Chapter 131: Birthday
While Ayra stood there with a smile, watching the beastmen discuss in detail the list of things they wished to do, she suddenly recalled something.
Commander Lynn.
She had recalled that they’d been close with him. So at least they’d know something about the cold Commander and at least know how to cheer him up.
"And..." As she spoke, the three of them paused and stared in her direction. All attention fixed on her.
"What is it?" Lord Ash inquired.
"And... I was wondering... Do you perhaps know a lot of things about Commander Lynn? How close are you guys...?"
They hesitated, staring at each other before Lord Vale said, "We’ve been comrades for ages now.. so I think we’re really close..."
"And we also know a lot about him.." Lord Ash added. "Why do you ask? Did something happen?"
Ayra sighed, running a hand through her jaw. "Hmm, I’m curious about something..."
"Does the female also want to make him her mate? If so, let us know and we’ll convince him to also join the celebration..." Lord Ash stated casually.
"..." Ayra stared at him, surprised as she blinked. He was indeed blatant with his words. "Well, I was wondering how to make him smile... Or laugh..."
"..." Silence. The three of them stared at themselves and then stared at the female.
"Smile?" Lord Ash asked.
"Laugh?" Lord Vale asked.
"Why...?" Lord Zark asked.
Ayra smiled as she said, "Well, nothing really. He’s already so cold and moody... So I wanted to make him smile..."
The three of them nodded as they stared at each other. Silence as Lord Vale said, "Hmm, that’s a hard one now... Because we’ve known Commander Lynn to be like that for a long time..."
Ayra sighed. "So there’s nothing specific that can make him smile? At least something he likes...?"
They thought as Lord Ash added, "It’s hard because it’s hard to tell what he truly likes... He’s always holding that cold expression even though you get him something he likes..."
Lord Vale nodded. "Yes. Even though he likes getting gifts and being celebrated, he sometimes always has a cold expression even when you get it for him.. so it’s sorta hard to make him smile..."
"Wait..." Ayra said. "He likes gifts and celebrations?"
Lord Vale slowly nodded. "Yes. He does even though he never shows he does. So it’s hard..."
She sighed as she nodded. At least that was something to try. But now she began looking for an excuse to work that on him. "Perhaps... Do you know when his birthday is...?"
The three beastmen paused and stared at her as though she was speaking another language.
"Bat....?"
"Beth...?"
"Birth what...?"
They didn’t understand.
Ayra blinked. "Oh... Birthday. Like the day celebrating the day you were born in."
"Oh..." The three beastmen nodded in realization of what she meant. "Oh that!"
She nodded as she asked, "So... When is his birthday?"
They stared at themselves and then stared at her. "I don’t think he has any of that...."
"..." She was speechless. "Huh?"
"I mean.." Lord Vale added, "He certainly does have one but.. we almost never talk about that here..." He explained.
"Oh..." Ayra stared at them. "How come?"
Lord Ash smiled. "No one celebrated such things. We’re too busy with life to do that.. it doesn’t matter..." He explained.
Ayra slowly nodded as she thought. "I see.. so no one knows his birthday...?"
Lord Ash nodded. "Yes.. and we probably don’t even remember ours..."
Ayra sighed as she nodded again. "I see...then I guess we’ll pick a day and celebrate him then."
"..."
The three lords paused and stared at the female.
Ayra smiled. "Yes, let’s do that. After the upcoming celebration... We’ll celebrate Commander Lynn. We’ll pick a day and celebrate his birthday and give him gifts!" She expressed with a smile, hoping that that would bring a smile to his face at least.
Lord Vale ran a hand through his chin, nodding. "I see...can we do that though...?"
Ayra nodded. "Yes we can. What matters is the thought and the fact that he’s happy. So we’ll do just that," she smiled, folding her arms as she stared at them. "So I’ll need your help then to make preparations for it."
Lord Ash smiled as he said, "Okay then.. sure. We’ll help. Just mention it and we’ll get it done."
---
The preparation for the event had kicked off.
The grand event to celebrate the female was officially taking place that night, so the tribe was busy and bustling with activities.
Beastmen were moved from one spot to another, carrying tools and equipment to erect designs for the celebrations.
They designed the space to be used for the celebration, placing woods for sitting and seats for the female and tribe lords while designing them properly with feathers and pretty rocks.
Some beastmen were at different spots as well, preparing what they’d present for the female on that night.
The fox beastmen practiced their grand elegant dances for the female while struggling to keep their mistakes unnoticeable.
The warriors practiced their grand war dances while the elders sat at a corner watching while preparing their normal gift: toy carvings.
"Do you think the cubs would like this?" One of the elders asked showing them a carving he had made of a snake.
"Hmmm.. I think it looks ugly," another said.
"Everything is ugly to you.. you’re the ugly one," the elder defended as he took his carving and continued perfecting it.
While they worked, some were pulling in leaves and flowers from different places into the tribe to decorate the space to be used. While some were already decorating the female’s house with flowers.
Rai was with his peers. They were practicing for their dance to be presented to the female. And Rai couldn’t help but roll his eyes while watching.
They kept making mistakes, falling on one another while dancing.
"This isn’t good! The female won’t like it at all!" Rai snapped at them, exhausted.
And when he turned and saw the female, he instantly abandoned his team and ran off.