-Break-
Location: Wave sweeper
ΦTogether with the warriors of Aplos, I load a box of cursed weapons into the giant sky ship, Wave Sweeper, and as I do, I turn to Buloke and say, "Thanks for all the help."
"No problem, Avram. You guys worked hard transporting our dead up to Minagrain, this is the least we could do."
Buloke drops his head, then turns it to me, and says, "And I am sorry for the battle we caused earlier over this. We should have been watching our young more."
Laughing, I say, "Don't worry about it, besides, I have made the same mistake with Iancu far too many times to count. I have no right to complain."
"What allows you to be so calm like that?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I am the strongest and one of the oldest among the young of Aplos. I will be a critical part in our group's future, yet I don't think I am doing enough. Willow has been absorbing knowledge from druids like a fish, and Maple has been becoming a better and better leader. Yet I feel like I have stagnated."
"So you want to be a leader, or even a stronger warrior. If so, you could ask the Red branch knights to train you, or maybe even attend the classes like you were supposed to."
Embarrassed Buloke says, "I know I should have, but they kind of scare me."
"I can understand learning about so much when your worldview was so small. If the same thing happened to me, I would feel scared and distrust all the new things."
"It's not fear or distrust, it is-." Buloke stops his speech and closes his mouth.
So I knock him on the back of his head and say, "Just spit it out. No judgment from me."
Sighing, Buloke says, "I think even now, I don't care about everyone here. Not in the idea that I want them to die, but I only see Aplos as mattering to me. I love my village, and will love it till I die. I think with the exception of people like Orb, Cyrus, Suzuka, and Atalanta, I don't care for many."
Looking at me, he says, "With a panicked look, but I am grateful to you."
"Don't worry. I spent over two decades in Elpída, and I miss around 10 people."
"Avram, I am scared that if I ask for help from the beastkin and turn to them, we will all be swallowed up by them, and one day Aplos will disappear. The place which I love will vanish. I know the truth, there really is no way Aplos can keep up with both the people from outside and the beastkin from Nialathrú. The only way to provide use is to learn from them, but during that process, I don't want us to disappear. So I am stuck."
"And why are you asking me all of this?"
"I don't know, but I think it's because, despite being far away from where you were born, you still care about it. I think I want to become like you."
"Well, that's a lie, because I hate my home country."
"Huh?"
"Maybe hate is a strong word. But a strong dislike for how boring people can be there. Stuck in their ways, scared of their existence. In fact, I think no one hates nightmares more than the people of Blestemate, but that's neither here nor there."
"Then why do you care so much?"
"Because it still has value. Even if not to me, I believe things within that country have value that shouldn't be forgotten, the millions of years of history and effort of people far greater than you and I put into bringing us this far shouldn't be written off as valueless. We have not become that arrogant of a species. So I will give you this advice, Buloke: go to the beastkin and improve both your physical abilities and your mental capacity."
"But what if they devour me?"
"Don't allow yourself to be, because Buloke, what doesn't evolve dies. If Aplos has things worth preserving, you must understand them and use what you have learned from outside to evolve them while keeping them the same in a way. There will always be a fear that you might forget your way, and maybe that same fear is what stops all of the rest of Aplos from moving forward as well. But it doesn't matter in the end because a lack of growth will lead to decay. So lead the way Buloke. Learn all you can and bring it back to your people, and use it to evolve yourselves, not to be a copy of what you learned from, but a greater version than who you were yesterday."
Dropping the box, Buloke says, "Right, I will get on it!"
As he runs off, I say, "Did I just give myself more work to do?"
Facepalming, I start to walk out of Wave sweeper, and as I do, I take notice of Iancu talking to Maple.
Looking shyly, Iancu asks, "Do you guys want to come to Blestemate with us?"
With a giant smile on her face, she puts her arms on his shoulders and says, "I WOULD LOVE THAT!"
Looking up, she says, "I wanted to go somewhere else. I have only really been to three places. This is an adventure. A really big adventure!"
As Iancu looks at her happily, I place my elbows on his head and say, "She is a married woman, you know."
Hitting me in the gut, I say, "I WASN'T HITTING ON HER HAIR!"
Appearing behind him, Elia says, "He is just so innocent that the idea of asking someone who he wants to be his friend to hang out makes him blush like a maiden."
Tilting his head back, he says, "Go away, hag."
Gripping Iancu's face, Elia says, "Who are you calling a hag? I am only 2 years your elder!"
I smack them both on the head, and then, turning to Maple, I say, "Hey, how were you not already asked about this? Orb has had 24 hours to contact you."
"Orb didn't bring anything up to me." Gripping her fist, she says, "He was probably trying to protect me again! THAT IDIOT!"
