*Bryna's POV*
Thomas said, "You good? You got zapped."
"What do you make outta giant apes?" He asked.
"It's kinda similar to pig." I said.
"I would not have expected that. they look very different." Thomas said.
"Well, pigs are the closest meat to humans and monkeys and humans are pretty similar." I shrugged. I went ahead and gutted the boar. "We could give the apes meat to Hearthstone Town."
"I don't.. By that description I don't think we should." Thomas said.
"Hm? Why?" I asked.
"There's a lot of people that don't want to eat anything close to human." He said. "Then there are the others that are a little too excited to try it."
"Well, that's why you just say it was a big monstrosity that ya chopped up. It'd be a shame to waste them." I told him.
"I feel you're leaning towards a little too excited to try it." Thomas said.
"Nah. I've tried it before. Acause Tilton mocked it so it socked him and he decided to cook it after killing it." I told him.
"That tracks. From what you've been saying about him." Thomas said.
I grinned and said, "He really calmed down with the years. The hide's thick on this boar."
"Well, what did you expect it to be? As soft as a regular pig?" Thomas asked.
"Anyways, if you don't wanna give the ape meat to Hearthstone do you want to smoke it for your mom?" I asked.
"Oh, sure. She'll probably eat it." He said.
I smiled at him after I gutted the apes and said, "Ok then. Let's get the cart."
"Alright, then we can load up." Thomas agreed.
We went and got the cart. There wasn't anything of value to this place anymore. I pointed out where my first home was. It was weird to me to look at it again. To load the animals up, I had to shift to hybrid form. The extra muscle of that form made it a lot easier. Then I attached the hand cranks with some extra parts to help make the cart go fast. The cart was a little bogged down, but it was fine. We wedged ourselves into position where we could reach the cranks and started cranking them. The cart was initially slow to go, but then it took off pretty well, with Thomas and I both working it into going. Before we got close to Dueling Rivers we took our human forms.
The fun part was slowing the cart, not. It was terrible. We'd had it going so fast that reversing the hand crank to stop it was like swimming up river through flood water. We did manage to get it stopped, though.
"Daddy and Kershka will meet us here." I told Thomas. "Phew."
"Alright. Let Kershka take the cart." Thomas said.
We worked our arms pretty well over and were pretty tired because of our efforts. After a few minutes Kershka, Wren and Bibs came up to us. We weren't completely at the gate. But we were close enough for them to find us. I grinned when I saw them approaching.
Kershka walked over and smacked the pigs butt. "Good haul." He said.
I laughed and said, "The monkeys are extra. Gorthok'll make great bacon."
Kershka laughed and said, "Gorthok bacon."
"Did you kill the apes as well or did you both walk into quite the scene?" She asked.
"The apes would probably led me to making Thomas and me give up on the pig, to be honest. But the pig was killin' them. We just finished off the pig. Well, mostly Thomas did." I yawned. "Didn't wanna leave them to waste."
Thomas looke awfully proud of himself with a grin plastered across his face. I nudged him with my foot since my arms were tired. He looked at me and said, "What'd I do?"
"Huh?" I asked, feigning confusion.
"Oh you're lucky I don't stomp your toe." Thomas said.
I laughed. "The hand cranks were a good idea, but a tiring one."
"Good arm exercise for sure." Thomas said.
"We almost didn't get it going." I told the adults.
Kershka picked up the pig and said, "To the spit with this." He started heading toward Bibs' house with it then.
"Indeed, let's go get this cooking." Bibs commented.
"Wren, do you want the apes?" I asked.
"Why not. I'm sure I can whip them into something good." She said.
"We didn't get any bear, Thomas." I noted.
"I think we got plenty to make up for it." He said.
"Thomas, we'll take the apes home and start the smoking process. Then we will go and join the others." Wren told Thomas.
"We'll take the cart back tomorrow." I commented to Thomas.
"Alright. He didn't say he needed it back immediately." Thomas said, and went with his mom, pulling the cart.
