Rabbit Tribe Part Two

When Caspian returned to Iris's side, the market was ready to go. Thus, Iris eagerly grabbed both Ember's and Caspian's hands as she walked around. Iris quite preferred this sort of setting where she didn't have to hide her face and be carried around like a toddler just to purchase goods.

As Iris wanted to purchase lots of food, she went to the stalls with it first. Iris already had quite a lot of flour and many potatoes as she couldn't cook them very well over an open fire. However, Iris knew that baked goods are a huge money maker so she promptly bought all of the prairie turnips available. Although, of course, there was only a hundred pounds that could be spared and Iris had to pay a whole three crystals a bag since food isn't as abundant in the prairie.

Next, Iris bought all of the groundnuts, wild plums, and sunflower seeds available. There were two hundred pounds of groundnuts, a hundred and fifty pounds of wild plums, and only fifty pounds of sunflower seeds available in the entire market. While groundnuts and wild plums grew more abundant than the prairie turnips, they still cost two crystals per large bag full. The sunflower seeds were too labor intensive to harvest and rarer so Iris had to pay four crystals and could only get a single large bag full.

Still, Iris felt that the twenty-four crystals for five hundred pounds of food was quite good. These foods would store well even if Iris didn't keep them in her dimensional bag and required relatively little preparation to be eaten. This was quite ideal since they still had another three weeks of traveling to complete before they'd reach their new home.

Iris planned to use some of her canola oil from the system shop and salt from the beast city to saute the sunflower seeds to make them extra tasty. As the shells were hard and woody, they were not very pleasant to chew on. Thus, Iris planned to teach her friends how to open the shell and get at the tasty meaty insides.

Similar to the jerky and dried plants that were ready to eat, these seeds would be an excellent snack to eat during shorter breaks and while traveling. It was just too bad that there was too little for Iris to share with everyone. She would be better off just sharing some with the females of the tribe and saving the majority for herself and her two friends.

Luckily, in the beastworld, it is quite normal for females to get the best food first, even more so for complete females. This wasn't even to mention that it was uncommon for families to freely share their resources for nothing. Thus, it was unlikely that any of the males would complain about this division of resources.

As Iris would need a money-making method to recoup some of her losses, Iris planned to save the prairie turnips to turn into flour during the harvest season. By then Iris hoped to have homes built and be free to travel to the nearby city to sell goods. Long term, Iris hoped to build not just a town but a city with its own thriving business district.

The ground nuts would be roasted at night and shared amongst Iris's family, friends, and any tribesmen who struggled to find food that night. The plums would be shared as fresh fruit to eat mostly, but Iris also planned to save half of them to turn into jam.

Feeling satisfied with her food purchases, Iris moved on to looking at other goods. Caspian felt it quite interesting how good the quality of the grass mats were in this tribe compared to his own clumsy attempts. Looking at an especially nice set of woven grass goods, Caspian decided to strike up a friendly chat with the salesman.

Iris curiously looked up at the rabbit beastman and saw it was the white-haired rabbit with lilac highlights and pink eyes. Iris blushed as her eyes caught his and she looked away. Due to this, Iris missed as the rabbit also shyly looked away.

Iris felt drawn to this exotic beastman, but told herself that he already had a mate and children. Still, there was no harm in sharing pleasantries so she asked

"You seem to be good at weaving. Your mate must appreciate your skills. What do you usually use the grass mats for? I can't imagine they'd be as warm as a beast's skin for a blanket and, as clothing, it seems a bit uncomfortable...."

The beastman gazed at the beautiful females before him with a rather confused expression on his face. It was already quite strange for a female to willingly talk to him, but now she was talking as if he had a mate?

"Um, I'm sorry miss, but I think you have me confused with someone else. I'm Fern and I don't have a mate....."

Iris's eyes grew wide as she took this in. Had she gotten things confused?

"Ahh, I'm sorry! I just saw you with a female and her bunny children and assumed you were mates."

Fern shook his head as he explained

"You must have seen me helping my sister round up her children earlier. Anyhow, I apologize, I still haven't answered your question. Animal hide is indeed warmer, but the grass mats are excellent for floor coverings in our boroughs. We also weave grass into baskets and bags which are quite convenient for carrying food and herbs in."

