KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

Ares had urged the group to return quickly as his dreams worried him so. He hadn't spoken of his dreams, but the others could see when he awoke that he had been spooked by something. None had asked as to why he was so eager to return, to which he was glad as he was rather embarrassed to say. 

It had been a three day journey the first time, but the return was much quicker. They had reached the outskirts of the tribe, the oxfolk that roamed the plains, by the time the sun had reached its zenith. Some oxfolk had come to greet him, as they had the first time he had met them.

Seeing everything was fine, Ares relaxed. He glanced over to Lana and then smiled. "I'm glad I'm back. I've missed everyone's companionship." 

The oxfolk gave him a queer look but he couldn't help but let out a thunderous laugh as the stress of the last few days escaped him. "I just want to see my kids." He finally admitted as he thanked the oxfolk and then made his way towards the centre town that his tribe had focused on creating.

Even though there were so many more oxfolk, who preferred to roam around the plain, many remained within the forest to bolster it's numbers. Some oxfolk came to meet him when he appeared near the town and escorted him in. 

As he arrived, Rori was quick to meet him. "We welcome your return." He said as he gave a quick glance to the other wolffolk. "What fortunate timing, we have something for you to deliberate on." He said. 

"How cryptic…" Ares replied. "A gift already?" Ares joked as Rori led them away. "Though I guess I should be the one returning with a gift…" He chuckled. 

They approached the centre of town where there were already a few shacks constructed, though mostly there were tents strewn about the place. Even though he was following Rori, when he saw his children, he couldn't help but go to see them. 

"I'm sorry I left you for so long. Father had something important to do." He said as he embraced his children and then rubbed his cheeks against their heads, snuggling with them for some time before he recalled Rori waiting for him. He returned them to the milk mothers, thanking them for their work, before following Rori again after an apology. 

"Ah, what's this?" He asked as they came to a tree where a woman had been tied up. 

"We found this human on our patrols recently. She won't speak to us though, we thought maybe she would speak with you." Rori replied.

"She isn't a human though." Ares said. 

The woman looked mostly like a human, in the same sense that most of the beastfolk here looked human, but she had a thickly build nose that was completely red, the redness then spread out a little more across her face. Her ears were also slightly pointed, and looked more like a pair of leaves, as one would imagine an elf's ear. Her hair was long and brown-grey, it went down to her torso. She wore some simple robes of tan and grey, similar to that of her hair, and wore thick boots. 

She had looked up at him when he approached, but quickly looked down and withdrew to herself as he came close. She was shivering slightly, and kept her knees to her chest. 

"Let's get you free, shall we?" Ares said softly as though he were speaking to a child. "When did you find her?" 

"In our morning patrol. We offered her some.breakfast, but she refused to eat." 

"Was she tied up?" 

"Yes. I tried to feed her."

Ares nodded as he then undid the knot that tied her hands to the tree. "Are you hungry? I'm rather hungry, let's see what has been cooked up today." He offered a hand to her, which she looked at with her blue eyes and then up to his face. She tentatively reached for it and then held his hand, tensing up the moment they touched. Ares waited to see what else she would do, and after a few seconds, she intertwined their fingers. He waited and then slowly shifted aside and then led her towards the cooking pot that wasn't too far away. 

He led the woman to the pot where some food was already cooking for lunch, which was the smallest meal of the day. Salea was cooking it today with Amal assisting her.

“Hey there.” He called out to Salea.

“Hey chief. I did hear you were back, have you come to spy what we were cooking for you?”

“Something like that. Is there anything we could eat now? Our guest is hungry.” He motioned to the girl.

Salea paused as she looked over the guest but she nodded. She poured down some of the soup for them and then went to go and grab some baked bread for them to eat along with it. 

Ares began to drip the bread into the soup and then ate it quickly, tasting the saltiness of the soup, though it was still rather bland as much of it had yet to really settle. He looked over to the woman who didn’t seem too keen on the soup. She held the bread up with her robes and then began to bite into the soft loaf, before slowly chewing the food. She kept her eyes on the bread, keeping to herself. It was unfortunate for her that Ares was here though, and he did not allow such nonsense.

“It seems as though my tribe has frightened you, I’m very sorry. I’m the chief of the tribe, you can call me Ares. What is your name?” Ares asked as the woman jolted up at his voice. She stared up at him with her blue eyes, which then darted down to the bread that she began to scoff down with much vigour.

Ares just chuckled to himself as he continues to eat his own bread, but then offered her half of his own. “Here. If you don’t want your soup, I’ll take it.” He offered as he then went back to sipping on his soup.

“Emerli.” The woman finally replied back. “Name Emerli.” She said as she then went back to eating her bread.

“Emerli? What a great name.” Ares flashed another smile towards her. “Well Emerli. What exactly are you? You don’t seem to be a human.” He said as he threw her a look, catching her staring at him before she looked down once more. She swallowed and then went back to eating her bread for some time.

“Emerli witch.”

It was at this point that the others around them tensed up, though Ares ignored it.

“A witch? Where’s your hat?” Ares laughed.

“Taken.”

“What? Your hat was taken?” Ares asked as he looked around. He threw a look towards Rori who nodded their head. “Would you please bring her hat? She is our guest. If there was anything else that was taken, please return that too.”

Rori left them be and then Ares turned to Emerli. “What are you doing here?” He asked.

“Live.” 

“You’re living? Or is this your home?”

“Home.”

“Ah. It seems we’ve been rather rude, Emerli. I’m very sorry. Is the entire forest your home, or is there a specific spot?”

“…”

“Don’t worry. We’re not here to hurt you. I guarantee your safety, as long as you don’t start a fight with us. We did capture you though, so is there a way we can make this right?”

“Let go.”

“Alright. You can leave once we hand you back your items. Though before you leave…” Ares finished his soup. “Would you like to join my  tribe?”