A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 157: Teaching How To Cook

The next morning, Serena slowly opened her heavy eyes, her body clock waking her before dawn. However, he mind wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed just yet. And it wasn’t like she needed to do anything in the morning.

Other than teach the rabbit beastwomen how to make that vegetable dish and check on Finn’s progress with the grinder. But that was all happening in the afternoon. She was free for the rest of the day.

And with that freedom, she wanted to sleep some more because she rarely got that chance.

Grumbling, Serena snuggled deeper into the straw bed. A few pieces of straw poked her as she moved to get comfortable, but for the most part the fur covering the straw helped. Plus she was used to the straw by now.

Theo snapped an eye open at her movements, closing it a moment later to go back to sleep. Kiro, meanwhile, was still lost to this world. Though he’d somehow maneuvered himself under her arm.

Soon enough slumber dragged Serena back to the darkness. Only for her to snap her eyes open what felt like moments later at someone shaking her shoulder.

Her body moved on instinct, grabbing the attacker. However, when her mind caught up with her body, she was shocked to find Kiro gazing at her in horror.

"Shit..." Serena let out a curse, quickly setting the frightened cub down. "Sorry Kiro... Got scared there for a moment... You okay?"

She hoped to all the divine beings in this world that she hadn’t just traumatized the cub with her actions. Fuck, she hated how her body reacted before she could think.

But up until now it was the one thing that kept her alive for so long. Too bad it didn’t have a damn off switch.

"I-I’m... okay." Kiro mumbled out, fidgeting with the hem of his fur skirt as he spoke. "I... I didn’t mean to wake you..."

His stomach let out a grumble and the cub blushed in embarrassment. It didn’t take a genius to wonder why Kiro had woken her. She glanced over at the doorway, hints of sunlight coming from under the wooden door.

"Let’s get you some food." Serena stated.

She turned to see Theo quietly watching them, the tiger beastman shifting into his human form a moment later. He headed out the hut, giving the siblings some space.

Kiro watched the tiger beastman leave too before turning back to face his sister. Serena gazed at the cub for a moment before she spoke.

"I’m sorry. Really." Serena apologized once more, guilt still wrecking through her. "You can say if you’re mad... or sad. I won’t get angry."

"I..." Kiro started, but went quiet at Serena’s pointed look, knowing she wasn’t going to fall for it. His hands tightened around his fur skirt and the cub bit his lip. Finally, he murmured softly, "You scared me..."

His words were said so quietly that if not for her beastman hearing, Serena probably wouldn’t have caught what he said. The cub averted his gaze quickly, biting on his lip again.

"It’s okay Kiro. I was wrong to scare you like that." Serena said with a faint smile. "How can I make it up to you?"

"Can... can I get a hug?" Kiro asked, looking at Serena.

The snow leopard beastwoman nodded her head and opened her arms. The cub quickly moved into her arms and Serena silently wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.

She ruffled his hair and murmured a few more apologies to the cub. After a few minutes, Serena carefully got up and headed outside the hut, not letting go of the cub as she moved.

Once outside, she found Theo already getting a fire going for breakfast. The moment the tiger beastman spotted her, he stood up and headed back to the hut to grab some ingredients for a light breakfast.

Well it seemed more like a brunch now considering it was late morning. They could probably skip lunch today and make an early dinner. And if Kiro was still hungry, she still had some apples that he could snack on.

The two siblings quickly washed their faces and hands before Serena moved over to watch the fire. Kiro curled up in her arms again as Theo came back and got breakfast going.

She quietly watched as the tiger beastman worked, unable to really help. Because she needed to comfort the cub she had scared.

***

After their late breakfast slash early lunch, the trio of felines lazed around the hut, not really needing to do anything. Theo landed up napping under the sun in his beast form while Serena sat next to him and weaved a few more baskets.

Mostly because she needed to keep her hands busy. Kiro, meanwhile, was playing in the grass. The other cubs would probably come by later. If not, then Serena would take Kiro to play another time.

But for today he needed to stay here while the aftermath of the festival was dealt with. In other words, the dismantling of the stage and the clean up. Which would make it too dangerous for Kiro to play there.

It’d be too much chaos.

Finn came by after lunch as usual, bringing one of the pots. Serena did a quick exchange with him before the rabbit beastman got to work on the grinder. After checking on the progress, Serena let him be.

She’d get her other pot sometime within the next few days. It mostly depended on how distracted this project got Finn, but she wasn’t too mad. One pot was enough for now.

Serena headed back to where Theo was still snoozing and settled back down next to the tiger beastman. He napped for another two hours before deciding to join her in crafting some stuff.

He quickly went to grab the furs they had collected as well as the cotton Serena had gotten for him. He also found a fish bone he kept for sewing and the sinew he’d kept to the side.

After sorting through the furs with Serena’s help, Theo got to work making some thick blankets for the cold season. There was already a chill in the air and considering Merinda’s words yesterday, Theo wanted to get them done quickly.

Serena said she had clothes for the cold season, so if they needed them, they had them already. On the other hand, they were relying on furs to keep warm and they weren’t even thick enough to keep out all the cold.

Body heat would help... But that was more of a last resort.

He was halfway through making the first blanket when the rabbit beastwomen came over with their mates and cubs. The cubs ran over to Theo, eagerly greeting him, before running over to Kiro.

Serena, meanwhile, went to greet the rabbit beastwomen and chatted with them for a bit. Except for the one, they all seemed to bring two mates, one to watch the cubs with Theo and the other to learn how to cook the vegetable dish.

Normally, Theo instincts would’ve gone haywire at all the beastmen on his territory, but considering the forewarning Serena had given him, he quickly pushed it down.

Besides, he was used to Finn hanging around their hut for hours at a time. What were a few mated beastmen compared to that?

Once Serena had greeted the rabbit beastwomen, she led them to the fire area and got a fire going. She then quickly headed inside the hut to grab her basket of ingredients which she had sorted out earlier.

After checking what the beastwomen had brought, she swapped out a few vegetables of theirs for herbs she had, explaining each herb to their mates for when they went foraging.

Emma, however, was confused by the herbs and mused, "But don’t you only use these for healing?"

"Most of them are for medicine, but you can use them for cooking too." Serena explained. "They tend to make things taste better depending on how you use them... We actually use them on meat too."

"Is that where you got the idea for this dish?" Grace asked curiously.

"Um... sort of." Serena answered vaguely before quickly moving back to showing how to prepare the ingredients.

The rabbit beastwomen started with most of the tasks, but their mates wouldn’t let them work for long and quickly took over. Thus by the time they were cooking the dish over the fire, Serena was just explaining and giving tips.

Although it was probably for the best if they got practice instead of just watching Serena do everything. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It was getting late when the dish was almost done, so Evan headed out to grab some extra bowls for everyone to eat at the hut. While he was gone, the cubs had come over, enticed by the smell.

And thankfully for them they didn’t need to wait long before food was ready and they could eat.