The next half of the week, Iris relaxed indoors while Caspian went out. As Iris needed far more pads than normal females, Caspian would have to hunt for many sheep as well as find more blood moss. He was also careful to clean and dry more sinew for sewing purposes. Human periods were simply much heavier, longer lasting, and more frequent than beast women's.
This meant the tribe witch doctor Oliver could not spare the supplies. Of course, Caspian also simply did not want anyone outside the family to know about Iris being more fertile than the other females.
He was Iris's only mate and he was a mere three-star beast, which meant that there were plenty of stronger beasts out there. While awakening your celestial beast is uncommon and having an element was rare, the upper limit to strength was much closer to ten stars. So, while Caspian was the strongest in his tribe, he could not guarantee Iris's safety unless he became stronger.
After many days of hunting nothing but sheep, the meat reserves in the cellar took up nearly half of the entire cellar. Caspian felt happy at this as it was enough to feed several grown beastmen and would be more than enough for him and Iris who ate significantly less than him.
Seeing Caspian lingering around after breakfast was long finished, Iris grew confused and couldn't help but question it.
"Are you not hunting today? It's not that I don't love your company, but you usually head out by now."
Caspian laughed as he sat beside Iris on the couch. He leaned over and gave her a short kiss before answering.
"We have enough to feed three grown beast men and you with meat alone now. If you add in your acorns, cattails, and bearberries; we'd have enough to feed an extra female. There is also only about half a week left before the first snow. Most beastmen do not wander outside this close to the cold season without good reason as many of their prey have already begun to hibernate."
Iris's eyes grew big and her face blanched at this news. She had thought that the cellar looked a bit full before but she just thought that perhaps Caspian ate a lot. Yet, for some reason this damn quest for gathering enough food before the first snow still sat incomplete. Was the system broken?
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you in pain again? I can go brew some more of those pain relief herbs into tea?"
Iris was still caught up in her disappointment as she explained in a low voice.¹
"A few weeks ago I was issued a task to gather enough food before the first snow and it still isn't completed despite us having enough meat stored."
Caspian grew worried alongside Iris at this news, but figured that it might be a matter of missing some requirement.
"Did it specify who you needed food for or what sort of food you had to gather?"
Iris's eyes lit up as her mind flooded with hope. Caspian was right, the quest hadn't specified either! Maybe the problem was that she had to prepare the tribe or even simply more plant-based foods. However, this also caused Iris a bit of grief as, if she had thought to consider the tribe previously, she'd have enough time. As things stood now, things were too close on time.
"We only have a few days until the cold season officially sets in. You even said it yourself that most of the prey has already gone to hibernate. How are we supposed to prepare the entire tribe's food by then? It's far too little time!"
Iris began to panic, but Caspian just picked her up and placed her on his lap. He quietly rubbed her back to soothe her as he thought about the problem at hand.
"Well, most people in the tribe will already have gathered enough food for themselves. As the tribe's best warrior, I can just get together with the tribal leader and witch doctor to discuss the matter. From there we can figure out which households are lacking in food and how we can help them finish preparing.
We have quite a bit of meat and we can gather more plants. If you just need more plants then that problem will be easily solved. If not, then we can figure out a way to feed our tribe mates with the meat and plants we gather.
Although, one problem worth considering is that they won't be willing to accept our help for nothing. Females are used to being pampered, but their males and single males will feel inferior to me if they are unable to provide for themselves."
Iris felt better after hearing Caspian speak. Perhaps there was hope of completing her task after all? Besides that, she had a great idea for how to solve the new problem and it could benefit everyone involved too!
"What if we request permission to hold a weekly communal dinner? Everyone who attends can chip in something and we can be in charge of cooking the food. If we make something like soup then water could make up for a portion of the food while still filling everyone's stomach and letting them feel full. Since everyone is chipping in, no one has to feel indebted but there is more food for everyone. Plus, this would allow a sense of community and companionship to form in the tribe. A united tribe makes for a more powerful tribe and all that.
