Chapter 118: Cheer Up, Sunnie!
Sunnie instantly forced a smile as she saw her little baby. She bent down to pat her hair while smiling brightly. "Oh? What is it, Maren?"
"Look! Look!" Maren showed it to her, smiling. Sunnie stared at the little invention and smiled. "Wow. This is so good. Our little Maren is so smart!" She smiled, patting her hair.
Maren instantly turned. "Look! Mii too! Mii too!" She gestured for Mii, Elza’s little daughter, to come along as well. The two had been working on their fans since morning.
Mii happily arrived too, showing Sunnie her green fan invention made from leaves. Mii had grown as well; she was literally the same height and size as Maren.
The little rat cub wore blue animal skin clothes around her body and had brown hair that complimented her tan skin and brown ears. She looked adorable.
Sunnie smiled at the two of them. "Good. That’s so good. Good work. You can make more and show me later, then."
While she patted them for their work, the others arrived behind Sunnie. Azure approached closer and bent down before the little ones.
He smiled at them, also congratulating them on their creation. He stared at Maren. "You did a good job."
Maren nodded with a smile.
"Why not call me Papa, huh?" Azure requested with a smile. "If you call me Papa, I’ll bring you a very big fish!"
But Maren stood there staring at him. Seconds went by, and she didn’t say anything. She simply stared at him, blinking from time to time.
The atmosphere had grown awkward as Eris scoffed behind him. "I guess she can’t call you Papa yet."
"Poor Azure," Luka shook his head.
Little Maren turned to Mii and took her hands. "Let’s go." The two left to continue their work.
Sunnie’s smile slowly faded after they left. She slowly got up to her feet along with Azure, who turned to her. "Are you okay?"
Sunnie nodded with a forced smile. "Yes, I am. I just need to rest." She turned and began walking off into the cave.
While she left, the women stared at her. They were curious to know what had happened to make her so sad. It was the first time they had seen her that way.
While she left for her cave, Maren rushed to join her mum inside too. But Zukka and Little Black went to stop her.
"Mama is busy. Go and play, okay?" Zukka said with a smile.
"Don’t disturb her now," Little Black insisted.
It was when Little Black stood close to Maren that one noticed he had actually grown a bit taller. He still had that baby face that made anyone think he was a cub or so, but he had grown a bit taller. Still, he hadn’t reached Zukka’s height—that didn’t seem possible to attain.
Elza came and carried Maren off to continue playing while one of the women asked, "What happened to Sunnie? Who made her sad? Was it Karl?" She asked as everyone stared at Karl.
Karl, who was standing at the side, glared at them. "What? What did I do? I didn’t do anything."
At that moment, Azure explained everything. The women slowly nodded in understanding.
"That’s bad... I understand how she feels."
Elza shook her head. "With all that pressure to make us feel comfortable, she must feel really disappointed."
They all nodded in agreement. They understood how she felt.
One of the women recommended, "I think we should let her rest for a while. And then maybe tomorrow we can meet her. We should let her know that we’re not disappointed in her at all."
Another said with a nod, "Yes. We should show her our support and appreciation for all she has done. And let her know that there will always be ups and downs in situations like this."
Elza added, "Yes. Then we’ll let her know that we’re standing behind her and in this together. We fall and rise together."
Everyone smiled over the idea, accepting it. Only Karl and Zayn were quiet. Karl sighed with his arms folded.
---
Sunnie was alone in the inner room all day long. Zuna had only come in at night when dinner was due and served it to her.
Sunnie couldn’t stop feeling disappointed. She felt she hadn’t led well, and everyone wasn’t enjoying a good meal all because of her bad decisions.
She was mad at herself and had slept in like that.
But when Sunnie woke up the next day, she heard some sound outside. Wondering what was happening, Sunnie went out to see.
The women were literally preparing a feast! She could smell and see meat being boiled and grilled, and a lot of nourishing meals around. It felt like a celebration, so Sunnie asked, "What’s happening? Where did you get all this?" Because she was sure they didn’t have any of these left around the evil forest.
Elza smiled as she said, "We’re having a celebratory meal to celebrate you."
Another added with a nod, "Yes, yes. You’ve done so much for us that we decided to celebrate you as well."
"And as for where we got it? Your husbands set out of the evil forest to hunt for it all around," Little Black announced.
"It wasn’t easy, but at least we got the good ones," Eris explained proudly, arms folded.
"You’ve been so nice to us. From accepting us here without asking for anything, to feeding and providing for us endlessly. We couldn’t even ask for anything else."
Little Black nodded. "Yes. To even being a family and elder sister I didn’t know I needed. You’ve been a great companion and friend to me. And also provided good and delicious meals for me. I’m so grateful."
"You also made me feel useful," Zuna expressed. "Since I was young, I’ve always felt like I’ve been restricted to a particular space forever. But you taught me that there’s more to a beast woman’s life than just domestic chores. You taught me to explore and grow with smiles. I look up to you a lot for that."
"You..." Azure smiled, "...also gave me Maren—one of the greatest gifts."
"You gave me good food!" Luka added with a smile.
Eris shrugged. "I guess the good food counts."
Elza smiled. "Yes. So you’ve done too much good to be disappointed for not doing this little thing. It’s not your fault at all. That’s how farming always is—ups and downs. It’s unpredictable."
Zuna nodded. "So don’t blame yourself alone for it. Let’s push together and make the best farmland in this evil forest."
They showered Sunnie with endless good words that made her feel extremely emotional. Sunnie didn’t even know when tears fell down her cheeks.