I could feel the warmth of the sun beating down thorough the leaves of the trees even though Ocello tried to pick a spot that was well shaded. Going from the perfect temperatures of the Goddess Oichlys's paradise to the sweltering heat of this new world was almost a shock. My companion sensed me stirring and stood to head to the river. As I opened my eyes I heard a faint chirping close by. Startled, I shot up and looked around to identify what was making the sound.
Close by was a creature about the size of a small dog that was shivering under the shelter of a bush nearby. I was scared for a moment until I realized that there was a wide slash on the side of its rounded body. Blood was seeping from the wound and even as I looked on, it swayed and fell to its knees. I moved slowly and pulled the small creature out from under the shrubs and held it in my hands.
"That is too small to hunt." Ocello came from behind me and handed me a cup filled with fresh water. "It was probably prey to a forest predator. But with me here, no other creature would come here. It is brave, but I doubt it can survive that gash." I looked down at the small beast in my arms, and I could feel tears begin to gather. It reminded me of my own situation. Abandoned in the middle of a giant forest, left for dead by the creature who pursued it. Sure, I had Ocello, but if he hadn't been passing by…
I thought back to what the goddess had told me about magic. She had mentioned that I might be able to heal something other than myself. I took a deep breath and tried. The moment I closed my eyes, it was as if I had tapped into a gushing faucet. Magic flowed into me, and I shook for a moment from its intensity. I could barely control it and was terrified that I would be overwhelmed until I felt Ocello wrap his arms around me, giving me a sense of grounding. I stopped trying to control the magic and just let it flow. After a moment I created a path to the little creature and let my magic flow there. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I imagined the wound being cleaned out and flesh being closed with stitches. After a while, I pulled back and opened by eyes.
"I've never seen that before." Ocello said quietly. I looked down at the warm fluff in my arms. The gash on its side had been closed and it was sleeping peacefully.
"I am relieved it worked, I wasn't sure if it would." Ocello stepped back as I turned to face him. "Thank you for supporting me, I needed your warmth to ground me." The man nodded and looked at me intently.
"Have you ever done that before?" I could hear something in his voice that stopped me short.
"No, I've never done any magic before." Ocello nodded and took the small animal from my hands.
"This is a bara, a creature that most of my tribe would hunt when they are adults. This is a baby. You should be careful about revealing your ability to heal."
"I…" I scrunched my face in worry, also remembering that Oichlys also mentioned that the ability to heal others was rarer.
"I have no intention of revealing your abilities to others unless you choose to, but there are some who would try to use you. The Xica and the Moanchan tribes might even come and try to steal you, too." Ocello's serious tone sent a chill down my spine, but he held his hand out for me to take. I wondered if it was too soon to feel safe with this beastman, but it was like my heart whispered reassurances to me.
I let him lead me back to the place where I took a nap. He laid the animal gently down as he began to pack up the hide and blanket and tied it to his bag.
"Do you plan to keep this creature? I don't think it is old enough to survive on its own yet."
"It would be cruel to heal it and then just let it go to become prey again. Is that alright? For me to make this a pet?" I asked him.
"Pet? I've never heard that word, but if it means keeping this little thing by you, then it should be fine. But once it is older, there may be problems. After all, a hunter might mistake it for his next target."
"I'll keep that in mind." Smiling, we finished packing up and Ocello change into his beast form again. We had taken the blanket and tied it so that the little bara was snuggled up to my chest. It was a little warm, but it would be safe until our next stop. It was still sleeping. I wondered if even though I had healed it if the energy that it took to heal made it exhausted.
As the forest flew by and the day became night, we made steady pace. At night, Ocello set up camp again and I let the little creature out of its makeshift carrier. It had woken up, but it was still docile. When I went to use the trees, it followed me and I giggled at it. Maybe I had imprinted on it. Ocello stared in amazement as I played with the bara.
"What should we name it?" I asked him as I dangled a long piece of straw in front of it. The creature behaved like a strange looking kitten and pounced on it, but it seemed to lose energy quickly. I stopped teasing it with the straw and stoked its head. It leaned into my touch and after a moment, it jumped on my lap and snuggled in.
"It likes to cuddle," Ocello mentioned.
"Oh, good idea!" I exclaimed. The bara chittered at me as if was scolding me for moving and ruining his comfy position. "Should I call you Cuddles, then?" A quick whistle made me think that the little creature was happy with that name.
When I went to sleep, Cuddles snuggled up beside me and Ocello shifted to his creature again. Since we were getting closer to the village, he wanted to be sure that the forest creatures would leave us alone as we slept. I thought it might be because he didn't want any of the other beastmen that might pass by to interrupt us either.
We continued like that for several nights. It was fun talking to Ocello and playing with Cuddles. Occasionally, the pain from Danny's betrayal would make me pause, but Ocello was good at noticing when I was sliding into despair and redirecting my attention. I knew that I would eventually have to deal with my feelings for what happened, but it would be better to have a safer place for me to do that.
I noticed that the path got more compact as we traveled further too. There were a few more bridges like the one I had seen before and there were a few places that I could see smoke in the distance from villages that were close enough to the main road but far enough that we didn't see anyone.
After a while, though, even we had to deal with some of the other beastmen. Ocello would greet them and nod as we passed by, but he didn't stop and the passing beastmen would stare only for a moment before a waring growl from Ocello would make the turn and flee.
"You know, that is really rude where I come from." I told him at one of our breaks.
"It's rude here too, but I didn't think you would want to tell them anything. Part of it is because you should meet your husband and settle things with him. Another part is if they found out too much, they might try to claim you."
"Claim me?" I looked over at my companion confused and a little disgusted.
"Technically, you are available and unattached. Yes, you have a husband, but you do not have an acknowledged village yet. It is the way of the Bena to fight and claim the women for their towns if they can. You would be able to choose a mate there, but you'd still be stuck with that village."
"So, when you say claim me, it is the village that would be claiming me?" I tried to wrap my head around that. "What will happen when I get to Bena?"
"You will talk to your husband. He can go to the village chief and show his mate mark, and you will effectively be claimed by the village of Bena." I shook my head. I am pretty sure I am just getting hung up with the wording as it sounded more like a registration process.
"What does it mean to be claimed by a village, besides getting to chose the men there for mates?"
"You'll be able to get a share of the food the town grows and the meat that is hunted. Twice a year, we all get a set of clothing as well made by the artisans and there are a few other things like that which are distributed. All people claimed by a village have the same base offering. It is how we take care of everyone, even the young and old who can't take care of themselves without help without any one family being overburdened."
"What if someone can help, but chooses not to?" Ocello looked at me with confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"In my old world, they had programs that would give people food, but there were a lot of requirements for them to be part of it. And one of the arguments against it was that it would make people lazy and not want to work."
"Ah, well, I'm not saying that there aren't some people who don't take advantage, but no one should go hungry so long as we have plenty." I smiled. I really liked this town already. It sounded like they took care of their people.
"Besides, there are some things you are only allowed to do if you participate in either the hunt or growing crops. A woman won't choose a lazy man to take as husband, either." Ocello smiled at the village in front of us. It was pretty large, spanning much of he base of the mountain towering over it.