Chapter 21
Resting in your embrace
There were daily starship flights between Orte and Gaia Star, however it was not every day that the ship used was the latest commercial starship model.
If you took a regular starship, it would take a whole day to return from Gaia Star to Orte, but with the new model it took half that time.
After visiting her cub, Fuya therefore spent one more day at Gaia Star.
In order to avoid daily visits which would disturb the staff, nursing clubs generally encouraged parents to visit the cubs on the weekend. Parents who lived close to the club could also pick up their cubs and return them at the end of it.
In addition to visits, parents could also initiate holographic communication on the weekend. It was very convenient for those who lived further away and could not causally visit, but still wanted to see how their cub was doing.
Fuya had however not used holographic communication during the past month and had only contacted the Yunbao branch by email to see how her cub was doing. The reason for this was that, at that time, she had not wanted to use holographic communication as she was afraid that if she heard her cub’s desperate cries, she would immediately go to Gaia Star and take him home.
But when she finally went to Gaia Star she had gotten a huge unimaginable surprise.
“You went to the club?” Asking this question he already knew the answer too, Tanner’s face did not hold a good expression. However, even after getting a confirmation, he did not show further dissatisfaction and instead asked. “Peipei, how is he doing over there?”
How was he living? How was he eating? What kind of living conditions could a non-famous and regular trash club actually provide for his cub?
When she had first returned home, Fuya had wanted to share her joy with her husband and convey to him the news of their cub’s achievement. However when she saw the other’s face, she recalled past events and became aware that something needed to be changed.
Her cub had been so happy and full of energy when she visited him at the Yunbao branch, and it made her realize that it truly had been a very long time since she had seen her cub so full of life.
Not to mention that, seeing his straight back and protruding chest, her cub now seemed to have a stronger and healthier self esteem.
When the human youth had praised her cub in front of her, she had also seen how Peipei had raised his head to meet the youth eyes and proudly called out to him as he moved his small wings in happiness.
She had really felt the joy emitted from that action, and of course cubs liked to be praised and felt sad when they were scolded or blamed. It was a very obvious thing, but Fuya found that she had always been blind when it came to this matter.
Fortunately, it was not too late to change. But it would not be enough for her alone to change, she had to get the man in front of her to change his ways too.
With this in mind, Fuya simply nodded to his question and said, “He has adapted well.”
Tanner felt that her words were very vague and wanted to inquire further, but his pride would not let him. Ultimately, after standing in place for two seconds, he simply turned around and silently entered his study.
Fuya followed the other with her eyes as he left, and then looked at the connector sitting on the living room table.
In ten days, the annual flying competition would be held and this time it was the turn of the Kuhti race to host it.
The competition was specially arranged for the cubs of the Kuhti, Kuwei and Cotto races. The purpose of the competition was to promote the three races as well as deepen the friendship between them.
Since the effect of the friendly competition was good and consolidated their bond, it had continued to be held and had somewhat turned into a tradition.
The Cub Flying Competition was usually broadcasted on the Star Network so that as many people as possible could experience it. Thinking of this live broadcast, Fuya got an idea.
Deep down she knew that her husband did not genuinely love their cub. He had never said anything good about him and had never praised him. The only thing that ever came out of his mouth was complaints about the dishonor her cub brought them as well as many threats. However, whenever Peipei left home to live in a new club, her husband would still go to her and ask her about the situation. It was in those moments that she sometimes sensed a tad of concern in those cold eyes.
His behavior perplexed her and she often doubted if what she had seen was actually something she had only made up in her mind. But if it was true that her husband held some kind of love for their cub, then it was very twisted and needed to be corrected.
Using the connector, Fuya started to write a thank you mail to the Yunbao branch. Since she wrote it from her heart, she finished it rather quickly. However instead of sending it, she cut out a paragraph and then saved the rest down for later. She felt that it would be better if she sent it after the flying contest.
Looking at the once again empty screen, she began to write a more informative and direct mail.
“Flying competition…?” After listening to what Xia Qi conveyed to him, Xie Tao repeated this word with a slight hesitation.
The young Kuhti woman had asked to take her cub and have him participate in a big cub flying competition that would be held at Orte. Xie Tao was not especially opposed to the idea, it was just that he had never heard about the competition and did not know what it entailed.
Xia Qi nodded and explained, “The competition is held by the Kuhti, Kuwei and Cotto race. Mrs. Waren said that it’s the Kuhti’s turn to host it this year and the chosen venue is at Orte. It will be held on the 7th of next month.”
