I felt so special, being carried through the woods like this. After declaring that I was seemingly pregnant with his 'pups', Hunt told me that he was going to bring me back to his village... which was beyond the mist.
"Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "The rumours of monsters lurking in the mist is just a precautioned rumour. We can smell humans from a mile away, so we know to be ready to scare them off." Why does he talk like he's another species than I am?
"Unless they are females. That's when we bring them back to the village and copulate with them. Our village has had trouble giving birth to girls recently, so the birth to death rate is 1:8." How horrible! That must be why he's taking such good care of me.
He then touched his warm palm to my cheek. The sudden warmth made me lean in, rubbing my sore, cold cheek against this little fire of mine. He felt so warm... and toasty...
"You can sleep if you want. It'll be a long journey and it'll take more than five days." he said, nuzzling his head close to my chest. "You should rest, I can tell that you're tired." This was the Hunt who I had first met. The gentle, clumsy yet caring Hunt who went and hunted meat for me everyday.
I nodded, accepting his offer as I closed my eyes, trying to curl up in his arms before letting the loss of adrenaline consume me. I woke up a few hours later by the sound of a waterfall. Slowly opening up my eyes, I turned back and looked at Hunt, who was looking around. Seeing me awaken, he put on the most tender smile and nuzzled his cold nose against my cheek.
"You're awake... what a relief. I missed hearing your voice, so I was talking to the pups instead." The pups? Oh, he means the baby?
"There are four in there, but we won't know the genders until the birth." Hold on, four babies? Where did he get that from? He must be a little nervous, I guess. Goodness, what would happen if I were to give birth to four babies! I've seen women scream after giving birth to one. It must be his wishful thinking, but I'll entertain it for now.
"Four babies? Goodness, we're going to have our hands full." He then nestled me tighter in his arms before walking towards a small alcove next to the waterfall. He slowly laid me down on a rock and stood up straight.
"I'm going to hunt, alright? Stay here and don't move." I smiled and nodded as he then ran out of the cave and right into the woods. I smiled and touched my stomach which was curving with maternity. "Such a reliable man, your daddy is. I'm sure that once you're out into this world, that you'll be able to eat a bunch of meat and grow up to be big and strong."
Then, I took a look towards the waterfall and noticed that there were some herbs growing at the beach on the other side. Herbs that I recognised as Callia herbs. Callia herbs helped reduce colds and prevent infection. They were extremely rare, I can't believe that there are so many!
I slowly got up and walked towards them, picking them at my leisure. This way, if Hunt or I get a cold, I'll be ready!