I'd take off the hand cranks tomorrow. I caught up to Bibs who had followed Kershka. "Did you think I was exaggerating?" I teased him.
"I had. I had thought it was going to be quite large, but this is massive." Bibs said.
"I honestly didn't think that boar'd get that big. Cause the stories always said it was owlbear sized. This was outside of expectation. Oh, electricity does weird things to my body." I replied.
"Electricity can be pretty jarring for a great many people, but what did it do to you?" Bibs asked.
"My body convulsed and forced me to shift back and forth. Even now, my heart is still racing." I told him, placing my hand over my chest.
"That sounds extremely unpleasant." Bibs replied.
"Yeah, I think it'll calm down at some point. I saw some heavy clouds off shore." I said.
He looked at me confused and said, "Your old home is not exactly close to the ocean."
"I know, but I saw it when Thomas was carrying me over that way. While we were trying to figure out who was being gored." I told him. "Don't worry, it was just the apes, and I used Pass Without a Trace."
"So you remained hidden and saw this way out in the ocean, eh? Sounds like a storm may be coming then." Bibs said.
"It rarely rains here anymore." I commented.
"This is true, farming has become suboptimal around here." Bibs acknowledged.
"Did that become a thing around the same time as the seasons locked up?" I asked.
"Almost. It took it a little time to get to that point." Bibs said.
"Hmm. I decided we should hunt Gorthok acause Mills scolded us for hunting the boar a lot. Tilton taught me all about preserving species back then and I've taught Thomas. We aren't reckless kids." I explained. "We hunt different areas all the time, not just the same spots."
"I believe Mills has been feeling a bit restless staying at home all day." Bibs said.
"He chooses to. Sarial doesn't make him stay nearby. She said he has bad anxiety when he's not nearby her." I replied. "Maybe he needs Tilton therapy."
"...Tilton therapy?" Bibs asked. "What precisely does that entail?"
"Tea and scoldings." I joked. "Nah, Tilton is a really good listener and provides really good insight and feedback, just in a less friendly manner than you."
The spit had been set up beside Bibs' house. Because of the size, spit cooking wasn't gonna work very well, but Kershka was working around that. He set up some additional things to cook it with. Even a way to fry some pork belly. Of course he was also getting strips ready from the side and ribs to make bacon out of. The ribs themselves went with the the head, neck, hock and shoulder onto the spit. The ham portions he put on different spits, a little closer to flames. The tenderloin he was going to cook up in a skillet. I knew if I was in my puppy form my tail would be wagging with anticipation. Kershka knew exactly how to treat the pig.
Since Thomas wasn't back yet I said, "Thomas has.. developed extra feelings towards me. That's why we went hunting, so I could have a chat with him about the change in him."
"Oh, that was to be expected by now. You two do hang out quite a lot. And he is the right age to start." Bibs responded after the confession.
"Yeah. I told him I'd stop treating him like a kid to make it fair. He handled the conversation well, even when I told him I only love him as my best friend." I told Bibs.
He winced a little and said, "Poor kid."
"It was harsh, but I wanted to be clear with him. He seemed unperturbed. Just said he knew." I said.
"Then he is a strong soul." Bibs said.
"Was I too mean?" I asked him.
"No, no, no. I doubt you beat him mercilessly." Bibs said. "Thomas seems like the kind of boy that will be alright."
"Hwah. It was stressful. But it was probably that marriage talk I had with Alexion that changed his feelings. That's when he said he noticed them change." I grumbled.
"They were probably growing before that, but it's probably what tipped the scale, yes." He said.
"Of curiosity. Who were the 'good boys' of your joke about marrying me off?" I asked.
He looked at me with a serious look and said, "Joke? A father must always be prepared. I found you suitors." a laugh partly escaped him.
"Jasper is handsome." I pointed out in a serious tone. "Brave, too."
"Indeed. Hearthry children were of my first selection for you." He said. "Seemed you were getting along with that Daelyn boy quite well."
