Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 95: brought to you by #alltheroadtripsongs

You readers don't care if I thank you for reading. You probably think that if I really was thankful, I should give you all the chapters right here, right now, that I have on hand. But I'm not so magnanimous. BUWAHAHAHA. Also because I need a backlog in case we can't write the next chapter for some reason...Point is, we're both really grateful that you lot are reading. We started this story for ourselves and didn't expect anyone to actually like it. We were just, you know...having fun. But now that we know someone is having fun with us, it's made it all the more delightful, more so then we could have on our own. So, thanks for that. AND NO! I'm not gonna put an extra chapter up!....maybe >.> I'm just afraid people wouldn't realize two chapters were up and accidentally skip a chapter. It's happened before.

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A month passed traveling through spring sunshine. Traveling with her mates, guardians, and daughters made her feel more sedentary and at home than being in the hobbit hole ever did. Actually, thinking of the hobbit hole and the valley it sat in often left Shay nauseous, trembling, breathless, and cold, despite the good memories sprinkled in. She just couldn't shake off the feelings of hunger, weakness, and stark loneliness attached to the memories. Almost dying didn't help either.

The numb depression didn't leave completely. But without the blank spaces with nothing to do and all the warmth from everyone that surrounded her, it didn't have its way with her. The colorful dress made out of the same fabric as her three girls with a full, twirling skirt also made it difficult to feel gloomy. The blue top and paneled red and light-yellow skirt made her feel like Snow White, and the little princesses that would occasionally hide in her skirts made her feel like the queen Harvey insisted that she was.

Another thing that helped came when they returned to the cave where her family had decided to store all their possessions while they ran about madly in search of her. The harp from the ocean was a little out of tune on the higher notes, but just the sound of any of its strings sent soothing vibrations through her stomach. Whenever she could she'd idly strum it, picking out songs and occasionally humming or singing to them, to Ryan's delight.

Her mates also made it their personal goal to make sure she always had something on hand to munch on. The Spring brought with it meat, some berries, winter roots, and they'd stored up on rice from the nearby villages as they'd pined for her.

Yet even Ryan admitted the plantlife wasn't as it usually was during Spring.

"This is supposed to be the light rainy season," he told her as she dangled from Curtis's arms, Sky on his shoulders. "A drought is going on. It would probably be best if we head towards the coast. My mother taught me a way to gather water from the air in order to rid water of impurities for some of her more concentrated medicines. It's boring and slow, which is why my brothers and I did it, but as long as the air is humid, it should work."

"Distilling?" Shay said.

Harvey, who was always particularly close by ever since her returned, chuckled from Ryan's otherside. "Of course she knows about it."

Ryan, once he'd gotten over his shock, gave her a warm smile.

She had asked on the first day why it had been Harvey who had taken the stimulant herb to get over the mountain to her rather than Ryan, or even Parker, both who dwarfed Harvey in strength. She had regretted it almost instantly as the three warm-blooded males shrunk in absolute shame.

"We discovered a curious side-effect I hadn't known about the plant," said Harvey pleasantly. "The stronger the beast-man, the wilder he becomes on eating it."

"None of us remember what happened," said Parker. "But apparently Ryan nearly ate Sky."

"Not nearly," snapped Curtis. "How dare you. As if I would allow a single claw to touch her hair, and I didn't."