The two women looked at each other first.
Then back at Neve.
Neve wiped the water off his face and stood up slowly. He was taller than both of them by a full head. That was mildly satisfying.
"I'll ask again," he said. "Who is Isabella?"
"Isabella is supposed to be the young chief's mate," the taller one said.
"She'll be back soon. Winter is coming," the shorter one added.
"Okay." Neve looked between them. "I still don't understand what that has to do with me. You walked in here, threw water on me while I was sleeping and—"
He looked around.
Cael wasn't in the cave.
He looked back at them. "There's nothing going on between Cael and I anyway."
Both women gasped at the exact same time.
"Did you hear that?"
"He called the young chief by his name."
"Just like that, with no title. Nothing."
"So disrespectful—"
Neve pressed his fingers into his hair and held his own head.
He stood there like that until he heard footsteps at the cave entrance and Cael walked in carrying fruit in both hands. The women went silent immediately, straightening up like different people entirely.
Neve's tail started wagging.
He noticed it and looked at it. It wagged again.
He had not told it to do that.
Cael looked at the two women. "What are you doing in here?"
Silence.
"Why are you here?"
It wasn't even a question. Just the same flat voice that apparently worked on everyone.
The shorter one broke first. She stepped forward and looked at Cael with an expression carefully arranged into something respectful.
"Young chief. Why have you chosen this... unrecognised male as your partner? Lady Isabella will be returning soon."
"She's right," the tall one said. "Lady Isabella—"
"Has nothing to do with me," Cael said. He walked past them to Neve and held out the fruit. "I got these for you. Do you eat them?"
Neve took them. "Yes. Thank you."
He smiled without thinking about it.
Cael's face did something. A quick warmth that moved up his neck and sat in his cheeks for exactly two seconds before he turned back to the women with his normal expression fully restored.
"He will be the one to bear my cubs," Cael said. "We're done here."
Neve bit into the fruit.
Then processed that sentence.
He choked so hard he had to hit his own chest. Cael looked over immediately. "Are you alright?"
Neve nodded, eyes watering, and moved to the corner to continue eating and recover his dignity.
He looked at the number above Cael's head while the women argued with him.
{Cael — 50%}
Up from forty-six. The system had clearly decided Cael was on the list whether Neve had officially agreed or not.
'I don't even know how to make this official,' he thought. 'Do I just say yes? Is there a ceremony? Do I have to...'
{System Notification: Second Mission — Loading!}
Neve chewed and waited.
The two women stomped out. The cave entrance swung behind them. Cael sighed once, quietly, then sat down across from Neve.
"I'm sorry about that," he said. "Your leather is wet. We should go to the trade centre... It's a day's journey but we can get you new ones."
"Trade centre?" Neve perked up. "Like shopping?"
Cael tilted his head. "Shop...ping?"
"Never mind." Neve bit into the next fruit. He could figure out what the trade centre was when he got there. He looked around the cave while he ate. Cael was sitting with his legs apart in the way he always sat and presenting everything to the world the way he always did and nobody in this world found any of this unusual.
Neve looked at the ceiling.
{Mission loading complete!}
{Second Mission: Gain the villagers' trust.}
{Reward: Medicine Memory — grants Host full knowledge of medicine and treatment.}
Neve's eyes went wide and sat up straight.
'Medicine memory?' he thought. 'Full knowledge of medicine? That means— I could treat injuries, identify plants, make remedies, maybe even figure out how to make soap...'
"That should be useful!"
"What's useful?"
Neve flinched. "Nothing. I said that out loud?"
Cael looked at him.
"Let's go to the trade centre," Neve said quickly, standing up.
Cael was on his feet immediately, eyes bright in the way that didn't show anywhere except his eyes. "Yes. I'll hunt something for the exchange first."
He was already moving toward the entrance.
Neve watched him go and thought about the mission. Gain the villagers' trust. He didn't know anyone here. Most of them still looked at him the way they looked at something they hadn't decided about yet. He needed a way in and he had no idea what it was.
He stretched his arms above his head and stepped outside.
The sun hit him warm and direct. The air had that particular sharpness that said cold was coming. Neve tilted his face up and breathed it in.
'Red pandas love snow,' he remembered. 'While every warm-blooded animal in this world is hiding from the cold, I'll be the only one walking around enjoying it.'
He smiled to himself.
"Oh, I love this body."
"Oh! It's you!"
Neve turned.
Gideon was standing on the path behind him, basket over one arm, looking at Neve with recognition and zero awkwardness about their previous meeting in the forest.
"Hi," Neve said carefully.
Gideon laughed and waved his free hand. "Relax. I'm not going to do that again. Your scent just caught me off guard." He adjusted the basket on his arm. "I apologise."
Neve looked above his head.
No favourability meter.
He relaxed slightly. "It's fine."
"Good." Gideon smiled easily. "I'd love to stay and talk but I'm heading to see my brother."
"Cael just left to—"
"Not Cael. Our elder brother."
Neve raised a brow. Right. The chief had mentioned another son. The one Cael had said was alive when the chief tried to push the leadership conversation.
"Is something wrong with him?" Neve asked.
Gideon's easy expression shifted. Something heavier moved underneath it. He looked at the basket in his hand.
"He's sick," he said. "Has been for a while." A pause. "He's going to die soon." He said it quietly, like something he had already accepted but hadn't finished grieving. "I'm the physician here and I can't do anything about it. I've tried everything I know."
Neve looked at him.
Then looked at the mission screen sitting at the edge of his vision.
'Gain the villagers' trust'
'Reward: Medicine Memory.'
He thought about what full medical knowledge would mean. What he could do with it. What Gideon had just told him.
'If I complete the mission,' he thought slowly, 'I might be able to help.'
The question was how?
He watched Gideon walk away down the path and stood in the morning sun trying to figure out how a person with no name, no history and no reputation in a tribe that didn't fully trust him yet was supposed to make more than two hundred people decide he was worth knowing.
He had no idea.