Chapter 34: I Just Want To Sleep In My New Bed!
Neve scratched the back of his head as he looked at the chief. He looked at the carpet and the new bedroom that now existed in a cave in a beast world full of things he had absolutely no natural explanation for.
He looked at Cael.
He tried to make his eyes say ’please help me’ without also saying ’I have no idea how to explain that everything in that room came from a magical inventory given to me by a system that appeared after I died, falling into a lion enclosure.’
Cael looked at him for exactly one second.
Then he stepped in front of his father.
"You can’t ask that of Neve, father," he said in his flat and certain voice. "The red panda tribe kept these things secret for a reason. Don’t you think?"
The chief blinked.
Then understanding slowly spread across his face. He nodded as he cleared his throat to adjust his facial expression.
"Of course," he said. He stepped off the carpet and turned to Neve with an expression that had rearranged itself into something apologetic. He took Neve’s hand. "I apologise. If the red panda tribe had shared any of this, every tribe in the land would have fought to possess it. I understand why it was kept private."
Neve smiled at him.
It was his best smile. The warm one. The one that reached everything it was supposed to reach and communicated nothing except pleasant agreement.
’I have no idea what you just said,’ he thought behind it. ’I don’t understand anything about the red panda tribe’s secrets because I’m not from here, but you believe whatever you need to believe, old man.’
"Of course," Neve said out loud. "It’s a sensitive matter."
The chief nodded seriously.
Neve led him gently out of the bedroom by the arm and back into the main space and pointed him toward the mat.
"It’s late," Neve said. "You should eat first, then go back to rest in your cave. You’ve been coordinating all day... your health matters too, chief."
The old man laughed like Neve had said something charming and sat down heavily with the satisfied sound of a man who had just been told to take care of himself by someone he had decided to listen to.
Cael sat beside his father and watched as Neve went to the kitchen.
.
.
The stew had held well. He had pulled it back from the heat at the right time, and it had thickened to exactly where he wanted it.
’I should have been a chef instead of working in that zoo,’ he thought to himself.
He ladled it into three bowls, grabbed the spoons and carried both out.
Cael looked at the bowl immediately.
"It’s a different colour than yesterday," he said.
"Of course, it’s meant to be. I made use of different ingredients, so the result would be different too." Neve handed both of them their spoons and sat across from them with his own bowl. "Use the spoon. Both of you."
The chief held the spoon and looked at it with the specific wariness of someone who had been told what to do with an unfamiliar object but couldn’t quite make the motion feel natural.
He turned it over. Turned it back. Held it from the wrong end.
Neve decided not to explain. He just started eating.
Cael watched him for half a second, copied the grip, put the spoon in the bowl and lifted it to his mouth.
His eyes went wide on the first spoon.
Neve watched it happen — the moment the flavour registered, the pause in chewing, the complete stillness of someone whose brain had just received information it needed a moment to process.
"Wow, this is stew?" Cael said.
"That’s stew," Neve said.
Cael took another spoon. Then another. Then a fourth without pausing between them.
The chief watched his son eat with focused attention. Then he looked at his own spoon. Then at his bowl. He copied the grip Cael had, which was so much better than before, even though it wasn’t quite right. He scooped up a spoonful and put it in his mouth.
He sat very still.
He looked around the room like he expected someone to share this moment with him, but Cael was already on his fifth spoon, and Neve was eating calmly like he hadn’t just served something that apparently broke people’s brains on the first taste.
The chief picked up his bowl and slowly brought it to his lips.
"Chief," Neve said immediately.
The old man stopped.
"The spoon," Neve said. "Please."
The chief looked at the bowl in his hands and the spoon on his lap. He lifted his gaze back at Neve.
He put the bowl down and used the spoon.
Neve turned back to his own food and let himself have a small private moment of satisfaction. He didn’t want whatever Cael did yesterday to repeat itself today.
.
.
By the time the bowls were empty, the cave had gone quiet. The chief sat with his hands on his knees, trying not to think more about the dish he had just tasted for the first time in his life.
"I like the stew," Cael said, breaking the silence.
Neve raised a brow. "You’ve had the stew for thirty seconds."
"Yes. But the soup was better."
"They’re different things. They do different jobs."
"The soup is better," Cael said again, with certainty. He had made his own choice and didn’t want to argue any further.
Neve pressed his lips together. "Fine. For the winter festival, I’ll make soup."
"Would it be enough for everyone?"
"I’ll need more fire. More bamboo."
"Already stored," Cael said. He stood and collected the empty bowls without being asked. "I’ll wash these. You should rest." He looked at Neve with attention. "You’ve been busy since this morning."
Neve had been busy since before this morning. He had been busy since he arrived in this world. But today specifically had been a full day in every direction... the sewing, helping Cael with his... problem, the stockpile mission, the bedroom, Purse, Isabella, the stew, the chief’s visit... and his body had opinions about all of it.
The chief stood. "That was excellent, Neve. I expect the soup at the festival will shame every other tribe’s contribution." He looked genuinely pleased about this prospect. "I hope the leopard tribe wins."
"Wins what?" Neve asked.
"The competition," the chief said.
Neve looked at him. "There’s a competition?"
"At the festival. Each tribe presents their best. Meat, crafts, strength. The best tribe wins the king’s favour for the year."
"Does the king of beasts judge it?" Neve said slowly.
"He sometimes does. If he doesn’t, he’ll just pass it to someone else. After all, he never shows himself," the chief said. He patted Neve’s shoulder once and left, still looking satisfied.
Neve stood in the cave after his footsteps faded and thought about Vaelthorn judging a winter festival competition at which Neve would be present.
He filed that thought under things to panic about tomorrow.
.
.
The bedroom was better than he remembered from thirty minutes ago.
He had been in there twice already — once to arrange it and once to show Cael and the chief... but this was the first time he was in it alone with the lamp lit and no immediate task in front of him.
He put the lamp on the bedside drawer. He looked at the bed and immediately climbed onto it.
His body sank into the foam. He pressed his face into the pillow and made a sound that was somewhere between relief and embarrassment at how relieved he was.
"This is so soft," he said into the pillow.
His tail was moving continuously.
He rolled onto his back and looked at the stone ceiling and felt... genuinely and properly comfortable. Physically comfortable. Like a person and not like a red panda doing his best.
His eyes got heavy.
Good. Good, he needed that.
The system dinged, and he opened his eyes.
"What is it again?" he said, not moving.
{New Mission: Entertain the Tiger Tribe.}
{Reward: +3 to all stats.}
Neve looked at the ceiling.
"Entertain," he said. "The tiger tribe."
The system waited.
"I don’t know anyone in the tiger tribe," he said. "I met Ryker for one day, and he proposed to me and then left. That’s the extent of my relationship with the tiger tribe."
{The mission parameters are flexible, Host.}
"What does entertain even mean? Do they want food? Do they want a show? Do they want me to—"
{Details to be determined upon their arrival.}
Neve pressed the back of his hand to his forehead.
"Fine," he said. "Tomorrow. I’ll figure it out tomorrow."
He closed his eyes.
{Noted. Additionally—}
"Tomorrow," Neve said firmly.
{This is time-sensitive, Host.}
"Everything is time-sensitive. So, Tomorrow."
The system went quiet.
He exhaled and let the mattress do what it was doing, which was being unreasonably comfortable, and felt sleep pulling at him properly.
His tail settled.
His breathing evened out.
Just before he crossed the line into actual sleep, one more notification quietly appeared above him in the dark.
{Countdown to shift back to red panda form: 10:45:22}
{10:45:21}
{10:45:20}