Ari (Child of the Beastman Goddess)

When I woke up, I saw Dillon preparing the table for breakfast.

“Awake? Let’s have our breakfast first.” He said sweetly with a lower voice.

I suddenly remembered my father. There were times that he greets me in the morning telling me to have breakfast together before we start doing the tasks at hand.

Tears kept rushing my eyes as Dillon panicked due to confusion.

“Did you have a nightmare? Are you not feeling well? Water… Water… Drink some water…” He mumbled, trying to lower his voice despite panicking.

He gave me the water with his trembling hand so it almost spilt on the blanket.

Gurion was still sleeping soundly by my side since it was too early and a hatchling usually nap almost all the time.

I sat down carefully while drinking the water to calm myself and gave the cup back to Dillon after I finished drinking.

He was about to go back to the table when I grabbed his tail upon remembering how he fled without a word the day before that. He flinched, but I couldn’t see his reaction. I initially wanted to grab his skirt, but I accidentally caught his tail instead.

“Ah! Ari…” He mumbled as he moaned refraining himself from making too much noise.

“Oh! Sorry…” I apologized as I released his tail in panic.

“Eat your breakfast first. Lowell said he will be back in a bit so we can discuss the details of our departure.” He said as he guided me to the table.

After breakfast, Lowell arrived from his routine tasks as the alpha so we discussed our journey to the dwelling place of the ancient beastman tribes also known as chimera beastman tribes.

Our destination is an old temple on the far north where the sun never rests.

“Lowell, are you really sure that you will give up your position just to join us? I don’t want you to regret your decision later on.” I asked sincerely.

“Yeah! Even if you dislike it, I will still join you on the journey. Your father entrusted us with your safety so I should do what I must.” He said with conviction.

“Are we going to bring Gurion with us?” Dillon asked worriedly.

“Honestly, I don’t want to bring him, but I have a feeling that he will just follow us even if we leave him here. Just like what he did when we left the lion tribe. It will be more dangerous for him if he got lost without our knowledge. I wouldn’t be able to rest my worries unless I can see him near me.” I answered seriously.

“If so, you have to disguise yourself as a male to prevent us from being attacked by the feral beastman on the way.” Lowell suggested.

“Lowell is right. We can pretend to be brothers with the same mother and say we were heading to the north to find your real father since they will think you are one of the chimeras.” Dillon added.

“Yes, I was also considering that thought.” I replied.

After discussing a few things and having an agreement regarding some matters, we went to Acwulf to ask for his approval since he is officially my guardian parent in my father’s instead.

I asked Acwulf for his permission to let us go to the north and told him about the dream I had before we fled from the lion tribe. He was unwilling at first because he knew it was dangerous and he wouldn’t have any face to show to my father once something bad happened to me.

He was so worried that he told us not to leave the tribe.

“I want to save my father at all costs. Please god father, give us your permission to go.” I begged so much that I couldn’t hold back my tears.

“Hey, father… I’m quitting as the alpha… Better get your alpha position back, else it will be vacant for too long. I’ll be leaving with Ari and Dillon. I’ll join them and protect her with all my strength as I promised Lev when I agreed on his request.” Lowell informed Acwulf.

Acwulf was stunned as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

I was as equally stunned as how casual he was when saying he will quit as an alpha as if it was not a big issue at all.

“What?! I think I’m turning deaf and hearing things. What did you say again?” Acwulf asked as he couldn’t believe his son’s words.

“No, you heard it correctly. I’m quitting as the alpha.” Lowell repeated his words.

“Oh is that so… Yeah, sure… Wait… What?!” He exclaimed in surprise.

His mind was buffering as he took in his son’s words.

“I’m quitting as the alpha.” He repeated again.

“Hey… Ari dear… Can you please go back to your room first? I just want to talk to this cub for a moment.” Acwulf requested as he dragged his son at a distance.

Dillon and I went back to the room where we saw Gurion crying alone.

“Mommy!” Gurion screamed as he ran towards me.

“I’ll prepare his snack and his bath” Dillon said as he started to prepare the things needed.

Dillon prepared a meat soup for Gurion and prepared a warm bath.

He helped me with feeding Gurion and bathing him.

They looked cute together as if they were real father and son with both their curly honey-blond hairs and their clingy personality.

We played together and taught Gurion the proper pronunciation of words while waiting for Lowell but he didn’t show up until noon time.

When Lowell got back to my room, he looked exhausted as if he was drained with all his strength.

“You looked exasperated. Did your father nag at you and didn’t agree?” I asked nervously.

Did he get rejected? Did his father refrain him from coming with us? Did he get angry because Lowell was rude earlier?

My mind was filled with worries as he took a few minutes of silence before responding.

“*sigh* He agreed and said that he will help out with preparing the things we will be needing. It was just so irritating to hear his endless chattering for a few hours. It’s so exhausting.” He answered seriously while sighing a few times.

I laughed at how he got irritated just because he got stuck with his chatty father for a few hours. He looked like a child complaining of having a lively parent.

There were many things we needed to prepare especially when maps are only drawn on a huge piece of rock or wood. We cannot carry them around as much as we need to.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Since we have a limited time to prepare, I decided to have the map redrawn on a piece of cotton fabric we brought when we fled from the tribe.

It was the only cotton fabric we had. Luckily, Lowell was pretty good at copying the map so we didn’t waste our fabric though it took him a week to finish up since he made it as detailed as possible.

I couldn’t even help him because I was afraid of ruining the fabric.