The Female Man

Sam paced back in forth inside the tent that the goblins raised for the human mothers. Cyrus sat in the corner, watching her sister. She could feel the frustration in her eyes. Sam has always been honest to the point of coming off as rude, but she was also a kind-hearted individual, only showing hostility towards the goblins. Despite their fight, Sam could not help but worry about Mari's safety. "Do you think she's going to be alive?" Sam said with a nervous tone, "No, don't answer that question. Of course, she will be alive. Mari was the strongest one in our group. She'll be fine."

Suddenly, the drapes covering the entryway opened, revealing Natasha and Mari. Sam ran up to Mari as fast as she could and hugged her as tight as she could as if to trap her forever in her embrace. "You jerk," She yelled next to Mari's ear, "Why did you leave like that? Do you care more about the goblins than us."

Mari was lost for words, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Shut up! Don't do that ever again." Sam collapsed to her knees, forcing Mari to follow her to the floor. Tears were flooding from Sam's eyes.

"I promised, I won't do it again." Mari cried.

Cyrus stood on the back of the tent with her tail moved back and forth as she watched her sister and Mari burst into tears. After a couple of minutes, Sam calmed down.

Flute entered the tent once the two stop crying. She gave them linin to use as their bedding. Once the women prepared for the night, they sat close to another to stay warm. There was no fire to warm, unlike the barn they were staying at before. They could only rely on their blankets and a bottle of spirit to warm their body.

Sam and Cyrus sat next to Mari while smiling. "I didn't know you had two cats?" Natasha jokingly said.

"That's very offensive," Sam said while glaring at Natasha.

Mari giggled due to Sam's sudden change in mood. Cyrus joined in half-heartedly while hugging Mari's arm even more. "Well, I don't mind being a cat." She said.

The women stayed together until dawn. They took turns taking a sip of the alcohol while sharing stories. Natasha came from the Baron Isles, which was located further west, next to the kingdom of Boritan. Despite the name, Baron Isles were not islands. It was a small peninsula ruled by various independent counts.

The county Natasha lived in got caught in a war between two neighboring Counts. She left her village to join mercenaries on their campaign, looting the dead bodies on the battlefield before burying them and did the chores around the battlements. She sent all of her earnings back to her family. Eventually, the war ended, and so did the profits. Natasha decided to join a group of adventures on their expedition into Raiden Forest, and the rest was history. Mari knew Natasha was a very hardworking woman, but to think she had the heart to work so close to war for her family.

Sam and Cyrus were born in the deserts of Aljabal, a kingdom in the far east. They were part of a nomadic tribe known as Alis. Sam was excited to tell them the many places they visited. Mari listened intently to Sam, not just because she found her stories fascinating. Sam's energy and emotive body language made her stories grander than it should have been. Her ears would point upward when it was a lively scene and backward when it was a sad scene. And her tail shot straight upward when the story reached its climax before it slowly lowers itself to the floor.

Cyrus stayed quiet throughout the story. Mari liked Cyrus' attentiveness, though this could be because she was too shy and would much rather let her sister tell the stories. She envied the twin's nomadic lifestyle.

Mari was a serf, just like Natasha. But unlike her friend, Mari left her home not because of money, but to be free. She used the money as an excuse to leave. Her family did not object to her decision because they did need money to pay for the debt they owe the landlord, so they let her go out into the world alone.

Mari was finally free. She joined mercenaries and adventurers during their campaigns as the camp maids. At first, it was a difficult life, but her travels brought to so many new places. But this freedom would not last long. Just a few months after leaving home, she joined an expedition to Raiden Forest. She was excited to see the many treasures the party would bring after raiding the Shaka city, but these exciting times turned into a nightmare.

The four women eventually fell asleep while huddled together. Flute and Ren entered the room with dinner for the women. Ren was about to wake them up, but Flute held her arms, "Let human sleep."

"But dinner,"

"Is ok." Flute took a blanket and placed it on top of the women. "They tired. Sleep now."

The two left the tent and walked back to their tent. While they were walking back, Flute noticed a large crowd at the meadow. "Master Flute. Caretakers no here."

"Flute thinks caretakers there." Flute pointed at the crowd.

They walked over and saw the goblins gathered in front of a large hole. They watched as another group of goblins dropping the dead in the hole. Most of them were crying. Very few of the goblins in the crowd were crying because most of the goblins present were not related to the dead. They were there due to their curiosity.

Flute saw her caretakers standing at the other end. She dragged Ren with her as they make their way through the crowd. "What doing here?" Flute pinched Pin's ear and glared at her followers.

"We want see who die." Pin cried.

"Tie sorry Flute. Me stop caretakers, but Pin drag Tie." Tie said

Suddenly, Ren screamed, scaring the caretakers. "What wrong with you?" Flute yelled while smacking Ren's head.

Ren began crying uncontrollably. Then she jumped into the hole and walked over the bodies. The goblins hollered at her. Some laughed at the crazy goblin while the guards throwing out the bodies yelled for her to leave. Ren ignored them and dug her way in the pile corpses until she reached her friend's body. She hugged her friend's lifeless body and held her head close to her chest. The corpse's blond hair covered Ren's face as it mixed with her tears and snot.

Flute jumped down after her, and so did the guards. But they could not separate her from the body. They felt terrible for the caretaker's loss. But for Flute, it was a strange sight. Ren's friend was none other than her rival and Sun's former caretaker, Sana. Flute always thought the two hated each other so much they would not hesitate to kill the other. But they were still friends despite their bickering.