Hello everybody. A quick bit of info. I had reverted to calling eagles, hawks by mistake. For Jenny's story, Muir and the rest are eagles, not hawks. I have gone back and corrected the mistakes. I'm sorry for the confusion. Enjoy.

Posted August 18, 2022.

Bai and her entourage spent the next few days recuperating from their travels. Parker had bought a den that was little too small for them, but it all that was available. Bai didn't move around much and spent most of the time asleep.

The males all knew how tired she was and let her. Curtis, Parker, and Muir met with Jenny's family and the other king in this village. Parker's father and mother used to reside here, but went off to form their own village about four days travel from here.

Parker was glad that his parents were safe, but didn't voice that. He was distracted by the identity of the other king. The wolf king had recently joined this village and was apart of their discussion. Parker and Curtis weren't thrilled with that as they did not trust him. Jenny shut them down, "How many enemies do you want right now?" It was clear that she was still angry at them for coming here.

The wolf king did not blame them for that kind of reaction. He was, after all, the ape king's most loyal backer. He used to be anyway. Before the city fell, he was sent away on a quest for more crystals. Had he been there, he wouldn't have helped them. He would have been like the rest of the beasts, following the ape king's words.

The wolf king glanced at Bai's group coldly. Although he felt guilty, he wanted little to do with Bai Qingqing. He had inquired about Shuu's fate and learned that he died without being accepted. Bart also died when he took advantage of the chaos to attack Bai Qingqing's males. In a way, both his best sons died because of her and it made him feel apathetic towards the female.

One five striped beast and three four striped ones came together to topple a strong enemy. The three-striped beasts were only meant to assist. Namely, Muir since he could fly.

Muir went out to harass the giant scorpion often and keep him occupied. The others prepared for the confrontation. During that time, Bai went into labor. Jenny assisted a distraught Harvey and did what she could.

It was ironic that Jenny held the title of doctor when it was one of the last things she ever wanted to be. Even so, Jenny liked being helpful. She was training two other males to do what she did to lessen her load. There was never enough doctors.

The baby came out too silent and didn't take a breath immediately. Jenny held her own breath until she heard a tiny gasp. Relieved, she cleaned up the child while Harvey tended to Bai. The baby girl started crying, her light skin flushed red. Harvey sobbed in relief making Jenny panic for a moment. That was the first time she'd seen him cry.

Jenny helped clean up the mess after she passed the baby along. Bai's labor was a long and difficult one. Bai didn't have the strength to push as much as she needed to. Thankfully, the baby appeared healthy. Jenny and Harvey would have to monitor both of them in the meantime.

Bai held her daughter to her breast as Jenny walked out. Her daughter was healthy and Bai sighed in relief. Exhausted from her labor, Bai started to drift off. Harvey held his daughter up as Bai succumbed to sleep. His gentle expression was full of love for them.

Outside of the hut, Winston let Jenny lean into him. He wrapped his arm around her securely as they sat in silence, enjoying the company of each other. Winston knew that Jenny was stressed. It was the first time in this last year that he had seen her unhappy. He wanted to take all the things that made her frown and make them disappear. He knew it wasn't that simple though.

Mestor had only just returned from gaining his third stripe to find an inconceivable threat waiting for him. He would not be able to fight, but he could help plan. He contributed as much as he could and hoped it would be enough.

Sieg's nonchalant expression was gone. He knew he couldn't take a laid back approach to this. He had never heard of a five-striped beast, but now one was in his territory and another was on its way. He put in a conscious effort to participate this time. His scales were thick and should be able to protect him from a stinger, but he wasn't as optimistic about the pincers. Scales cannot protect against brute, crushing force.

Simon knew he had no part in this fight other than guarding Jenny and his cubs. That did bother him, but not as much as it used to. He knew where he stood and accepted it now. He could only get stronger as he had been and stick to his role in the meantime. It was still meaningful.

Curtis hissed out a sigh. Even with the additional strength of three four-striped beasts, he couldn't be certain of victory. That was how much of a divide existed between four and five stripes. It was still his best shot of ridding them of the scorpion and he was going to take advantage of that.

Parker grumbled to himself, cursing his own weakness. He always felt so powerful, but these last two years spent running from St. Zachary humbled him. He was strong for his age, but not compared to the other beasts like Curtis. He had grown comfortable in his three-striped strength, but was nowhere near a fourth. Even if he wasn't strong, he would do whatever he had to in order to protect Qingqing.

Muir flew circles above the scorpion and it's followers. He employed various tactics over the course of these two years and became somewhat familiar with the beast below him. Muir stood no chance against him in a one on one and would slowly pick off his followers. Thanks to that, Muir now had an extra stripe to show off to Qingqing and a better chance at dealing with this threat.

While Muir was out and the rest were throwing together a plan, an unexpected visitor showed up. The visitor did not receive a warm welcome. It was a good thing Bai was not outside, because Bard just showed up.

The ape king listened to all of the growls aimed at him, but paid them little mind. His bald head reflected the sun as his dead eyes scanned the group in front of him. "Is Jenny here?" He asked.

Naturally, he was met with hostility. It was a good thing Curtis had left to hunt, otherwise the ape king would already be flattened. "I bring no harm," he swore.

"What is it?" Jenny asked cautiously from her position behind Winston.

"I'm aware of your plight and want to assist," he said with a hollow voice.

"Assist? You mean assist us to our deaths," spat Parker.

"I do not mean harm, I swear on the gods," Bard said. Some hostile looks downgraded to weary ones after that.

"Why should we trust your words," Winston and the wolf king said at the same time.

"I only want to help. How do you want me to prove that to you?" He questioned.

"After all you've done, you want to help now?" Parker said with a sneer.

"Qin is dead," Bard said hollowly. Parker didn't retort to that.

"Does that give us a reason to trust you?" Countered Winston.

"Qin hated Bai Qingqing, but I do not. I want to help the females that treat their males so well," Bard said with a twinge of emotion leaking into his voice.

After several more back and forth, Jenny decided to at least hear him out. His plan was to create illusions. He could hide the presences of beasts as they attacked stealthily, or draw the scorpion away with a illusions.

They thought about it. Bard did offer something useful, but it was a matter of whether he would turn against them or not. If he was true to his word, their chances of victory would increase.

Bard stayed on the outskirts of the village while they deliberated on his offer. He knew he wasn't welcome and didn't expect much else. Since Qin died, he felt so hollow and tired. He loved Qin dearly, but she cost him everything in her pursuit of emeralds. In the end, she lost her life and he lost his reason for living.

No, that wasn't quite right. He still had a reason, it was why he was here now. Bai Qingqing and Jenny both were females worth protecting. Their fertility was great and they were kind to their males. In his years, he had never met or heard of females that acted like them. Was it because they came from another world? Were all the females there like that?

He had his suspicions that Jenny may be the same as Bai, but he wasn't willing to incriminate the other female. Even if she had gotten ahold of her hair, he wouldn't have used it. Jenny stayed out of his way and did what was expected of a female, birthing healthy cubs.

Now he had the chance to help and he was going to use it. Hopefully, Curtis would hold off on killing him until the scorpion king was dead. He chuckled dryly. That was out of his control. It would be up to Jenny and Bai Qingqing now.