KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

Ares had spent most of the day in his tent. Lana had been near him, chewing on a leaf. Runar was crawling about, sometimes getting up to stomp about before then sitting beside Ares.

Ares brushed her hair and she looked up at him. "Awoobada?" Runar asked.

"You don't say," Ares replied as he picked her up and kept her close to his chest. She half lay across his chest, drooling onto him, still babbling as she lay on him.

"When do the children begin to speak?" Ares wondered aloud.

Lana looked to Runar. "She should start to speak soon," she said. "It is only a matter of time."

"How long do you spend with her?" Ares said, turning to look at Lana.

"Most of the day. Sometimes we talk all day, sometimes we take walks together. It is rare that we are ever apart." Lana was still chewing on the leaf.

"I'm glad you're her mother,” Ares said with a smile. “It leaves me with great peace to know she's in such good hands."

Lana smiled. “She enjoys spending time with me.” Lana reached over to rub along Runar’s back, who turned back to see who it was, before resting back on Ares’ chest. She was a tiny bundle of warmth, drooling against him. "Ozar and Ozri have taken to Torak quite a bit. They had cried often when the pair of you had left."

Ares frowned, but Lana just laughed at him. Runar joined in the laughter, smiling bright at Ares. Was she mocking him, the little brat?

"They cry when you leave as well. Ozri cries the most, though there isn't a day where he isn't crying."

"He's going to be the little crybaby of the family. I believe he's the youngest of the pair, or well, I'm not actually sure. Perhaps he's the oldest between the two?" Ares tried to recall. "It doesn't matter. I'll tell them they entered the world together, so they won’t fight about it.”

Lana smiled and then crawled over beside Ares. She lay beside him, causing Runar to look up. The little Princess then crawled across his chest so she could lay her head on Lana's breasts, using them as her pillow. To her they were a source of food and comfort.

Ares rest his head against her shoulder. He thought to say something, but instead decided to remain silent. This was just one of those moments. He closed his eyes, suddenly tired.

He awoke in the evening, hearing the drumming of dinner. He sat up to see Lana was nearby with Runar, who was drawing something on the floor with some chalk.

Ares stood up with some effort, alerting Lana who helped him.

"I fell asleep," he said, still waking up.

"How did you sleep?" she asked.

"It was fine. It was as though I travelled through time. One moment I was beside you, the next I saw the pair of you."

"Even Runar awoke before you," she said, smirking at him playfully.

"I need a walk," he said as he summoned his walking stick. His mind was sludge, his body lead, his legs twitched, restless.

Lana allowed him his peace as he stepped out. He looked beside him, expecting Orndu, but saw a pair of warriors. Oh right, Orndu was missing. He frowned. His thought fell to Orndu, but he shook his head. He would deal with that soon enough.

He made for the shrine first, noting Saykkera was standing there on guard. He stopped nearby and peered over to look at the water, which was as still as ice.

"Enjoying your duty?" Ares asked.

Saykkera bowed her head. She was looking much better than before, her wounds having cleared up for the most part. Ares assumed that Asyllia had taken sky watch duty to check for drakes and wyverns, that may be coming for Rivea still.

"Thank you for returning with the children," Ares said.

She did not reply.

Ares nodded his head and then made to walk through the town, thinking for a short while as his thoughts were accompanied by the drumming. He hadn't spoken to the children in some time. He would send for them at breakfast tomorrow, just to check up on them. In fact, he may as well join dinner now to check up on them.

Dinner was in full swing, with food for all that were nearby. Abdan and his people were off by themselves, a few Phoenix Guard looking after them. Rori was near the centre and towards the back, as though everyone else was flowing out of him. There was a space for Ares, as always, and Ares sat down beside him as the soldiers nearby saluted him. Amal poured in some food for him.

Ares turned to a guard. “Could you head to the rhinofolk and ask for…” Ares stopped. What were their names? He continued to think for a short while before turning to Rori for aid.

“You wish to ask for the pair of children Heria-kin and Saykerra-kin returned?” Rori asked.

“Yeah,” Ares said with a nod of his head. Ares wasn’t the best with names.

Rori nodded and then motioned to one of his guards to go and retrieve them. “I am not the one injured,” Rori said to Ares.

“That’s fair.”

The migrants were displaced all throughout, surrounded by Riveans. The children remained nearest towards the Consul and the King, being some of the first to be fed.

The pair of rhinofolk appeared. They stiffened once they saw the King. They remained there, still as statues.

“Iggy, right?” Ares asked.

“Ikkora,” she said, “Iggin is he.” She pointed towards her little brother.

“That was it, right.” Ares nodded. “Almost dying does have the bad habit of making one forget about such things.” Ares laughed. “Come and join me, I want to hear how your experience with Rivea has been.”

The pair sat down nearby, noting the guards that were here due to the presence of the Consul and the King.

“How are you finding Rivea so far?” Ares said.

“It’s good,” Ikkora said.

“That’s good… what about you, Iggin?”

Iggin nodded.

“Good, good. Anything you’d like to see us improve?” Ares said with a chuckle.

Ikkora shook her head. Iggin looked up to see her shake her head and then followed suit.

“Right, uh… I’m glad to see the pair of you are better now. You seem to not be in dire straits as you had been when I first found you, that’s good. Are you with your parents?” Ares asked.

Ikkora shook her head, Iggin followed suit once more.

