Chapter 148 – Gloomy
Kuini woke up late like all bunnies did. Her mood was pretty low these days, and she knew exactly why. Once the first relief time passed, she left her room, washed herself, put on her brooch, and headed to the kitchen. Her mother was already there, preparing the first meal of the day.
“Morning…”
Waja turned her way with a smile, which disappeared as her daughter was caught in her view.
“Kuini, darling, you’re looking worse every day. There’s no need to worry so much about him, you know?”
“I’m not worrying.”
This wasn’t completely false since she knew how high his rank was. Yet, even if he was a prince equivalent to a legendary hero, that didn’t make him invincible. Not yet, at least.
“You’re just missing him, then?”
“Not at all.”
“Haha, dear, you think I don’t know when my daughter’s lying to me? It’s been about a week, right? He might come to visit us at any time now.”
She avoided both her mother’s gaze and answering. Silently, she put herself next to her on the kitchen counter and began helping with food preparation. Waja shook her head but didn’t press her anymore after that.
A few minutes later, the three men of the family came out of their rooms one after the other and went on with their morning routine after a quick greeting. Zay always checked the weather first before inspecting farming tools. Zoke and Tilen still hadn’t gotten bored of their new wooden toys and used any opportunity to play with them, often mixing their sets for better fun.
During the meal, Waja shared some “news” with them, which usually came from gossiping with other people in the village.
“A lot of our neighbors are worried about the current situation in Geola. They don’t have anyone to sell their crops to and can’t make any money.”
Today’s topic was serious, unlike often. Zay nodded with a lot of concern.
“Yes. No one will starve in this village but I’m concerned about food rotting here while people starve in Geola.”
“The soldiers said the government would organize convoys of food but nothing happened yet.”
“They probably lack personnel. They need a lot of people to barricade the whole city and help the ones who are sick. There were a lot of residents who tried to go through the blockade too. It’ll probably take time until they’re ready for it.”
“How terrible. We’re lucky no one was infected here.”
“That’s right. Finally something good is happening to us bunnies. Can’t say we didn’t need it. I wouldn’t be surprised if those who hate us said the pandemic outbreak was our fault.”
The was a moment of depressing silence. Waja clapped her hands while smiling to disperse it.
“What about our young trader Tila? Do you think he’ll still want to buy from us?”
“Probably not. Who would he even sell it to? Geola is closed off and the other countries are going to war.”
The news of the war was now official in the region and one needed to live under a rock not to know about it. This was yet another reason to worry Kuini, intensifying her gloom even further. He just had to choose to go to a place that would soon start a full-blown war.
“That means we’re in the same situation as everyone else. We still have some money from the last time because he bought in bulk but it won’t last forever.”
“Money isn’t the issue. We have nowhere to spend it except in the village anyway since we can’t go to Geola anymore.”
“That’s true.”
Her attempt to raise spirits unfortunately failed, considering this wasn’t a very positive topic either. After the meal ended, the father and three children moved to the fields to start their day of work while the mother stayed to take care of housework. Being a family of only five when she wanted to have double the number, she didn’t need to use all day to finish her tasks, especially since the children were big now. This was why Waja spent a lot of time chatting with other idle bunnies in the village.
Kuini worked mechanically in the fields, planting seeds while her brothers plowed the fields, trying to use the labor to empty her mind. However, about half an hour later, she sensed a subtle shift in the mood around the village. She lifted her head and her eyes came across the exact scene she had wanted to witness for a week. Tila was entering the village with his horse carriage, already surrounded by excited bunnies who hadn’t received a visit from any merchant for days now.
Her gloomy mood was instantly lifted and pure joy filled her mind. She left her work as it was and rushed to the village entrance, not caring in the least about her muddy work outfit.
**********
After so much fun the previous night, Suuru and I woke up late in the morning. That normally wouldn’t have been an issue since we could still make it in time for the market, except that we had nothing to sell anymore. The last reserves of vegetables and fruits were sold the previous day and it was urgent to get more.
I hurriedly teleported to Geola’s barricade and quickly reported to the Vejas ladies, being told that there wasn’t anything for me to do for the moment, and went on an expedition to find out what happened to my carriage and horses.
Fortunately, I easily found an answer to this. The carriage was parked in the temporary military camp right next to the main tent and was transferred back to me without any trouble. Even better, my name had been given around and I was told to ask if I needed anything. They immediately approved when I asked if I could use their stable until the pandemic ended and I couldn’t help but appreciate the benefits of power, even if it wasn’t mine.
That also was but a matter of time.
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