Chapter 53: brought to you by chicken poop on a bed

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Don't step on snek. Snek wrestling. Scary sneks. Sleepy sneks. Cute sneks.

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Days after Neara's birth, Shay worried about infections. Every day she annoyed Orson with her house check-ups to make sure he was doing everything to keep Neara, not only clean, but her surroundings sanitized. As she marched from room to room over and over, the fuzzy little brown lambs followed, curious and bleating on their knobbly, wobbly knees.

Every so often she'd feel one of the baby snakes wrapped around her body poke its head out to flicker its tongue in curiosity back at the lambs.

Not wanting to stress her healing friend, she'd push back a head that dared to venture out too far.

"I said you could only come if you stay hidden," she muttered. She'd even bothered to rouse the very drowsy Curtis long enough to interpret her command to the little snakes in a language they'd definitely understand. No freaking out the patient and no exposing babies to the harsh cold.

Orson grumbled, but after the scare, he seemed to not have the courage to fight back against her with "but I'm a doctor and a damn good one" as usual.

Harvey somehow heard of how she'd saved her friend with 'revolutionary' medical knowledge and had to be reassured several times that she still had things to learn from him, though Ryan, ever her escort, was all too happy to encourage him leaving.

Three weeks after the birth of the lambs Shay's visits were brought to an abrupt halt by a monster of a blizzard.

The wind roared. Snow lashed around like whips. The only reason the whole roof hadn't come off was because Joseph and Parker had slowly been reinforcing the thatch and leaf roof with more green lumber and the sun had hardened the snow that had already fallen on top into a layer of ice. The hides did nothing against the wind, leading the men to fortify both the windows and door with more lumber. The temperature dropped to the point that even the inside of the house began to gather ice in the corners. Because of this, Shay brought in all the men to the main room, not trusting the slap-dash cabin of theirs to provide adequate shelter. The constant chattering of Harvey and Joseph's teeth seemed to prove this was the right choice, despite their protests that "males are strong." She even brought in the not-chickens, crusted over with ice and half-dead with cold already, and set them up in the now unused bedroom.

She threw more furs on Curtis's den, just to be sure, before holing herself and her babies next to the temporary nest in front of the fire with Ryan. At night, Ryan curled about her protectively as a panther with Parker as a leopard in the rest of the space about her that Ryan couldn't reach without smothering her. Harvey and Joseph, both in their animal forms, tucked in close around those two.

During this time, they kept the snakes fed with eggs and Ryan killed two short birds to keep her fed. But, despite her protests, none of the males ate.

When not cuddling to stay warm or eating, Shay learned medicine from Harvey and, in turn, taught writing and reading to whoever was interested in the room.

On the third evening, even the baby snakes, who never went outside away from their mother, were beginning to feel cooped up in such a cramped room of males and had begun hissing wrestling matches on the floor. Wary of breaking in, since physical combat was a more prominent part of this world, and also afraid of getting bitten, she watched with one eye during her lessons. When it looked like too many were piling on one, she'd call for Parker to separate them.

She had just let her guard down to focus entirely on her lesson, thinking Parker had a handle on it, when a wild, explosive hissing she didn't even think a snake could make moved her to her feet.

"Babies?" She was over in a blink, never mind the fangs. Baby snakes scattered before her feet.

Parker, who had also jumped at the sound, looked both alarmed and guilty. "Something's caught--I mean, I think two got knotted up."

Sure enough, two of her babies, the lone blue-eyed she often called Sky and one who bore so many blue freckles he almost looked purple, whom she called Freckles, had somehow knotted the ends of their tails till they got kinks.

Hushing and shushing, trying to keep calm, she held their heads as Parker used his claws to gently untangle their tails. Once free, the two babies limped back to her hands, giving her pitiful poses, as snake faces weren't meant for expression.

"Oh, dear, your scales are all bent and everything," she bit her lip. "Harvey, do you have any sting nettle? Or a balm for swelling and pain?"

"Of course. We made some together just before this storm, remember?"

The scattered snakes slowly returned, pointed heads hung low.