Ember had glared at Fern and pulled Iris back when he talked too much about his single status. This made the nervous Fern quickly changed the topic to avoid conflict. While Fern would love a mate like Iris, he knew it was truly impossible for him. Even Fern's tribe shunned him for his strange and exotic features. Why would such a beautiful female as Iris ever be interested in him?

Iris furrowed her eyebrows as she asked

"Have you ever considered using grass mats for anything else? Like making a grass-filled mattress or anything more interesting?"

Fern shook his head as he easily replied

"No, I've never heard of anyone doing anything like that before. That's certainly an intriguing idea, though!"

Iris found Fern quite interesting as she took in his nervous yet excitable demeanor. Fern seemed quite shy yet cute, much like Holly. Iris also found that Fern's skills in weaving were much better than not only hers but also the entire rabbit tribe.

Iris turned to Caspian as she nervously asked

"Can we keep this one? I think he is quite good at weaving and he also seems good with children. I don't want to accept someone you all aren't okay with, though...."

However, before Iris could even get an answer from her mates, Fern's sister came over and angrily snapped

"Don't tease him! I'm sick of you females always getting my brother's hopes up just to cruelly let him down to bully him. Just because he looks different doesn't mean you can treat him like this!"

Ember wasn't fond of taking in other males, but he disliked others mistreating his mate even more. He quickly pushed Iris behind him as he glared down at Fern's sister.

Caspian sighed as he tried to calm things down

"Our mate isn't like that. I don't know what the two of you have dealt with in the past, but don't assume our intentions when you don't even know us."

Fern's sister looked a bit taken aback as she hesitated before continuing

"Well, even if you are serious about taking my brother in, how am I to know you will treat him well? Your males are much stronger than him. I don't want my brother to be bullied by your mates and forced to do the work you won't even give them."

Just then, Basil turned up and, taking in the situation, jumped in to defend Iris

"Iris treats all of us well. I'm only a level four and have no element making me far weaker than these two. Yet she still treats me well. As a witch doctor, I can't risk my reputation by bullying others. Please do not even suggest such a thing is possible."

Basil and Ember were now both fiercely glaring at Fern's sister while Caspian looked exasperated. Caspian remembered the beauty pageant when tens of tens of beastmen lined up for the chance to be mates with Iris.

Iris had turned them all away and Caspian was worried for two seasons now that they had too few males to support her ambitions. Now that Iris had finally found a male she was interested in, they had to deal with this nonsense?

Fern felt stifled having to listen to his sister ruin his chances with such a beautiful female. He felt he had to speak up for himself!

"Sister, please stop! You know how hard it has been for me to find a mate and now that someone shows interest in me you are like this?"

Fern's sister crossed her arms as she scolded her brother

"You should know your limits! You can already see she has three capable males and such a pretty female is likely to have many other males. What if you never get to have children? Then you'd be wasting away your life unloved and used. How can you compare to the other males that are with her?"

As nice as it felt to be complimented, Iris felt this was all too much. She could no longer hold her tongue as she felt the need to stand up for both herself and Fern.

"I love all my mates and treat them all well. I only have these three males right now and while I can't promise I won't have other males in the future, I can promise not to toss your brother aside.

Also, look, I'm not all that great. I'm already pregnant and there will be cubs or hatchlings that will take up my time. I can't promise your brother he will have children with me, but that's just because I can't constantly have children. It won't be from disdaining him and treating him unfairly.

As for Fern's qualifications? Strength is not the only thing that I value. His weaving skills are quite useful to me and can be quite useful to our tribe and family. His looks are quite good as well. They are a bit feminine and cute, but that can be a nice change of pace when all your husbands are so masculine."

Fern felt quite sweet as he took in Iris's kind words. No one had said he was worthwhile besides his family before. This gave Fern courage as he turned to his sister to scold her

"You should just go home sister. You know it is my right to decide what female I want to pursue. It is my life on the line, you can't decide these things for me."

Fern's sister huffed before storming off, leaving the four of them standing alone as others from the rabbit tribe pretended not to be listening or watching their drama.