Ares threw a look to Rori, who shook his head once as well. He understood what that meant. “Well then… if you have any issues, please let us know. You two are exempt from any sort of work, other than learning about how Rivea is to work, and that sort of thing.”

“Which Ares-kin will teach when he is feeling better,” Rori said.

Ares had forgotten about that. He supposed he’d need to start coming up with a constitution soon. He rubbed the side of his neck and thought against doing it right now.

“I will teach the basics to the people tomorrow morning or so, perhaps I’ll do so with every meal. Either before or after, I’m not so certain as of yet.”

The rhinofolk ate together as Ares thought to himself. “Would you prefer to be back with your kin?” Ares asked.

Ikkora nodded her head. Iggin did not, but he followed Ikkora anyway as she dismissed herself away from the Rivean leaders, carrying with her the bowl of food and flat bread.

“Well, I suppose they don’t like me very much.”

“I am sure they do,” Rori said. “They are still adapting to their new home.”

With that Ares was finished with his dinner, a soup with some flatbread, which was what was usually on offer. The drake meat tasted fine, and he was glad Amal and Salea were decent cooks. He supposed he may as well head to the crafters to speak with them, as he did have some business with them after speaking with Rori about them.

"It's good to see you, Ares-kin," Shim the wolffolk armourer said.

"You as well." Ares looked around to see the vast numbers of spearheads that group had created. "How many are there here?" Ares whistled.

"About six hundred or so," she replied. "There are many shafts that we have stored as well. Once Rivea has grown we will have plenty of weapons for the newcomers.” Shim motioned her head to the ovens, which were no longer on. “We will need to create more, due to how many the buffalofolk have joined, and with whoever joins with Heria-kin.”

Ares nodded his head. It made logical sense to him, and he was glad she was so serious about the task handed to her. He eyed the spear heads, noting how they were each seemingly identical.

"Has Rori spoken to you about the matter at hand?" Ares picked a spearhead up, feeling the cool metal within his grasp. He ran a finger along the flat of the spear head.

"He has. Have you thought of a design for the guard?"

"Almost identical to the guard of before, to keep it simple and easy for you, but they each need a sword too. Not too long, not too short, and they should all be quite plain. In terms of spear length, I would like them all to be roughly the same size, though I'm uncertain if the different sized warriors would need different sized weapons. If that is the case, then please ask each warrior as the weapons are made for them. The same goes with the rest of their gear."

"It will be done." The wolffolk woman bowed her head. "What of the armour, for that is my specialty."

"A breastplate only for now, I'm sure almost all of them have one, so that isn't a huge deal. Helmets were granted out too, weren't they?"

"Indeed they were."

"Then I suppose it's only swords really. We have a few from the humans, but I wouldn't like to equip those. I'd like some that are specifically Rivean."

"What would such blades look like?" Shim asked.

"I will leave such a decision to you,' Ares said with a smile. "I trust your judgement."

The woman bowed her head and a small smile appeared on her face. "I will speak with Oman to see what we can do."

"Good work," Ares said. "I would like for each Rivean to possess a helmet as well, every adult at the least. If you could begin to roll such a thing out, I would appreciate that."

"As you say," the woman said. “We have already begun with such a task, we have a few already made.”

“Oh, actually, could you make some greaves as well?”

“We can certainly do that. Greaves are not the most difficult items to make.”

Ares then made his way to the tailors, who were triple checking for the evening, clearing away the cloth.

"Ah, Ares-kin, we were not expecting you today," a woman said.

"Excuse me, am I intruding?" Ares asked with a small smile.

"Oh no, please do come in. Is this about the cloaks for the guards?"

"It is, yes." Ares nodded as he entered. He could see there were a large number of white cloth pieces strewn around the place, like wood chips from a shattered branch. The cloth pieces were a myriad of white, but with the keen senses Ares possessed, he could see all the different hues that each white was. Ares stepped around the pieces, glancing between them all.

"Which white were you thinking?" Ares asked.

"We're torn between a few," the woman said as she picked up a cloth that was pure white, like untouched snow. She picked up another, which was a little colder, no doubt it had a sprinkle of blue inside it. Then she picked up a third, one that was much warmer, as though there was a splash of yellow.

"All great choices," Ares said. Yet his eyes were drawn to the pure white. "These will be those in training to become our greatest warriors," he said. "I think this white would be best, if I could advise such a thing."

The woman nodded. "It is the most difficult of the whites to procure," she said, "but if you don't mind that it may take some time, then we can procure some more of it."

"Which is the easiest?" Ares asked. The woman held up the blue-touched white. "How much easier?"

"Less than half the work," she replied back.

"Then pick that one. Keep this white for the Consul and I, as well as any of those that hold the suffix of kin."

"As you wish," she replied and bowed her head.

"How quickly can you procure two hundred white cloaks?"

"We should have enough for that much, it is just a matter of properly working the cloth." The woman paused and thought for a long while. "A week for two hundred cloaks, if you want us to continue to create the remaining clothes."

"Work on getting out a hundred in a week, I don’t want it to come between your other task. If you need to measure the guard, go ahead and do so when they are off their active duties. You don't need to prioritise one of the current elite groups over the others, just do whatever seems convenient."

With that, Ares was done with the minor business he had. He had grown tired of the walk, and with his two guards at his side, he walked a little further before retreating back towards his tent.