"It's alright, babies, getting hurt is a part of play. It teaches us how to avoid getting hurt in the first place. Just...know it hurts me when you're hurt, kay?"

Harvey presented the balms in wooden containers. Shay sat down, holding a hurt tail in each hand, and set to work. As she did so, she noticed something.

"Their tails are shaped kind of differently," she said. "Sky's all skinny and whip-like and Freckles is a lot fatter. Freckles isn't getting, like, a blood clot, is he?"

Harvey leaned over the snake tails to get a better look, frowning.

"I don't think so. They couldn't have gotten such a bad sprain even from being knotted."

Satisfied, she continued her ministrations, then tapped them back up her arms when she finished.

"You two are done for tonight. Got to let your tails rest."

Freckles settled down somewhere above her elbow. Sky, however, tried his luck and went all the way past her sleeve to her neck, where he tucked himself in with hissing delight.

Instantly, Lazy Boy jumped up her back and into her hair, making her yelp from the sensation.

"Lazy! What are you--"

A loud hissing comotion came from her neck, sounding explosive so close to her ears. She reached for her neck to pull off the baby snakes, but Ryan beat her to it, forcefully yanking the snakes out. It was only due to their small size that she didn't get choked.

Ryan gave a glare, releasing a wave of power, and both babies instantly went slack with terror. Even Shay drew back.

"No fighting on your mother."

Only once the command had a chance to reverberate in the air did he drop the babies. Sky slunk beneath Shay's skirt to her hip and Lazy Boi crawled back up to Shay's neck to jealously guard his spot.

Shay sighed.

"I want a daughter."

Ryan simply smiled and curled himself back on his side, looking like a chocolate Greek god with his chiseled chest bare and his head resting on his hand.

Parker, however, perked up and padded over.

"I can make sure you have a female," he said, tail curling.

Ryan's happy expression twisted into a scowl.

Before he could answer, though, Joseph, who'd been asleep next to the fire, suddenly woke up, making Shay suspect he hadn't been asleep in the first place.

"If you have a female rabbit, you'll have--"

"Quiet," Ryan snapped, baring his fangs. "Keep it up and you'll be mating with the snow."

"You can't, Shay wants me warm and safe, and I'm her guardian." said Parker.

"I'd like to see you try without that snake to help you," said Joseph with a sneer.

"I'd help him!" said Parker. "Unlike you, I'm actually a part of this family, you leech!"

"And unlike you, I actually have something to offer, or do you remember how shoddy your roofwork was? I'm the reason she has shelter from this storm."

"I was doing just fine!"

"Shut up! Both of you!" barked Ryan, already getting to his feet.

Baby snakes shot back into her sleeves from around her, startled by the yelling.

Shay gave Harvey, the only serenity left in the testosterone laden room, a pleading look. Harvey returned it with a puckered brow of pity, but shrugged. 'What could I do? I'm the weakest one here.' To which she sighed again.

Please God, she prayed. Make the storm end before all these guys kill each other.

Either the sky got tired or God heard, because the next morning brought silence, broken by the distant, but still eerie moan of ice shifting in the depths of the river. Before breakfast was even finished, Shay was going at the boards with a stir crazy Parker at her side. Joseph, being a rabbit, was used to being burrowed up for long periods of time, and Harvey and Ryan seemed to simply be continuing an unspoken competition of who could be the better vision of mature, serene manliness. They had to compete at something, she supposed, since strength was out of the question.

"Shay, at least let the day warm up more," said Ryan, thinking Shay hadn't noticed how he'd been pacing back and forth between the windows and doors since he'd woken up.

"We ran out of firewood last night anyways," said Parker. "And Shay's not stupid, you know, if she wants to go out let her."

"But she..." Ryan cut himself off, biting his lip.

Reading his consternation over her fairer weather world, yet not able to speak of that family secret due to the outsiders, Shay did hesitate with the first board in her hand. Ryan would never think her stupid. But it would be stupid of her to ignore his concerns, not to mention inconsiderate.

So, she pulled back her hand, setting the board on the floor. "Alright, how about this: I'll stay home until you guys get your hunting done. By then it should be as warm as it's going to get."

