Fuschia Dreams

A week after Iris left the beast city behind, she had to force Basil to stop so that she could violently vomit up her entire stomach contents. Basil looked worried as he rubbed her back and comforted her.

Once he got a chance, he felt Iris's forehead to check her for a fever as he looked her over. She didn't appear to be sick as she looked and smelled healthy enough besides getting sick. Basil's eyebrows furrowed as he asked

"Are you in pain anywhere? You don't seem to have a fever and you don't smell off. So it's unlikely to be a cold."

Iris shook her head as she began retching again.

"Ugh... No, I just feel nauseated and like....."

Basil's concern grew as he found that there was seemingly no reason for his mate to be sick. Thinking it might be THAT, Basil fished a strange magenta flower out of Iris's bag and held it up to her.

As Iris breathed in the scent, she found it slightly sweet and relaxing. Her nausea even seemed to lessen the more she breathed it in. Seeing Iris relaxing Basil's lips begin to turn up at the edges as he asked

"How is it? Does it smell good?"

Iris nodded as she explained

"Yeah, it has a faint sweet smell like rose water candies. My nausea seems to be settling too. What is this?"

Basil handed Iris the strange fuschia-colored flower with dark purple stamens as he explained

"This is known as a dream lily as it's used to diagnose pregnancies since only pregnant females can smell its scent. You must not be very far along if the scent is so faint."

Iris's eyes went wide as she took in Basil's words. Caspian who had also come back from informing the tribe and Ember who had just flown down were equally speechless. Basil's eyes lit up in joy as he explained

"We're going to have some cubs in our family in two seasons, isn't this great news!"

Ember corrected

"Or hatchlings, there is no guarantee who the father is until they are born."

Caspian sighed as he took in Iris's watery eyes and stunned expression. She looked conflicted rather than happy at the news. Caspian could only remember their previous conversation about how his little mate wasn't exactly eager to become a mother. He hesitated as he tried to form the words to ease her concerns

"I'm sorry, Iris. I know you were hesitant to birth cubs previously. I can't agree with you using herbs to abort it as many females die in the process. However, you don't have to care for the children. I... I can take them away after they are born and raise them alone... if you want...."

Caspian was on the verge of tears as he finished his speech. Basil's and Ember's expressions darkened as they realized they may have forced their mate to become a mother against her will. Most females adored their children and males were desperate to be chosen to father said offspring to earn their female's favor.

However, even then, it was mostly up to the fathers to raise the cubs to maturity. Females simply were expected to relax and play to their heart's content. However, it still seemed too severe to cast the children and father out of the family after the cubs were born.

The longer they were left to think, the darker their expressions became. As Iris finally processed Caspian's words and her mates' expressions, she felt guilty. Iris immediately felt the need to clear things up

"Look, I don't want to be rid of my children. I just said that I don't want to have multiple litters of cubs every year for the rest of my life. Pregnancy is hard on a female's body and can leave permanent damage even if nothing goes wrong.

I don't want to abort our children or send you and them away. However, I won't lie, I'd be pissed if you left all the child-rearing to me. Just because I am going to give birth to them doesn't mean I should be responsible for all their care."

The three males were at first relieved before looking at Iris as if she had grown a second head. They couldn't fathom why she was worried about raising the children by herself. Ember was surprisingly the first to speak as he flatly questioned

"Why would you be responsible for the children's care? That's the job of the males in the family."

Caspian followed up by questioning

"Is that how it works where you grew up? That sounds ridiculous. Females should be cherished and spoiled. You should still play and rest to your heart's content even after the children are born. We can take care of everything."

Iris scowled as she questioned

"What time do you all have to care for children? The tribe needs you to lead them Caspian, you can't just ignore them. As for you, Basil, you are our tribe's only witch doctor. If you don't treat the injured and sick then they are likely to die and no one wants that.

Ember might not have an official role yet, but he is the strongest in our tribe. Surely he will have to train and lead the others into combat during any conflicts. Even when he isn't busy protecting us all, he does the bulk of the hunting.

Maybe I need more mates... Although I doubt I'd be that appealing during my pregnancy. Still, having a mate who is more of a homebody might be good. Though I'd feel guilty if they had to watch children that weren't theirs."

Sadly, Iris's mates could not convince her to change her narrative for the future. All too soon they had to resume their travels so that they wouldn't slow down their progress. It was, after all, dangerous to remain in this desert prairie environment with no shade and limited water sources for too long.

Iris's mates sighed in their hearts as they tried to make peace with the fact that they may have to share their mate with another male sooner rather than later. Pregnancy was seen as a good thing in the beast world and no male would refuse to mate with a female over such a thing. Besides, Iris was too beautiful to not capture the hearts of any male who laid their eyes upon her.

Ember just hoped that the new mate would be weaker than him. Since Iris said she wanted a homebody and nanny, Ember assured himself that the odds were high and his wish would come true.

Basil felt the most wounded of the three. He was a witch doctor, could cook, craft, and even seemed to successfully entertain his mate regularly. Yet Iris wanted another mate who could do these things? Basil couldn't help but feel bitter as he mused over this.

Caspian, of course, had made peace long ago with Iris having other mates. He just wanted to be supportive and be the one Iris turned to with all her troubles. So he was far less bothered by her having more mates than being considered undependable.