Louisa's POV
"Human woman! It's you!" I heard a familiar voice.
"Mr. Weasel!" I exclaimed. "Where are you?"
"I'm here!" The voice came from behind.
I turned back and saw Mr. Weasel standing on Colt's head.
"Ahhhhh! A rat's on my hair! A very long rat! And it's messing up my great hairstyle!" Colt jumped up and down and said.
"I'm not a rat! You stupid bird-nest head!" Mr. Weasel got off Colt by stepping on his nose and took a leap at me.
Will giggled as Mr. Weasel's fluffy tail swept across his arms.
Colt covered his nose and said, "What the hell is that?!"
I said, "This is Mr. Weasel. He's my friend."
"I have to say that you hang out with very strange friends, Louisa. Bats, salamanders... now weasels?" Colt looked around and said.
I saw several small weasels, black, brown, and white, popping up from the bush and skipping towards us.
"That human woman's taking our father!" One of them screamed.
"I'll bite her leg and you can jump on her face and scratch her." Another one said.
"Please don't bite me." I frowned and said.
"Ahhhh! That woman's witch!"
"She can understand us!"
"Our father has been kidnapped by a witch!"
"I can't bite a witch. She might turn me into a turtle!"
"I can't scratch her. She will turn me into a toad!"
As they were shouting at each other and running around, Mr. Weasel looked at me and said, "Human woman! These are my children! They are very noisy and I guess I'm getting deaf. You have to speak very loudly towards my ear to let me hear."
"They're very adorable." I smiled at him and said. "How're your arms, by the way?"
"I don't know. They're still quite painful. I guess there must be some inflammation or pus! Oh, I hate pus! I can't look at them!" He turned away his head while stretching his little front feet to me.
I looked closely at his arms. Hairs started to grow where the wounds used to be.
I stroked his furry forearms and said, "You're fully recovered, Mr. Weasel."
"Are you sure?" Mr. Weasel looked back at me and said. "Maybe my bones are broken! Can't you feel it?"
I petted his triangle head and said, "You're a very healthy weasel, Mr. Weasel. But you look bony. Are you hungry?"
"I'm a weasel! I'm always hungry, human woman!" Mr. Weasel said.
"Let's go to the cottage. I'll fix some food for you and your children," I said.
"Really?! Do you have chicken?!" Mr. Weasel's eyes started to get glassy.
"I've got plenty of crayfish meat," I said and winked at him. "They're very delicious."
"Me like crayfish!" Mr. Weasel shouted with excitement.
"Crayfish! Crayfish!" The small weasels shouted together.
Before we got back to the cottage, Mr. Salamander, who stayed on top of the watermill, saw us.
"It's her! Louisa's back!"
Miss Salamander popped up her head from the water and said, "Oh, mine! She's growing much taller than we saw her last time. What did they feed her? Ah, Mr. Goodlooking is with her... And so many weasels! Look at the way they hop. So cute! Can we eat them?"
"No, we can't, sis. They're friends, not food." Mr. Salamander said.
"OK, hammerhead. You've made too many friends. Soon there won't be anything left in the forest for us to eat!" Miss Salamander complained.
"Hi, Mr. and Miss Salamanders," I greeted them. "It's so glad to meet you! I hope you're hungry because I've brought food for you. Do you like crayfish?"
"That girl has brought us crayfish! I really wish I could marry her, so I could lick her over and over," Mr. Salamander said.
"Stop talking like that, hammerhead. You're such a shame to our species."
I couldn't stop giggling when I heard their argument.
I felt much more delighted when I got back to this cottage.
Lucian came into the yard and asked the soldiers to feed the salamanders and weasels. Colt was helping them while Will was carefully feeding a small white weasel.
I walked to the other side of the yard, picked up the curing hog meat, and checked. It was almost ready.
"What are you going to do with that meat?" Lucian walked towards me and asked.
He looked as if nothing had happened. I guessed he knew that I couldn't stay angry at him for long.
"I want to make some ham with it. Then, I can take it to the Mountainside Village and sell it to the villagers to make some money." I replied.
Lucian said, "Luke will give you an allowance at the end of every month. In a few days, you'll get it. It's more than you can spend."
"I don't need his money!" I said.
"What do you need the money for, anyway?" Lucian asked.
"I want to buy some books to read. You know, medical books. And I also want to buy some presents for Gianna and her baby. And, you know, for you as well." I said.
"You want to buy me a gift?" Lucian raised an eyebrow and asked.
"Yes. You know, to say thank you. I have never officially said thank you to you. You are the one who saved my life when my stepbrother Zion wanted to kill me," I mumbled.
Lucian said, "I know you want to show some good intentions. But I can only take the thanks, not your presents. If you want, you can make some clothes for the baby. It's a baby boy, by the way."
"Thank you for telling me that. I used to sew baby clothes all the time in my father's tribe," I said.
"It seems that you were very busy when you were at Crimson Pack," Lucian said.
"If I hadn't worked so hard, I would have been kicked out of the tribe long ago!" I said.
I had mixed feelings about the time when I was in my father's tribe. I was so pathetic at that time, yet I was so full of hope.
I had hoped that one day, my mate would come and take me away from my father's tribe. He would marry me. I would bear his children. And we would have a family.
He could be a soldier, a doctor, a woodcutter, or a fisherman. He could be anyone who lived a simple and decent life. He would put bread on the table by working very hard during the day and I would cook for him and breed the children.
Every night, he would hold me in his arms, tell me how much he loved me, and kiss me goodnight.
I would do everything for him, for he was the love of my life.