14) libby's day pt2

                                    

                                          
We took about a few hour nap, the queen holding us close. As I woke I could hear hush whispers.
"My queen, it seems that tora has.... taken that feral as a pet beast. The reason why he was heading to the village was to find a healer for her as she injured herself accidentally when she fell into his nest. She currently has a hight temperature, and I need to grab my herbs. I'm sorry my queen. I failed to convince the feral to leave."
"You said tora made him her pet beast?"
"Yes, she said she asked him to be her's, she wouldn't let go of his shed even when she was unconscious. She did say that she knew about him before she became herself... I don't know how though."
I know how! From her version of the comics, but we couldn't exactly be so sure that it was Curtis. Since it was only tracks, and we didn't know what he was doing at this time. This will help me in the future, since I also have a feral in mind. The comic I read was in the perspective of a feral named Deon. He is an ivory ball python. When he was younger, Curtis took him under his wing and taught him a few things. As Deon was a non-venomous type of snake, and was abandoned when he was still in the egg, it was sheer luck he was able to hatch. After teaching him Curtis went about his way, and Deon followed him. He helped his older brother from the shadows, and worried about him when he saw how the female lead treated him and the rest of her mates. 
He even took in Curtis's male cubs, and taught them what he knew. Trying to keep them away from their father, which failed as they got their legacy. Which made them look for their mother, bai in their confusion. 
Deon had a lively personality and was quicker and stronger than Curtis. He had to compensate for his scale color* and non-venomous nature. Estimating the time he should be in his late teens. If tora got Curtis, then Deon should be close by. The only question is where is he hiding.... I should be able to see him sooner or later as Curtis seems to be staying with us. 
"Though I never thought I would say this, let him stay... tora is wise despite her age. If she wants him, she may have a reason for it. He will have to make a pledge to tora, though, to even stay in the beast city without the people complaining. Let him know that. At least she has two pet beasts now. When you go to her take kurnt with you. Have him learn guard duties"
Miken nodded at the Queen's words "yes, my queen. I'll have him guarding her alongside the king and Winston. I need to grab bitter bulb and gold root. Then we'll be going."
Gold root! Yes, ginger. Now I'm really hungry. My previous dad used to make me banh ja’neuk as a snack after school. Ooo, or coconut chicken curry. ugh... now I'm drooling. Snap out of it libby! You can't even cook..... maybe tora can? Last time my dad tried to teach me to cook, our house almost caught on fire. I was tasked to boil eggs, and I hadn't even put in the eggs yet...... ya.... first I probably should ask her if she can even cook? I hope so.... 
Miken was rushing to his work table, one they set up in the main room as we didn't have enough rooms in the hut. He grabbed a few herbs off his table and placed them into his satchel that was placed at the Leg of the table. He grabbed a little pot of something. Then left the hut, as he walked out he let's out a low grunt like bellow. A few minutes later I can see from my spot on the Queen's lap, a yellow ball dashing out of the foliage and stops in front of miken. Oh! If I remember my brothers patterns that one is kurnt. 
Miken waved goodbye to the queen and closed the door. The queen was stroking my hair, it felt calming. Rosa was still sleeping at the Queen's side, her purple hair covers some of her face. 
The queen noticed I was awake, and whispers 
"Libby, is this what she truly wanted?"
I nodded. We did discuss some of the mates we wanted to acquire or find females for before bai's arrival. Tora did say she wanted Curtis. She does seem to like the quiet ones. She probably relates to them on some level from her past. 
"Then I guess it was ment to be. I noticed you haven't gotten any pet beasts yet. You'll need to find some as well, little one. Once we head to your castle in the city, I plan to hold a tournament, to find more mates for both of my girls, would you like to be included? There is an age limit, and father beasts can compete to advocate for their cubs. So if the father beasts win they can have their strongest son get a spot as a potential pet beast. That's what my mother did for me when I was younger. Well not as young as you, but before my first heat, so my pet beasts could court me. Placement of marks are important little one. I tried to get to know my mates, that doesn't go for all females i know. But I didn't want my males to stray to far from my chest. The only one not in my chest is miken.... I know if we had mated now he would have ended up close to my chest. This was about nine rain seasons ago, when I first meet him"
She looks wistfully in the distance as she told her story. She continued to stroke my hair.
"I can remember the feast in the city, the beast temple sent him as a proxy of the priesthood he looked dashingin his robes. One of the rules of the temple was to offer your whole being to the God, and never to copulate. So i didn't even try to woo him, since he was a priest. The feast continues through the night, and I started to feel weird. Somehow I got separated from my mates and bumped into him as he was leaving the feast also feeling unwell. Later one It was revealed that a beastman laced the juice with aphrodisiac flowers. So in the heat of the moment we did mate, but as I didn't know him well enough, he ended up on my thigh. He was gone the next morning, he brought the juice to the kings and an investigation was made. He went to the temple and confessed what had happened that night to the beast god, someone overheard his confession and took this up to one of the high priests. The high priest delt him a punishment he claimed was the gods discipline for falling out of grace. He made it so miken could never have cubs of his own. He almost bled to death if it wasn't for the high priest we took you guys to. He even sent someone to contact me, and I readily brought him into my family." She sighed 
"So you guys need strong mates because even though they claim to be servants of your godly father, they are by no means kind. From what miken has told me the higher the rank in the temple, the more ruthless they are. So be careful little one so they don't take advantage of you. I can see you are more trusting then my tora is. I don't fathom the kind of trials you both have gone through, but in this world the only people you can truly trust are your mates. Their lives are tied to yours, if you die they die too. Well that is unless you had cubs. Then they will raise the cubs, but after the cubs becomes independent, they will die soon after. After you become their mates you become their heart and soul."
I nodded again, this was by far the oddest conversation to have with a baby, but she knew I would understand what she was saying. I can see where she was coming from, and did appreciate her concern. The room steadily grew darker, the night came. My mother didn't come out of her room, so the tiger queen had he mates make me food. And we all ate my fathers and brothers mixing well with toras family, and ate dinner before falling asleep in the main room. Surrounded by the warmth and love of a new family.
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*because he is an ivory color, he stands out. If he was in the desert he could blend in but he is in the forest, so he tends to stick out like a sore thumb. That's why it's so hard to find natural albinism in the wild, as they tend to get picked off when they are young. That is why deon had to get stronger as young as he is. Considering Coloring helps with camouflage, natural selection you can call it. This is a animal world, and even on earth, wild animal mothers will abandon cubs to protect the rest of the litter. I hope this helps with any confusion. 
-love leco