Amber finished telling her story as the cubs got hungry. They were only a few weeks old and were still breast fed. They would not be weaned off breast milk for at least another month. Tom helped Amber get comfortable in his nest with fresh feathers and soft leaves.
Tyler went to hunt food for Amber and Eli. Eli wanted to go with him and rode on his back. As an Eagle, Tyler was a larger flying beast than Tom. Eli was excited to ride on the bigger bird. Both were fun, but this was like an upgraded flight.
Amber called for them to be careful as they left. Tom reassured her, "Don't worry, Tyler is now a Beast King as well. He will be able to protect Eli if they get into trouble. Would you like some fruits and nuts while you wait?"
Amber nodded and Tom fed her the nuts and berries while she nursed her cubs. They ate until they were full and their little tummies were round. Amber noticed the soft snores of the little cubs in her arms. Tom helped her to move the cubs to a fur rug for her to take a nap. Tom laid down with Amber and wrapped her with his wings as he partially transformed.
When Amber woke from her nap, Tyler had returned with Eli and they were roasting some smaller birds. He wasn't as talented at cooking as Oliver or Nick, but he learned the basics. He didn't have a sensitive nose to find too many herbs, but he was able to recognize a few.
Tyler gave Amber a banana leaf with a piece of herb roasted chicken breast. She smiled and thanked him as she ate the meat. She wished she had some vegetables to go with it and maybe some bread or rice, but for now this was fine.
Hopefully the battle would be over soon and they could return to the Cheetah castle. Eli had collected some fruits for his mother in the tree tops. She thanked him and they all ate lunch together.
A loud conch shell whistle was heard in the distance, Amber looked alert and asked, "What does that mean?"
Tom looked into the distance with his hawk vision and responded, "The war is over. The battle is won! The Mermen are all dead. They are cleaning up the dead bodies now."
Amber didn't want to think of the dead bodies of the Mermen. She never wanted any one to die. She only wanted to live in peace. They were the ones who attacked her only because their Queen was jealous.
Couldn't she be happy with the thousands of Mermen she already had? Why did she have to have Blue Tang as well? How selfish was this Mermaid Queen?
As Amber thought about Blue Tang, he appeared. She had accidentally summoned him. One second he was helping to get rid of the Mermen bodies and the next he was on top of a mountain with his mate and the others.
Amber looked guilty for accidentally summoning him. "I'm sorry, I heard the shell and thought about the war. I was thinking about how the Mermaid Queen started this war because she was jealous that I had you as my mate. Were you busy?"
Blue Tang looked at Amber indulgently and responded, "It's fine. I was helping clean up after the battle, but Nick had the others cleaning as well. It should be done by tonight."
Amber looked surprised at how fast they were able to clean the Beast City. She thought about how strong beast men were and how many lived in the Beast City. If they all worked together, the work would go by faster.
She knew some of the beast men would take a break to hunt for the females and cubs. Otherwise, they would finish sooner. Amber was not in a hurry. She decided to help Blue Tang relax and clean up.
She offered, "Would you like to visit the hot springs on this mountain? it will help you clean up and relax." Blue Tang nodded and was grateful to have such a considerate mate. Tom led him to the hot spring and Tyler helped Amber out of the nest.
The cubs woke up and looked excited to see their uncle Blue Tang. When did he get here? They liked all of their uncles and their dad, but they liked their mom the most. If mom was excited, they would get excited.
Amber noticed their excited eyes and asked, "Would you like to go to the hot springs with mommy?" They nodded their tiny Cheetah heads. Amber remembered her cats in her world did not like the water, but her dogs loved the water.
She wondered how the cubs would react to the hot springs. She remembered Nick was calm in the water once he tested the temperature and decided it was safe for Amber to enter.
As Amber thought about Nick, he was summoned. He appeared in front of her and almost ran to hug her. He stopped when he remembered he was filthy covered in Merman blood and other gory remnants of the battle.
Amber smiled at him and asked, "How are you doing?" Nick smiled back at her and responded, "I am much better now that I am with you. Let me go wash off first so I can hug you."
Amber nodded and told him, "Blue Tang already went to the hot springs. We were about to go as well. Let's all go!" The cubs were excited to see their dad and were smelling his feet and legs. They even licked the blood to see how it would taste.
Amber called out to them, "Nate, Raj, don't lick the blood on your father. You can have blood and meat in a few months. I don't want you to get sick."
They whimpered after they were scolded and lowered their heads. Amber took pity on them and picked them up. She spoke softly to them, "Mom is not mad at you. I don't want you to get sick. I love you both."
She kissed the tops of their furry heads. Nick looked at the cubs with jealousy that they were being hugged and kissed by his mate. He ran quickly to the hot spring and jumped in. The faster he could wash up and get clean, the faster he could hug and kiss his mate.
He had already left instructions for the other beast men to clean up the dead bodies and burn them. They would clean the rest of the blood with dirt or water. Mermen were cold blooded like fish, so they didn't have as much blood as warm blooded beast men.
He was mostly concerned with the smell of the dead bodies if they were not burned. He didn't want the entire Beast City to smell like rotten fish!
Nick jumped into the hot spring and splashed Blue Tang who was just about to leave after he cleaned off the blood from his body. He sighed in defeat as Nick had contaminated the water and had to rinse off again.
Nick didn't care about getting Blue Tang dirty. This entire battle was his fault to begin with! He was not happy about Blue Tang putting his mate in danger or scaring her. The only reason he didn't kill Blue Tang was because Amber didn't want him to.
He remembered how worried Amber was when she thought Blue Tang was going to die. She pleaded for Oliver to help him. Nick was jealous that his mate cared so much about this over grown fish!
What was so special about him in the first place? He was annoyed that Amber promised to give him a female Mermaid child. He hoped it would happen on the first try. Amber just gave birth to his cubs a few weeks ago and she had to wait another month to try again.
She would need to ween the cubs off breast milk before she got pregnant again. He hoped to have more of Amber's attention since she had his cubs.
Amber made her way to the hot springs with the cubs and Eli. Tom and Tyler stood close by. Tom noticed the blood and other gory things in the water and suggested, "Let's go to another hot spring. This one is dirty now and will need time to return to it's usual state."
Amber nodded and followed Tom. He led her to a larger hot spring that was more shallow. She thought this was like a natural kiddy pool. It was perfect for the cubs!
She nodded in appreciation and thanked Tom. He was proud that she seemed to like his suggestion more than the other hot spring. Amber let the cubs down into the water. It went mid way up their bodies, but their heads and backs were out of the water.
At first, they were unsure how to react to this new discovery. Eli jumped in and splashed water on everyone. Soon, the cubs chased after Eli to splash him back. They played with each other until dinner time.
Amber watched her cubs playing with Eli and sat down to relax. This was nice!