My other idea is that we could go to collect more cattails along the river and acorns from trees while scouting for other food sources. We could get a few volunteers to help with the gathering process and, as a reward, they'd get a portion of what we gather. Besides that, I need a lot more long grass to use for crafting in the cold season.
If there are people who are unable or unwilling to do either of the above, we could just resort to trades. They can trade furs, hides, sinews, herbs, or other useful goods for a few meals or ingredients."
Caspian smiled down at his little mate and her thoughtfulness. These were the sorts of thoughts tribal leaders should have. Hell, this was how tribes grew strong enough to one day become beast cities.
"Alright, well I'll be back in a short while. I have to go discuss these plans with James and Oliver. You just relax while I'm gone and I'll let you know how it goes when I get back."
Caspian quickly went first to the tribe leader's home and then they both headed to the witch doctor's home. As the tribe leader lived with his mate and the witch doctor was an old bachelor, there was simply a lot more privacy this way.
Once the three sat down in Oliver's home, James was quick to question.
"Alright, you've got our attention. Now what is it?"
Caspian took a deep breath before explaining his concerns for the tribe's preparations for the cold season. Of course, he left out the part about it being a task laid out for them by the Beast Deity. Even if the rest of the tribe starved to death, Caspian would never put Iris in unnecessary danger. However, James was reluctant to do anything about the issue.
"We aren't going around stepping on toes. You are just going to start unnecessary conflicts within the tribe if you ask everyone about their ability to provide for themselves. Even advertising that you have extra food to trade could start problems. This isn't the beast city where we have many powerful beast men who can break up a fight and I won't have you starting a market here."
James was very obstinate and did not want to change the way the tribe functioned. He cared far more about maintaining the peace than taking a chance to better the quality of his tribemates’ lives. Besides, his mate and he would have sufficient food for the cold season so what did he care about those too weak to provide for themselves?
Witch doctor Oliver, however, was even older and wiser than tribal leader James. He had seen tens of tens of beastmen and even a few females die of starvation over his lifetime. He felt saddened by this fact and felt that Caspian's ideas were worth a try. Still, a witch doctor's authority was second to the tribal leaders and he could only hope to make some concessions.
"Alright, but it couldn't hurt to allow the communal dinner, and it isn't unprecedented for Caspian to ask others to join him in looking for food. No one has to come to the communal dinner and it won't be any different from the families inviting their friends over to hang out. No one has to help with the hunting either."
James just grunted out a "Whatever." before leaving to go back to his mate. It was his turn to tend to her needs and he didn't want to miss a second of it.
Oliver looked sadly at Caspian and patted him on the back as he regretfully explained.
"You know how he is. This is the best I could do for you, but, at least, it's something. You don't have bad ideas, this just might not be the tribe to implement such changes."
Oliver felt regretful to live in such a tribe. As a witch doctor, he had compassion for his tribe mates whom he carefully cared for. Sadly, he could only hope that the number who starved this year would be as small a number as possible.
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Discontinued: Ann, Argon, Austin J., Byloderus, Care, Catherine W., Cheyenne O., Chong Y., Christen F., Cindy S., Clara, CooCoo C., Courtney H., Dagoon320, David Z., Denise G., Doc., Dreamer, Emma B., Fictional F., GeminiDragon, Gracie, InjaP., Izzzy B., Jasmine H., Jenn L., Juha, Kayla N., Kelly, Killer K., Lisa C., Martina I., Merveille L., Michelle S., Michelle W., Miranda M., Myungjun R., Nick T., Nova H., Nyrobi J., Nyxie N., Parul N., Quince, Red, Reyanne B., Rochelle N., Ryanna B., Satya P., Sboss678, ScorpioPerk, Shaunna H., Shawna B., Steven B., Travis S., 9Please respect copyright.PENANAHcP3tO3dCM
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