NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
Cabg was conflicted in regards to his new sister. On one hand, watching her crawl around or trying to copy what her family was saying was adorable. On the other hand, she kept baring her teeth at him and in general seemed to hate him quite a bit. At least she stopped actively avoiding him after a while.
Another thing Cabg was worried about was his sister’s health. According to his parents, a typical lupo normally sleeps for about half the day, which would be 15 hours, as a newborn. His sister on the other hand, sleeps for 22 hours, and usually during the night, when she should be awake. Not only that, her physical development was clearly slower. Normally, once a lupo hatches, they would typically start crawling around immediately and are able to eat normal food by themselves. Even excluding the two months that she would have a spent in the egg, she most definitely has a slower development than normal.
Her mental ability was also questionable at her age. While most lupoy1Plural form of lupo might not be able to speak actual words, they should be able to at least imitate speech within a half step in pitch and at least recognize their name. Unfortunately, she is often off by a full step and still does not seem to recognize that “Sofare2From the musical notes G,F,D. On that note Cabg’s name is his name because it contains those four notes.” is her name. Another worrisome aspect of her mental development is the lack of expression she shows. Regardless of what she seems to be feeling, her tail always stays limp and he has never seen her ears ever change position. She seems to weirdly move her facial muscles depending on her mood though. After a while, Cabg found the best way to gauge her mood was to look at her eyes.
His parents have often consoled him, saying that she could have naturally had a slower development and has nothing to do with his accident. However, Cabg believes he is responsible for his sister’s condition, and as an older brother, vowed in his heart to make up for his wrongdoings by protecting and aiding her as much as possible.
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About half a year has passed since his sister’s birth. Now that she can finally walk around on two feet and understand basic speech, Cabg’s family thought it was time to let her mingle with children her own age. Sofare looked around inquisitively, probably because she has never stepped foot outside her home before.
“That over there is the moon. Moon,” Cabg said to Sofare.
“Muun?”
“Close enough.”
Cabg continued to point out random things and taught her what they were called. Throughout the entire time, his tail was wagging furiously. Their parents looked over the siblings and also had their tails wagging.
Eventually, they arrived at a huge tent where about twenty young lupoy were horsing around. After seeing their rambunctious playing and screaming, Sofare immediately tried to leave, but her mother grabbed her by her nape and dragged her back.
“Now, be a good girl, Sofare, and play with the rest of the children.”
Sofare tilted her head and looked blankly at her mother.
Cabg slowly told Sofare, “We leave. You play with them.”
“Want, no,” Sofare said as she shook her head rapidly.
Cabg looked at his mother, who told him, “She needs to get along with people of her age. It isn’t healthy for her to only stick with us.”
He patted Sofare’s head as he regretfully told her, “Sorry, but you need to be with them.”
“NO!” she screamed, as tears started forming in her eyes.
As this was the first time he had seen her cry, he was unsure of what to do. He ended up hugging her and patting her back to try to calm her down. After the crying subsided somewhat, her mother grabbed her and marched into the middle of the room.
She then loudly announced to the young lupoy, “Here is your new playmate, Sofare! Hope you guys get along!” While the lupoy started gathering around Sofare in interest, her mother dropped her and then ran out of the tent, with Cabg and his father following after.
As the three of them were heading home, the father asked the mother, “Had she ever cried before?”
“I don’t think so. Or rather, despite having abnormally slow development, she is surprisingly well behaved. Too behaved in fact. Seeing her finally act her age is actually quite reassuring. That being said, I don’t exactly want to hear her cry all the time unlike a certain someone…” she said as she looked at Cabg.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, Cabg. At one point I woke up every noon because you wouldn’t stop crying.”
“I did that?”
His father replied, “Yes, you did, son. Luckily you stopped after you were a year old.”
Uncomfortable, Cabg tried to change the subject. “So, when are we going to pick her up?”
“Two hours before sunrise.”
After the short conversation, Cabg spent the rest of the walk home worrying about his sister.
