He sat down on the floor as she gestured for him to do so, and with a warm smile, before disappearing into one of the two adjacent rooms, which he suspected was the kitchen.
Coming out from the kitchen, she balanced a bowl of kalna fruits in one hand and carried her baby in the other. Settling down, she cradled the baby on her lap, placing the bowl of fruits on the ground. With a slight movement, she raised the bowl once more, revealing an empty bowl she had brought along.
Pushing the bowl towards Orion, Caretaker Shani said, "I've already asked someone to call the person you need to see for the wood, so they should be here shortly." She gestured to the bowl of kalna fruits, "In the meantime, since you arrived earlier than any of us for the meeting, why don't you have something to eat?"
Orion nodded appreciatively and reached for the kalna fruit, realizing how hungry he was after not having eaten anything since morning. When he began to eat, he couldn't help but notice Caretaker Shani arranging the baby in her arms.
She raised her tulga, revealing her beautifully small plump breasts. At first, Orion was unsure of her intentions, but as she held her right breast with her left hand and guided it towards the baby's mouth, he immediately understood what she was doing.
Orion observed as the baby latched onto Caretaker Shani's nipple, sucking and gently biting on it. He could see her gently pressing her small breast to feed the baby with her nutritious breast milk, noticing the whitish fluid that dripped from the corners of the baby's mouth.
Just as he was about to ask a question, Caretaker Shani lifted her head and unknowingly interrupted him, "Can you bring the empty bowl closer? Let me pour you some of my breast milk."
Orion didn't hesitate as he took the bowl from the ground and positioned it under Caretaker Shani's breast, following her gesture. Caretaker Shani gently pressed her small breast over the bowl, and Orion watched as it filled up slowly. Once it was full, he placed the bowl back on the ground.
"You can ask for more when you're done with that one," Caretaker Shani said, smiling at Orion before returning her attention to her child, feeding him more of her breast milk.
Orion nodded in understanding at her words before he asked, "Is that your child?"
Caretaker Shani replied with a nod, "Yes, he is. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be one of the babies sacrificed to the Vylkr vines, but thanks to you, he's safe now and thankfully alive." She diverted her eyes from her baby and looked at Orion, her gratitude apparent in her voice, "Thank you. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to save my child."
Tears welled up in one corner of her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away with her hand, refocusing on Orion, "Sorry, I'm just really happy. I can't wait for my husband to return from his exploration so I can show him that our son is still alive." She gave a sad smile before adding, "Although he might be a bit angry about the plan that took our child away from us, I can't possibly lie to him. Fortunately, my husband is a reasonable man and a warrior, so I can only pray to Naka that he can control himself when he hears everything."
Apart from being surprised that Caretaker Shani's partner was a warrior, Orion was also pleasantly surprised that she was going to tell him the truth. He had expected her to somehow fit the events of her child's reappearance into his plan to make everything coherent, or maybe even come up with a lie related to it.
However, he sighed tiredly when he realized that his women would have probably done the same and chosen to tell him the truth instead of lying. So, instead of lecturing her or giving advice on how to handle the situation, Orion simply nodded and said, "I understand, and I also pray that Naka helps you out."
Caretaker Shani responded with a grateful, "Thank you," before he returned to drinking his quality breast milk.
As Orion sipped his breast milk, Caretaker Shani struck up a conversation with him, asking various questions about how things had been since his awakening ceremony.
Orion responded with the right answers, sharing what she needed to know while keeping certain details to himself. Being a Caretaker now, Orion had instinctively kept his guard up when around her, and Caretaker Shani had noticed that.
She understood that this was similar to how she felt when she first learned about the Caretakers' efforts, alongside the Village Chief, to make the village peaceful and safe. With this realization, she decided to make the conversation more comfortable for him.
"Since you are done with your breast milk, how about you come and drink the rest directly from my breast," she said, understanding that men, especially young men, often had the desire of sucking out the breast milk from the breast of a slender woman.
And although she might be several generations older than him, that probably wouldn't matter, considering how valuable and pricey breast milk was; there was no way he would refuse such an offer.
Orion, however, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at Caretaker Shani's proposal. Having already tasted breast milk and knowing how limited and expensive it was, he was somewhat sceptical about her intentions.
Tina had her reasonable reasons for offering him and his women some breast milk, but he couldn't say the same for Caretaker Shani unless she had some ulterior motive or was genuinely doing it out of goodwill.
Orion leaned towards the former possibility, suspecting that there might be an underlying agenda behind her offer.
"What's wrong? Don't you want some more breast milk?" Caretaker Shani asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise. She had expected Orion to jump at the offer of her breast milk, but instead, he seemed guarded and hesitant. This puzzled her, and She couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment that she couldn't have a deeper relationship with the young man who had saved her son's life.
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