Fern felt like the luckiest male in the whole beastworld as he finished his trek to Alicia's house. He was planning to take his sister, nieces, and nephews out for a meal at their pop-up restaurant tonight. Several of her males would also be coming along to ensure his sister's safety, but Fern was just glad to get to spend time with his family. He was really fortunate that Iris not only allowed him to still converse with his family, but even encouraged it.

When Fern had left behind the Rabbit Tribe he didn't think he would even get to see his family again. At the time, he was a bit disappointed that he likely would never get to see his nieces and nephews grow up. However, that wasn't going to stop him from following the only female who had ever seen his value and considered him worthy of being their mate.

Things, honestly, could have ended up a whole lot worse than they were now. Some females didn't like their males talking to any other females, even those they were related to by blood. Had Iris been like that, he would have accepted it and never said a word about it, but he was glad that wasn't the case. Instead, she had wholeheartedly invited his old tribe into their city and tried to befriend his sister, always encouraging him to maintain a healthy relationship with his family.

Of course, Fern wasn't clueless. He could tell that Iris likely missed her own family. Whenever he talked with her about the memories he had from his own childhood, she would often get a distant look, likely thinking about her own family. Fern didn't much like the idea of making his mate sad, but he was hardly going to deny her when she asked him questions about his past. Maybe the topic was bittersweet for her, but it wasn't really his place to tell her what to do.

The other males in their family were a mixed group when it came to their family situations as well. Caspian never really talked about his family, but he had many from his old tribe in their city now. Still, at least, he never seemed to have any feelings one way or another when the topic of family was brought up.

Basil had grown up being raised by his grandfather who had died not long after he matured. Practicing his craft helped him to feel close to his previous guardian. As for his tribe, he hadn't grown up among them and had no particular attachment to them. He was much happier to talk to their mate about raising their own family. Fern still felt a bit uncomfortable thinking about just how flirtatious Basil could be.

Ember tended to keep to himself quite a bit and Fern didn't really know much about the man. Fern had the feeling that, even if he had shared his situation with Iris, he would not have spoken about it where he could hear. Iris never asked Ember about his past around him either. She was much more likely to ask about his experiences traveling the world or to avoid asking at all.

Hazel had grown up alone in a mixed tribe. Many of his old friends were now living in their city and he seemed to feel strange about the dynamic they now had. Most didn't treat him with the same respect as the others, but more as if he was the same as them. However, some of their citizens could never quite figure out how to treat Hazel and that had made things quite awkward. Still, Hazel was like an open book, very honest, and friendly enough to talk to anyone who approached him.

Birk's family had, apparently, moved away from their tribe shortly before he had matured. Only his brother, Avel, remained and he had joined their city at the same time Birk did. Fern was kind of glad that he wasn't the only one with family in their city. It gave him perspective on what different familial relationships could look like as well as made him feel more normal. Birk rarely went out to spend time with his brother, but he did seem to have a good relationship with him. Mostly, the two liked to spar against one another during the morning combat sessions.

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Ash was too scary for Fern to ask much of anything from. He also rarely talked about himself in front of others. He was much happier directing the conversation in such a way that others would talk about themselves. Really, if it weren't for the fact that they had all met Ares and Viola, Fern likely wouldn't even have known just how much family the man had.

Alicia finally finished getting ready to go out and Fern straightened up, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts.

"Are you ready?"

Alicia made a sour expression as she complained

"Are you sure there will be food I'll like? You know I don't like meat very much."

Fern gave his sister a smile as he patiently reassured her

"Yes, I helped work on the menu, so I'm sure there will be plenty of food you'll enjoy."

Fern was actually supposed to return to the kitchen once he was done dining with his sister. This week they were serving something called 'Irish' cuisine, apparently. They had to take a break earlier in the month due to the spring festival. Since they were taking a break anyway, Iris had dedicated quite a bit of time to making something called 'beer' with Fawn's and Basil's help.

The beer was supposed to be 'alcoholic' much like the wine was, but it was produced using beer instead of wine. As their family didn't have the manpower to keep a monopoly on everything, Iris agreed to teach Fawn's family the recipe in return for her help making enough of the substance to cook with. Fern wasn't really sure why the dishes needed alcohol to cook with and serve alongside the dishes. It seemed to him that the dishes likely could be prepared without it, but Iris had assured him that it was important for the flavor profile of the food.

Alicia continued to ramble on to Fern, complaining about her cubs' behavior and about some of the friends she had made. Luckily, she was smart enough not to complain about Iris to him. She had actually tried to do that once and Fern refused to talk to her for an entire season. That also meant that she wasn't getting any extra help with anything either. No free babysitting, he wouldn't help her mates learn how to fight like him, etc. As a rather spoiled and sheltered female, his sister had not taken that well and, while she had never apologized, she also didn't make that mistake again.

Fern couldn't really judge his sister too much, though, most females in the beastworld tended to be rather spoiled with bad attitudes. The environment Iris had fostered in their city had changed things by a good bit. With socialization among females being a common thing here, everyone had to learn good manners. Females were having to deal with the fact that their bad attitudes would end up costing them friends and opportunities that the better-behaved females could enjoy. As a result of the changes, many of the males were also starting to tolerate bad attitudes a lot less, costing females the opportunity to gain new mates as well.

Arriving at their restaurant, Fern said

"Wait here, I'm going to double-check on something before we go in."

As their group was too small, they only had one person serving at a time. Right now, it was Ash's turn, so Fern just had to double-check he had saved one of the larger rooms as they had previously discussed. Confirming it was ready, Fern led his sister inside.