CHAPTER 53: TROUBLE AT THE VILLAGE

When they had finished up with lunch, Kiro was ready to head back to the village center to play and begged Serena to take him. She agreed to go with him, surprised by how he was acting.

She expected him to be a little slow in making friends considering how shy he was in their tribe. However, here he was like a fish in water, acting like any other cub.

Guess it was a perk for her since she didn’t have to worry about entertaining him so much. Nor did she have to worry about all that pent up energy. He easily tired himself out every time he went to play.

When they got to the oak tree, Kiro immediately ran to the direction of the other cubs. Serena let him go without a word, keeping him within sight as she moved to the shade of the tree.

Emma and Grace were sitting together under the tree, weaving thin brown strips together. Emma would occasionally stop and look over Grace’s work, sometimes pointing out something. A pile of brown strips sat between them.

Serena greeted them before she asked, "What are you two up to?"

"Emma’s teaching me how to weave baskets." Grace explained, glancing up from her work. "Normally, my mates would do it, but they’re busy preparing for the cold season. So, I’m making baskets to help out since we need more storage. Having cubs means needing more food."

"Hmmm." Emma mused in agreement. She then turned her attention to Serena and asked, "Would you like to join us?"

"Sure, I don’t mind." Serena answered, not hesitating to take up the offer.

They only had one basket which she used to carry things around, so having more around would be great storage wise. Not to mention, she recently found out that placing her basket inside her subspace with things inside it counted as one item rather than several.

Sure, the baskets would take up space, however, it allowed her to add more things than the limit. She could even use the baskets to organize items instead of having them laying around everywhere.

And weaving was a skill she wouldn’t mind having either. Honestly, the more skills she was able to develop herself, the less she needed to rely on others for help.

Which made things better in her eyes. Fully trusting someone wasn’t something she could do anymore.

"Then come sit." Emma smiled, patting a spot next to her. "I’ll show you how to get started."

Serena did as the older beastwoman instructed, taking a seat next to her. Once seated, Emma handed her a few of the brown strips which Serena realized were made from some kind of flexible wood.

Emma showed Serena how to weave the strips of wood together, correcting her whether she did something wrong. After a few hiccups, Serena finally got the hang of the weaving process and Emma left her to continue on her own, occasionally checking on her work.

Wilma and Ria soon arrived with Wilma carrying a sleeping cub with her. They joined the other beastwomen with Grace, glancing over at Wilma’s cub.

"Did he fall asleep after eating again?" Grace asked, amused at the sight.

"Yeah." Wilma sighed, this clearly not being the first time. "I only hope he wakes up soon, otherwise it’s going to be another restless night.... Anyway, Fay said she’ll come by soon. James and her got busy with something."

"Busy with what?" Grace coughed.

"Mate stuff." Ria answered with a shrug, grabbing some wooden strips. "I guess they’re letting Elder Samuel know about their new status and move."

"They haven’t done that yet." Grace murmured. "But that should’ve been the first thing they did."

Wilma rolled her eyes. "You know how it is with your first mate... You get busy with all sorts of things."

"I guess that’s true." Grace mused. She suddenly turned to Serena and asked, "Serena, is Theo your first mate? Or do you have others coming to the village? I heard you used the Mimic Bird."

"Huh?" Serena glanced up from her work and stared back at the other four beastwomen.

She then realized they barely knew anything about her arrival here. Just that she was moving into the village and didn’t end things well with her previous tribe. Using the Mimic Bird must’ve made them curious.

"The Mimic Bird was to send a message to Theo’s uncle... We weren’t meant to land up in the village." Serena answered. "And Theo’s not my first mate. My first mate died two blue moons back."

Grace gaped at her words, going red with embarrassment. "Serena, I-"

"It’s alright." Serena shrugged it off. "You couldn’t have known..."

It wasn’t like her feelings were affected by it. That was the original owner’s feelings. However, her words didn’t stop from making the air awkward between them.

Finally Wilma coughed, "Well, I guess that explains a lot... If you need help, you can talk to Emma or me. We’ve both also lost mates before."

"Yes." Emma nodded in agreement. "We’re happy to help if you need."

Serena knew they meant well, but it didn’t make her feel any less uncomfortable. She didn’t want their pity or even sympathy, especially when she wasn’t affected by the tragedy.

"Thanks for the offer..." Serena paused, trying to find the right words to say.

But she didn’t get a chance to say them because there was a sudden commotion near the entrance of the village. The beastwomen were quick to move towards their cubs, a few of their mates also appearing by their side in case they needed to run.

Kiro looked curiously at the increase in beastmen appearing and asked his sister in a low tone, "What’s happening?"

"I’m not sure." Serena answered back, trying to get a look at what was going on.

It didn’t seem like there was a fight going on, but Serena couldn’t be too careful. She lifted Kiro up in case she needed to run. Just then Davis and an older beastman rushed past them into the crowd.

The basket on Davis’ back could likely only mean one thing. Someone was badly injured. Serena felt her body going tense, wondering the cause of the injury.

It had to be a bad one if it was causing this much of a commotion.

"We should head inside." Emma proposed, probably also picking this up. "It wouldn’t be good to linger around."

Because who knew how bad things were. Especially if it were beastmen returning from a fight with outsiders. That could spell bad news for them.

The beastwomen nodded their heads in agreement, all parting ways without another word. Serena headed back to the hut and upon arriving noticed that Rico and Theo had stopped working on the garden.

They ran out to meet her with Theo asking, "What’s going on?"

"Not sure, but it seems the village healer had to head out." Serena answered vaguely. "We didn’t want to get in the way..."

Kiro was in her arms and she didn’t want to stress him out unnecessarily. The cub had already been in a few scary situations before. She didn’t need to add to that.

Thankfully, Theo caught her drift and mused, "I see... Let me check if I can go help out. You guys can help pack the smoked meat away in the meantime..."

"I’ll finish up with the beds then." Rico added, knowing Theo was wondering how to ask him for help.

The tiger beastman didn’t really want to leave Serena and Kiro alone in case this was an attack, but he was probably the village’s best chance at dealing with a possible threat.

Rico easily picked up on this and eased Theo’s mind, letting him know he’d watch over Serena and Kiro. The tiger beastman would fight better, not having to worry so much.

"Sure." Serena smiled. "I’ll get going then."

Theo nodded his thanks, shifting into his beast form before running off to see what was going on. Once he was gone, Serena put Kiro down and they went to gather some of the smoked meat left out.

They headed inside the hut, going to store it away as Theo asked. However, as they worked, Kiro couldn’t help, but noticed a slight tension in the air. He sensed something was wrong, but couldn’t say what.

He just knew he needed to stick close to Serena.

Meanwhile, Theo finally got to the entrance of the village to find the village healer and Davis working on an unconscious beastman. The stranger was covered in injuries and bleeding from multiple injuries.

Some so bad that the healer was frantically trying to stitch them up while Davis was handing him all sorts of herbs and tools. Theo couldn’t tell exactly what beastman he was, just that he was some kind of bird.

And by the looks of those injuries he had gotten into a serious fight. A monster horde by his guess based on the type of injuries he had.

Elder Samuel was nervously standing to the side and asked, "How is he?"

"Not good..." The healer growled as he worked. "He’s going through a power change with these injuries. I don’t think we can save him without an energy crystal."