Emery

Once we were into the city, I had honestly expected keeping the girls focused on our goals for the day would be harder than it turned out to be. I didn't necessarily expect them to get completely derailed, given we were after some animals, but I still expected them to get distracted by the city.

As it turned out, once we arrived, the girls were almost singularly focused on getting to the animals. When we first arrived, we took the girls to Jade Pearl Tea to just rest for a bit after the run down the mountain, and to say hello to Ava, as had become tradition whenever we came in as a family.

The short break didn't last very long, though. Cierra was well behaved enough to not cause any real issues, but Stena was clearly too excited for animals to sit still. She gulped down the cup of tea we got for her, and then started to fidget in her seat.

Once we said our goodbyes to Ava and were on our way again, it was still a bit before lunch. It didn't help that we had all had a slightly later breakfast, so I didn't think any of us would be hungry enough to get lunch a little early.

"You know," I said, as the four of us walked down the street holding hands, "if we go to the animals now, we'll have to go straight home."

"What? Why?" Cierra asked.

"Well, if we want to take the animals we choose home with us, we can't just be walking around the city with piglets in tow, can we?"

"Why not? Other people do - look." Cierra said, and pointed over to an unfortunately timely passing person walking down the street with a fully grown pig led on a rope. Whether it was a farmer or butcher, I couldn't tell, but I sighed.

"Well, you see how that's a fully grown pig?" Avuri said, rescuing me from not having a good answer.

"Mhm."

"Well, it's been trained to not cause trouble in the city. We're just going to get baby piglets, though, so they won't be able to walk in the city like that. We'll probably need to carry them ourselves, even." Avuri continued.

"Oh," I said, following up, "and because we would need them to come back up the Peaks with us, we don't want to tire them out by walking all over the city first."

"I…guess." Cierra said, sounding unconvinced.

"Anyway, my point is, we can either go to the farm now and look at the animals, or spend some time in the city, then eat lunch, then go to the farm. What do you two want to do?"

Cierra and Stena looked at each other for the briefest of moments before Cierra said, "Shopping and lunch."

I smiled. "Very well. To the apothecary!"

Cierra brightened up at that. "Oh right!"

"Apothecary?" Avuri asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? We need soap, at the very least." I said, as I adjusted our heading and walked down a new street toward the area with the apothecary.

"Ah. Well then, lead the way."

"I want him." Stena said, hugging the piglet in her lap gently.

"Stena, you've said that about every single piglet you've been near." Avuri chuckled, watching the two girls wander their way around the small barn yard of pigs.

They had evidently timed their trip quite well, because the first farm they had visited had recently had two litters of piglets born, with 19 total piglets. Which had inevitably led the family into the fairly large fenced off area where the farmer had placed the litters of pigs with their parents.

Of course, the girls had both been entranced with the fully grown pigs at first. I had mostly just been glad they were cleaned recently - while I knew that despite pigs' penchant for playing in the mud they were typically very healthy and distinctly not disease carrying animals.

However, that didn't mean that the typical coating of mud would be any easier to get out of my children's clothes.

I supposed it was a good thing we had gotten extra soap earlier because of a nice bundled discount. Apparently the teenage boy that ran the store during the day while his parents made the medicine found Avuri to be entirely too attractive. He hadn't even been cowed by the presence of people who were clearly her family.

I was going to be sure to remember that.

Either way, it didn't take long for Cierra and Stena to get on the ground and play with the piglets once we reminded them that we were not going to be taking a fully grown pig home with us. They had proceeded to try to hug, pick up, sit with, and cuddle every single piglet in the pen, seeing which ones were friendliest.

Cierra had been the one moving around and choosing the pigs one at a time to test herself before then depositing that same piglet in Stena's lap on the ground for her little sister's turn.

Cierra seemed to be a little more discerning with choice, having not latched on to any particular piglet. However, Stena had obsessed over whichever piglet was in her lap at the given moment.

Avuri and I had been trading internal giggles at her antics through our link while trying not to show anything outwardly and affect the girls' decision. The farmer had assured us that any of the piglets would be perfectly fine to take with us, so long as we took at least two. They were social animals, after all.

We were also hoping that the girls picked ones from different litters, just in case. While we weren't necessarily planning to overrun our little farming plot with new piglets, breeding some down the line would probably be good.

Avuri and I had eventually opted to sit as well, while the girls went through their rigorous screening process. The farmer had even come by to check on us more than once, and laughed happily when he saw the girls taking their selections so seriously.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The piglets were truly adorable. They were just a few weeks old at this point, and were no longer quite babies but still weren't nearly large enough to be adults. They fit comfortably in our laps, and were more than happy to come and go for scratches and attention while we sat on the muddy ground, clothes be damned.

"I like this one and this one." Cierra said, pointing first at a light grayish-white piglet, then at a lighter brown piglet with dark brown stripes, reminiscent of a boar. I had noted both were very friendly earlier when they had walked by me and Avuri, too.

"I like that one, too." Stena said, pointing at the boar-colored piglet with a huge smile on her face. Then she pointed to one that was off in its own corner. "That one's my favorite though."

The piglet she had pointed at was a soft pink color mostly, but its rear end was a darker gray, making it look like it was wearing pants. It hadn't been in the middle of everything as the other piglets in the litter, but had been just as friendly as the rest when Cierra had picked him up.

"I liked him too."

"Mom, how many did you say we could pick?" Cierra said, looking concerned over having to make the choice.

"I said two."

