"The beasts who live here in the shelter, could you explain?" Lana could tell it was Muddy again.
"In most cases, the beasts belong to members of the Bree family. These beasts are tamed, for lack of a better word, and are part of the family that tamed them. They answer to the command of the person who tamed them and do their bidding. In exchange, they are well cared for, like a family member."
"And you have tamed many beasts?"
Lana chuckled, "things are a bit special with me. I do have the beast tamer ability but I found Caser right here on this planet right after he was born. His mother was killed before he could even get to know her. I took him and hand-raised him. I protected him from others who would have killed him. Caser is not part of my family in the same way the beast tamer's would tame their beasts. I raised him. He is family. He was almost an adult before he was able to encounter life as a beast, having spent all his time in the human world. Now he has Griddlebone and his little ones."
"Griddlebone is not tamed?" Muddy asked.
Lana chuckled, "she is Caser's mate. As such, I offered her a safe place in my home. If he trusts her around his family, then she can be trusted."
Muddy seemed extremely satisfied by this answer.
Raten then took over the body, "your tummy is looking a little round, there Lana. Have you been getting too comfortable as a leader? We could spar if you'd like."
Lana chuckled. At the same time Shalt walked in, "she's pregnant again." He looked at Lana, "the twins are napping. I'm going to post outside."
Lana nodded, "Thank you, Shalt! I don't know what I'd do without you!"
Raten glared at Sil, "you should be ashamed of yourself. Another man is taking care of your wife and children."
"Sil needs to get stronger to make it safe for us. He needs to kill your grandfather."
Raten's eyes grew fierce. "I need to grow stronger as well. I need to evolve this body."
Lana nodded and looked between the two. "You both do as do my own family members. The dangers are real and strong. Would you guys like a tour on my shelter?"
"I thought you'd never offer!" Shiro exclaimed. "I'm dying to know about this place. It's incredible!"
Lana giggled, leaving Shalt with the sleeping babies, she showed her extended family their home. She introduced them to anyone they passed while out and often talked to the residents. Not a single person complained about their life. All of them expressed gratitude. Sil beamed with pride. In his mind, she was able to create a place of peace because he made it his mission to keep the conflict away from her.
Lana took them outside the shelter to give them an idea of what things were like in their area. "If you look in the distance, I'm using the dumping bait beasts to keep those flora saurs on the other side so they are not a risk to us. Everyone has been warned of the dangers so they mainly go to the forest over there," she pointed. "The peace we established has only been in place for a week or so. The beasts don't trust it and often run away. Would you guys like to meet some of the local beasts?"
Muddy took back control, "can we if they run?"
Lana smiled, "I don't look human anymore. I also think part of this is they don't know which humans belong to which shelter. Until I figure out what to do about that other shelter and the dalki, they won't know who to trust. Come."
Lana led them into the forested area and had them sit down. The trees told her there were many beasts in the area, so she moved a bit of a distance away and sat down as well. She focused on emitting the energy of love while the trees around her kept repeating the word friend. The area soon felt very peaceful and the beasts grew curious. Soon they started to approach her out of curiosity.
Lana appeared to be in a meditative pose, eyes closed, not moving. Noses of all shapes and sizes were twitching her general direction. There were even a few tongue flicks. Soon she was surrounded. Sil started to freak out internally. They were low tier, but this was his wife. Having just heard that she's expecting again didn't help his nerves the least bit. Suddenly a rabbit-like beast rubbed its head against her hand and Lana pet it. It leapt into her arms and she giggled. After a few moments, she put the small beast back on the ground and returned to her family.
She looked at Raten/Muddy, "satisfied?"
Muddy nodded, "you are not human. What are you?"
Lan motioned toward the shelter and the talked while they walked. "I'm a fairy from another dimension, apparently. My brother and I were taken from our mother. In the lab I recently found, I learned a few things but I feel I need to finish studying magic symbols to be able to understand her work. There is a war going on where mother came from. She asked us to return and help out our father. Dobin is quite anxious now. He never showed interest in our heritage before but after seeing mother's message… He knows we were loved, not abandoned." Lana took a long pause. "If there's a way back, we need to go. It will take quite a bit of time to learn everything."
They were now entering the shelter. After a long pause, "you Blades have each other. My husband has returned to normal having you guys back. It's clear he needs you more than he needs me. It also shows how important family is. I need to find mine."
Sil felt a pang in his heart and grabbed her close. "I need you. I need you very much."
Lana smiled, "we need you, too."
Raten, Vorden, and Shiro spent the night in the rooms upstairs. Sil played with the kids and read to them when they woke from their nap. He spent as much time with them as he could until it was time for them to go to bed. The uncles all got to play with them a bit as well when Sil was willing to share. That night, Lana and Sil worshiped each other's bodies once more. After breakfast, the Blades all returned to the ship and Lana returned to her studies with a pang of sadness in her heart.
**********************************************
Join me on discord at https://discord.gg/wuNsfeGP Or Patreon at patreon.com/MindyLeeCrouch
If you'd like to donate to me via PayPal, https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=8PCLHZTXAPFPC
Constructive criticism is welcome as it helps me become a better writer. This story has been re-written as an original story called Feisty Fae. I took my experience from this writing to make the story better. The new version is Romance/Fantasy Adventure. I hope you enjoy it.