“Ah, about that. You saved my son's betrothed from sandstorm bandits a while back. So we're actually very grateful to you.” Brandi plucked the bamboo twig out of his mouth and waved it in Briar's direction.
“Besides, Briar is with you, isn't she? She's a good judge of character, that one. She doesn't travel with people that she don't approve of.” he smiled.
“Oh…” Robin nodded. It made sense…but wasn't this person a bit too easygoing? She felt a bit worried. What if he encountered scammers or evil people?
Brandi scratched his head, pondering something.
“Say, why don't you come over to my home for the evening? Our herbalist said it's gonna storm tonight, and you don't have any lodgings yet, right? You’ll be wanting to visit the Lythari folks next, right?” He asked openly.
“That’s right. We are intending to head there afterwards.” Robin nodded.
“Even more of a reason to come, then! The Lythari live in a place that’s impossible to get to without a proper guide. My son Port happens to be the best guide out of all of them. But he's currently busy fetching a midwife. You can stay at my house and wait out the storm while you wait for him to come back.”
“Er…to be honest, I’m feeling a bit puzzled.” Robin chuckled sheepishly.
Briar laughed. “Robin, Beastkins and Beastmen are honest folk, for the most part.” She explained.
“They can also usually tell if you're hostile or being deceitful to them using their keener senses and abilities, so don't worry about them getting scammed. You can also take that mask off. There are no surveillance eyes around here.”
“What? If it works then it works.” Brandi shrugged. "It's not in my nature to be a shifty-eyes.”
“...It won't inconvenience your wife? Isn't she pregnant?” Robin hesitated, then took off her mask, since it was both hot and humid in the surroundings.
“As leader, I do have a proper guest house for passing visitors.” Brandi smiled good naturedly and put the bamboo twig back in his mouth. “Come on. I’ll just show you.” He picked up a nearby gathering basket with a shoulder strap, and slung it over his shoulder. Then he beckoned with a hand wave, before setting off along a path.
The gates were made of impressively large stone, covered in twisting vines. Even so, they opened at a touch by Brandi, the very vines themselves working to open the doors. After the gates closed behind them, Robin's group followed Brandi down another path into a bamboo forest.
Most of the party aside from Robin and Briar had never seen a bamboo forest before. So everyone else spent quite some time admiring the view as they walked along the path as well. It felt like walking into a different world, almost.
Robin had always liked bamboo forests. But she wasn't allowed to bring them home because they were an invasive species. There's just something calming about a bamboo forest that is hard to find in a normal one.
Elise and Skye also flew in and out of the wooded area, sometimes landing on the bamboo, or it's branches. The bamboo swayed and rustled in the passing breeze. Birds called out merrily from the treetops and the thickets.
‘It smells nice in here.’ Skye mewed.
Robin smiled, watching Skye. Skye was so cute! She hadn't been paying the kitten much attention lately, but Skye had honestly helped her immensely. It was like having a little fluffy ball of sunshine around to chase away the shadows.
Robin took out a few snake skewers.
“Come to think of it, I owe you some of these, don't I, Skye?” Robin waggled the skewers in the air to catch Skye's attention.
Skye immediately caught sight of the snake meat and made a beeline for Robin's shoulders.
‘Meeat!’ it meowed happily. Skye quickly sat in a convenient position on Robin's shoulders for Robin to feed it. Muted laughter echoed in the bamboo wood. Everyone gazed warmly at the Hero's cute little furry companion who was focused only on eating as much snake meat as it could.
As they walked further into the forest, the bamboo trees grew fewer and farther between. The trees were also progressively wider and taller further in. This was a sign that they were entering a very old part of the forest.
They turned a bend in the path, and there it was: a group of lovely raised houses made of bamboo wood. As soon as she arrived, Robin was aware of four curious gazes aimed directly at her…more specifically at her shoulder, where Skye sat.
“Cubs! I'm home!” Brandi called out, before taking the basket off his back. “Now where are my little bear cubs?”