Even though the contest only allowed cubs from those three races, many had heard about it due to its grandness. But since the contestants were cubs, it did not attract as many people as it otherwise would have.
However, according to Xia Qi, it was still a very large event and all the cubs’ family members who could not personally be there, would always sit together to watch the live broadcast.
After listening to Xia Qi’s words, Xie Tao walked over to the Kuhti bird who was sitting on the wooden structure’s second floor. As they had been quite close when talking, the cub had overheard everything. Aware of this, Xie Tao didn’t bother to repeat the explanation and only said, “Baby, do you want to do it? Take part in the flying competition?”
The Kuhti cub, who was asked this by the youth, moved his small wings and took a step back but then stopped. He seemed a bit hesitant.
As he hadn’t been able to fly until recently, he had never participated in the flying contest. But when he was one year old, he had once watched the live broadcast with his family.
At that time, he had seen how both of his parents had show an expression of approval when looking at the cubs who had gotten a good ranking in the contest. After seeing it, he had always wanted to make them show that expression because of him too. It was true that he was a bit nervous and afraid, but…
He wanted to participate.
“Tiuh!” Under the patient gaze of the youth, the Kuhti cub suddenly lifted his chest and determinedly called out.
He had finally managed to learned how to fly, this was not the time to back down.
Hearing his response, Xie Tao gently stroked the cub’s little raised chest with one finger, it was very soft to the touch.
As he did this, he happened to glance at the other two fluffy cubs sitting nearby. The contest was held for the three races, not just the Kuhti. After briefly thinking about it, Xie Tao reached out to touch the two cub and asked, “Do you two want to go too?”
The flying competition seemed to be very important and meaningful for the cubs of these three races. Xie Tao therefore wanted to bring all three of them so that they could personally experience it.
“Tiuh-tiuh-“
The two cubs called out to him and lightly rubbed their beaks against his fingers in response. Touching the two fluffy cubs, a gentle smile surfaced on Xie Tao’s lips.
The competition in itself would not take long, however including the time needed to get to and back from Orte, they would be gone for two to three days.
Xie Tao discussed it with the staff, and seeing as their absence would not be a problem, he anticipatively awaited the next month’s arrival.
However, they unexpectedly had a setback.
There were only ten days left until the flying competition, but in those days, Gaia’s northern hemisphere started to quickly heat up and the season changed from winter to early spring.
One could still feel the winter cold linger in the early morning, but by noon, a hint of the upcoming summer’s warmth could be felt.
The sudden warmth was a relief to Xie Tao, however Spring was a season prone to illness and being careless with how the temperature once again lowered at night, he accidentally caught a cold.
In the beginning it was just a small cold that did not get in the way of work. He was very careful to not spread the cold to the cubs and even wore more clothes to keep his slightly sick body warm.
But when he woke up the next day, his body had still gotten worse.
Xie Tao did not notice this at first. It did feel unusually cold when he went outside, but he only thought that the temperature must have dropped again. However when he entered the living room in the cub house, he started to feel a little dizzy.
“Ah Tao… are you feeling okay?” Seeing the youth’s glassy eyes and red cheeks, Xia Qi could not help but ask.
The human race was one of the weakest races in the interstellar and many alien races did not have a disease such as “a cold”, which was very common among humans.
Xia Qi had read up on it after Xie Tao had told her yesterday that he had “a small cold” and she felt that the human youth in front of her was now strongly showing signs of one of the graver symptoms. He really looked as if his body temperature was too high.
“I’m fine…” He rarely got sick and was not familiar with the feeling of fever.
However, after saying this sentence, Xie Tao, who was already unstable, suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and fell sideways.
“?!”
Everyone was taken aback.
The youth collapsed so suddenly that they had no time to catch him-
But just as Xie Tao was about to slam into the hard ground, a cold silver tail firmly wrapped around his waist.
The ice cold silver tail slowly lifted the youth up and moved him over to its owner who was now in his adult form. The silver haired young man looked down at the unconscious youth in front of him and after a slight pause, gently enwrapped him with his arms.
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Translator’s note:
Thanks to Jessica Lins for the coffee which helped boost me through the psychology exam and to my editor for once again having to deal with a stress-written text.
I will sadly have to pause the translation for one week, but I will resume translating like normal after that. I know that I’m leaving you with a bit of a cliffhanger, and it pains me to do so, but I have to focus on my exams and assignments. (I’m even holding a speech on stage, the horror!)
In order to lessen the impact of what I just told you and make you forget that I’m leaving you with a cliffhanger, here is some cute chibi pictures I recently found which match our story:
