Chapter 37: Epilogue
Five years had passed since the birth of Erica, Jasmine, and Night Blood's mother's babies. The mothers enjoyed their new children as well as the males who helped in making them. Of course, they also enjoyed the process of making their children too.
After Jasmine gave birth to Storm, her son, the doctors informed her that she would never be able to have another child again because her uterus somehow disappeared and they were unable to explain it. But, Night Blood and Jasmine still had Kira and that was fine enough for both of them.
Erica also gave birth to a son and named him Thunder. She too also had the same problem as Jasmine, loss of the ability to conceive another child. It upset Erica that she could not get pregnant again. But, Bakuub brought up the fact that they could adopted as many orphans as she wanted.
Erica loved that idea because she had seen so many children without any families that needed someone to love them. Over the last five years, Erica and Bakuub adopted almost twenty orphaned children. They also ended up having to expand their home in the tree with many rooms that extended into the upper branches.
Many of the children were rejected by their own families for one reason or another, normally because the child was born with a deformity. Only about 5 of the children had lost their mother during childbirth due to the fact that the mother was way too young to have a child. The children ranged in age from being an infant to almost adult.
The oldest one was a male, whom Erica ended up aptly naming Angel. He was born with one fully functional leg and the other leg did not work. Erica saved him from a group of males who were pushing him around while he was trying to use branch as a crutch to get him around. They ended up kicking his crutch out from under him and he fell to the ground, unable to get back up.
Erica intervened by coming to his rescue and trying to help him up off the ground. At first he shoved her away because of his pride but, she became more determined and he relented. Afterwards, Bakuub and Erica came up with a way for him to walk on his own. They fashioned a metal leg brace, that he could take on and off without any assistance and it moved his leg when he wanted to move.
Now, Angel could keep up with the other males but still stayed close to his adopted mother. He learned rapidly how to hunt and bring home food for his mother to cook for their growing family. He knew that he would never be able to go on any hunts with the other males but he now felt as though that he was of more use at home. It gave him a sense of purpose and his life more meaning by being able to help others as his mother had helped him.
Night Blood's mother gave birth to a little girl named Sakura. Night Blood was happy to have a little sister again. It had been a long time since he had any family members.
His mother finally explained to him how she had survived his brother's attack. He thought he had actually killed but it was only a near-death wound and she made a full recovery from it.
Bakuub and Night Blood had been gone for almost a year on their hunts and today they were suppose to come home. Erica and Jasmine were excited over the fact that their mates would finally come home and stay for a little while longer.
Bakuub was still in his training period in which he was hunting as many hard meats as he could. Night Blood, being an Arbitrator, was on the constant hunt for as many bad bloods as he could find and kill. He would get so close to Xerxes but would back off, knowing that it was not he who would handle him.
Jasmine was still doing her usual, being a teacher to the younger generation of Yuat'ja. She taught them how to read and write in several languages. She also taught math, history, and science. All of the class was interested in her teachings because she kept things interesting and never taught them the same thing twice unless they had a hard time comprehending her.
Today was a day off for both Jasmine and Erica. They watched as the children all played together and chased each other around. Erica gasped when she saw Angel fall to the ground but he brushed himself off and got right back up, continuing to chase Thunder around. Thunder laughed because Angel pretended to be very slow in the chase.
Storm ran right into Thunder and they both hit the ground laughing. Angel bent down, swiftly, and picked both of the young males up. He looked over at his mother and his aunt, Jasmine and happily purred because of his new life with his ooman mother and warrior father.
Jasmine looked up toward the hillside and saw Night Blood waving at her. Bakuub snuck up behind Erica and wrapped his arms around her waist procuring a startled squeal from Erica.
Jasmine walked up the hill to meet her mate. He was sitting on a large rock looking at the sunset off in the distance. Jasmine knelt beside him in the tall grass, her long golden hair billowing the breeze.
Night Blood turned to face his mate and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her between his massive thighs. Jasmine laid her head against Night Blood's chest and placed her hands on his shoulders.
They both knew that Xerxes was out there somewhere and it was only a matter of time before their world of peace and happiness became shattered by his tyranny. But, for now, they were content with the way things were and they way they were.
As him being a Yuat'ja Arbitrator and her as a Queen and teacher. Together, they were King Night Blood and Queen Jasmine.
THE END (for now)