Chapter 252 - 251: Fruits
They had set off on the trip to gather fruits after gathering all they needed.
Luka and Eris led the way as the adults there, while Maren, Ronan, and Mii followed behind. In front were the two cubs, Luna and Lune.
The two of them happily carried their baskets, which were almost as big as they were, and they moved with the baskets in their hands.
"Stay within my sight," Eris reminded the little ones as they moved. "Don’t run off too far. Okay? It’s dangerous out here. Remember that."
Lune nodded as he moved with his basket. Luna, on the other hand, wasn’t listening. She was moving as fast as she could, happily looking around and staring at fascinating sights.
"Whoa. What’s that?"
"That looks big! What is it?"
"Is that a flower? Can I touch it?"
"Whoa! I like that!"
The curious cub kept looking around and moving ahead of everyone while she kept seeing exciting things to stare at.
"Hey, don’t go too far," Luka instructed as they moved. Maren had to go to the front and keep Luna in check before she ran off. She had almost run off chasing a butterfly she had seen.
While they moved, Maren had taken the lead as she began instructing the little ones on what was before them.
"You see this...? The forest. The big forest. It might look all nice and perfectly pretty and fine, but you should be careful not to wander around because the forest is dangerous." She reminded and instructed the cubs as they moved.
Eris and Luka were at the back, watching the kids ahead with smiles lingering on their faces. They simply folded their arms while watching them move.
"Don’t you think you should be doing the instructing?" Luka asked.
"No, I think she’s doing a good job," Eris shrugged as they continued moving.
While they moved, they arrived at a spot as Maren stopped. She turned and pointed in the direction of some plant. "You should stay away from that. Okay? That’s a dangerous tree to approach, and don’t even think of taking its fruit. It’s dangerous."
The cubs stared in that direction as Luna asked, "But why? It looks big and healthy."
"Yes. That’s the thing. Here in the forest, you shouldn’t trust what you see at all. It can be wrong," she explained as she continued moving to the next one.
"This is edible..."
"This is not..."
"This is good for your body!"
"This will leave you a long body scratch. Avoid it at all cost."
She went on and on about the endless things in the forest, giving the cubs detailed instructions on what to do and not to do.
Luna had grown tired as she simply yawned at the endless talks while Lune simply listened as they moved without talking.
Ronan sighed as he said, "I think you’re boring the little ones with those stories. No one wants to hear that."
"Shut up," Maren snapped. "Safety precautions are needed," she insisted.
Ronan sighed as he folded his arms. "I wonder where she learned all she is saying. She is always saying the same things whenever we come to gather fruits. And now the cubs are here, she’s going to make it extra long."
Mii smiled as she shook her head.
"And we’ve arrived at our first stop! The apple tree!" Maren announced happily as the cubs looked up to see the huge apple tree standing there above.
"Whoa! So big!" Luna expressed with a smile.
Lune licked his lower lips. "Can we eat it?"
"Not now," Eris said with a smile as he approached them. "No one is going to eat anything right now. Rather, we’re going to collect them first."
He stared at them as he passed on his instructions. "Make sure you listen closely, okay? No one eats any fruit but rather picks as much as you can."
They all nodded in unison while staring at Eris.
Eris nodded. "That’s good, then." He turned to Luka, who was already getting ready to go up the tree, and explained, "He will go and shake the fruits off, and while the fruits drop, you will gather as much as you can. Okay?"
Luna and Lune nodded excitedly as they set out their baskets, ready to gather some fruits.
They stared as Luka climbed the tree and began working. He was moving from branch to branch while he shook the trees.
Soon, the apples began falling down. Eris instructed the cubs to step aside while the fruits fell. "You have to be careful so it doesn’t hit you," he said.
They stood at a corner, watching as the fruits fell for a while. When he had stopped shaking the tree, Eris gave them a go-ahead order to proceed in gathering the fruits.
Eris stood there, arms folded with a smile, as he watched the kids gather as many apples as they could.
He watched as Lune approached a group of apples on the floor. Then he sat down and stared at them for a while.
The little cub would speak to the apples as if he was talking to some little animals, and then he’d pick them one by one, clean them up on his body, and put them carefully into his basket. Lune didn’t seem like he was in a hurry at all.
He picked them one by one, slowly arranging them and putting them into his basket.
Eris smiled as he shook his head. He stared at the others. Maren and Ronan were doing their usual competition on who would pick the most apples while Mii simply watched and smiled.
He shook his head again as he stared at Luna to see what she was up to. He was rather speechless to see her eating some of the apples.
Eris was speechless. "Hey, what are you doing? Luna..."
Luna paused as she turned to look at her dad, who was standing and staring at her, surprised.
She blinked as she looked around.