Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Six - Where Do Babies Come From?

Since we had to go to the Guild anyway, it only made sense that the official members would form one of the shore parties and be the same ones to escort Booksie home. The exception was Desiree, she insisted on coming with us, and I didn't have it in me to say no.

Of course, Booksie could have returned with Rhawrexdee, but she admitted that the last time they'd had a date in the city, the city council had been somewhat annoyed at all of the destruction of public property. The roads of Port Royal were nice and wide, but they weren't 'dragon' wide.

Booksie sheepishly pointed to a row of street lights where only the bottom third of the poles remained. They were getting around to replacing those.

So, she told Rhawrexdee--when he returned from saying hi to his sister--that she would be seeing him at the shop. Then she smooched him on the cheek, and I had to cover Awen's eyes and my own because that was a lot.

I noticed that we were getting a few looks as we made our way across the city. Whether that was because people recognized Booksie, or if we just stood out for being such a mixed group, I didn't know. We had two buns, a harpy, a human, a catperson and a foxgirl, which I supposed did mean that we were halfway to a menagerie.

Booksie paused at the front of her shop and turned to us. "Did you want to come in?" she asked.

"I mean, I am carrying all your stuff," Calamity noted. "You want it back, right?" He had Booksie's things with him. She'd packed light, but had accumulated a few little souvenirs along the way, as one did. Calamity had been gentleman... gentlecatly enough to carry her things for her.

Booksie laughed. "Right, I can take that from you. You're all heading to the Exploration Guild next, right?"

"Yup!" I said.

"In that case, try to grab work that's around the city! I'd appreciate having you all visit while you're still around Port Royal. Plus the wedding... oh my World, I haven't made invitations yet." Booksie squeezed the bridge of her nose with forefinger and thumb. "Gosh, this little vacation was nice, but now that I'm back I'm kind of realising that I left a lot of work undone."

"We'll be around," I promised before raising my arms. "Bye-bye hugs?"

Bye-bye hugs were had by all. It was the best way to say goodbye to a friend, and the bit of pain that came from saying goodbye was mitigated by knowing that we'd be back soon enough and that Booksie was probably safe.

Just in the time we'd been around, I noticed two guard patrols on the street and several ruffians sitting and chatting in the corners. The shadow of a dragon even passed over us. I was sure there were more eyes around that I couldn't see. Booksie would be as safe as a bun could be.

"Alright!" I said as we started back towards the centre of the city. "Straight to the guild?"

"I can't imagine anyone needs to stop for food or the like," Amaryllis said. "We had supper just an hour ago."

"I mean," Calamity began. Amaryllis gave him a look, and he turned his gaze elsewhere. "Nevermind."

"Hmhp, that's right," Amaryllis said. "Now, best behaviour at the guild. We can pick which mission to take, but there's also some leeway on the part of the guild itself. They can refuse us for a multitude of reasons."

"Such as?" Desiree asked.

"For one, they might say that a certain mission requires a certain kind of expert on our team that we lack. Their requirements can even be entirely reasonable. I wouldn't dream of taking up a mission to study geology with our current team and crew, for example," Amaryllis said.

"Ah, and if we take on maintenance or repair missions, I'm the only mechanic," Awen added. "Um, for hunting missions we just have Calamity."

"Exactly," Amaryllis said. "We do cover a fairly wide range of skills and experiences here, so that'll count for much, but we don't have the depth that a team of experts might have. In any case, let's be aware of our limits."

We crossed Port Royal with ease. The city seemed to be in something of a festive mood. I noticed a lot of musicians out on the street and plenty of people laughing and chatting while out and about. "Do you know if there's something special going on?" I asked.

"Not as far as I know," Amaryllis said.

"A festival, maybe?" Awen asked.

"Or a seasonal thing," Calamity said with his ears twitching. "I think I overheard someone say something about hatching. Could be that the little baby grenoils are being born right now?"

"Huh, you know, I never really asked about how baby grenoil are made," I said. "And now that I think about it, I've never seen a grenoil child. Like, there's younger ones, and those you can tell apart because they're a little smaller and don't look as wrinkly, but I've never seen a kid grenoil."

"You know, I haven't either," Amaryllis said. "It's rare that I'll be blindsided by something so obviously culturally relevant."

"Ah, I know this one." Awen said. We turned her way, and she shrugged. "It was part of a lesson I had. Uh, since Mattergrove and Deepmarsh are neighbours."

"Deepmarsh neighbours the Harpy Mountains as well, and I've heard nothing," Amaryllis said. "But do go on."

Awen nodded. "I think Deepmarsh keeps it kind of private, but grenoils are born as tadpoles. They have these birthing... places. They're very secretive about the locations, and they're well-protected."

"I guess that explains why we don't see any kids? Do they stay in that place until they're old?" I asked.

Awen shrugged. "I think so? Or at least old enough to walk around on their own. Baby grenoil don't have legs."

I blinked. I supposed that made some sense. They looked like frogs, or maybe toads, so it made sense that they'd have a sort of tadpole stage.

"From what I understand, a family will have their own pool that they buy or rent in one of their birthing places. The lady and the gentleman that want a child will go there and, ah, um." Awen flushed a little. "A-and then, a few months later, the eggs hatch. The strongest are picked to be the next generation of the family, and the rest are pushed towards other things. It's a little weird, I think."

"Huh," I said. I wasn't sure if I liked that.

"Anyway, the tadpoles will show up once they can walk around, and then they're reunited with their family and start their education. I think they're only children for a couple of years. Not like humans that are babies for a long time, then take a while to grow old enough to take care of themselves."

Desiree hummed. "They don't have a kit stage, where they are more tail than child?"

"Wait, more tail than child?" I asked.

Desiree nodded. "Of course! As a babe, my tail was nearly as long as it is now. Though of course I only had the one, and my tails have lengthened a little."

I had a brain flash image of a tiny Desiree as a kid with a tail that was longer than she was tall and all fluff. It was a very cute mental image. "That's so strange," I said.

"There's nothing strange about it," Desiree said. "It's perfectly natural."

"Oh, uh, yeah, I guess it is," I said. "Sorry. It's just different than what I'm used to."

"All of you mammals are weird," Amaryllis said. "Being born from an egg is how it ought to be. Can you imagine giving birth? That's disgusting and uncouth. Not to mention unsanitary."

We all gave her a look and she huffed, dismissing our curiosity with an upwards tilt of her nose.

"What about cat people?" I asked Calamity.

He shrugged. "Same as humans and buns and such, I suppose," he said.

I sighed. At least that was normal.

"At least after the baby loses its second head," he continued and I almost missed a step. Calamity's sharp eyes caught me and he guffawed in laughter. "Ah-haha! You believed me!"

"Wait, so you didn't have a baby head that you lost?" I asked.

"What? Of course not, I was pulling your tail," he said with a dismissive wave and a chuckle. "You know, for some this is a delicate thing to talk about, you might want to pick up a book about it. Nyeah?"

Amaryllis sighed. "I know you're flexible enough to fit your foot in your mouth, but unless you want to get used to the taste of toe, then maybe take a minute to read up on it first?"

I nodded along. I was definitely going to see if Booksie had something on the subject. I didn't want to embarrass myself any further if I could avoid it.

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