Chapter 105: brought to you by the prodigal son

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As I type this, a two-year-old giggles madly through hiccups as he pokes my nose and I try to kiss his fingers. It distracts him from sadly calling his brother's name, because big brother is at school rather than home playing with him. I don't care who you are, having kids is the best.

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Curtis moved ahead to meet his son before the child could think he could just approach his mother just because he brought a carcass. Half of it was instinct, demanding he meet the invader to his territory. The other was fear of how seeing the dead mermen could affect Shay's delicate mental stability. Ever since the incident with those damn rabbits she'd been quick to fear, quick to think the worst, and in need of much more comfort to feel secure once more.

And it was his fault. His failure as a mate. And to an unwordly female too perfect for him.

Which was why he couldn't let his son threaten that, no matter how much she loved him.

Thankfully, his largest son had learned his lesson and immediately cowtowed the moment he saw his father making his way towards him.

"What is this?" Curtis hissed.

"An offering," said his son softly. "To please father."

"Where did you hear that a dead merman would please me?"

"Brother," said the boy.

"You've been in contact with your brothers?"

"..."

Curtis put a hand to his face. What was wrong with his children's instincts? They should be protecting their territories viciously, especially from each other. He'd wondered this before when he saw the boys working side by side without a fuss, but now they were giving advice to each other?

Maybe this was the part of them they had inherited from their mother, whose world had, as far as Curtis had gathered, had no such instincts.

He didn't know what the spelled for him, who even now had to smother the urge to smash the child again for bringing a possible harm to his mother, even if was just mental.

"Where did you kill him?" First priority, though: making sure there wouldn't be a retaliation of some mer colony.

"In our--your bay," the child corrected himself quickly. So he wasn't stupid. "I think he came to find the one brother killed. We've marked the waters with our scales."

Good. So the kid's instincts worked that far, at least. So the merfolk would at least have no excuses to think them a threat. In the wild, it was well understood that one was safe as long as they didn't trespass into the territory of those stronger than you.

Despite his initial displeasure, Curtis did feel his heart softening at the fact the merman had been in his bay.

"Good on making sure he was in..." he took a deep breath. "Our territory first. That was very wise."

His son perked up his head, eyes brightening.

"However," Curtis cut in sharply. "Your mother's mind and heart have been damaged from the rabbits. A corpse of a beastman could upset her badly."

The child shrank back, and Cutis could smell the distress in the air. No child ever wished to bring harm to their mother. And this one also knew, especially, that Curtis did not care who it was that harmed his wife, they'd be mowed down like grass.

Still, this kid had gone to such lengths...such odd behavior. Before, Curtis would have never cared what anyone else's reasons or intentions had been. He wouldn't have cared about his children's wellbeing whatsoever. But that had been before he'd taken them on their first hunt, before he'd had the girls, including little Luna who looked up with him with adoring eyes, before he'd had his boys work alongside him and actually be of use, and before he'd seen the utter joy in Licorice on receiving his father's pleasure.

He didn't understand this emotion, nor this attachment. There was nothing in his legacy, the records passed down from generations before, that could explain it.

But he did know, looking down at his trembling son, that what it had led him to was compassion.

"Get rid of the corpse before your mother comes and I'll let it slide."

Then Curtis got to watch with growing surprise as his child, who wasn't even two years old yet, moved with alarming speed unfit for his age. He lashed the corpse with his tail and dashed off towards the forest. The moment he got there the scent of broken earth drifted over to Curtis. The merman would be buried deep there, where Shay and the girls could never reach.

And not a moment too soon, as Shay arrived at his side.

"Was that a merman?"

Curtis winced. "Yes."

"Why did he bring...did he kill it?"

Curtis carefully searched her face and body language. He scented the air carefully for her emotions. But all he could pick up was a concern and eagerness to see her son, as well as a wariness he could understand. Despite having come from a completely alien background, Shay had bent over backwards to understand him and insure his comfort. He could never convey just how much he loved her for that.

"He offended me enough for me to chase him away forcefully. He brought the corpse as an apology to appease my anger."

"But...why a merman? Won't this cause problems for us?"

