"The males will divide in half and sleep at the old shed and the female side, Lyth will come to sleep with me at the main house."
That concluded the night plan for them, Yilas and Lyth went to give some food to Berthort and then went to bed. Berthort, Viosus, and Neo slept in the old shed while Sabal, Merth, and Little Crow moved to Lyth's old space. Yilas didn't speak another word after dinner and she was all gloomy that Lyth thought she had better leave her alone for some time.
Laying on the bed for a few hours, Yilas still couldn't sleep while Lyth had soundly snoring next to her. Yilas knew she couldn't postpone the marriage with Sabal much longer, but she truly didn't want to be his bride. She was also worried that her decision had hurt Viosus's feelings, his reaction kept replaying in her head, hurting her heart profoundly.
He had just proposed to her not too long ago and now she had already accepted another man's marriage. Yilas forgot when she fell asleep, she just remembered it was really late into the night.
Yilas was woken up with a furious cramp, a cold sweat covered her whole face, wetting her entire back and hair. However, the pain didn't last much longer, once it had eased up, Yilas decided to go change her pads. She sneakily got out of the room with her cotton pads without waking up Lyth, the sun had barely risen over the horizon.
Yilas went to the creek, the cold misty air making her shiver but she kept going without turning back for a cover. Once she got close, she saw a person sitting on a rock, turning his back toward her, this orange, red locks were so notable that she knew it before she even saw his face.
Yilas hid behind the bush and did her deed before approaching Viosus, washing her hands in the water before sitting down next to him.
"What are you doing here Vio?" Yilas ask out of concern, her face and voice quickly showed her worries.
No answer from Vio, his eyelashes hung low and his face darkened, a type of cold, scary atmosphere was projecting from him.
"Since when did you come out here?" Yilas didn't wait long for his answer before she continued asking but seeing his unresponsiveness, she started to get anxious.
"Is it about last night? Were you out here the whole night?"
Viosus finally lifted up his face, his face was pale and lifeless like every drop of blood had been drawn out of his complexion. A rim of purple-blue veins showed up under his normally plump and healthy skin, Yilas sighed out of regret. If she knew he would react like this she wouldn't have said it in front of him.
"You know I just wanted to buy myself some time right?" Yilas reached out her hand to touch Viosus's face, she was already cold but her body temperature was still higher than his, he was basically freezing at that point.
"Oh my goodness! You're so cold, we need to get you warm-up fast!" Yilas was about to drag him back before her whole body was imprisoned by his embrace. Her little to none body heat left involuntarily transferred itself onto Viosus, Yilas just stood there letting him do whatever he wanted.
Viosus, whose face was buried into Yilas's stomach, his arms knotted tightly around her tiny waist. A single hot burning tear escaped his eyes but was swiftly wiped off and hidden from Yilas, she didn't even notice his change in emotion since his face was hidden. Though she let him hugged her without question, she patted his head gently, comforting him.
After a few minutes, Yilas talked Viosus into coming back, she tugged him off to bed and put an extra fur cover on him. Viosus could finally fall asleep after a restless night.
Yilas went outside to prep for breakfast, she struggled to start a fire by herself but the movement warmed her body up. Sabal was the first to wake up so he went to rescue but Yilas still felt awkward around him, she avoided talking to him as much as she could before Lyth and Merth joined them. Of course, Sabal was not too thrilled with Yilas's behavior.
"Come call everyone up for breakfast but let Viosus sleep in." Viosus quietly instructed Lyth before sitting down to eat. Sabal quickly got a spot next to Yilas before joined by Neo.
Although Neo was downhearted by Yilas's decision last night, he still couldn't keep away from her. He had accepted that Yilas might have a spouse before him since she hadn't acknowledged him so he promised himself to work harder from now on and not lose to the snake beast. If the beast could do it, so could he, soon, Yilas would recognize that he was deserving of being one of her spouses.
"Good morning." Yilas greeted Neo with a smile on her face. Neo forced out a fake smile but it looked so ugly it made him look funny, his face was all wrinkled up in a wrong way. Yilas didn't know what had gotten into him, she wasn't sure what had made him so miserable.
"Did you sleep well?" Yilas attentively asked she thought it must be he didn't get enough sleep. "If the beds are comfortable, we can make you a better one today."
"No! No, the bed is fine, I just fell asleep late last night that's all..." Neo made up an excuse, he was up all night thinking about his position in Yilas's heart. Before he knew that he couldn't compete with the fox yet but for a snake beast to appear out of nowhere and took their places, it was certainly absurd. Yilas had mentioned that the snake was helping to treat one of her clan members but to ask for her to be his spouse for payment was insane.
What was even more unbelievable was Yilas agreeing to it. He wondered if she actually liked the snake man, nonetheless, his feelings about her wouldn't change.
Neo and the bunch enjoyed their peaceful breakfast in quietness before continuing their work of building the new shed. Yilas quickly demonstrated her ax building and safety guide swiftly for Sabal, he was a quick learner so it only took him 5 minutes to grasped the concept.
Compare in strength, Sabal had much more explosive power than Neo, his arms muscle were twice the size of Neo. Sabal cleared out a whole 20 square feet of land by himself before lunchtime. Neo was sulking on his corner, cutting a total of 3 trees, trying to catch up with the snake but no use.
Viosus woke up before lunch, he had cooked some food so everyone took a break and eat. Just by looking, he had learned how to make an ax by himself and started using that to chop some wood for cooking.
The whole day, Viosus didn't open his mouth once, though everyone else was happily chatting and working together, he kept his own and work harder than anyone. Even Sabal would notice he was in a bad mood but it was the least of his worries. Yilas, on the other hand, was worried to death but she didn't know what to do.
"Good job everybody! I think that's enough space for what we need." Yilas looked at the plan she had drawn out in her hands and stopped everyone when it was mid-afternoon.
"Pshhh... I was just having fun and it had already finished so soon." Sabal stood up straight, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. He was in sweat from head to toe so anyone would know he was just boasting.
Neo held off his laughs but still couldn't help but mock the snake.
"If you didn't look like you're about to die I might even believe you. Show off..." Sabal gave Neo and death glare, but he didn't hesitate to give one right back.
"Unlike some weakling, can't even handle two little trees..."
"You!" Neo was triggered by the snake insult, he was about to jump in to kick his ass when Yilas stopped him.
"You two better quit it!" Sabal was pushing Neo away from Sabal, unknowingly letting Sabal stick his tongue out, teasing Neo even more behind her back.
Neo sighed out sharply and looked the other way, crossing arms on his chest and pout his lips like a little child making a fuss. Yilas shook her head, thinking why were they so childish.
"We can rest for now and start with the building tomorrow. We will have one team cutting wood and collecting rocks and the other will be responsible for building." After diving the workload, Yilas showed the blueprint to everyone to get them on the same page. All of them were excited to get some rest early and talked about the new house.
Neo took the opportunity of everyone distracting to drag Yilas out, he needed her to clear up her words from last night, it was bothering him the whole day so he couldn't hold it in any longer.
They sat down under a big tree not too far away from the house, Neo stopped Yilas, pushing her up against the tree with his arm over her head.
"Are you really going to make that snake your spouse?"