CHAPTER 44: SOME NEWS

The next day, Theo and Kiro left early to go hunting, giving Serena a chance to go through her home building manual and see if there was any information on gardening.

After skimming through most of the book, Serena finally found a small section on gardening. She quickly read through it, but soon realized a problem.

She wasn’t quite sure what weeding, pruning, deadheading or adding mulch meant nor was she familiar with any of the tools needed. It didn’t help that the book barely explained what they meant too.

Mostly just to do them during certain times.

In the end, Serena decided to just remove everything and get some advice on what to plant in the garden. She was pretty sure someone could explain to her how to care for it properly.

Setting aside the book, Serena grabbed a water skin and headed to the overgrown garden. She began removing all the rotting wood, tossing it into a corner to use for firewood later.

Some of them were rooted into the ground and she was forced to leave them in place as she couldn’t remove them herself. Meanwhile, others were too big for her to move with her current strength and she had to use her claws to cut them down.

It took a bit of effort finding the right technique to cut with her claws, but Serena pushed through it. If anything, she saw this as a way to practice her skills and get a workout in with all the physical labour.

After about two hours of clearing all the wood, Serena found herself completely drained and sweaty. She hadn’t realized just how big this garden was and how much rotting wood she would be removing.

From her guess, most of the wood acted like some kind of fencing around the garden seeing how it surrounded the perimeter. Of course, there were some between the overgrown grass and plants, but she wasn’t quite sure why.

Dropping the last piece of wood down in her firewood pile, Serena decided to take a quick five minute break, finding a shady corner by the hut.

She took a seat on the ground, leaning against the hut wall, and drank a bit of water before resting her head between her knees. Her ears flickered at the sounds of others going about their day in the village.

And when a gentle breeze blew past her, she couldn’t help but lift her head to feel the wind against her face. She closed her eyes, enjoying the natural air conditioning.

Her ears suddenly picked up on some nearby rustling and small footsteps, making Serena snap her eyes open. She glanced over to the side to see a familiar figure appear followed by someone else.

Becky, recognizing her, immediately ran over to her and asked loudly, "Is Kiro here?"

"No, he isn’t." Serena replied, getting up from the ground.

Her eyes flickered over to the older beastwoman behind Becky. Serena guessed she had to be in her sixties with a few wrinkles on her face and hands.

Her hair was grey and she had grey rabbit ears, making Serena wonder if the grey was just her fur color of her beast form. Or did age make them grey?

Whatever the case was, her guess was this woman was related to Becky somehow. It made Serena a little worried, especially because the young cub was looking for Kiro. She didn’t want her young brother to get bullied here too.

The older beastwoman noticed tension and murmured, "We’re not here to fight. Becky’s here to apologize for the trouble she caused."

"Yeah." Becky nodded her head in agreement. "And take responsibility. Grandfather said you can only touch a male’s tail if you’re going to take responsibility of them."

Serena gazed at the proud little rabbit puffing out her chest completely speechless. How could she be talking about taking responsibility at such a young age? Did she even know what it meant?

"Don’t listen to what your grandfather said. You don’t even know what that means." The older beastwoman muttered, shaking her head. "You’re just here to say sorry if Kiro will accept it."

Becky pouted, but said, "Okay..."

"Now then..." The older beastwoman coughed, gazing over at Serena. "I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m Merinda, this brat’s grandmother and Samuel’s mate. Please let me know if you need help with anything during your stay. It’s the least I can do after all the trouble caused."

"It’s alright..." Serena forced a smile, feeling a little awkward by the whole situation. "I’m Serena by the way."

"And I’m Becky." Becky gleamfully exclaimed. She then asked, "Where is Kiro?"

"He’s gone out..." Serena answered vaguely. "I’m not sure when Theo and him will be back."

Merinda instantly understood and said, "Well then, I guess we’ll have to come another time... Becky, why don’t you head back to the hut."

Becky glanced between Serena and Merinda before nodding her head and running off. Once the young cub was out of sight Merida turned to Serena.

"I heard you planned on joining the village." Merinda stated. "You aren’t running from any trouble and trying to hide here are you?"

Serena went stiff at her words. She wasn’t completely surprised that Merinda knew about her request to join the village seeing as Samuel was her beast husband. However, she didn’t expect Merinda to come questioning her too.

"I left because my tribe tried to separate Kiro and me." Serena sighed. "The place we would live in didn’t matter as long as it was safe. At the time, the Forest City was our only choice, but things are different now. I prefer this village."

"I see..." Merinda mused, going quiet for a moment. She then smiled and said, "It’s a good thing then that the Council approved your request."

"The council? Approved..." Serena was frozen in shock. "So soon..."

She expected the announcement to come in a few days, not within a single day. And some council approved it? But wasn’t this the discussion of the village chief?

Sensing her confusion, Merinda added, "The council just acts as an advisor to the village chief and help vote on major decisions... Although there aren’t many in such a small place that Samuel needs help with. That’s why this went so quickly."

"I see..." Serena mused.

"Anyway, I’ve come here to give you the good news and invite you to the bonfire party tomorrow evening." Merinda stated. "I’ll introduce you to some of our males then."

With those words, she headed off, not even giving Serena to refute her words. She was just left there standing unsure what to do.