"Right…" Cierra looked back over the three piglets that she and Stena had chosen, looking heartbroken that she would have to make a further choice. She plopped back to the ground, and her two favorites trotted over to her, nosing her crossed legs.

I rolled my eyes at the adorable sight. And then Stena had returned with her favorite, and sat right down next to her sister, while the piglet she had led over with her climbed into her lap.

"We have to, right?" Avuri sent to me. I glanced at her sideways, scratching the little piglet in my own lap. "You can't seriously tell me you're going to make them choose. Look at them."

I could feel her mental nudging to face the girls, who were sadly eyeing their three top picks, whispering about which they were going to give up.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. No, I wasn't going to make them choose, but I appreciated that they would and weren't arguing with me over it. But when Stena looked like she was about to cry, I had to give it up.

"Alright, we're going to take all four."

The girl's faces lit up so fast that I couldn't help but grin in response. It did take them a moment to realize what I had said, though, Avuri included.

"Four?"

"Four." I said, holding up the little gray piglet that had been sitting in my lap for the last half hour or so. She had apparently decided my lap was hers and hadn't moved once she took her turn to sit, and I didn't much feel like giving her up at this point. "We're taking her, too."

The girls cheered from the ground, not wanting to stand and disrupt the piglets in their own laps. But Avuri, who had not been actively petting one of the pigs, stood and moved over to where the girls were, and picked up the little boar-like one, who was sitting between our daughters.

"Then this one is mine." She said, cuddling the little piglet against her cheek. It was very cute. "We should all name one, right?"

"I'm happy with that." Emery said. "But before we do, let me make sure the farmer is okay to part with our choices. And four of them at that."

I left Avuri with the girls in the pen with all four piglets while I went to go find the farmer. As it turned out, he and his wife had no issues whatsoever with us taking four of the piglets. In fact, they were happy to let some go to help with their feed costs.

That detail had led the three of us into a conversation regarding what they used for feed, where they got it from, and what all our options were - and that lasted a little while. Thankfully, it seemed like pigs ate just about anything, and we didn't really need to make any special allowances for them, so long as we had something for them to eat.

We'd probably need to keep an eye on the piglets for a while to make sure they all grew, though.

With the deal basically all settled, I paid for the four piglets, and asked about whether they would be willing to part with a bull as well. I went over our situation, and told them about Mila and our lack of actual work for the bull to do. A slightly older animal would have been fine for us, given we didn't need a fresh worker to plow fields or anything.

As it turned out, they had a bull they would be willing to sell, though said he would be difficult. He was aggressive, but not too old. The farmer couldn't get him to work however, so he was likely to either be eventually just butchered or sold anyway. They couldn't afford to keep him when he offered nothing.

That honestly suited me just fine. Mila wasn't all that old either, so if we were lucky enough to get a bull that was the same, calves were perhaps a possibility.

"Do you mind if we bring the girls over to see the bull?"

The farmer fidgeted. "I don't mind, per se, but you should be careful. The ol' bastard is dangerous, even with adults trying to keep him calm. I don't know if it's safe for your little ones."

I nodded. "Fair enough. I'll be careful - let me go get them."

A few minutes later, we were in front of the bull's pen. We had left our chosen piglets to wallow in their mud for now while we checked on the potential other new family member.

"You sure this is safe?" Avuri asked.

"You haven't dealt much with mortal animals, have you, Ri?"

"I…no? I suppose not really."

"It's not a job that many Cultivators like doing because it feels somewhat demeaning, but unleashed Qi can tame most unruly animals. You can use it to train them rather spectacularly." I said, opening the gate to step in while motioning for the girls to stay with Ri.

"That makes sense."

"It's just unfortunate that even when Cultivators offer their services for it, they over charge for it too. It's not really an option for most Human Realm farmers."

I began to cycle my Qi, letting it flow from me and infuse my Domain. I didn't add much in the way of intent or actual power - I just wanted it to be enough that the bull would feel it and know not to mess with me.

Tulo, the bull, stood on the far side of the enclosure, watching us. He didn't look friendly or approachable, but at least wasn't actively hoofing at the ground looking to attack. I took that as a good start.

Once I was fully inside the fence and had it closed behind me, Tulo's head dipped down, showing me his horns. In return, I added a little more Qi to my Domain, and actively reached toward him with it. I could feel the moment the Qi washed over him and he froze. I figured he wasn't used to his internal prey instincts kicking in when he all but ruled over the farm he was on.

I approached him cautiously, letting my Domain flow freely around him. I lessened the intensity of it, trying to show him that while I wasn't to be trifled with, I didn't mean him harm either.

Tulo seemed to be hesitantly accepting of that as I got closer. He huffed and shook out his head and neck, looking annoyed but not belligerent. I continued to close the distance until I was within touch range.

We locked gazes for a moment before I reached out to stroke his flank. He still didn't look pleased as much as mildly miffed, but he accepted the scratching to his side.

A few minutes later, the whole family was in the pen. Tulo was still being standoffish, but didn't read as dangerous to me anymore - so long as I remained in the enclosure.

Cierra and Stena were immediately enamored with the massive beast, petting, scratching, and hugging the bull's side. Tulo accepted the attention but I did warn them not to get too handsy with him until he was better trained.

"Are you sure he'll be alright? We could find a less threatening bull at another farm." Avuri said quietly as we watched the girls fawn over him.

"I think it'll be fine. He'll be moving to a new place with larger open pastures, no work, good food, and less stress." I crossed my arms while eyeing Tulo carefully.

"He'll have to suffer through getting flown up to the Basin by a dragon, though."

"Well, there is that…"

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