Curtis hesitated. He had lied about the merman Licorice had slain--and then eaten, oh crud, she would be sensitive about that too, wouldn't she?--in order to protect her. She'd had enough anxiety to last a lifetime. But would she understand that? Was there a way he could skip admitting about the truth?

For now, Curtis settled with, "The merman was in our territory. He would have been a threat if he'd seen you or the girls. The story I told about the mermen the other night wasn't a lie. If one of them were to set their sights on you or the girls, they'd go to any lengths to have you. Land females ugliness in comparison to mermaids is what protects them, but you and our daughters have no such protection."

His wife shuddered, and he worried he'd just screwed up his efforts to prevent her anxiety by skipping telling her the truth.

"But there is no reason to fear," he reached out to gather her in his arms, as was any males instinct when near an apprehensive female. "The boys have marked their territory in the bay and the knowledge will spread to the merfolk to avoid it. They have the whole ocean. There is no reason to risk their lives for this little bay. And I know where the colony is, it is far from here. This merman could only be a loner."

Shay was silent, her large, blue eyes to the forest where her son had vanished to.

Curtis rubbed her arm and back and ran his nails through her soft, silk hair.

"You are safe, my love," he whispered. "So safe. Always safe. I am strong."

"Licorice didn't kill a shark, did he?"

His blood ran cold. Of course she would notice. His Shay was more perceptive and clever than anyone, male or female.

"I wanted to protect you from worrying. You've been through too much and your health was--is still delicate."

"I figured," she said lightly, and he breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't angry. "It's alright, Curtis, you can have secrets. I know you only mean the best. And it's not like you're going to run away with another female."

He had to stare at her when she said that. Some of the impossible things his wife thought up. It wasn't even offensive, it was just mind-boggling.

"This is why I worry about your mental state," he said.

She frowned at him. "What? Why?"

"Run away with another female? Really?"

"It happens, doesn't it?"

"Only if the male is insane. And he'd have to be more than insane to leave someone like you. Just--just the fact you can even think that--"

"Okay, okay, I get it. I never thought you'd cheat on me anyways--oh! Lazy Boi! There he is!" She suddenly stopped her excitement, hesitating. "Is...is it okay if I see him? Has he made up properly for you--you to be okay?"

She had almost mentioned his instincts. He could tell.

Curtis couldn't help but smile. How he loved this woman.

"I am alright." He set her on her feet in the direction where his largest son had frozen at the edge of the forest. "Go greet your baby."

The smile that lit up her face made every hard thing he had ever gone through in his forty-two years of life worth it.

He never thought the scene of his woman yipping for joy as she ran towards another male snake would look beautiful to him. Nor did he think he'd ever appreciate the echoing joy in his son's eyes after he received a nod of permission from him.

Even so, he did appreciate that his son, large as he was, showed obvious care in how he twined about his small mother, who had grown even smaller since the rabbits had sucked her dry. They embraced and rained kisses on each other's faces, one of human lips and the other as feather brushes of a forked tongue.

His instincts prickled a bit at that, protesting that no kisses from any unapproved male should touch their mate, but he pushed them down with a practiced hand. Because he could remember being that age. He could remember his father being that age. He knew his son had no ill intent above loving the comfort of home.

Still, because he also knew his wife, with her clever, clever mind, may pick up on this and feel guilt, he knew he had to care for himself and his own stress, so he made his way towards them. To his satisfaction, his son instantly began to uncoil himself from his mother and bow his head towards his father. Curtis appreciated this. Nothing soothed his violent instincts more than knowing his sons would roll over and expose their vitals to him if he so much as blinked in displeasure.

They were smart boys. Smart like their mother. They caught on how to get what they want.

"If you are willing to work hard," Curtis told the bowing boy in snake tongue. "I'll allow you to set up your territory along the bay. Keep anything that could harm your mother or sisters out...and I will appreciate your company."

His son flinched and looked up at him with wide eyes.

"You...you'd want me?" he hissed.

"Yes," Curtis hissed back.

He explained to his wife and once more got the pleasure of her joy. That didn't mean they'd be sleeping in the house or loitering in his territory when there wasn't any work to be done, for sure, and she knew that, but it did mean she could see them whenever she liked. It was better than she had ever hoped for, and Curtis knew that. It was definitely more than he thought he'd ever be able to do.

