The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 266: Down the right path

As we walked out, I squinted my eyes at the shining sun. It was warm.

I adjusted the basket in my hand when I noticed Tita.

I spotted Tita coming from a distance, her wolf ears perked up. She looked like she had just come back from gathering herbs, a satchel slung over her shoulder. As soon as she saw us all dressed up and ready to leave, she stopped dead in her tracks.

She frowned and dropped the bundles in her hand.

"The least you could’ve done is said goodbye," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Behind her, two other figures appeared. I blinked in surprise. It was the rabbit midwife and Elara, the nurse. They looked a bit winded, as if they had rushed over as soon as they heard we were here.

Thanks to Noah keeping our stay a secret, they got the news late. But they still found a way to make it before we actually left.

"I just got word that you were here, it looks like you’re leaving already." The midwife said, her eyes softening as she looked at the cubs in my basket.

So this was where Noah had gotten them from. I had assumed he’d run all the way to West Way, but that was before I knew there was a border town like this.

If he had run all the way to West Way, maybe I wouldn’t have made it.

I stepped forward, offering a sincere smile.

"I didn’t get a chance to thank you properly before," I said to the midwife and Elara. "If it weren’t for your help in that cave, I don’t know if my babies would be here today. I don’t know if I’d be alone either, so..." I bowed my head which somehow burdened them, given my presumed status. "Thank you."

I then turned to Tita. "And thank you for the house, the clothes... and for looking after the little ones while I was... resting."

Tita’s frown vanished, replaced by that familiar, predatory glint in her eyes. She stepped closer, invading my personal space just enough to make my tail twitch.

"It was no problem, pretty tiger," she whispered, her voice low enough that only I could hear. "I’ll probably get my real reward from you sometime in the future, right?"

She winked, and I felt those goosebumps return. That damn flirt...

I quickly stepped back toward my husbands.

"Thank you once again," I said with an awkward smile and then turned to the three behind me. "Anyway, we should get moving,"

"Stay safe, pretty tiger," Tita said, waving and winking.

I just had to shrug the goosebumps off, if not, I’d be a staggering statue.

As we started down the path, the watch Tower at the border town began to fade behind us.

We didn’t move fast at the start, probably to let our food digest a little better before the race began.

I looked down at the cubs who were happy to be on the road again and then up at Noah.

"Is this border also a part of your territory?" I asked and before allowing him to answer, added more. "Tita is your ’cousin,’ but she seems to live by her own rules. Does she not apply to being royalty?"

Noah nodded, his gaze fixed on the horizon. "My tribe is very much a Kingdom. It spans a large area, from the peaks we crossed to get to this border, to the river we’ll come across further in. We are a part of the West Way confederation. My family’s lands are vast, though certainly not the largest in the realm."

I didn’t ask further, even though he didn’t answer all my questions.

I just imagined Tita rushed off to this border town to avoid the responsibilities of a royal, just as he had run away in order to avoid his responsibilities for a while.

And furthermore, the word ’Kingdom’ felt heavy, reminding me that the man beside me wasn’t just my husband; he was a ruler.

Would he really be able to give up his throne just because I stand on my decision not to become a queen and travel around?

It worried me but I felt I could worry about that later in the future.

We walked until the open plains began to choke with dense, ancient trees. The air grew humid, and the sunlight struggled to pierce the thick canopy.

I looked at my cubs to make sure the huge and dense trees didn’t frighten them, and thankfully, they were fine with it.

We stopped at the edge of the dark treeline and they began to take off their clothes so they could transform.

"We’ll race through his part until we get to the Whispering Valley," Noah said, handing me his clothes and I nodded.

"What’s the Whispering Valley? And why is it called that way?" But my question drowned in the ’poofing’ sound of his transformation. He looked at me, wondering what I had said but I brushed it off. "Nevermind."

We’ll get there anyway so there was no need to probe further right now.

Damar lifted me in his arms, not transforming into his full snake form.

"I’ll carry you like this, Ari," he said, smiling warmly at me.

"We don’t need to go full speed so this should be fine," I said and looked at Fenric transforming as well.

Once that was done, Noah let out a howl before he began to speed forward, taking the lead.

We were right behind him and Fenric.

I watched the dense tree lines, watched how the sun peaked through the trees that covered the sky.

And I don’t know how it happened but I fell asleep, clutching hard on the basket to make sure my babies didn’t slip off.

Damar watched me sleep and then watched the cubs. He smiled, taking it upon himself to make sure the cubs did not stubbornly jump off but the breeze forced them into sleep as well.

Only after what felt like an hour did I open my eyes to see we had stopped.

In front of us was an even denser forest. It wasn’t like we couldn’t go through but their bodies were too big to do so, so they had to transform back to human form.

"What... What’s going on?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and Noah turned to me.

"You’re awake." He said and I tapped Damar’s chest.

He understood the signal and let me down, taking the basket of cubs from me so I could stand freely with no restraint.

I got to stretch my legs and my hips.

"Did something happen? Why did we stop?"

"We have to go through here if we want to reach the ferry to cross the river," Noah said.

"A ferry?" I asked, stunned. I didn’t know they had boats in this world.

I remember how we had to ride Damar’s back in order to cross the huge lake. So they did have boats.

The more I learned about the West Way, the more I realized how truly civilized it was compared to the Stormhole tribe and every other tribe we’ve gone past up till now.

"Well, if that’s the way, then there’s no problem, right? Let’s go."

But Noah didn’t move. He stared at the dense and thick forest before us and asked a peculiar question,

"Little tiger... do you have secrets?"