"How long have your fathers been away hunting?"
Kimba tilted his head to the side. ~I'm not hungry yet.~ It was his best way to judge time. The cub wiggled free from his mothers arms and ran towards the stairs leading to the lower floor. ~I wanna go outside!~
Chiaki stood and looked around her. The entire second floor of the house was one large room, probably meant as the bedroom for a female and her many mates. The room was much larger than the main room in the home they had shared in the Leopard Village. Qianhuang would be able to tall stand in this room with his wings spread out and there would be plenty of space for Curtis, both in their fully transformed beast forms.
"Let's look around the house first!" Chiaki suggested, curious of how many rooms were on the floor below this one to allow it to be so huge.
~Awe.~ Kimba pouted. ~I already got to see the house.~
"But mama hasn't!" Chiaki said. She walked passed the cub and down the steps. "Why don't you show me the house?"
Kimba's ears perked up and Chiaki could help laughing, that was exactly like his fathers ears! ~Yeah!~ Kimba rushed by her and down all the steps at a full run. ~C'mon mama!~
"Right behind you."
Kimba landed on all fours in a dramatic pose at the bottom of the steps. Chiaki entered the room much less dramatically. This was the main room of the home. It was sparse, with only a wooden table and a wooden china cabinet. Her sling that she normally carried Kimba in was laying on the table and looked like it was still filled with the figurines she'd bought at the market. The cabinet had no glass in it. There were several doors along the walls, the one with windows to each side of it obviously went outside. Curiously she checked the window, like she had assumed there was no glass in it either. The window was just an opening with shutters that could be closed and locked.
Chiaki finally had time to take in the construction of the building. The floor, like the one above was made of smoothed wood, with no sign of metal nails. The walls were cut stone, placed and held together with mortar. The upper floor was braced by heavy wooden square-cut timber against the stone walls. Now that she thought back, the walls of the second floor room were all wood, and the roof was thatching. That was probably to keep the weight lower and allow the building to be taller.
Turning she opened the door along the next wall and found herself looking into an actual kitchen! Well maybe not a modern kitchen, but there was a recognizable clay stove along the wall opposite of her, along with another wooden table and two windows. The entire wall to her left looked like large earthen oven and the wall to her right was a huge fireplace.
Chiaki went back into the main room and walked to the door directly across from the one that lead into the kitchen. The room was smaller, about one-third the size of the kitchen, with two windows. One window looked out into the front yard, the other out to the side of the house. The room was completely empty.
~Father said this is a good room for cubs!~ Kimba chirped. ~I get a whole room!~
Chiaki looked down at Kimba. Standing on the floor at her feet the top of his head came to her knees. He'd slept in the basket in the room with her, Curtis and Qianhuang until now. Was it really time for him to sleep in his own room? She thought about how she had carried him in the sling all day. It had been a little snug and Kimba was getting heavy.
"You sound excited." She said.
~A lot!~ Kimba rushed into the room. ~ I get a whole room! I get my own grass pile and furs to sleep on!~ Judging by the repeating of the comment about his own room, Chiaki was sure Kimba was truthfully excited by the idea. How he'd like the room tomorrow after sleeping alone in it tonight might be another story. ~There's a lot more!~ He said as he ran out of the room, now caught up in showing his mother the house and forgetting that a few minutes ago he had rather been outside.
Chiaki followed him to the room right next to the one they had just been in. It was twice the size of the room beside it. It was empty, with two windows looking out to the side of the house. "What is this room?" She asked.
~Empty!~ Kimba called out loudly.
Chiaki snorted. "Oh...*heh* ...okay." She said, trying to hold back her laughter. "Are there more rooms?"
~Yup!~
"Are they empty too?"
Kimba looked up at her in confusion. ~Yeah?~ He said as he tilted his head to the side. ~Then you go down the steps and that's where father Curtis and father Qianhuang put all the food.~
"Ah, I see. Well are there more rooms to explore?"
Kimba sat down. ~Not really.~ His ears drooped.
"Then I guess... Now we get to look outside?" Chiaki grinned as she watched her cub go from excited, to gloomy, and back to excited all in the span of two breaths.
~Really?!~ He jumped back to his feet, then placed his front paws on Chiaki's legs as he looked up at her with his eyes wide and hopeful. ~Mama?!~
"Yup!" Chiaki scooped him up and headed to the front door as Kimba cheered.
As soon as they were out the door, Kimba wiggled out of Chiaki's arms and rolled around in the grass. ~Grass!~ He said gleefully.
There was a little stone path leading to the gate, while the rest of the front yard was as Kimba said, grass. Checking quickly to the side of the house Chiaki found nothing but grass there too. The other side was the same.
~Mama, look!~ Kimba called from behind the house. Making her way to her cub Chiaki found him standing up on his back paws and looking at a stone well. ~What's this?~
"It's a water well. See this bucket?" Chiaki walked over and picked up the wooden bucket. It was attached to a long rope. "Look what happens when I drop it into the well and pull it back up." She proceeded to drop the bucket into the well and heft it back to the top, where she sat the now wet bucket on the edge of the well. She picked up Kimba and showed him the now full bucket.
~Water!~
"Yes, water. So I want you to listen very closely, okay?"
Kimba looked up at his mother. ~Okay.~
"A well is very dangerous, if you fall into it you won't be able to get back out. You might drown."
~What's that?~
"It means... you'd die. You would stop, forever."
Kimba shivered in her arms. ~I don't like that.~
"I wouldn't like that either." She said quietly. "But you should not worry about things like that, okay? You have mama and papa and Curtis to keep you safe-"
~I keep mama safe!~ Kimba insisted.
"Okay, you keep mama safe."
Kimba nodded his head. ~Yes.~
