Conspiracy

After the fight Leo called a meeting with regards to defending the caravan, Yvan, Theos, Felix, and Jack who apparently had been hunting with his wife. On their way Leo passed Alice, who handed him the latest survey results.

"Thanks, this should help us get a few more warrior candidates. Why don't you head over to my and iris's fire and you can have dinner with us tonight. Jacks here so Natalie should have some game to eat." Alice smiled at his words, and swiftly left to his campsite. When she got there Alice found both Iris and Natalie already there, and the latter started preparing her kills, only a couple birds. Alice was confused, as she learned by now that Natalie pretty much always brought in big kills, and she'd been gone for hours. She looked at Natalie in confusion, who swiftly looked away.

"There wasn't much game to find so this is all I got." She said quickly as if to justify herself, which Alice found weird. Iris tried to hide her giggles at Natalie's behavior, who then turned her attention back to her kills. It didn't take long before the smell of sizzling meat drifted through the air, and Alice's stomach started demanding the food. As she waited Natalie turned to Iris and asked,

"So how are you doing? It's refreshing to see you in a gown instead of leathers." Iris smiled bitterly, and said,

"It's kinda been a pain, I've never been so... still before. Usually I'm always doing something, the slowest I've ever been is when I'm working on something or maintaining something." Natalie smiled bitterly at her and said,

"You should take this time to relax a bit for once, from what I understand you won't really have a chance in a few months. Considering that your child is more than likely to be a werewolf as well, who knows what you're in for when it's born." When she heard that Iris paled, as she had no idea what to expect with her and Leo's child. As Iris started getting lost in thought, she didn't realize both of the other girls were looking at her with more than a little envy. Alice suddenly asked,

"So what should I do?" Both girls looked up at her, and were confused until they realized she was talking about her relationship with Leo. Iris smiled, and said,

"Here's what we should do," and started conspiring with her. While Natalie listened, she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Leo. First he was tricked into proposing to Iris, and now he had two women conspiring against him. She couldn't help but wonder if he'll ever have a normal relationship.

***

The man in question was currently looking at jack with a giant smirk on his face, as he arrived at their meeting with a twig in his messed up hair. Everyone else was silently laughing at him, causing Jack to turn a bit red around the ears. Leo then asked while trying not to laugh too hard,

"So, your spear didn't miss, did it?" At his words everyone else did start laughing out loud, causing Jack to groan in agitation, as his four hands tried to flatten his hair. He then looked at Leo and said,

"It's your fault you know." Leo looked offended and asked,

"How do you figure?" Jack snorted and said,

"Ever since she found out Iris was pregnant, Natalie has been getting antsier about us having kids as well. She finally snapped and wants to try right now." At his words everyone present laughed even harder, and Leo said,

"Alright, I won't put you down for any day or night duties, you'll probably be too "busy"." Jack groaned again at Leo's words, but didn't refute them, earning another round of laughter. Once they calmed down, Leo got to what he wanted to discuss.

"Getting serious here, I want to try and breed the hondoos if they'll adapt to the northern climate. How many do we have?" Theos took out a piece of paper and said,

"My men said they managed to catch about thirty hondoos, with that we should be able to start a small breeding program. Until we reach the north we can have some of the fighter ride them for practice." Leo nodded and continued,

"Next, I want to have the fighters to start practicing chi, and any mana users to start training as well. For whatever reason Arthur hasn't moved yet, if he's not bothering us then we have some time to prepare, I want to have as many people as possible ready. It'll also give us an edge over any more attackers, instead of me and Theos taking the brunt of the attacks." Everyone nodded solemnly at his words, and Jack stepped forward,

"I'll start raining the chi users. I trained the warriors in the village, I can start training these guys." Leo arched an eyebrow and said,

"Are you sure you'll have time?" But this just made Jack glare, and he said,

"I though you said we were being serious here, well I am. With Theos in charge of security, someone else will have to be responsible for training. Since most of it is strength aiming then it'll be pretty straight forward." Leo nodded his agreement, and they moved on.

After a few hours they finally ended the meeting, and Leo returned to his and Iris's camp fire for the night. Dinner had long since been over, and Leo didn't mind as he didn't want them to wait for him anyways. He grabbed a bit of bread to hold him over until he could hunt in the morning, and went to the carriage. As he entered it, he found both Iris and Alice waiting there for him, with serious expressions on their faces. He immediately felt his gut clench, and Iris said,

"Leo, we need to talk."