"No, that doesn't make sense. You're the leader of Aplo,s and I doubt he wouldn't bring you if he wanted to make a delegation to the queen. It would simply be too irresponsible."
Turning to Elia, I say, "Have you seen Orb?"
"Nope. Didn't show up for work today. What a lazy doggy."
"HAS ANYONE SEEN ORB!" I shout to everyone in the area.
But all I get back are a series of no's. "This is starting to be weird. Now way he wouldn't have been spotted by now."
"MAPLE!" I hear Suzuka's voice shout.
Running into the room, Suzuka grabs Maple and tackles her onto the ground, and says, "Big trouble, Orb is, Orb is!"
-Break-
Location: Orb's mansion
Standing outside the door with Elia, Anto, Mime, Iancu, Maple, Willow, Suzuka, Cyrus, Dumnorix, and Abbán, I say, "Orb is in heat?"
Willow nods his head and says, "He has been in a frenzy all morning. It's pretty funny."
From inside his room, Orb shouts, "IT ISN'T!"
Mime looking at Dumnorix says, "What's heat?"
Elia, grabbing her, says, "None of your business now, let's get all of the school work you avoid done, and besides, do you think I have forgiven you for sending Orb towards me?"
Mime starts to scream and cry, but Elia, along with Anto take her away. Then Dumnorix says, "It's common for beastkin to have instances where they go into heat, and since Orb's body is becoming more like Setanta, it is to be expected."
Looking at the door, Iancu says, "Should we go in to help him?"
Cyrus grabs Iancu, and then Suzuka says, "Orb threw us out when we tried to help him."
Abbán adds, "In that state, he will basically jump at anything. Especially other beastkin, so we really should stay away, especially considering how strong he is."
Turning to Abbán, I ask, "Is there any way to calm this?"
"Experience. Right now Orb is experiencing this for the first time, so it will be intense, and if you combine that we the fact that he is a canine beastkin, it will take some time."
Rubbing my cheek, I say, "Hey, if we expose him to some non-stimulating things, wouldn't that speed up his adaptation to this state?"
"Probably. But if he were to assault someone during said state, the punishment by death," Dumnorix adds.
"Huh?"
"Beastkin happened to both care very much about genetic factors during reproduction due to our special constitution. Designers' births, and going into heat have led to a lot of issues in Nialathrú, so we have very strict laws regarding sexual crimes due to how prevalent they can be among us. So the death penalty is often used as a punishment."
"Isn't that pretty barbaric?"
Suzuka and Cyrus, with confused looks, say, "What do you mean?"
Face palming, I say, "I forgot the rest of the world is way more gung-ho than Elpída when it comes to things like this."
"Oh, on that note, it is far easier for us to tell someone has been violated through the use of our senses. It's not hard to smell someone on someone."
Looking at Iancu, who is deep in thought, I say, "Are you thinking about something?"
"I think I found our solution to this issue!"
-Break-
ΦSitting rolled up in a ball with his hair overgrown, his ears and his tail out, Orb's face, which is bright red, burns like a thousand suns. "Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down, you are not a pervert."
But his hair turns bright pink the more he sits down, and from his mouth drools drips as his mind constantly shuffles through his memories of the last few days.
The smells of the people around him, the warmth from their bodies, the look of their tongues eating food, and the sound of their laughter in his ears.
Standing up with his mind becoming more and more delirious, Orb walks over to the door and says, "I need to stop myself, but I can't!"
He pulls open the door in front of him with all his strength, and standing outside with a basket of food in her hand is Atalanta.
"You missed me!" She says with a bright smile.
Orb's coral, and with a disgusted look, he says, "Why are you here?"
"What kind of reaction is that to a beautiful lady like me claiming to see you?"
Putting his fingers into his ears, he picks the gunk out and says, "What do you want?"
Hugging Orb, she says, "I was tasked with taking care of you, my son."
Pushing her away, Orb says, "I am fine, and I don't need you here."
"But didn't you try to jump Cyrus and Suzuka earlier today when they came to check on you?"
"I almost did! There is a difference."
"It's been a long time since I heard of a princess pushing down the man she liked, at the very least wear a dress if you're going to take Cyrus."
"Shut up, and I don't like men?"
"So your real target was Suzuka. Oh, what a great love story."
Elbowing her in the stomach, I say, "Stop being weird. I don't want to sleep with men or Suzuka."
Getting up, Atlanta puts me in a one-armed headlock and says, "Don't you know how rude it is to attack someone who came to help you!"
"I didn't ask for your help, or your accusations! You sex brained bimbo!"
"I don't want to be called a Bimbo by someone who is currently locked in a room due to a lack of control of their sexual desires!"
"Shut up. You know as well as I do, I didn't start this."
"Excuses, excuses!
"You dummy!