"What a superstitious man." He muttered but also increased his speed as their group ran away. The burly man's equally burly friends smirked.
While from afar they looked like they are being chased by the snake, the snake in fact is lazily gliding through the grasses to get rid of its body heat and not caring of the group of men running on its way. Of course, the scared burly men would never know of this.
Up high, a hawk flying on the direction of the burly men screeched and flew back opposite their direction. The lazy snake looked up as the hawked screeched and with a glint on its eyes, followed the hawk back hurriedly, leaving the exhausted group of men behind.
"Pull out your plans and find a different place to settle in man," they heard one of the men say as they go on their ways. The burly men took one final look at the house and walked away in resignation. But not for long as he grinned maliciously.
'When they see that snake, they will definitely leave this place and won't bother to look back. That will be my chance. Until then, I will wait.' He thought to himself.
But that will only remain on his thoughts though as we look back to the hawk flying towards the house. It dove down to the young couple sipping their morning coffee.
As it landed, the nes from the bird's wings detached and enlarged to form into small, chubby arms. The feathers shrunk to it's tiny body. It's talons lengthened into similarly small, chubby legs and feet and on its head, we see the adorably grumpy face of little Huan. He grabbed and hastily wore his diapers and bunny shoes then picked his eyeglasses and stomped towards the house.
"I'm sweaty, I'll take a shower first."
"What about ladies first?" Teenage Tala's voice can be heard from the nearby bushes.
As she emerged, she tied her blond hair into a a bun and we see the slits of her eyes turn round as she blinked. She had a towel securely wrapped around her lithe body. Little Huan answered with the banging of the bathroom door.
"Oh, there goes the boss." Tala sighed and sat next to the young couple. She looked at her arms and long legs and frowned.
"I've been taking care of my skin so when I shed, the leather would be of good quality. Now this is not even good enough to be rug." She pouted.
"Stop complaining, you shed many times a year anyway so just don't go out anymore in the next months." Zari muttered.
"Shut up! Am I talking to you! You did not even help and you talk like that." She yelled at him.
"Hey, hey. They did not do anything to me. And besides, you're the one that wanted to go after them. They won't cause any harm in here anyway." He explained. The young father looked at them bicker and spoke.
"The formation we've set up here is great that a small litter like that won't do any damage. You've seen your Mom enjoy the wonders of the formation as it fixed the mess on its own." The young father tied his long white hair and we recognize him as the immaculate man from the forest during the last storm.
"Dad, they stepped on my head!" She complained.
"Who told you to sleep in the garden. Tsk, tsk." Little Huan is now out, smelling of bath soap and cologne and walking towards them in his character overalls.
Tala looked at him, shocked.
"Why, I've always slept outside." She reasoned.
"Mani, you do realize this is not our real home, right? We can't be careless just like that." Little Huan lectured and bit his lower lip in shocks if realizing something.
Blonde Tala looked taken aback and sniffed, tears forming on those same golden eyes but too stubborn to be let go.
"I'll just be by the river," she said and morphed her slender body into the golden snake we saw earlier.
The snake's tail caught the towel dropping on the floor and glided swiftly towards the river near the young couple's house, it's actions a total opposite of the lazy snake crawling earlier today.
The unusual family fell silent for awhile before their mother spoke, looking at little Huan.
"We know it's been a hard journey for all of us. Especially you three as you can't fully control your transformations yet but be patient and understanding of each other. This will soon pass," she consoled but sounded more like consoling herself rather than the entire family.
"I know. I'm sorry, Mom." Little Huan replied in his tiniest voice, his guilt making him feel even smaller. Their mother smiled warmly.
"No need to feel guilty about this. We're all new to this kind of setup but being sensitive of each other makes living a little bit easier." The young mother smiled.
Her husband looked at him in adoration and when she turned her head and caught him in the moment, he blushed furiously and turned away. Zari took this opportunity to tease the couple, easing the tense atmosphere.
"Being lovey-dovey in this hour, how great it is to be in love. You don't even care about the children you had to feed." The immaculate man recovered his earlier embarrassment and shouted at him.
"Shut up you brat! Go find a wife!" Zari laughingly stood up and gazed towards the river.
"I'll go check on Tala," he said then walked away, grinning.
"There's no way I'm going to be a lightbulb here, I'll go back inside." Little Huan said after realizing that staying outside to bask in the sun would make him an eyesore to the flirting couple. He made a little turn and walked back inside their little home, his face an awkward cringe.
The young couple watched the little one get inside the house with his little legs. They smiled at him in adoration and when little Huan felt their gaze and saw their smile, he felt even weirder that he ran inside.
Once out of sight, the young couple looked at each other with a hint of anxiety in their faces.
"That was a close call." The young mother said. Her husband responded with a 'hmmm' to express his agreement. He looked towards the sky and commented.
"The moon is at least only half-shown, Mal." He said calmly.
"Yes, it was. Had we moved any other day, we might have been... Our children..." Her voice trailed off as fear became evident in her voice.
"Well, we made it." He held her trembling hands as he struggled to find words to console her. She blinked her tears away.
"Had we been any day late, we would have been discovered and need to move again. Our energies are still depleted and we can't protect everyone. We have to be careful."
"Latini," the young father called out to his wife. She looked at his firm gaze and felt reassured.
"Our kind has always been resilient and able to overcome adversities. We have survived and now here we are, we will recover and press on. After all, this should only be a temporary arrangement by Ebreo." Latini further frowned when she heard the name.
"Temporary? Eder, you saw the portal close right before our eyes. If not for Tala's support, we would have never made it here. That portal has never re-opened nor stirred since then. And we can't find any other portals since we arrived here. Do you think this is still temporary?" She said in exasperation, her face in distress once more.
Her young husband, who we now know as Eder, clasped her hand and tried to reassure her once again.
"We have to trust Ebreo, Mal. This must have been a very difficult time for them especially now that no portal is opening. We're very lucky to be with the children at this point." Eder kept his calm and hid his own worries as he spoke.
He hoped to change the direction of their conversation but can't think of anything at the moment so he kept trying to tell her words of consolation.
Just then, they heard the main door forced opened and the violent flapping of the winds before they heard little Huan's worried voice.
"Sasha is missing!"