Rose in the Beastworld

7 The Kings Words

The fox king looks at me and then over at Mason with his head tilted clearly in a state of confusion "Did you need me to explain again? I know that was a lot so it would be understandable if you had trouble following along" I say in question 

At those words the fox king gets back his composure putting back on his gentle smile "I appreciate the offer but that wont be necessary I was just a bit startled as I have never met a female who holds your ideals before it is truly refreshing" He says with a sweetness to his voice making me feel slightly weak in the knees 

The peacock king who seemed all but uninterested in our convocation suddenly coughed getting everyone's attention "Well female if your looking for a mate your in luck we are holding our festival in a weeks time males come from all around to fight in the tournament and win the favour of females participating feel free to sign up yourself if you wish" The peacock says looking very bored as his mate whispers in his ear and he immediately stands up holding his her in his arms

"We must be going I think we know you well enough now" The peacock king announces as he leaves with his mate 

The fox king stands walking over to me before leaning in close and whispering in my ear "This has been fun but as much as I would love to get to know you more I must not keep you any longer" He straightens up with a cheeky grin on his face "Well I hope you have enjoyed our meeting hopefully I see you again" 

I nod slightly as I leave the palace hand in hand with Mason as a fox guard escorts us back as I turn to look back I see the fox king standing at the palace entrance waving us off with a smile pressed on his lips

'I dont quite know what to make of the fox king he seems nice enough and he was only mentioned once in the novel when Mary moved to the city and had her meeting with the kings so hopefully he is just a really friendly guy speaking about Mary once she decides to move here it will most likely bring trouble again since she will take that obnoxious prince as a mate but she dose not move till hot season so I at least should have a little time before then since as far as I can tell it is spring or the season of life right now so hopefully my peaceful time doesn't end too quickly'

I breath out a sigh as I think about the trouble Mary will cause with a prince backing her

Once we get back the guard tells us about the festival it is only held once a year in the season of life since it is the season most females go into heat so the tournament is a great way to get extra males for protection to keep them safe when they are at their most venerable the females that entre just sit in decorated chairs provided and the males that win their fights get to offer a gift to the female of their choosing as to ask for permission to court but it is up to the female weather to accept or refuse and if I wish to entre I just need to talk to one of the people running the festival at the colosseum on the day

I thank the guard as he leaves and Mason goes to start cooking some meat we got from the market we dont have many funds left so I'm either going to have to take a mate soon so Mason can hunt for our meals or we need to find another way to precure food 

I turn to Mason who is lighting the fire "Can we start a farm and make those fishing baskets? That way we can eat fresh fish and grow our own veggies maybe once we buy more land we can even see if we are allowed to build a cook to keep short birds that way we can eat eggs every day" I say getting more exited with every word 

Mason smiles at me and pats my head "Of course anything you want! What do we need to make fishing baskets?" He says as he gets the meat cooking on the fire

"Well they normally are made from willow branches but we might be able to use bamboo or another type of branch if we cant find a willow tree" I say feeling very proud of myself for knowing this information in my past life when I read that Mary was able to make them in the novel I got curious and looked into how they are made tho I have no practical experience knowing the basics of how it is made should be enough

Mason nods handing me my food on a leaf " I know how to weave baskets used to carry cubs so if you tell me how I can help you with your fishing basket" 

Once we were done with our food we ventured out into the forest to forage for food to plant in our garden and materials to make the baskets I wanted to get as much as possible but sadly their was only so much that 2 people could carry 

Once getting home Mason helped me dig up the dirt in his beast form to make it easier for planting gladly I have a wolf on my side and they tend to be especially good at digging

We sorted through the plants as I cut the tops off the carrots and the bottoms off the Lettice before planting I'm not the best at gardening so I'm 50% sure that will work. Other plants like strawberry, tomato and cucumber plants needed to be dug up and replanted in our yard since they dont start producing food till the hot season

By the time we were done planting the sun was setting signalling the end of the day so after a quick dip in the river to wash off the dirt we were off to bed 

Waking up that morning I was already raring to go we were down to 2 clear crystals after all our recent purchases and I'm hoping to save the rest for an emergency so we need to make those fishing baskets today I started my morning by eating the extra carrot bottoms and lettuce leaf's sharing some with Mason 

We started by foraging in the forest again and found more spring veggies we found onions, cabbage and spinach as well as a lychee tree tho we could not bring the whole tree with us we collected some of the fruit to have as a snack later on our way back Mason hunted a short bird that was unlucky enough to cross our path so we were set for todays meal

Once home I tried cutting the bottoms off the cabbage and onions and planted them hoping for the best same as the Lettice and carrots we dug up the whole spinach plant as I was even less unsure of how to grow those I'm hoping i can just take leaves from the plant whenever we need them in a dish

 Later that evening Mason attempted making the fishing basket from bamboo with my instruction on how it is meant to look I even tried to draw a diagram in the dirt to help and after a few failed attempts he we finally managed  to craft a fishing basket so we attached a vine added some food scraps for bait and set it into the river by our home in hopes of some unknowing fish to swim inside looking for a meal 

Over the next couple of days we carried on foraging and planting till our garden was almost to the edge of our territory it was truly a beautiful sight and a testament to our hard work 

With 2 days left till the festival we caught our first fish with our fishing basket Mason had made 2 more to add to the water and checking our first trap we realise it was a success's 

Mason immediately started preparing the fish to eat wagging his tail in excitement grinning ear to ear  

As I sit down by the fire waiting for the food the most repulsive smell enters my vicinity making me gag as I have to almost run away form the area Mason immediately walks over to me fish in hand to see what's wrong and I realise the culprit of that bad smell the fish that I normally love just smells wrong it smells gross and every time I even look at it I struggle not to throw up

I move away from Mason with my hand on my stomach as I struggle to keep the bile in my throat down 'I knew I was late but this almost confirms it' "You should keep that fish away from me I'm pretty sure the pups in my stomach dont like it" I say with a soft smile pressed on my lips 

Mason goes stiff tilting his head in confusion before sniffing the air as the realisation hits him his eyes go wide "You are pregnant with our cubs how did I not realise..." he says staring at me in disbelief before grinning throwing the fish away and lifting me high into the air spinning me around in a tight embrace tail wagging furiously "Your pregnant with our cubs" He repeats over and over getting more exited every time