Feathers and Claws (MxMxMxMxM)

Chapter 81: Danger

Remember that vote from earlier? yeah. . .

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ten and a half months passed since I first found out the terrible state the kingdom's smaller towns were in.

The soldiers who had elected themselves my personal guards and the small hoard of servants who just started to follow me went town to town with me, speaking with the locals and trying our best to fix as many issues as possible.

Along the way, we met and befriended all sorts of different Homigriffs, the traditions and cultures in the different towns enamoring me almost as much as the Homigriffs themselves.

My home tribe was very close knit, everyone had similar to down right the exact same traditions across our forest home.

Yet here? Towns mere miles from each other had vastly different cultures.

It was amazing and something I adored, enjoying learning more about them when I would take a break to rest between speaking with leaders and knowledgeable members of their communities.

Despite my enjoyment of this trip, it wasn't all fun and games.

The council had been at this game for a long while, moving slow at first but getting bolder as of late. . .Causing much dissonance between the kingdom and their head. . .Not the mention the harm it caused the Homigriffs! It disgusted me.

I couldn't fix everything. . .But I could help the towns and the kingdom work towards solutions that benefited everyone. . .With a whole lot of help from the servants and the community leaders.

Thankfully. . .That seemed to be enough, a step in the right direction that got the ball rolling.

Laying back on the bed I had been given, in the room that had been cleared out for me, I thought back on all the friends I had made in a matter of days.

Wet nurses, mothers those curious about medicine had stopped to see and help me at every twist and turn on this trip, much to the relief of my entourage, the many visitors quite intrigued and enamored with the new royal, my child.

I had been given family recipes that the mothers would swear help with all sorts of ailments and pains from childbirth, all of them seeking to help the new 'single' parent that had arrived in their domain.

Abigail swears this sweetened soup will settle any hot flashes. . .Margret says this paste is best on bread and will increase my milk. . .Ashy says this drink of sorts helped them when it hurt to use the bathroom. . .So many home remedies just given to me in the hopes that it will help me. . .A veritable stranger to them. . .

To say I was a bit emotional over the overwhelming acceptance I was receiving from the kingdom's citizens was an understatement.

Looking down at my child, cradled close to my chest in a colorful, hand embroidered harness I had been given by a grandmother in the Honeydew township who insisted I call her 'grammy', I couldn't help the smile that broke out across my face.

''My little moon, do you know how blessed you are? To be born into a kingdom of such loving Homigriffs?'' I whispered softly, tracing the protective runes that a shaman at the Ashen bowl town had carefully painted onto both me and my child with a safe stain made from plants, it was faded, but still visible for now.

A soft chuckle drew my lazy and contented attention up to the guard who had entered my room, having not bothered with knocking.

We were all beyond that by this point, having traveled together long enough to not care what state we walked in on another in.