Chapter 90: She watched her mates as they slept
Once the platter was cleared, Hana leaned back into the bed, the warmth of the cave and the heavy snack finally making her eyelids droop.
She could close her back eyes knowing everything was completely under control.
The boxes were packed, her mates were satisfied, and the perimeter was completely locked down.
She closed her eyes and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
The next morning, the crisp, early light filtering into the mouth of the den woke her up. Hana blinked away the sleep, sitting up smoothly as a familiar neon blue screen flickered to life in her peripheral vision, delivering her morning system notifications.
> [DAILY LOG-IN: Day 7]
> Current Balance: -887,880
> [MATERNAL STATUS REPORT]
> Fetal Development: Optimal.
> Condition: Healthy.
> Note: Maternal vitals are stabilized. Resource consumption is steady. The next developmental spike will begin soon.
Hana stared at the glowing text, a quiet, grounded sigh escaping her lips. Healthy. That was the only data point that truly stuck.
Swiping the daily login away, she sat up. The sleep was refreshing and no one had disturbed her. Once again, her belly had grown noticeably, but it was fine.
She looked at her mates still sleeping on their beds, Kulu wrapped in his own feathers like a cocoon, Raiden clutching his mirror as he slept and Caspain sleeping on his belly, his tail on the floor and his face completely peaceful.
This was the first time she was taking a moment to stare at the peaceful state of her mates as they slept. Most times, they woke her up with a ruckus, and other times, she was in a foul mood from being dismantled.
But today, this morning, it felt like a peaceful world.
An involuntary smirk tugged at her lips but then her eyes turned fierce. It was time to wake up. There was just so much to be done.
She reached for her boots and pulled them on, her eyes narrowing as she looked toward the cave entrance where the gray automated builder modules were waiting.
"If you can hear my voice, know that it’s morning." she said, walking towards the light switch and turning on the fluorescent lights to their blinding max. "Rise and shine, because it’s time to put those muscles to work."
Caspian’s golden eyes snapped open first. He let out a low, startled huff, a tiny puff of soot escaping his nostrils as he immediately rolled over.
His tail smacked against the stone floor with a heavy thud, his groggy brain trying to process the blinding white light before his gaze locked onto Hana standing by the switch.
On the bed next to him, Kulu didn’t make a sound, but his crimson feathers ruffled violently as he uncoiled from his defensive cocoon.
His amber eyes were wide and fully alert within a fraction of a second, his sharp falcon features shifting from the deep calm of sleep to immediate vanguard compliance.
Raiden, however, let out a dramatic, high-pitched whine. He squeezed his eyes shut, blindly groping around the furs for his fallen hand-mirror and burying his face directly under his nine pink tails to shield himself from the artificial sunrise.
"Hana... love... have mercy," he groaned, his voice thick with sleep. "My radiance requires a gradual transition into the daylight. This is an attack on my visual health."
"Your visual health isn’t on today’s schedule, Raiden." Hana said, completely deadpan as she picked up her tablet from the charging dock.
She swiped past the morning logs and pulled up the master manifest for the Aegis sub-station gear.
"Caspian, get the Boars lined up at the eastern flatlands. Kulu, I need you to survey the perimeter grids from above while the automated builders initialize. We’re clearing a ten-block radius first."
Caspian quickly rubbed a hand over his face, shaking off the last remnants of sleep as he stood up, his massive frame towering in the bright light.
The initial shock of the glare vanished, replaced by a proud, eager nod. "The containers are ready, Hana. I will have the Boars at the flatlands before the sun clears the tree line."
"Good," Hana muttered, her gaze shifting down to the pink bundle of fur still hiding on the mattress. She walked over and gave one of Raiden’s twitching tails a firm nudge with the toe of her boot. "And you. Get up. Your vanity mirror won’t find the ingredients I need."
Raiden peeked out from beneath his tails, one long fox ear twitching upward as he looked at her with a mixture of betrayal and intense curiosity.
"Ingredients? Are we hunting more fat game?"
"No," Hana replied, her fingers tapping out the initial setup commands for the gray robotic modules waiting at the entrance. "The thing is, I don’t have time to play chef while mapping out a public power grid. I’m giving you three cooking lessons so you can make exactly what I want while I’m working."
Raiden’s emerald eyes completely lit up at that, his sluggishness vanishing as he sat up smoothly, his pink tails swishing with an insufferable amount of newfound pride.
"Cooking lessons? From you? Oh, I knew I was your favorite. I’ll be the finest culinary assistant the Peak has ever seen."
"Don’t flatter yourself. It’s a matter of efficiency," Hana cut in, her voice clinical. "I need tubers. Real, heavy root vegetables, wild potatoes, and whatever local spices are native to the valley below the Whispering Ravine. You know the terrain better than anyone here. Pack a foraging sack and don’t come back until it’s full."
Raiden sprang out of the furs, smoothing down his silver-pink hair and checking his reflection in his mirror with a brilliant, blinding smirk.
"Consider it done, love. I’ll harvest the best the valley has to offer. The lizard wouldn’t even know a potato from a river rock anyway."
Caspian growled quietly from the cave entrance, but he didn’t argue—he was already focused on the heavy lifting awaiting him outside.
Hana ignored the usual back-and-forth, walking past them toward the mouth of the den where the heavy, gray automated builders sat dormant.
She pressed the primary activation sequence on her tablet, and the metallic pods chimed in unison, their red optical sensors whirring to life as they began to unfold into the morning light.
The baseline data was set, her labor force was moving, and the child inside her was healthy.
Hana stepped out onto the ledge, her eyes tracking the first gray robot as it rolled toward the clearing to begin digging the foundation.
New Eden was officially breaking ground.