Perhaps, if the rabbits had never happened, he would have been only able to do the original once a month plan. He might have never dared to try this new way of living, unpaved by the legacy.

But he was glad he did.

When Shay skipped ahead to meet up with the curious girls who had watched all this from a distance, his son slithered alongside him all while making sure Curtis stayed at least a foot in the lead. Curtis took the chance to examine his son. In all honesty, he had expected the child would die since his mother had helped him out of his egg, and had thought even more so after smashing him to the ground. But this son wasn't just alive, his scales shone with health and his girdth was far larger than his age should have allowed.

Which made Curtis wonder.

"You look like you did well for yourself out there. Why, then, go through the effort of getting me to allow you to come back? I could have very well just killed you. Any other snake father would have, did you know?"

"You told us that all the time," said his son, with a hint of peevishness. "Of course I knew."

"Then why risk it?"

His son went quiet for a bit. Far ahead of them Shay had finally reached the girls and was babbling to them about the return of their prodigal brother. None of the girls looked particularly excited, though they did seem curious.

"No one wanted me alive."

Curtis frowned. "What?"

Only then did he pick up that his son, who was always so quick to insult, was struggling with his words.

"Out there, no one wanted me alive. It made me not want to be alive. It was scary. I wanted to come back to the one who wanted me to be alive so I could want it too."

Curtis stopped. He had to. He couldn't wrap his head around this.

"Son," he said. "You're not even two. You should be practically a beast yourself. Your instincts shouldn't care about--about being coddled or loved or--"

"It isn't coddling," his son broke in, only to shudder and draw back as he realized he had cut across his dad. "I...I just needed...I needed mom. She is the only one who wants me to be alive."

"Why do you need someone to want you to be alive? Bugs don't live because someone wants them to be alive."

"I'm not a bug." His son wagged his head, distressed. "I don't know how else to explain it. But it hurt more than you squashing me. It hurt more than...it hurt so much. I was going to die. I had killed things before, I knew how to kill. I was going to kill myself if you had refused."

Once more, Curtis couldn't understand this emotion sweeping over him as he looked down at his child. What he didn't understand more was how what he could recognize of it was akin to when Shay had been kidnapped.

Infant snakes shouldn't be like this. It was almost like he wasn't a snake at all, but just a human.

They met up with the family. The mooching guardians and Ryan wrinkled their noses at the appearance of the huge child. His other sons gathered around the eldest with the girls to ask questions about his journeys and what had happened, serving all the more to nail into Curtis that something was definitely off about his children. He looked to Shay, wondering if she too could see what he was seeing, only to find her face glowing with happiness as she watched her children, her scent utterly content.

He didn't realize how long he had stared until he felt the doctor leopard's presence at his side.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Curtis's tail twitched. Harvey was yet another strange thing being married to Shay had introduced into his life. To think, a male, whom he'd feel no level of competition or wariness of. A male, even, who would actually care to ask him if something was wrong. If it had been Ryan the panther would have only prayed something was wrong and look for ways to exacerbate it in a way Shay wouldn't notice.

He glanced down at the one-stripe, hesitant.

"Have you ever seen children act like that?" Curtis asked, gesturing to the scene before them.

"Snake children?"

"Surely even leopard children have...have some level of..."

Harvey waited patiently, but Curtis didn't even know where to begin.

"I'm sorry, but I don't seem to know what you mean. Yes, your children are more friendly with each other than I've seen most, but I figured that's just because they are emulating their mother. I'd dare any child to have such a mother and not turn out more kind and aware of others than most."

Their mother. Yes. It kept coming down to her.

He wondered if he should tell Harvey about snake children. About how he had eaten all his siblings. Then maybe at least someone would understand where he stood and be able to explain to him what exactly was happening.

"From what I understand," continued Harvey. "It's normal for children in Shay's world to be even more like this."

"Yes," said Curtis, somewhat distantly. "So much so that good families are those where the children are forever connected to the parents, even after they have found mates and built homes of their own."

"It sounds...rather nice...doesn't it?"

Curtis didn't know. He simply didn't know.

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