happy and alert. She obviously loved the idea of getting married and as I recalled her story, I realized that she needed the happiness. I leaned over to Zazil and tapped his arm. "What about Jeepa and Dusty? How'd they get here?"

   Zazil sighed and looked down at the ground, his tusks moving as he popped his jaw, a weird habit that some Beerths adopted. "Jeepa's father was an Olket who went slightly mad and deciding to go on a raping spree. He raped Jeepa's mother, along with Jeepa's half human sister. They both conceived, but Jeepa's sister miscarriaged. When Jeepa was born, her mother loved her, but was scared of what would happen to her. She brought Jeepa here herself and handed her over as an infant. Dusty's story is worse. His father and mother actually fell in love, but when his mother went into labor, the soldiers found her and killed Dusty's father. They waited until she had birthed him before stealing him away and bringing him here."

   Zazil looked up and sighed as Dusty was told by the girls what had happened. "That's why he's so small. He showed up here, a tiny sobbing babe with no mother's milk to suckle. He survived the first few days on warmed milk from cows, but he was losing strength fast. We were scared for him and worried he'd die, but wouldn't you know it, he was destined to make it after all. The mother of a Beerth hybrid had come here of her own volition to birth and care for her baby, but the child died during the birth. She had no baby to nurse, and Dusty had no mother to feed him. It was a perfect match. She nursed him and he eventually got to a stable condition. If you're wondering how we know this, the soldiers or parents usually tell us what happened."

   I nodded and looked over at Dusty, who looked like they'd tried to explain the universe to him. I silently gestured him over and he gladly bounded over. He sat on the log and leaned over to me. "What're they talking about?"

   Me and Zazil smiled and I sighed, rubbing the Seerdeer's shoulder. "Let me put it like this. You're approaching the point where you'll probably start to see girls as pretty. Eventually you get to the point where you and a girl want to live your lives together and be a pair. Zazil and Blossom wanted to be a pair. They're gonna get married and lib  together for the rest of their lives. That's how marriage works."

   Dusty grunted and rested his chin in his hand, his blonde hair falling over his eyes. "Yuck. I don't see girls as pretty. I probably never will."

   Zazil snorted. "Don't be so hopeful kid. Next thing you know, you've got a pretty girl stuck in your head and you can't shake them out. Isn't that right, Zeek?"

   I glanced up at Sprite and watched as her bright smiling face was hit by a ray of sun sprinkling through the trees, making her look like the Faery she was meant to be. "Yeah. They're stuck in your head forever. The only way to forget a pretty face is to see a prettier face. And I don't think I'll ever see one."

   Dusty glanced at Sprite and nodded. "Oooooohhh. You love Sprite? Then maybe you can tell me what you guys were doing in the cave the other day? And what Jeepa and Azar did too."

   I cocked an eyebrow and then remembered. "Oh. A kiss you mean. It's affectionate thing that couples do. You won't totally understand it until you've done it."

   Dusty sighed and brushed a bit of dirt off his right antler. "I still don't get it."

   I was about to laugh and remark further when Sprite suddenly screamed. I looked in the direction she was pointing, and at the edge of the trees, peeking out, were three Beerths, armed to the teeth with scars and tattoos across their arms and chests.