Meaning of birth
Although the place they departed from was Saina, the staff on the commercial starship had still inevitably been shocked when they saw the human youth boarding with a group of muka cubs.
Particularly the image of the youth walking in front, leading, with a bunch of small muka babies and a larger muka cub obediently walking behind him.
From a distance, it looked like a group of chicks following their mother.
“Babies, come here.”
Xie Luan, who was walking in front, looked back from time to time to check on the cubs who were following him. When he found their seats, he waved for the cubs to come over.
Seeing the youth wave at them, the muka cubs who were obediently following after him quickly walked over.
Once in front of Xie Luan, the cubs moved their sharp forearms and issued hissing sounds from their throats in response.
Parents were allowed to carry their cubs on the starship but there were also customized seats prepared for cubs. Xie Luan bent down to lift the muka babies who were looking up at him with their red eyes and one by one put them in their seat and activated the safety mechanism.
Put in the seats that were similar to beds, these mukas cubs who were riding a starship for the first time were somewhat curious of their surroundings. But when their heads were touched by Xie Luan, these muka babies all obediently nestled in their seats.
It was a long distance to travel, it took several days for them to reach Gaia. To Xie Luan’s relief, the cubs didn’t cause any disturbance during the journey.
There were distinct differences between Gaia and Saina. When they first arrived on this planet a moment ago, the eight newborn cubs following after Xie Luan got to experience this planet’s very different environment for themselves.
“After some time, your home should also have a lot of this color. Maybe it will even have a bit more than this planet.”
Xie Luan held up a green leaf that had fallen from a branch and landed on his head. Turning it in front of the muka cubs who were looking at him, he said this sentence with a slight smile on his face.
He couldn’t say when. But he believed that one day in the future, Duke and the other mukas who were working towards this would eventually accomplish it.
“Hiss…” At this time, the muka baby nestled in Xie Luan’s arms extended his forearms towards the green leaf in Xie Luan’s hand. He tried hard to raise his sharp forearms high to reach the leaf and issued a little hiss from his throat.
As the cub showed that he wanted the leaf, Xie Luan handed it over. Once the cub firmly held the thin leaf with his two forearms, Xie Luan stretched out his hand to lightly touch the back of the cub.
This muka baby was weaker compared to the other newborn cubs, but he could still be considered healthy. It was just that, after growing up, he may not have as strong a fighting capability as others in his race had.
With the nox nested on his shoulder, Xie Luan looked just like a kindergarten teacher taking a class out on a field trip as he lead the group of cubs back to Yunbao branch.[1]
As no one at the branch had received a prior notice, the adults in the room all showed surprise on their faces when Xie Luan led the group of muka cubs into the house.
“These cubs…?” It was Xia Qi who said this. Seeing so many muka cubs all at once, the caretakers present had yet to wrap their minds around the situation.
“These cubs hatched from the injured eggs, they will be staying at our club from now on.”
After giving a brief explanation, Xie Luan looked down at the muka baby who was still playing with the leaf in his arms. “The condition of this cub’s body is not as good as the others’. Chris, can you see if you can make a nutritious diet for this baby and try to improve it as much as possible?”
A muka cub with bad health? This was the first time he had heard something like this. As the branch’s dietitian, Chris was slightly stunned for a while, he then nodded quickly.
“Ok, leave it to me.”
In response to this request, Chris reached out to hold the muka cub that Xie Luan was carrying. He had to examine the cub’s condition first.
To be honest, this was the first time Chris had been so close to a muka cub. It was also the first time he had seen such a small muka.
It was actually no different from cubs of other races. It was not fierce or scary, it was just a cub, nothing else.
He took the new cubs to the living room to introduced them to the other cubs. Xie Luan then went to the indoor pool, wanting to bring over the two cubs who lived in the pool as well.
Unlike in the past, the mermaid cub had already swum up to the edge and begun calling out to him before he even neared the pool.
“Papa, papa~” Azure eyes followed the youth as he walked over and the mermaid cub immediately started swaying his small tail under the surface. He looked very happy.
Having heard his footsteps, Gale knew that his parents were back. The little mermaid had at once emerged from the bottom of the pool and swam to the edge, waiting. The moment he saw the youth, he began to lightly sway his tail.
Xie Luan squatted down to stroke the mermaid cub’s short light golden hair. Xia Qi had told him that the baby would swim up to the edge of the pool every day and gaze towards the door. He must have been waiting for him to come back.
“There are a lot of new babies in the club, I’ll take you to meet them.”
