Chapter 137: Baby Problem II
Azure didn’t protest. He instantly obeyed, gently keeping the child on the rock. Maren lay there on her back, arms and legs stretched, crying.
Sunnie looked around. "Go and find some leaves or something—something we can clean her up with," she suggested.
Azure didn’t protest. He instantly nodded. "Oh, okay. Sure." He took off to the bush side to gather some soft leaves for the process.
While he went off to get them, Sunnie proceeded to try calming down the little one. She hummed some songs for her and patted her gently on the stomach. Maren calmed down a bit but was still sobbing and crying.
"You always cry so much," she smiled at her. "Were you that uncomfortable from messing yourself up? Sigh, even at your age, you’re still messing yourself up. Aren’t you a big girl anymore?"
Maren sobbed as Azure soon returned. He stood beside Sunnie, staring and smiling at Maren, who had calmed down a bit.
Sunnie got up and stepped back, staring at Azure. "Proceed."
Azure hesitated as he stared at her. "Huh?"
Sunnie nodded. "Yes. Proceed. First, you’ll have to take off her clothes. Easy with it—make sure you don’t get it spread everywhere. Gently remove her soiled cloth and all."
Azure nodded as he turned and stared at the little one, who had stopped crying now. She lay there, her big blue eyes glowing at Azure as if she was waiting for him to proceed.
Azure hesitated, took a deep breath in and out, and then slowly went down on his knees.
"Take this..." Sunnie offered him some leaves so he could cover his hands. He nodded and took them.
Azure turned and stared at the little one. She wasn’t crying now; Maren was staring at him. He slowly reached out his hands and began removing her loincloths. "Stay put, okay? Papa is here to clean you up... so stay calm."
As he removed her clothes, Maren tried moving around, but he held onto her while he worked. He removed the wrap of clothes around her waist that looked like a diaper. While he did so, the baby giggled and struggled to move away.
"Hey... Maren, don’t move. Papa is working here... Stay put." He struggled, but she kept moving. Sunnie couldn’t help but simply smile while watching the scene.
In a short time, he was done removing it. Sunnie instructed, "Don’t let it spread. Just keep it aside."
He nodded and kept the clothing close by. After he was done with that, he held onto the baby, who was giggling and moving from his touch. He tried not to turn his face too much from the smell that hit him.
Maren smiled as though happy with Azure’s reaction. "Papa looks funny." She continued smiling and giggling.
Azure forced a smile. "Yes, yes."
"Next," Sunnie proceeded. "Take these leaves you got and clean her up. Clean all the places where she messed herself."
As she instructed, she handed him some of the leaves, and he took them and proceeded with the work. Azure did it better than she thought. He was faster than when he was removing the clothes.
He cleaned her up with the leaves until there were no spots with any dirt at all. When he was done, he kept the leaves close to where the clothes were—all disposable.
Maren smiled and giggled more while she was being cleaned, as though she enjoyed the whole process, as if she hadn’t been crying a while ago.
"Tickle! Tickle!" She smiled as she kicked.
Azure turned to Sunnie. "What now?"
Sunnie turned to the water. "Wash her up in there." She smiled.
Azure stared at the water and then at her. "I see Sunnie is becoming more evil than I thought," he teased.
Sunnie shrugged. "Some things have to be done for the baby."
Azure didn’t oppose. He was in support of whatever she was doing. So he took the little one near the stream.
Sunnie instructed him on what to do as he slowly dipped Maren into the water and gently washed her up.
"There, there... Stay put while Daddy washes you up. Okay?" Azure cleansed her body with the water while Maren kept moving and kicking.
She wasn’t staying put at all. Little Maren was chasing after everything she saw. If she saw a fish, she would break free from her father’s grip and run after it.
She still didn’t have complete control of when her tail would switch between legs, so she would swim through the water. "Fish! Fish!"
Azure had no choice but to run after her to catch her. He got wet and dirty all over while trying to catch and wash her. Flashbacks from him bathing her came crashing into his head.
Sunnie stood there watching and laughing. She found the whole scene hilarious. She kept laughing until Azure was done bathing her.
Drenched, he held Maren in his arms while he stepped out of the water. "I’m done..."
Sunnie blinked at her, nodding and clapping. "Congratulations."
Sunnie instructed him to go dry her up with some suitable leaves around. While he left to get it done, Sunnie opened the system store.
She had been rewarded with some clothing from her previous task of having Azure bathe the cub successfully. She never really had time to go through it; now she figured it would be a good time to make use of it.
Sunnie was impressed. She went through the clothing rewards she had gotten. It happened that it wasn’t only clothes for the cub, but for her and her husbands too.
"Interesting. I guess the system really thought it through," she smiled as she selected the ones that would be most suitable for Maren—a soft, white, furry animal skin cloth that seemed extremely high quality.
After Azure was done drying her up, Sunnie offered, "Let me dress her up."
Azure refused. "No, I’m already doing it, so let me complete it."
Sunnie smiled with a nod. "Okay. If you say so."