"He's immature." I said.
He scratched his chin and said, "Yes, a little immature. But from a good family."
"Uh huh. And your actual consideration?" I asked.
He smiled a bit and said, "Oh, fine. My considerations were Vincent, still a Hearthry, but not feline. And Magdi, the son of the Sultan."
"Why?" I asked.
"They were just considerations. Options in case you needed them." Bibs answered.
"What would I need them for?" I asked, though I then noticed Thomas and his mom coming our way.
"Well, some people like to marry young." He replied.
"Jasper's looking for someone, Daelyn said so." I said.
"You see? I'm not crazy." He said.
"Wouldn't the Sultan have better considerations already in place for his son?" I asked.
"Other considerations, yes. Better? Doubtful." Bibs said.
"I don't know Vincent's opinions on such things." I noted as Thomas and his mom arrived. I waved at Thomas and said, "Kershka cut bacon strips out. They're thick, see?" I pointed.
"That is gonna be good bacon." Thomas said, his eyes bright.
"Kershka's really the best." I grinned.
I started thinking over what Bibs had said. I didn't see how Bibs decided on Vincent and Magdi, but I supposed he would have good reasons for it that I didn't yet understand. Then I remembered my earlier conversation with Cassae.
"Daddy, can you believe Tilton did it again?" I asked in an exasperated tone. "He told Cassae 'I will make tea when you return.' She wasn't planning to for a while. I might have been able to convince her to, though."
"Was Tilton being unclear with what he wanted again?" Bibs asked.
"Yup. He suggested to her to work in town instead of recommending Hearthstone, abd offered to make her tea. Which I think means he wants her close by." I said, tilting my head and thinking it over. "I'm not sure if it stems from feeling responsible for her cause of the roof thing, or what. It's certainly not my business either way, but I did tell her he was hoping to see her tonight by offering tea."
"I feel that is a fair assumption as to what he was wanting her to do." Bibs said. "You would thinknat his age he'd know what he needs to do."
"Nah, he's awkward with emotions." I said. "Though I guess I have no room to speak since I still act like a little kid if someone offers to carry me."
"Indeed you do. But that's ok." Bibs said with a smile.
"Thomas, what should we do tomorrow? Aside from returning the cart." I asked.
He shrugged and said, "Try and take over the world?"
"I think Sarial has already started doing that." I pointed out.
"Then it's a race. I think we'll win. She's very busy." Thomas said.
"That involves taking her on though. Do you feel up to that?" I asked.
"What do you mean? You'll be in charge of the whole operation." He replied.
"I'm not an adorable seven year old anymore." I said. "People actually take me seriously for the most part. Addy and Sienna really don't. My point in saying so, is I'd be taken seriously if I said we were doing such a thing."
"I wonder if anyone would make a quest to stop us." Thomas said.
"I mean, what would you want the policies to be? 'If you're stupid, Thomas punches' would get people to fight us." I said.
"But would I be fighting the stupid people? I feel smart people would be ok with that policy." Thomas retorted.
"Sarial said 'If you punch all the stupid people no one will be left to do the gross chores in life.'" I pointed out.
"Then the smart people will figure out ways that no one has to do them." Thomas said.
"They tried that, remember? The palace was set on fire." I reminded.
"Oh yeah." He said. "Well maybe they'll try harder next time."
"Maybe." I replied. I went and flopped my back against Kershka's back. He didn't budge even an inch. I felt him chuckle a little. He really didn't mind whatever I did to him. After a moment he reached back his hand and ruffled my hair. Which made me smile and giggle. Kershka was kinda like a cross of protective uncle and adoring big brother.
After another half hour Kershka started passing out food. He gave Wren a lot. I noticed that Wren didn't really try and talk to us, and none of us tried to talk to her. I wasn't offended over it, I just realized my plan may have burdened her a little. I chatted to Thomas and the men, and bragged to Wren about Thomas and our exploits. Once we'd all eaten our fills, Thomas and his mom went home and I helped to clean up everything.
