Theo's mind went blank at the question, taking a moment to process Kiro's words. And when he did, he had to stop himself from laughing out loud. It seemed the siblings were both overprotective of each other.
He found it almost cute how the young cub had pulled him to the side to figure out what his motives were. Smart of him to do even if it were a little dangerous.
Because if Theo had ulterior motives, Kiro's words could've gotten him into big trouble. Still, the cub was young so it'd take time to learn how to be more subtle.
"Is there a problem if I want to be your sister's mate?" Theo finally questioned back.
Answering a question with a question probably wasn't the best approach, but Theo wanted to make sure everything was out in the open. He and Serena did plan to become mates, so it wasn't like he needed to hide it.
However, if Kiro was questioning him like this, Theo knew he had to make sure the cub didn't have problems with him. Because he doubted Kiro would let him live peacefully and Theo would rather avoid the trouble all together.
Serena did want to make it official with her brother when we got to the city, but I suppose she'll be fine with me discussing it now instead of making everything more suspicious. Theo thought to himself. See what the cub thinks of me.
Kiro pursed his lips at Theo, not happy about the question response. He soon mumbled, "I don't have a problem…"
"That so?" Theo murmured with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest.
The cub clearly had something else to say with the way he was biting his lip. Likely thinking of a way to say what he was thinking.
"Yes." Kiro nodded his head. He then suddenly added, "You can be my sister's mate, but you can't hurt her!"
The words hit Theo right in the face, making him blink in surprise. So, Kiro was going to be direct with him instead. Guess that worked for him too and at least the cub was going to be a problem.
"Sister cried a lot when Matthew was gone, so you can't hurt like that!" Kiro continued, a fire burning under him. "You have to stay by her side forever."
"Who's Matthew?" Theo asked.
He figured it was probably the name of Serena's dead mate, but it didn't hurt to confirm it first. It was rarely good to assume things. Like how he judged Serena as a troublemaker only to realize she was just protecting those she loved.
"Sister's old mate." Kiro answered quickly. "He ran off to help the Tribe Chief when Sister begged him not to. So you can't do the same."
And with those words, Theo suddenly understood why Serena didn't want to find herself a new mate. Her heart had been broken so badly that even a young child was scared of her heart breaking once more.
Though it was also a little strange that a beastwoman would love a beastman that much. Then again, most put some distance between themselves and their mates because death was always around the corner in this world.
It was easy to become guarded when it was so easy to lose everything.
"Alright." Theo finally murmured, moving closer to Kiro to pat his head like Serena would to comfort him. "I'll put your sister first."
He couldn't promise love because that was not what their relationship was, but he could at least promise not to hurt Serena. Something easy to do when there were no feelings between them.
Kiro gazed up at him with bright eyes. "You promise."
"I promise." Theo confirmed. "Now let's get you bathed before your sister starts wondering where you were."
Kiro nodded his head in understanding and hurried to the river to quickly bathe.
***
While Kiro had gone bathing with Theo, Serena took this chance alone to go look up the plants she had learnt about earlier. It was fairly easy to find information about orange roots and brown roots.
Serena learnt that they were the most commonly eaten plant, used mostly in stews and soups like that beastman had said. However, her field guide did add that there were different ways to prepare them.
Brown roots weren't good eaten raw, but orange roots were. She just had to be careful since they were quite hard when not cooked.
Once she had read through their information, Serena received notifications for each plant respectively.
[Gain Knowledge on Plants: 6/600]
[Reward: 10 Coins]
[Gain Knowledge on Plants: 7/600]
[Reward: 10 Coins]
Serena then went to search for more information about red berries, however, wasn't able to find them in her field guide. She was a little sad about that, but at least she had gotten some information about them from others.
Seems like they're likely in one of the more advanced guides. Serena mused to herself as she packed away the book. I do wonder what determines the place of a plant's information within all the field guides.
Was it based on how common the plant was? Or perhaps how much it was used within society. Or maybe it was based on how common the information on it was.
No…
She had found medicinal plants within the field guide and doubted all their uses would be common knowledge. Healers guarded knowledge about different plants not wanting to lose their value to society.
Besides, the red berries seemed to be a well known favorite among females. Everyone knew quite a bit about them. Even how much to eat without getting sick.
If it was based on common knowledge, then they likely would've been in the field guide. Shaking her head, Serena got up and headed back out her tent to see if Theo and Kiro were back.
There was no point in her wondering about something somewhat pointless. Besides, she could use this chance to find that beastman and see if she could learn anything about cooking.