Leon and Riya: How to Raise a Gnoll

Chapter 2

Rose: Dad, what were they talking about?

Leon: What do you mean?

Rose: About it not mattering because you're male.

Leon had really hoped Rose would never find out about that, at least not until she was older.

Leon shook his head.

Leon: You will have to talk with your mother about that.

Rose didn't know what to think about that. Her dad had always been able to talk to her about stuff, why not this?

Rose: Oh, okay.

Leon patted Rose on the arm.

Leon: I need to talk to Mu about something, why don't you go spend some time with your mom.

Rose gave a questioning look but did as she was asked. After she was out of sight Leon spoke up.

Leon: Mu, you know that one is going to be trouble, right? That's not just me, is it?

Mu nodded.

Mu: I know for a fact Zenkoh would have informed them that things work differently here, but she still seemed to think that I would just let her do that to you.

Mu gave a small growl.

Mu: She's lucky that she is a child, otherwise I would have done a lot more.

Leon sighed.

Leon: Hopefully they will acclimate to how things work here without too much trouble.

Rose was on her way to the kitchen as that was where her mother tended to be. Once she had made it to the back she opened the door to see Riya cooking what looked to be a meat pie.

Rose: Mom?

This startled Riya for a second as she hadn't noticed Rose come in.

Riya: Yes? Oh, it's you Rose. What is the matter?

Riya could see the confused expression on Rose's face, what could be bothering her?

Rose: Umm...

Rose wasn't sure how to ask about what had just happened at the training yard.

Riya now had a concerned look on her face.

Riya: Is something wrong?

Rose: Some new Gnolls showed up.

Riya relaxed a little bit. Was that all?

Riya: Oh, is that all?

Rose: What did they mean when they said it didn't matter what they did to Dad because he's male?

Riya immediately froze up upon hearing that. What did she say?

Riya: What?

Riya's blood ran cold. Did she just hear that?

Rose: Dad beat one of the new gnolls in a sparring match. When she lost she got mad and tried to attack him when he wasn't looking, Auntie Mu stopped her though. But when asked what she was doing she said that it didn't matter since Dad was male.

Rose's puzzled look only worsened.

Rose: What did she mean by that?

Riya gave an irritated sigh. She had hoped to never have to talk about this with her daughter.

Riya: It is an archaic way of thinking that a lot of Gnolls still use unfortunately. Males are seen as disposable, they don't matter outside of having cubs. Even daughters treat their fathers like they don't mean anything.