Why Am I In the Beast World?!

Chapter 21-Distractions

A few days had gone by without incident and Audre's condition had greatly improved. She stood outside the tree hole and stretched her legs. Then she further tested her capabilities by hopping up and down before doing a small twirl. 

'I can fully move on my own again.'

"Don't overdo it." Audre looked up to see the Jaguar returning from his hunt, with a dead boar thrown over his shoulder. "You may not have fully recovered."

"I think I'm fine," Audre said.

She did a cartwheel to prove her point. "Tada!"

The Jaguar just sighed as he seemed to give up on getting Audre to take it easy. "I'll get ready to roast the meat."

"Alright. While you skin it, I'll gather the sticks you'll need." Before the Jaguar could stop her, Audre darted into the jungle.

"Wai- Be careful!" The Jaguar shouted.

"Don't worry!" Audre shouted back. "I'm not going far; you should still be able to hear and see me!"

When Audre returned with the sticks, she started the fire with the help of the Jaguar, then he began roasting the wild boar. 

"I haven't thought of any ideas for a distraction," Audre said as she watched the boar roast over the fire. "We need something big, and I have no idea what to do."

The Jaguar turned the boar on the spit he had built. "I'd say that we'd still had a bit of time, but the chief will definitely start getting suspicious of us not being mates yet." 

"It must be very common here to become mates very quickly after choosing," Audre said.

The Jaguar looked up from the boar that he was roasting. "It's not like that where you're from?"

"No. Courting can take years where I'm from. We also only take one mate." Audre explained. "Or at least that is what's most common."

"Your world is very different. Kind of weird." the Jaguar said.

Audre crossed her arms. "Well, just imagine how weird this place is to me."

Audre flopped onto her back and began kicking her legs like a child throwing a fit. "Think, think, think. What if we light the forest on fire?"

"What!?" The Jaguar asked mortified.

"I'm kidding, but we need something big to get both the village people and the wandering beast's attention," Audre said.

"I would like to avoid destroying this place in the process." the Jaguar said nervously.

"Of course. There are good beastmen here. I think." Audre said.

'I at least know Juno is a decent person. I wish the village and the wandering beast would just mind their business and leave us alone.'

Audre shot to her feet. "That's it!"

"Not so loud," Vadon whispered.

"The village and the wandering beast can distract each other. Then the both of us would go unnoticed." Audre whispered as she paced back and forth in front of the fire. "If we had something to allow the village to go on the offensive, it would not only help the village, but it would also provide us a cover."

The Jaguar tapped his chin as he thought about it. "Not a bad idea, but what scheme or trap could get the village on the offensive? The numbers of the wandering beast grow every day."

Audre shook her head. "Not sure yet, but at least we have a direction. We'll have to put our heads together and think of something."

The Jaguar suddenly went quiet. When Audre looked at him, she saw that he had a very bewildered expression. "When I said to put our heads together, I meant that we should help each other think."

"Ooooh, that makes more sense." the Jaguar laughed. "But we also have another issue."

"Is it the Chief?" Audre asked.

The Jaguar nodded. "Yes. Like I said before, she might start getting suspicious of us. She might even visit again soon."

"Well. I think our best bet is to act like we aren't hiding." Audre said. "Why not show me the heart of the village?"