A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 156: The Festival (5)

Once they were done eating and cleaning up, the trio rested for a bit, watching the village center come alive. Various games were being set up and villagers were chatting with each other.

A few cubs were running around the crowds, but not as many as before. Probably because it was starting to get late and cold. Even Kiro was beginning to yawn, eyelids fluttering as he failed to keep them open.

"You can sleep, Kiro." Serena told the cub, shifting her body to sit crosslegged before she patted her thigh to silently let him know he could sleep on her lap.

It would probably be better if they headed home all together, but Serena also didn’t want to miss the fun. Granted the festival was missing some music, but it had still been a long time since she’d been to a proper party.

The welcoming gathering didn’t really count in her eyes.

"I can stay awake." Kiro declared.

However, his words did not stop him from climbing onto Serena’s lap and shifting into his beast form. Serena shook her head as he immediately closed his eyes upon settling down on her lap, her hand moving to his head.

He let out a faint purr as she scratched between his ears, soon falling asleep. As he slept, Serena turned her attention back to the crowd. She spotted Merinda, who seemed to be heading home for the evening.

The older beastwoman spotted her too, giving a small wave before she continued on her way. Around the crowd, fires flickered, creating dancing light around the whole village center.

Others were beginning to leave as well, mostly older beastmen and beastwomen along with those with young cubs. Wilma came back, smirking at the sight of Kiro in her lap. Behind her was one of her mates.

He was a tall, stocky rabbit beastman with brown rabbit ears and curly hair. Evan, Serena believed his name was. The rabbit beastman was always with her. Well most of the time anyway.

"I see someone is asleep already." Wilma stated, taking a seat by Serena.

"Hmm..." Serena mused. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to check on you." Wilma answered softly. "Plus the others have decided to head home for the night..."

"Ah.." Serena nodded her head in understanding.

As they spoke, Theo silently shifted to the side, giving the rabbit beastwoman some space. Evan stood for a second, gazing at Theo until the tiger beastman gave him a nod.

Once Theo gave him the okay, the rabbit beastman settled down next to his mate. Serena watched the whole exchange out the corner of her eye, confused for a moment. Until she remembered beastmen could get territorial about their space.

And considering Theo was the stronger one between the two, Evan probably didn’t want to get into an accidental fight. Instincts really created some strange customs in this world.

"So how was the festival?" Wilma asked in a hush tone, bringing her attention back to the beastwoman. "See anything... or anyone interesting?"

"The ceremony was fun... Though I was worried for Merinda at the end." Serena responded, quickly shutting down that last part of the question. "Does that... happen often?"

She already had an idea of what Wilma’s answer would be, but fishing for more information never hurt. If anything, it would just confirm some of her suspicions.

"Never." Wilma replied. She was quiet for a moment before she added, "Although everyone is saying that it’s probably because of her age. It takes a lot of energy for Merinda to use her power... and with her working hard on preparing the festival..."

Serena pressed her lips together at that. "I see... Well, I hope she gets some rest."

However, she didn’t really believe that overworked line. Perhaps there was some truth to it, but knowing what she knew, Serena doubted that was the whole truth. She could bet Merinda was behind the thing.

The rabbit beastwoman definitely didn’t want the festival ruined after all that effort.

Kiro suddenly shifted in her lap and Serena gently stroked his back in comfort. He settled back down, nuzzling her leg for a moment. Serena eyed him the whole time, surprised he hadn’t woken up.

Though it was a little hard to wake him up once he was asleep.

"Mhmm... I saw her heading home, so I’m sure she’ll get some rest." Wilma nodded in agreement, also eyeing the cub to make sure she hadn’t woken him. "Anyway... You need to tell me the secret to your vegetable dish."

"Just come by tomorrow." Serena said. "It’ll be better if I show you.... Oh and tell the others to come over too."

Serena wasn’t going to gatekeep the recipe because she needed to spread it to fully continue that food mission. She originally was going to use the wheat for it, but seeing as she had basically completed half the mission already, she might as well finish it.

Of course, she was surprised that it had gone down so well with the rabbit beastmen. Not to say her dish didn’t taste good - she tried it beforehand and enjoyed it quite a bit - but she was worried that their taste palettes wouldn’t be the same.

After all, she was a predator type beastmen and they were prey type beastmen. Meaning their palettes were more in tune with plant based dishes.

"Fine..." Wilma pouted. She then mused, "Seriously thought, I’m a little surprised you can make such a good vegetable dish... Are you sure you’re a predator type beastman?"

"Do you not see the cat tail?" Serena rolled her eyes at the beastwoman’s antics before waving her tail for a moment.

She had much better control of it now and could move it at will. Although it did weird her out at times that she now had an extra appendage. And that her eyes were now above her head instead of on the side of her face.

Actually the whole beastman thing messed with her mind once in a while. But at least with time she was also getting used to the... extra features.

"I’m only joking." Wilma smiled.

"I know." Serena said, letting her tail drop.

She turned to Theo and Evan, seeing that they were talking in hushed tones, having drifted away from the two. Which was good, Serena supposed. At least they weren’t getting bored sitting around listening to two beastwomen chat.

Wilma and her continued talking for a bit more, Wilma mostly doing the talking and giving Serena some of the village’s latest gossip. Something Serena didn’t mind getting.

She needed to keep track of everything happening within the village even if she didn’t get herself too actively involved. Because then she knew what to avoid without having to deal with the drama.

Besides, in a place without any other type of entertainment, it was easy to see why everyone got up in each other’s business. Especially with the harvest season now officially over.

Sure, there were a couple more plants they could harvest here and there, but they were becoming harder to find by the day. Not to mention, Theo was having to go deeper into the forest in hopes of finding any prey to hunt.

A cold wind suddenly picked up, making Wilma shiver. Her mate quickly noticed this and said, "Perhaps we should head in for the night... It’s getting quite late and everyone’s starting to go home."

Which was true. Around them, more and more villagers were leaving the village center. All the cubs were either sleeping in an adult’s arms or had gone home. There were also only two other beastwomen hanging around, both looking to be around the same age as Serena and Wilma.

The rest of the villagers hanging around looked to be rabbit beastmen, mainly single beastmen who were goofing off with friends now that they didn’t need to work so hard with the harvest season over.

"Mhmm... I think so too." Wilma said with a little yawn. She then turned back to Serena and murmured, "I hope you don’t mind us leaving."

"Go ahead." Serena waved her free hand. "We should probably call it a night too."

Theo silently nodded his head in agreement, eyelids beginning to feel heavy. Thank goodness he didn’t need to go hunting tomorrow and could laze around.

"You can come by tomorrow afternoon." Serena added. "Bring different kinds of vegetables and then you can try the dish yourself for lunch. Whatever you don’t have we can swap."

"Sounds good to me. I’ll bring Evan too so he can learn." Wilma said, pointing at her mate.

"That’s fine... The others can do the same." Serena stated.

Wilma nodded her head in understanding. After saying goodbye to them, she headed back to her hut with Evan holding her close to keep out most of the chill. Serena, meanwhile, carefully moved Kiro into her arms.

The cub grumbled in his sleep, but she ignored him and got up. Theo edged closer, his hands out to grab her. Once she was up, the two headed back, both crashing out the moment their heads hit their makeshift beds.