How It Started, IV

"How long have you known? Or. I don't know why I'm asking you that."

Cain sat on a stool, which was up on a platform, the way he formerly held meetings in his house to seem more imposing. The large man leaned over onto the wooden table next to him, holding his temple in his hand.

It was clear the family knew for years. Iris wasn't a new mother, yet she acted like she was possessed when it came to her kits. She had a previous litter when she was a very young mother, and as soon as those kits could fend for themselves, they were allowed to pack up with the others as was normal. Her peacock young were also already sparring with the other males their age. And yet, this litter of four were kept under lock and key, like they were frail eggs. She had turned in on herself, not being nearly as personable, and while females always relied on their spouses, Iris had become insistent, needy; paranoid. These weren't uncommon adjectives for difficult wives, but she was far from difficult until ... until.

"I'm sorry, Cain. You - you saw what happened." Asher spoke first. "She's mine, the child is mine. We didn't know what to do. We decided to keep it to ourselves. It was a family matter."

The tribe leader shifted his weight, now holding his head in both his hands while propping his elbows on his knees, his tooth necklace hanging freely. He told the tribe they were the teeth of his beastmen enemies killed, though the reality was they were normal wild lion teeth. The center tooth was a Behemoths, though, that was true. "This is one hell of a family matter, Ash. I think this is beyond a family matter."

"What would you have done, if you knew?" Iris asked, stroking her daughters sweaty, matted hair as the girl shrunk into a whimpering cocoon. "I thought we had more time. I thought we could figure this out in another eight years."

The tribal head opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He managed not to stammer all over himself, as that would be unbecoming, but he had no answer. He didn't know what he would had done. Children were precious, females even more so. Something about this girl who could transform, felt deeply unnatural, threatening, unsettling, but also -

"She's a miracle."

Cain looked up out of his hands to see his spouse, usually aloof and put off that her privacy was invaded by people coming in and out for meetings, kneeling next to Iris and cupping the girl's cheek. Both women were soft eyed, comforting and reassuring the girl. The leader could not help but relax his own taunt ears to a neutral expression, seeing that as usual, his wife was the voice of reason when it came to things that did not have to do with offense and defense. With a low growl of resignation, He straightened up.

"What's her name?"

All five adults, and the girl, looked up at him like he had asked an impossible question. The boys had until nearly adulthood to decide on their names. Their fathers would speak to them freely in their animal forms about the choice, their mothers as well, though they generally didn't talk back to her. But nobody had started such conversations yet, they were barely to the halfway mark when the boy children would take their human forms and name themselves. Testing the air around her, the little girl had relaxed considerably. Looking up, she confidently answered.

"I thought my name was Shooshoool?"

Iris made a face, scrunching up her nose and turning her kit around to face her. "Why would you think that?"

"That's what all my Dads call me," She said in a small voice, shrugging.

A sideways glance was given by the mother to her spouses, who also had a puzzled face on, before it dawned on Aaron first, his slowly raising his eyebrows in understanding.

The small, rolling coo was whispered. Of course. He hadn't put together that all three men had a similar soft, protective call they had given to only the female kit, the one child out seven that they kept track of every moment of every day. For the foxes, it was a whimpering chatter, for the bird, it was a coo, but for both, if you had to put letters to it, it came out like a whisper, a "Shoo Shoo" sound, sometimes ending with a down turned "ool."

"Yes, that's my name, you just said it!" The child exclaimed, her face beaming looking at her Bird Father. He smiled warmly back, his eyes full of adoration. None of them had prepared to meet their daughter today, or any time soon. Now that the tension had lessened, he was soaking in the moment, an impossible seeming day they all had not dared to consider.

"You don't have to name yourself that, you can pick whatever you want. That was a.... sound, not a name. A name is like Sarah, or Karly, or -"

"Shoo Shoo el is my name" the small girl said as firmly as a child could, her brows furrowed. The adults all gave a soft chuckle before Asher chimed in, trying to compromise.

"See, you said it two different ways already, we would at least have to figure out how to say it the same way, every time. Deal?"

"Deal," she nodded in determination.

"Shuule." Hiram chimed in. "Not twice, it's too long. Just Shuule."

The girl - Shuule - beamed again. It was obvious that she was now much more comfortable and wanted to get up and walk around with her family, and her friends - the tribal head and his spouse - whom she had known them her entire life. But she was effectively swaddled, and what was more, there weren't any child sized clothes in the entire village. There had not been a female child in a full generation, and the boys didn't need clothes until they were nearly adult sized.

With a huff, Cain got up off his stool, now standing on the platform. "Well, this was a shorter meeting than I anticipated. She is Shuule, and she is one of our own. I ... don't know how everyone will react. I don't know if that attack was because Straya was scared and Ruben was startled and reacted, or if her family intends to harm the child. But officially I want her integrated. Just... be careful with her. Nobody knows where this goes from here."

With that, he strode towards the entrance to pull back the furs hanging down as a door. Hiram had already handed his clothing to Iris and shifted into his fox, in case danger was waiting for them on the outside. But instead, Cain stopped and took a short breath in, meeting the eyes of every female in their village, waiting in quiet anticipation. Ushering Iris out, she warily inched to the side of her leader, clutching her cargo in the towel - a girl child who could shift and un-apologetically was flaunting her fox ears like all the males casually did at all times.

"Friends," Cain bellowed, sternly. "This is Shuule. She is of Asher and Iris, and -" He turned just enough to shoot a look at his wife, standing in the background still in the hut, "she is a miracle."