Kershka had masterfully broken off the four electric tusks for Thomas and I to keep. I figured we'd have the blacksmith mold them into bone blades, then sell the blades in the Capital for a tidy profit. The hide was mostly damaged, though. The good part of it was saved for us to sell. But that'd be a tomorrow's issue. For tonight, I fell asleep.
When I woke in the morning it was to an incredibly loud and rumbling round of thunder. It was absolutely pouring outside. Due to this, I decided I wouldn't be going outside at all today. Though that was going to be incredibly boring. Then I remembered I could go play with Ruby and Vivian and be inside still. That sounded the most fun. And I could learn about my kind more. Wouldn't it be nice if I could cloak my scent?
I bounded down the stairs and greeted Bibs and Kershka. I let them know I was going to Hearthstone Town to play while we had breakfast together. They weren't concerned. Rain never hurt anyone much. So after breakfast I was let outside into the downpour. I ran along to Hearthstone Town, and shook myself as well as I could when I got there. The ceiling showed that it was raining like crazy, but didn't let the rain inside. Still dripping, I headed to Wyatt's house.
Knocking once I got there, Vivian answered. She was surprised by my drenched state and told Wyatt to fetch a towel. He did so quickly and tossed it on my head, before Vivian started vigorously drying me. "Why didn't you stay home if it's raining that badly?" She wanted to know.
"I wanted to come see you three and play." I answered her.
She huffed a sigh, while Wyatt grinned. "Well, we can't fault you for that, Bryna. But do try to be more careful next time, ok?"
As I was going to answer I found myself wrapped in a warm blanket with Ruby snuggling me. I copied in and closed my eyes, "Yes, I understand." I replied.
And so the morning became a cuddle nap. I wasn't expecting it, but that's how it went. Once we woke, we played and Vivian taught us things about our species. Wyatt was a Direwolf, Vivian and Ruby are Grey's, and I was a Winter wolf, which was the rarest. Winter wolves are monstrosities, so it's rare for our kind to morph into a Winter wolf. In fact, I was the first such they met.
It was a lot of fun. The partial shifts were easy for Ruby, though she couldn't maintain it. I wasn't good at it at all. But I was good at heightening my senses. There'd been a trick to it all along and I knew it now. I just had to practice maintaining it. The partial shifts really didn't interest me that much. But scent hiding? I knew just who to stalk to try it out.
I was gonna have to go bother Phintias at some point to see if I could sneak up on him or not with my scent cloaked. I was pretty sure he had more to him than just being a vampire, but I looked forward to attempting it. Plus it was additional practice. And there was the fact that Phintias' playful praise was nice to hear. He liked to tease people. Especially his wife, which she often promised him retribution to.
What's especially cute is when he's talking to someone in the city after whatever class he taught and she interrupts him, by stealing kisses. She has grown more affectionate towards him every year. Though she remains standoffs towards most people. She heaps her love on their children. There is no doubt that they are adoring parents. They've become Phintias' greatest source of pride.
Anyways, I kept up with the lessons they were teaching and received the same praise and affection for everything I managed to do as Ruby. To be honest, it was like a guilty pleasure to be praised like a normal kid. It was times like this that I wished I was just a normal child.
By the end of the day, I headed home, though they offered to let me stay. It was tempting but I told them I should head home regardless. Daddy might be worried otherwise. And Kershka definitely would. I ended up super drenched again by the time I got home. The weather showed no signs of letting up either. When Kershka let me inside I told them about how the rivers are really high up.
Kershka gave me a towel to dry up with. While I dried my hair and shivered I told them about how I spent my day. I'd had fun and learned some. After good conversation and a great meal, I headed to bed. Wouldn't you just know it that it was still raining the next day? If that wasn't bad enough, I ended up with a bit of a fever, too.
