Exiled

After another two weeks of travel, Iris and her mates arrived at the artic wolf tribe. It was now just a little before high sun as they had stopped a short ways upriver the night before.

Thanks to the map update, they had traveled in leisure. They often stopped at caves for the night and were easily able to find water sources. Once they even managed to stop at a tribe.

Since the snow leopard tribe had been on the way back home, Iris and her mates stopped by shortly. Basil had wanted to stock up on herbs and water from the village well while the others took a comfortable rest for the night.

Since the snow leopard tribe did not live in a mountain, Iris got to try a new experience. The snow leopards lived in teepee like homes with thick wooden poles wedged into the ground and animal skins draped over top of them. To prevent the rain and snow from leaking in, the top was also covered up, which wasn't an issue since the tribe did not use campfires to cook their food.

This was a few days back, but it did make Iris feel like it might be nice to go traveling more often and see what else was out there. Who knows what other plants and living situations there might be to observe.

When Iris got closer to the artic wolf tribe, she began to feel dread build up in her stomach. Seeing many people begin to gather at the foot of the mountain, Iris's mates quickly transformed into their human forms and stood around Iris protectively.

Holly came desperately running over to Iris, panting as she collapsed at her feet. Holly looked pitiful as she tried to catch her breath before explaining

"Iris, Ivy took your home while you were gone! She is claiming she is pregnant with a female this time and needs a nicer home to raise her daughter in . So she took your home while you were gone!"

Basil sneered as he spit out

"That vile bitch. There is no way to know how many children of what gender or even what tribe they are from without giving birth. She is clearly making shit up."

Iris rolled her eyes as she frowned. Iris turned to Holly and was about to ask her about the situation when tribe leader James arrived. Holly's mates carefully pulled her out of the way as Caspian began to question James.

"What is this? I informed you we would be returning and we even arrived sooner than we initially stated."

James gave a helpless expression and held his hands up as he explained

"It's true that I gave my daughter your home. You know how rare it is to birth females. How could I deny her the best environment to raise her daughter? Not to worry, you can always take Ivy's old home. I'm sure it won't take you long to rebuild."

Ember was at his boiling point as he turned to Iris he asked in a carefully measured voice

"Are you okay with this?"

Iris shook her head vehemently as she exclaimed

"Of course not! I don't want her having my things. Also, who would want her sloppy leftovers. Such an unclean vile female, who knows how trashed her home is."

With that Ember stormed off. He would not take this lying down. James tried to command the others to stop him, but few tries to stand in Ember's way. Those who did were quickly injured as Ember's flames raged around him.

When Ember arrived at their old home, Ivy and her mates were hiding inside. Ivy's mates quickly went to try to stop Ember from entering, but we're no match for someone at least two levels higher than them with such a devastatingly powerful element.

Ivy could only watch as Ember burned everything not made of stone and smashed the rest to smithereens. He even went as far as to destroy several portions of wall in his rage. Ivy shrieked in fear as Ember took one last glance at her before stomping away.

By the time he returned to Iris's side, the news of what he had already spread. James looked absolutely pissed as he loudly declared

"That's it! I tried to be polite by continuing to allow you to live in my tribe. However, I will not allow you to do as you like anymore. Don't think I don't know what you've been doing these few seasons you wicked bitch.

You've gone behind my back and gone against my orders repeatedly. You fed the tribe in the cold season and sold them items in the beast city just to get around directly defying my orders.

Well, I will no longer allow it! This is the final straw, you need to leave and never return. You are no longer welcome here."

James turned around and noticed the crowd murmuring around him. He grew angrier as he snapped at the crowd

"What are you looking at? Return to your homes at once!"

Many did as requested and James did not remain to ensure the others would comply as he went to attend to his daughter. After a while a decent sized crowd remained and others even continued to leave the mountain.

Soon, Fawn stepped forward with her mates to speak to Iris.

"Jeeze, that was rough. Tribe leader James made a right ass of himself. Many of us were aware of these issues previously and had been talking already about what to do about it. However, this definitely is just the final nail in the coffin.

What do you plan on doing now that you've been kicked out of the tribe?"

Iris looked thoughtful as she considered her situation. Then, Iris remembered back to the mountain with the hot springs. It had no tribes or cities close enough to claim the land and there was a forest and river near enough to have sufficient food.

Thus, Iris made up her mind as she announced

"I know of a good place to settle down about two months travel away. Less if we rush, but I'd rather take it easy and not push my mates too hard. I think I'll try my hand at building my own tribe where the community's needs come first. I can't stand selfish people like James and Ivy and I won't temper my ambitions any more."

Fawn nodded, feeling proud of her friend as she replied

"Good. Many of us were willing to follow you to another tribe, but this is better. Give us a bit to pack up our belongings and we will set out while it's still daylight."

That day eight females with their mates and sixty males set off for a new home. A hundred-twenty beasts were a lot of people to move at once and many were not even awakened. Still, Iris was confident they could make it and they would build a better life for themselves.

*END OF VOLUME ONE*