Chapter 276: Keeping Watch

Not just the plateau.

Her whole territory.

She had told them to go and never come this way ever again. There was nothing here for them, and there was never going to be.

This world had other places out there with stable weather and food, and they could go inhabit that place instead.

The faces of the males had fallen.

Imagine finding a place with fresh fruits and proper coverage after weeks of roaming through a barren wasteland, and being told to leave.

No beast would take it well at all.

But the males didn’t argue with her when they had seen the look on her face.

The issue was convincing their tribe leader about it. However, Tera’s threat had painted a very clear picture for them...

Something small splashed beside her, bringing Tera back to the present.

Althea had abandoned the shallows and climbed up onto the stones. She stood there dripping for a second before she reached up with both hands, grabbed a fistful of Tera’s stomach, and hauled herself into her mother’s lap beside her sleeping sister.

"Ouch! Althea..." Tera groaned.

Her flesh wasn’t a ladder.

Althea settled herself in, stood and looked up at Tera’s face for a long moment, and said, "Sowwy."

Tera blinked down at her.

"...What are you sorry for, baby?"

Althea did not answer that. Instead, she reached up and patted Tera’s forehead.

Four times. Firmly. The way Tera patted them when they were upset, the same way the two of them had patted their father for days when he could not stop being sad.

Tera’s chest went tight.

"I’m okay," she whispered.

Althea pouted and patted her mother’s head again. "Sowwy..."

"I am, I promise. Thank you, though." Tera laughed, and it came out a bit shaky, but it came out. "Thank you. You’re very good at that."

Althea did not look convinced at all. She pushed her lower lip out, settled back against Nadia, and mumbled something at the water that Tera only caught about half of.

Something about mommy. Something about still being sad.

Tera went back to washing her sleeping daughter’s hair, and this time she splashed some water at Althea, who giggled at the splashes and squirmed off her mother’s lap.

Tera smiled, her mood slightly improved.

But her mind still went back to the males.

She had meant what she said to those two.

She had told them that she would actually come check the whole territory to make sure that they were gone.

And they had better understand that she was perfectly capable of doing that. There was not a single place in the forest that she would not find them. And if she found them still there, she would send the entire tribe back to the hill they had come from.

That had got a reaction out of them.

The younger one had gone grey. They had both started talking at once, over each other, about how there was floodwater everywhere now, how the low ground was underwater, and the land had gone soft, and it was not safe. They would be stranded on that hill.

Tera had listened to all of that and then told them it was fine.

Since the hill was still high up, the water would not reach them, and they had food now due to the fruits she had given them.

However, they would starve when it finished, and they remained stuck with no other food source.

The males had gotten the message and left very quickly after that.

Tera dragged water through Nadia’s hair and did not feel especially good about any of it.

She did not feel bad either. She didn’t really understand what to feel, but knowing what she knew now, she could only imagine to what extent the old Tera had been abused.

Althea had got bored again.

She lay down flat on her back in about four inches of water.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

"Hmm?" Tera looked over.

Althea began to kick.

She kicked both legs furiously, sending water everywhere, her little arms paddling at the surface, her whole body perfectly stationary on the lake bed and going absolutely nowhere.

"Swim," she announced.

"Is that swimming?"

"Swim!" More kicking. "Mommy! Swim!"

Tera chuckled. Was Althea trying to show her that she could swim?

"Can swim. Wheeeee."

She kicked harder. A respectable amount of water went up. Her back did not leave the stones at any point.

Tera laughed.

Althea’s face lit up like somebody had handed her a prize.

Her mommy was happy, so she was happy, and everything was fine now.

Althea kicked twice as hard, giggling, and delighted with herself for a job well done. Then she rolled over and did it again from the beginning on her front, with her chin held up out of the water and her eyes on her mother the entire time to make sure she was still watching.

"I see you," Tera said. "You’re very fast."

"Fat!"

Tera laughed again.

Nadia slept through all of it with her round belly rising and falling, and Althea swam strenuously in the same four inches of water for another ten minutes. Tera held the sleeping Nadia in her lap and watched Althea play in the water a bit more.

Her mood brightened, and Tera was glad she’d brought the girls with her.

The weight still lingered just a little bit now.

But Tera had made her decision. She did not want to see any of those tribe members ever again. She did not want to see Naiya, or Tervo, or any of the beasts who had stood in that settlement for nineteen years and let a cub be treated like that, and she did not want anything from Tera’s past coming to pester her ever again.

- ※ - ※ - ※ -

Tera woke slowly, groggy, and with no idea how long she had been out.

The water was lapping at her back and dragging through her hair. Her lower half had drifted out into the deeper part of the lake, and at some point while she slept, her arms had folded over her chest.

Then she registered what was missing.

She could not feel her cubs against her.

Tera came up fast, water sheeting off her shoulders, her heart slamming into her ribs. They had been right there. They had been asleep on her chest, and now there was nothing there at all, and she had fallen asleep beside open water with two cubs on her.

How could she have made such a stupid mistake—

"They are fine."

She twisted around.

Calis was already walking toward her. He crouched, put a steady hand on her shoulder, and then sat down beside her.

"You told Xavi and Ermin to take them back, and that you wanted to sleep near the water." His thumb moved once against her skin. "I stayed to keep watch."

Tera relaxed. She did not remember saying any of that, but then again, she had felt so drained and tired.

"...Thank you," she breathed.

Then she looked at his face properly and stopped.