Beastmen Love-Chapter 211: Beneath the Quiet Moon

Shinkou and Astri are sitting next to each other in the moonlight and the focal light from the fire. The breeze is cool, and colorful fireflies flicker gently between the grass. In the Beastmen World, the fireflies look magical because they have different colors.

They stay quiet for a while, like they were offering each other presence. They hear only the leaves here and there and the fire cracking the wood sometimes. Astri beats the point of her pencil on the table softly, trying to organize her thoughts, but at night, she always gets overwhelmed with homesickness.

"Every night is hard to sleep.. I was so used to sleeping next to my spouses or children that now it always feels too cold." Astri softly says, then puts down the pencil. "What is interesting is that I spent at least 20 years alone, and after feeling their love, I think I got spoiled." She says, and snorts.

He smiles softly, then looks at the moon.

"No.. When we taste something good, our taste never goes backward, I believe. I used to think I could live without anyone really knowing me. Just be the smiling Ookitsune. Quick with a joke, quicker with a deal. Tricking the world before it tricks me." He says, then looks at her again. "People see me and think of lies, of clever hands and stolen things. Even here, in this village, they watch me like I might vanish with their gem pouch. But you... you didn’t look at me like that. After feeling the happiness of not being what they believe I am, I can’t imagine living away from you anymore. If you’re spoiled, I got spoiled in so little time, then."

She giggles, and then she lays her head on his shoulder, making his heart jump.

"I thought I would be stronger than this. There was always a possibility of something bad happening. I always imagined that, if something like this happened, I would face it differently, you know? But... I feel split in two. I am literally split."

He doesn’t speak back. He only shifted slightly closer, embracing her with one arm, trying to take her pain away.

"I’m supposed to be the Goddess of Nature." She says with a broken laugh. "But sometimes I feel like a lost female with no home again."

"We will find your family. I promise." He says.

She looks at him again, but now they’re closer and he can see the details of her face closely and he’s sure that she’s the most perfect and strongest female in that world even if she is going through a hard phase.

"Why? Once we find them, what will you do?" She asks.

She knows it’s an obvious question, but she had to ask.

"I’ll stay with you forever. Good taste, there’s no going back."

She chuckles, then leans forward and kisses his lips, taking him by surprise, but her lips are so sweet that it is hard not to want more.

"I didn’t give you anything to say I was pursuing you." He says.

"You are giving. It’s not an object. But if you don’t want to, I’m sorry for assuming things wrongly and kissing you." She says, moving away a little, hoping she didn’t cross a line with him and feeling selfish.

She just exposed that she’s in pain, feeling fragile, and he would probably think she’s taking advantage of him.

"I don’t want you to feel that I’m just taking advantage of you. That I’m needy and trying to use you to fill the hole in my heart. It’s not that. Your lonely energy also makes me want to be near you, and show that there’s someone here who sees you for who you are. And who you are also heals me naturally."

He smiles, thrilled, then holds her face and kisses her. Their kiss is tender at first, not rushing, feeling like a warm fountain of energy. Their kiss grows deeper slowly, until they’re at the point of needing to stop to take some air.

"Taste has no backward, right?" She asks.

"Even more for this." He answers and kisses her again, making her chuckle.

After another session of kissing, they stay quiet, hugging each other under the moonlight. Their silence is not awkward, it is simply soothing her and healing him.

"You should go rest." He says, watching her yawn.

"I think I relaxed in your arms.. Can you sleep next to me?"

He smiles, happy that she feels better with him, and then they go together and hold hands to her bed. She lays her head on his chest and falls asleep easily, while he feels a happiness he has never felt before.

Kenzou was laid next to them. He smiles, looking at them, and simply goes back to sleep. He tried to help Astri feel better, but he could only help make her company during the day. At night, she misses the time with her spouses and there’s nothing much he can do. He knows she wouldn’t accept Shinkou if she didn’t like him, so he’s happy for her.

On the next morning, Kenzou and Shinkou woke up first, and Astri stayed asleep.

"Congratulations. I’m happy for you, but mostly for her." Kenzou says to Shinkou when they’re out. freewēbnoveℓ.com

"Thank you. But what do you mean?"

"Since I met her, she hasn’t slept properly. I think last night was the day she slept deeply. I can take care of her in many ways, but there are things only a real spouse can heal. I suggest you go slow. She likes you, but I advise you to go slow.. She’s someone fair. She knows she’s in pain, and she doesn’t want others to feel that she’s using them just to feel better. She will feel horrible if in any way she believes she might hurt you."

"I see... You know her. We met her not even 20 days ago, and you know her as if she were your daughter, and I love her as if I knew her forever." Shinkou smiles.

Kenzou smiles and agrees with the thought.

"We won’t ever heal her entirely. We just need to make her feel fine and safe."

Kenzou is wise, even more knowing how it feels to lose a spouse.

She knows they’re not dead, but it’s like she lost all her family at once. Shinkou decides to follow what Kenzou said, because he doesn’t want to make her feel pressured to do anything or feed the wrong feelings inside of her.

Ten more days passed. They built a lot of things to put in the ship, and they’re stocking rice because she doesn’t know when they will have more on other continents. She’s bringing several seeds to try to plant back at home.

Seiryuu always comes to visit and always courts her with good gifts, trying to convince her to stay. When he learned that Astri accepted Shinkou as her spouse, he couldn’t deny that he was jealous.

Astri was painting one day, the painter was watching her painting, seeing her techniques and ways to create natural textured and realistic effects.

Shinkou brings her a bean bun, and she appreciates it, kissing his cheek when he sits on her side.

Seiryuu was watching from a bit far away, and clicked his tongue, envious of Shinkou, crossing his arms and looking away.

"What does that male have that I don’t have?" Seiryuu asks.

"With all due respect, sir.. If you really want to make her fall for you, acting selfish won’t help you." Kenzou says.

"Acting selfish? Me?"

"Yes, sir.. She lost her family. You can see that she feels things differently from other females. Asking her to stay is the same as asking her to admit they died. She needs to go back to them. Shinkou doesn’t want to stop her, and he helps to achieve what she wants. You’re not bad, sir, I just think that if you really want her, you need to think differently."

That was a reality punch on Seiryuu’s face. He didn’t imagine that he was hurting her by insisting on staying. He was just thinking about her safety, but now he can understand that he’s the one breaking the bridge for him to get to her.

Kenzou and Seiryuu walk to her, then watch her painting. She’s painting the city, and on top of it, there’s a Mizuryuu, as he was floating in the sky, and his tones of blue are beautiful with the moonlight of the painting.

"You’re so talented.. Look at the details.." Kenzou says, looking carefully at the painting.

"Your techniques are incredible. I love the texture of the walls." The painter says.

"I’m glad you liked it. This brush is amazing. Can you make more?" Astri says.

"Sure."

Seiryuu and the painter stayed for dinner, and at night they walked together back to the village.

"I’ll pay for ten days of your service, painter. I want you to spend the next ten days making her painting tools." Seiryuu says, and the painter got very happy with the order because it’s enough gems for the rest of the year, or to convince a female to have him.

That day forward, Seiryuu stopped asking Astri to stay, and she appreciated that a lot. She really liked that village and she could see herself living there, but she would never leave her family.

In the next days, Astri, Shinkou, and Kenzou start to bring everything to the ship and learn how to use the ship. Astri learned to use a highly complex ship, a simple sail ship is not hard.