Bibs, of course, got breakfast for us and made me some medicine for the fever. After I finished breakfast, I climbed on Kershka and laid in his arms. I was in and out of sleep until late in the day. Kershka really didn't mind. I even felt him patting my back lightly from time to time. Bibs also checked on me a few times. By night time, I just went ahead and went to bed.
The next day, it was still raining like crazy. I was feeling all better now, though. So I ended up practicing the new things I was shown. Again, with varied success. Kershka also rough housed with me, so I didn't feel like a wasted day. The next day the rain had slowed and only sprinkled now. I decided today was a fine day to venture out and get some things done.
Thomas seemed to be of the same opinion, because I ran into him quickly. We found out quickly that outside of town had flooded quite a bit. In fact, the area we were going for herbs was particularly flooded. So much so, that when I slipped the water started carrying me away. I'd learned to swim some, but the water was rushing too much.
I was pulled under, and began panicking. Couldn't think straight at all. I didn't even recover quickly when some large thing had suddenly scooped me out of the water. I heard Thomas shouting, but just clung, trembling, to the large thing that'd removed me from the water. I was set on a safe area, my arms pried off the person, before they turned invisible and left.
Thomas reached me and began fretting immediately. In my barely escaped the water panic, I held onto Thomas. He started petting my hair while I began to calm down. As soon as I calmed enough, I let him know I was ok. He argued that I wasn't ok, since I was still shaking. And I blamed it on being cold and also being still afraid of water.
Rather than herb picking, we ended up heading to Hearthstone Town to get dry and comforted. When Alexander and his group saw us, Sienna immediately took me to get dried and changed. She had finished some of the clothing she'd been making for me anyways. Once I saw myself in the new clothes in the floor length mirror, I was shocked. I looked like a little lady.
"Wow, I'm beautiful." I said, staring at the reflection. The shirt was a cream color with a lace collar spanning across my chest, which matched the see through bishop sleeves. Over my still growing breasts the shirt turned into a golden tunic styled dress, with the cream lace acting as a sash across my ribs. Sienna styled my dried hair with a ribbon that had lacey flowers lining it. Over my legs were cream colored leggings, and upon my feet were gold colored slippers with cream embroidery.
Sienna smiled and said, "You are beautiful. I knew this would look brilliant on you. You should show Thomas and Vincent, since they're your friends."
"Mm. I can do that." I grinned at her. She'd had this and an autumn colored outfit ready for me. Along with a more plain looking tunic. But this is the one she asked me to try out. I giggled, "I look like a fairytale princess."
Sienna led me out, back to where Thomas and her family were. Alexion said, "Well, you look lovely, Bryna."
Thomas turned and looked and, in amazement, said, "Waah. You're gonna be the princess someone has to rescue."
"Sienna really is skillful." I grinned, "I like the clothes very much."
Sienna laughed and cuddled up to Plight. Plight kissed her and said, "I agree, you do amazing work."
Alexion said, "She ought to be good at it, she doesn't do much else."
She threw her shoe at him and said, "Go heal someone. Shoo."
Alexion just smiled and ignored her. He'd deflected the shoe, anyways. "Should go see your friends below. You haven't been here in a couple days, and friends make drowning feel less scary after the fact."
"Hmm. Okies." I replied. Thomas headed downstairs with me to Vincent's shop.
"I bet Vincent's gonna be surprised." Thomas said in a teasing song-ish way.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because you look like a princess, duh." Thomas said, "Usually we look like adventurers."
"He's a noble's kid, you know. He's used to fine things." I pointed out.
"I guess." Thomas said. "I just don't think he's used to it on us, well you, in this case."
"Well, I guess." I said as I opened the door to his shop and walking inside.
Vincent had been looking over his ledger, and started turning to look at us while we entered, "Welcome to Bit's and.. Bryna?"
"Hi Vincent, hi Miss Addy." I greeted them.
"That's a new outfit." Vincent commented.
Adelaide said, "You look beautiful."
"Thank you, Sienna made it for me, see?" I gave a little spin. "Vincent picked out good colors for me."