““““Here!”””” Four little children came out of various hiding places around the house. All of them had little panda ears on their heads. Two seemed to be boy and girl twins. There was one older, and one younger child as well.
“Have my little cubs been good while I was gone?” Brandi chuckled and asked.
“Yeees~” They all replied in a sing-song voice.
“You helped mom get a drink of water?”
“Yees.”
“You didn't put bugs in the pantry?”
“No we didn't~”
“You're feeling hungry? Because I brought a treat back for you~” Brandi grinned.
“Yes!” the four children's eyes brightened as they enthusiastically nodded.
“In that case, I’ll go prep it in the kitchen. For now, why don't you show our new guests to the guest house, hmm?” Brandi winked at them.
“Okaaay! Let's go, follow us!” The four children enthusiastically led Robin’s group to one of the houses.
“Here's the guest house, you can use any rooms in this house.”
“They're all the same~ heehee!” The youngest giggled. Then the children turned to Robin and began bombarding her with questions.
“Hey, is that a cat?”
“I’ve only seen cats in books!”
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“What's it's name?”
“Can I pet it?”
“Why’s it on your shoulders?”
The children enthusiastically began asking Robin questions. The rest of Robin's group glanced at each other knowingly before heading into the guest house to pick out a room. Christian stayed outside with Robin, who chuckled and patiently began answering the questions one by one.
“Hold on, hold on. It's a flying cat, and it doesn't know it's gender. That only comes out once it's grown up. It's called Skye. And it's on my shoulders because it likes to be here. I can feed it yummy treats easily that way. As for petting it….” Robin looked at Skye. “Skye, would you allow them to pet you?”
Skye looked at the four children who did their best to look welcoming.
‘Very well…but only one at a time!’ Skye mewed.
“Yaay!” The children jumped about happily. The youngest got to hold Skye first, while the others gathered around in admiration.
“So, you can understand Skye?” Robin asked.
“Yes! We learned from Big Sis Shana! She's a black ocelot Beastkin.” The eldest one explained.
“…Hmm?” Robin noticed. “Say, What's the difference between a beastman and a beastkin?”
“Oh! I know! Beastmen are those whose race were originally men, who gained the ability to transform into beasts!” The boy twin answered.
“And Beastkins are those who are decended from beasts who eventually gained a human form!” The girl twin followed up right behind.
“So that's all it is? A simple case of origin?” Robin asked.
“Noot quiiite…Beastkin don't have a middle form.” The Boy twin waved his arms.
“Middle form?” Robin tilted her head, intrigued.
“Yah! Like me!” The oldest touched his furry bear ears, to show them. “Beastkin are either a human or a beast. They don't have a form where they have a mixture of both.”
“Huh. Why is that?” Robin asked.
“I know! Because when they wished, they only wished for ‘A human form’. They didn't wish to ‘transform into a human’. Our ancestors wished for the ability ‘to transform into a beast.’ so we can stop it at any time!” The girl twin danced around a bit as she said that, happy she got the chance to show off.
Robin smiled.
“Oh, is that so? So the reason you have these cute little bear ears is because you're a beastman, and not a beastkin. I see, I see~” Robin nodded to herself, acting like an enlightened person. “Thank you, for that. It was a question that was suuper bothering me, you know?”
The twins giggled, pleased.
“Now that I think about it, I haven't introduced myself.” Robin dropped into a low crouch to be closer in size, and smiled at them.
“My name is Robin. What's yours?”
“I'm Gordon.” The eldest nodded with a smile.
“I'm Bacardi!” The boy twin raised his hand and exclaimed.
“I'm Amaretto!” The girl twin followed up and also raised her hand, jumping a bit.
“... Morgan!” The youngest had been the quietest one so far. But, seeing the others shout their names
also tried to join in with enthusiasm.
Robin’s smile twitched. ‘Aren’t those all names of alcohol brands?’ she thought to herself.