Lament of the Slave

Chapter 137: Seed

I apologize for the sporadic release in recent weeks. As an apology, I will now release a chapter every day until Friday. 🙂

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Honestly, deep down, I was hoping that when I met another beast in which one of my mutations had its origin, it would go the same way as in the case of Esu. A foolish notion, I know. Life was not so kind and rarely gave us what we wished for.

"Crawl like weasel in mud among worms," Zeew shrieked, scorning me for refusing her mercy and wishing to live among the mud-waders.

"Not your pup, leave now," demanded the mother mossbear of the majestic eagle hovering high above Esulmor. This matter regarding me was settled, as far as she was concerned. In fact, from her tone and the intent behind the words, there was never any doubt in her mind about who I was. I wasn't some chick of eagles to her, nor was I Korra Grey a human from another realm. No, she thought of me as Esu's pup.

She wouldn't be a proud Miros if Zeew just gave up. "Your kin killed mine!"

"You come. Death you were looking for. Why angry?"

If I hadn't known mother mossbear was dead serious, I might have let out a chuckle. Still, I couldn't help smirking.

Although the words carried no hint of mockery, Zeew didn't like what she heard at all. She let out an angry screech and sent several more air bursts into the woods to vent her anger and show us she won't back down so easily. "We come seek death of humans. Came bring mercy upon lost chick..." she shrieked and paused for a moment as if she was considering whether to say more. "Came for seed."

"Talk to me, Little Beast. What the fuck happened?" Deckard asked, to whom I tried my best to translate what the beasts were talking about and what I was growling at them when it came down to it. But now that I had stopped and an almost palpable tension had fallen over the woods, he knew something was up.

"Zeew and the other eagles came here for...some kind of seed. It's weird. I don't know what to make of the intent behind the words. Do you have any idea what they might be talking about?"

"Me? You used to be a florist. I don't even like greens in my food," he said, yet thought about it. "Why attack us then?"

"You want me to ask?" Sure, for the northern eagles, targeting a specific group of humans so far from their nests made little sense, but this wasn't like him. Until now, Deckard had considered me asking those powerful beasts to be sheer lunacy. So, why the change of heart?

"Do you dare?"

Did I? Sure, under normal circumstances. In this tension? Even I wasn't stupid enough to open my mouth and bluntly ask.

"Humans right, then. You have seed," Zeew said after a moment of reading in the mother mossbear's reaction. "Give."

"Ours."

"We need seed more than you mud-wading weasels." There was an unusually strong urgency in her words, almost bordering on desperation, that she failed to hide behind anger, arrogance, and pride.

Naturally, the massive beasts shielding us down here with her barrier of leaves and branches, one of the mothers in the woods noticed it, too. But to my wonder, she didn't use it to throw a few snide remarks her way. She considered her words before growling back up at Zeew. "North?"

"Danger coming to our nests. We need seed. Defend."

Her confession that their nests were in danger gave me pause. This was not what I expected from the proud Miros. Then there was the question of the threat itself.