"Ah, so that's what she made out of it. She did a really fine job." Vincent said. "And as Miss Adelaide said, you do look quite lovely in it."
"Thank you. Thomas said I was the princess someone has to rescue." I replied, ruffling my friends hair.
He batted my hand away, smoothing his hair back out,, and said, "You are gonna be the princess, someone has to rescue."
"Today anyways." I replied.
"Nope, you've already dressed like it once. Now you're a princess." Thomas said.
"I don't like being rescued, though." I said.
"Well, something rescued you earlier." Thomas pointed out.
"True. I hate water." I grumped.
"It doesn't seem to be a fan of you, either." Thomas replied.
"I drowned again." I said, looking at Vincent. "The flood water was too strong a current."
"Who rescued you?" He asked.
"Some really big blue thing." I said, "Did you see, Thomas?"
"All I saw was a cloak. Then it disappeared." Thomas said.
"It scooped me up like a baby." I told them.
"It was really big." Thomas agreed. "But it didn't seem dangerous, just big."
"Big, blue and invisible." Adelaide said. "I have no idea what that may be."
"Oh, we could ask Phintias." I remembered.
"Phintias would be a good one to ask. He'd have a few ideas at least." Vincent agreed.
"Phintias does seen pretty smart." Thomas commented. He looked at me, "You can ask Phintias, I'll ask my mom. She's fought a lot of stuff."
"Alright. I'll see you later, then." I replied.
"Meet back here? That way we can tell Vincent what it was." Thomas suggested.
"Sure." I nodded.
Thomas waved and headed for the stairs. I shrugged and told Adelaide and Vincent, "I'll be back."
"Don't get that dress dirty," Adelaide warned, "Something tells me the fabric will be tough to clean."
"I'll be mindful." I replied.
"You do look quite stunning." Vincent said, "Just wanted to be clear on that."
My face turned a little red and I said, "Thank you for saying so. I know your compliments aren't empty. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. We'll see you again in a little while." Vincent replied.
I nodded and left to the teleportation circle, I activated it to go to Ymir's Town. This time when people looked at me, I felt a little embarrassed. But I headed to Phintias' library, because that's where he and his family lived. I was smart enough to not bother stopping for anyone who wanted to speak to me. I opened the library door, and headed inside. As I did so, I suppressed the wolf-scent like I was recently taught.
I approached the desk and asked, "Is Phintias home?"
"Last I saw the boss, he was over in those aisles." The desk man answered, pointing.
"Thank you." I said, heading that way. It took a few turns before I spotted him. Collin was in his arms, flopped lazily on his shoulder, while he tidied some books.
He looked over and said, "Ah, hello Bryna. This may sound odd, but you smell different today."
"Then how do you know it is Bryna?" I asked.
"I said you smell different. Not like someone else." He pointed out.
"Yeah, but isn't that how doppelganger work? Everything is the same but something is off?" I replied.
"You're adorable for trying." Phintias said.
"I drowned today." I told him.
"You drowned today?" He asked, sounding surprised, "What did you do to manage that?"
"I slipped and fell into some rushing flood water. It pulled me under and away. Then a huge blue thing pulled me out and put me on land. It went invisible then." I explained.
"A big blue thing snatched you from the water then turned invisible?" He inquired.
"Yeah. It was cobalt blue. Thomas only saw a cloak. And I just saw the blue of the skin." I nodded.
"You didn't happen to see any horns, did you? It kind of sounds like an Oni, but if it were an Oni you'd have been a snack." Phintias said.
"Most embarrassingly, I was panicking too much to notice much about it." I replied.
"Well, drowning would be quite an event." Phintias said sympathetically.
I nodded and said, "I fall a lot." I tilted my head to look at Collin. "Is Collin a sleepy baby?"
The boy looked at me unimpressed. I started worrying that he wasn't feeling well, it was his sisters that were normally untalkative. "Yes, yes, he's a sleepy boy." Phintias said in an affectionate tone.