Ryan gave her a smile that said he knew what she just did.

"I don't need to hunt," said Joseph with a yawn--he hadn't been all that rambunctious compared to the predators to begin with. "I'll stay and guard her."

"Denied," said Ryan. "Get up."

"No. I don't want nor need to leave. You're being petty."

"I'm being smart. If you want to den, do so in your own cabin."

Shay hesitated before saying, "Ryan, he has a point. I don't think Joseph will do anything."

Ryan considered her with a clenched jaw.

She put up her hands, even as she stepped back towards the fire where her pile of baby snakes still slept. "Look, I can always go down with Curtis while you're gone."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to ask you to do that possibly all day."

"And you need to go out and hunt. Look, Parker's already out."

And so he was, the flicker of tail in the burst of brilliant light all that was left of him. With the light came a trail of cold air, chill and hard as a blade of a sword, but with it the first breath of fresh, body odor- and fire-free air.

Shay almost reconsidered her kindness. You don't realize just how bad the smell gets in a stone box filled with men and a snake litterbox and your own sorry, unbathed self for three days.

Ryan grimaced, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, Shay, he just has too many reasons."

Shay frowned. "Reasons to what?"

But just as Ryan opened his mouth to respond and Joseph began to protest, Harvey's voice broke through.

"I can guard her and the babies."

The hide doorflap fell close behind him to the bedroom, his arm full of eggs.

Shay wrinkled her nose. So that's what the extra awful smell was. Not-chicken.

Joseph eyes flickered to Harvey and then back to Ryan as though he hadn't spoken.

"I don't even need to hunt, I have a store of nuts in the hut."

"Then kick snow off the roof," growled Ryan. "Or dig out the doorway and windows. Whatever it is, do it outside."

"You can't--"

Ryan jerked forward, gnashing his teeth, claws extending from his black fingers. Joseph flinched back reflexively, but by the time he had out one of his ever present knives Ryan had turned into a panther and was digging his teeth into Joseph's shoulder. In one smooth swing of his head Joseph flew, sticking head first into the window, his aching legs stopping his flight. Black tail lashing, Ryan tackled Joseph the rest of the way out.

The ensuing battle kicked in snow across the den and woke the babies, which came flying across the floor towards her.

Shay looked to Harvey, unable to hold back her dismay.

Seeing her look, Harvey gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Joseph--"

"Will heal, I know."

Harvey shrugged. "And if he doesn't it will only be his own fault for pushing himself onto a predator's territory for so long. I'm actually quite surprised with how much Ryan has held back."

"I know, I know. But still, I'm surprised. Ever since Curtis fell asleep he seems to be getting more and more...violent." She groaned and ran her hands down her face. "Gal, that sounds awful. It's like I expected him to be docile."

"I take it Curtis was the boss and, now that he's out of the picture temporarily, Ryan has picked it up. It doesn't change who he is, it's just part of the job." He set the eggs out on the counter, already cracking them open into the bowl meant for the baby snakes. "The aggressiveness, that is. Herbivores complain about predator possessiveness and territories, but there is a purpose."

"Protection from other predators," Shay said, nodding. "You've had a lot of dealings with herbivores?"

"Of course. I was taught by them."

Shay perked up, petting a baby snake head that poked up from her sleeve.

"As a doctor?"

He chortled. "What else?"

"Are herbivores usually doctors?"

"Well, mostly the ape tribe is. Their mental powers give them an extra view into what's going on inside the body, but herbivores know medicines the best." He glanced over his shoulder to give Shay a rare, proud smile. "I'm the only predator doctor I've heard of."

"Cool." Shay bobbed her head in appropriate awe. "Definitely cool. Though with what you just said about territories and stuff, it makes sense there aren't more. Predators specialize in protection."

"Indeed," there was a definite droop to his tone, though he seemed to make a fair effort to hide it. "And for a predator who can't protect against other predators...well, I'm just lucky enough to be alive."

She frowned at that, then shivered. Though better smelling, the fresh air sucked out whatever warmth remained in the room. She found the hide curtain that had been temporarily commandeered as a pillow and went to hang it back up over the window, any exposed skin tightening in the cold as it never had back in her world.

