Children Are a Handful

The next morning was… interesting. Despite being asleep for days, I still passed out for the entire afternoon, night, and morning, giving me a few hours at best to greet the excited villagers gathered outside of Lucinda's home. Word of my recovery had traveled fast and I barely had time for a meal before Taro and Lucinda were pushing me out to meet my fans.

As warned, the children of the village were the most eager to meet me. There were less than I imagined. There was Vibby, an albino rabbit girl who reminded me more of a mouse than a rabbit. Then there was Hachiko, a brown and white furred basset hound boy with a black patch of fur on his left eye. Of the bunch he was the most jittery and I later found out it was because he had witnessed his parents being ripped apart by Frosthounds. Next was Nyu, a half feline half rodent girl with calico fur and pointed front teeth. She was the blacksmith's niece and the leader of the trio. Then there were the noisiest, the ducklings. Their mother, Billia had recently become a widow and took care of her six ducklings that she creatively named one through six. The group was comically in sync, to the point of being annoying and I wondered how the village would react to their savior throwing ducklings over the wall.

"You're not as tall as I thought you'd be," Nyu said despite needing to crane her neck to look at Yahime. "Derry said you were as tall as a tree!"

"Oh? You don't think she's that tall?" I asked. "Yahime, why don't you show them what you really look like."

"scare… children?"

"Hmm. I don't know, are you kids going to be scared?"

A chorus of no's answered along with fervorous head shakes.

"You heard them, Yahime." I leaned close to her to whisper. "Just don't use [BESTIAL TRANSFORMATION]. That might be going too far."

Any worry I had of Yahime scaring the children was unfounded. Even as she grew and towered over the children they jumped and cheered, fawning over her and asking her to pick them up. She obliged and with a bit of shapeshifting she had the entire population of children riding on her shoulders.

"That's so sweet," a hefty bovine woman standing beside me said. "My name's Derry. I look after Vibby and Hachiko. Are you feeling better?"

"Much. All that rest did me a lot of good and I can't wait to start helping out around the village."

"I hear ya. It takes time to fell Stone Trees and even more time to move them now that the younger folk are gone. Lucinda told us what happened. Thank you for avenging them."

It's what I do. Or at least what I'm supposed to be doing. For now I need to focus on regaining my strength and learning how to use my new skills.

"No need for thanks. It was Bixey who did it. I was just there."

"Bixey… She was a sweet girl. So bubbly and energetic, it was hard to tell her apart from the children sometimes."

"I believe it," I laughed. "She had a way of making the world brighter."

We watched the children in an awkward silence, unsure of how to continue the somber conversation. Thankfully, a weasel looking woman joined us. She seemed nice enough, but just a glance was enough to tell me there was something deeply wrong with the jittery woman.

"Hi," she said somehow quietly and loudly. "I-I'm Rikki. It's nice to m-meet you."

"Likewise. Kyomi."

"Oh, I know! I watched how valiantly you fought that brute. W-We were so worried after your accident. Didn't think you'd make it. I'm g-glad Lady Yahime was able to save you."

I shifted uncomfortably.

"I've been meaning to ask. What's with the 'Lady' bit? Lucinda called her that, too."

"Oh, I-I don't know. I guess t-that's just what everyone wants to c-call her as thanks for s-saving us."

"It's more than that," Derry added. "It's our way of paying our respects to the Goddess of Souls and blessing us with the protection of one of her daughters."

That made sense. It was only natural to pay respects to a divine creature. Yet for some reason I couldn't bring myself to call her that. She was Yahime; nothing more, nothing less. No, that wasn't right. She was my Yahime.

"What do you do around the village?" I asked Rikki. I couldn't imagine what job such a jittery woman might have.

"I help D-Derry with the children."

"That's right. I run the village bakery and give the children basic schooling. It's a lot of work, so Rikki helps watch Vibby, Hachiko, and Nyu for me. Though Martoh should be the one watching his niece." She mumbled the last bit, though there was an underlying affection mixed in.

"Don't worry about remembering all of us," Derry continued. "We're a small village, but there's enough of us that it'll take you some time to get to know everyone."

"Thank you," I replied. "I was a bit worried about offending someone. Stonewood feels like a tight knit community. You all really take care of one another."

"W-We try. S-Sometimes things don't work out, though."

"She lost her husband and son in a landslide several years back," Derry whispered. "It took a long time for her to even leave her house and she's still got something wrong with her. Not that it makes us love her any less. She cares about the children more than anyone."

A rock slide? Everything in Purga is trying to kill these people. I'm not even sure how they don't starve. Like what does Derry bake? It's not like they can grow grains in this climate, can they? Just goes to show how resilient beastfolk are.

Several ducklings being tossed in the air caught my attention.

"What are you doing to my children!" the angry brown duck, Billia, quacked. "I don't care if you're our savior or the emperor, I won't stand by and let you endanger my babies!"

"children… ask…"

"They're children! What sort of adult throws children into the air?"

"adult?"

I stifled a chuckle behind my hand. An adult was the last thing I would consider Yahime; she was more like an overgrown child. If anything, I wanted her to play with the children more.

"She's right," I chimed in trying to deescalate the situation. "You need to be careful with children. They're fragile."

"I'm not fragile!" Nyu protested. "I'm strong, just like Uncle!"

"D-Don't argue, Nyu. Lady Kyomi is just making sure you don't get hurt."

"Well I don't need her to! Why can't she be fun like Lady Yahime?"

"You think Yahime is cool?" I leaned down to meet Nyu's eyes. "Me too! I wish I was that strong and tall."

The cat-rodent girl blushed at my comment before scurrying away to join the others. I had a feeling she'd expected me to argue with her, but I could never disagree with someone who praised Yahime.

The chatter continued for some time, with Yahime entertaining the lively children while I got to know the adults. Derry and Billia were gossips, obsessing over a rumor about the pregnant pigwoman, Mochi and the grumpy rabbitman, Tapper. None seemed concerned about the recent attack. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Once the children tuckered themselves out, the guardians of the children rounded them up and ushered them away leaving me and Yahime alone. As much as I'd enjoyed the change of pace, it had been exhausting. It had also made me thankful that I'd been too busy with my career for children. They were too energetic for me, though if I had a partner like Yahime, I supposed it wouldn't have been that bad.

"Did you have fun? The kids didn't tire you out, did they?"

"never tired… but fun…"

"That makes you the perfect playmate! I don't mind if you spend time with them while we're here. You can learn a lot from them."

"where… going?"

I wasn't sure how to answer. As much as I liked Stonewood, I couldn't take the path Lucinda had taken. I had to punish the main cast, had to make them pay for Aurelie and Bixey. But where was next? Once we found the Essence Stones, where would we go? Bixey had mentioned a city further north. I would have to ask Lucinda once Richard was taken care of.