"I've never been somewhere so cold..."

"This winter does seem especially bad," said Harvey along with a crunch of eggshells.

The hungry snakes beneath her clothes stirred, but feared the cold too much to peek out.

Curtain replaced, she moved to the fireplace to put the pulled off blanks onto the dying fire. A bit of the coldness outside seemed to have wormed into her stomach, bringing to mind the torn body of the wolf from days before and its bleeding cubs.

She held her hands over the fire, blowing it when it too seemed shy of the cold.

"Do...do cubs die often?"

"I do not know what is 'often' to you. They die if they are weak, yes. More males are born to replace them too easily, and a mourning female is soon comforted, so..."

He crouched down beside her, the stone bowl already lidded, to push it into the coals of the fire.

"I hope you know I only speak frankly," he said, a gentle warmth to his voice. "I know you would not be so easily comforted and that you wish the world to be different. Maybe in that ancient time you often theorize about, when beastmen were plenty, as you often say. I find your ideas fascinating, you know. I even had a dream last night about standing on the Leopard King's castle and seeing houses and beastmen all the way to the mountains. Such a sight. I wonder if it was as you imagined it."

Shay smiled despite her sober mood and chill. Harvey always surprised her with some of the words he knew. It made her wonder about the language here, where it came from, how it had developed, and how she and Neara knew it.

"I'm glad you made it, Harvey."

Pink flushed across his nose. "Um, Shay, you should be careful with what you say to males. I know you don't want anymore, and it can give them the wrong idea."

"But it's okay with you if I tell the truth, isn't it? You know me. And sometimes you just seem so sad, like you don't think you belong here. But I'm so happy that you are."

He turned his head away quickly. "Shay..."

"You're one of the best teachers I've ever had and you're the smartest beastman I've met yet. Where I'm from, smarts are more valued than strength anyways."

He stopped mid-melt to stiffen and turn towards her, face still pink, but eyes bright.

"Is it really? Are you from the ape tribe?"

Shay hesitated. "No."

"I thought so. Ape tribe females have never been known for their beauty. What tribe are you from anyways? You frequently mention 'where I'm from' but never specify."

She bit her lip before saying, "I'm sorry. That's a family secret."

Harvey gave her a peculiar, thoughtful look. For a moment she wondered if he already had a good guess, but that would be ridiculous.

He nodded. "Understood." Then he rolled his lips in thought, considering her carefully, before asking, "Do you...do you really think that well of me? Even though I'm not strong."

"Of course!" she chirped. "And you've always treated me so kindly and are always level-headed and patient, which are such rare and amazing traits for people in general and the mark the best fathers--"

"Please, stop," he covered his face with a hand, the pink spreading. His spotted ears had started to shiver and swivel.

"Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to."

"Of course not, I just..." he turned his covered face away once more. "I just--I just don't know how much more I can take."

And since his voice trembled as he said this, Shay drew back, regretful.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, it's alright," he said, waving a hand towards her. "Really, Shay. You're...you're alright."

Once the steamed egg was done and the babies were eating, Shay got up, retied her hair, and set to work cleaning out the reeking hole as best she could with the coarse, hard soap her and Neara had made for lack of the lye tree branches. She wanted her first bath after three days like an American Idol candidate wanted Simon Cowel to say something nice to them, but bathing in a filthy place would be a waste of time. She told Harvey so as they cleaned together, watched by the baby snakes by the fireplace, who had, by this time, grown too large for Shay to be comfortable doing vigorous work with them wrapped around her. Harvey took out hides full of dirt, sand, trash, old grass, and various refuse, clearing a pathway through the snow from the open window as he did so. When not needed to take out trash, he worked on digging out the door.

Joseph, though grumbling all the way, could be heard thumping along the roof as he kicked off mounds of snow.

Despite the steady cold trekking in, Shay found herself warm beneath her furs from the activity. She started up a whistling tune to work to, occasionally glancing over and the little red heads with bright eyes watching from beneath the furs with a smile.

By midday, her stomach was cramping for food. Harvey must have anticipated it, for he came in holding a bag of Joseph's

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