Xie Luan said this in a soft voice. He first picked up the mermaid cub who was lightly grasping his trousers and then picked up turtle-like moye cub as well. Wrapping them in towels and drying them off, he carried them into the living room together.
The branch all of a sudden had eight more muka cubs. When all the cubs gathered in the living room, the staff in the room couldn’t help thinking the same thing— Didn’t their club seem to be becoming more and more lively? Especially Xia Qi and Lin Yi felt this way. Having seen the original desolate branch, the scene in front of them was a sharp contrast to the one from their memory.
Moreover, the cubs in the club were having a good time, they did not have the listless appearance from before. This was how a cub raising club should be like.
Because he had been away for a little longer this time, when Xie Luan returned to the living room, he was nearly drowned by cubs who wanted to climb up on him. Coaxing them one by one he was only then able to regain control of the situation.
After properly coaxing them, Xie Luan got away from the surrounding cubs for the time being and began preparing the cubs’ dinner together with the other caretakers. While brewing milk powder and pouring it into the small bottles, Xie Luan asked Xia Qi a question without warning, “When was Nick sent to our branch? Xia Qi, do you still remember?”
Being asked so suddenly, it was difficult for Xia Qi to recall the exact time. She shook her head and replied, “I don’t remember, but there are records of the cubs´ stay here. If you want to know, we can go check the records later.”
After saying this, Xia Qi added a sentence with some doubt, “Why do you suddenly ask this?”
“It’s nothing…. It’s just, I want to have a birthday celebration for the cub.”
A birthday celebration should normally be held on the day one was born, but Xie Luan felt that the day this muka cub came to Yunbao branch was also very memorable. This year, he wanted to celebrate this cub’s birthday.
Hearing what he said, Xia Qi, who originally only was somewhat puzzled, now had even more question marks on her face.
“Birthday celebration…?” Xia Qi hesitatingly repeated the strange noun that had come from the youth’s mouth. She understood the literal meaning of a birthday, but she did not understand the meaning of “birthday celebration”.
Hearing the other’s questioning tone, it took Xie Luan a few seconds to reply. He first then realized that the alien races may not have the concept of celebrating birthdays.
“A birthday celebration is exactly as it sounds, it’s to celebrate the day the cub came into the world.”
Putting together the words, Xie Luan tried to describe it as simple as possible, “However, for Nick’s birthday this year, I want to celebrate the day he came to our club.”
The birthdays of the other cubs in the club would also be noticed down in the calendar and from this year, this day on, they would celebrate these cubs.
Coincidentally, when checking the record, they found that the date the muka cub started staying at their club was this month. Moreover, it was the 17th of the month, which was only a week later.
The caretakers at Yunbao branch did not completely understand how they were going to have a birthday celebration for the cub.
However, according to Xie Luan’s instructions, during the following days Lin Yi went out to buy some decorations to decorate the living room. They put it up on the night before Nick’s birthday. While the cubs were sleeping peacefully on their beds, the caretakers began decorating the room.
Buying and putting up decorations were all left to others, so what had Xie Luan been doing these past few days? He was learning how to make cakes.
He was a complete novice when it came to making cake. Xie Luan’s talent at cooking was only that of an ordinary person, he had therefore continuously been practicing recipes and tutorial videos for several days.
Having both worlds at his disposal, he had double the time to practice. Finally, when the day came, he was able to make a birthday cake with pretty good taste and appearance.
When the cubs woke up the next morning and went to the living room, they were clearly attracted by the suddenly many and various decorations in the room.
On the wall, there was a virtual image of “Happy Birthday” written in the universal interstellar language and the muka cub who entered the room saw his name next to these words.
Nick.
The name had been given to this muka cub by Xie Luan. He had taught the cub how to write these four letters and this muka cub remembered the name that Xie Luan had given him very clearly
Seeing his own name, the muka cub instinctively made a small low hiss and the next moment the youth who had walked over tiptoed and made him wear a pointed triangular hat.
“Happy birthday, Nick.”
Lightly patting the sharp forearm of the large cub, Xie Luan slowly said this.
Although he didn’t know what “Happy Birthday” meant, hearing the youth’s gentle and soft voice, the muka cub once more reflexively responded with a low sound from his throat.
The small pink triangular hat on his head was a little out of place on this dangerous looking muka cub. Thinking that the hat the youth put on him was very important, the muka completely stopped moving and was very careful not to let the little cone fall off his head.
When Xia Qi pushed the birthday cake over on a cart, Xie Luan said to the muka cub, “Nick can now make a wish, just think about what you want in your heart, anything is okay.”
What he wants.
This muka cub actually couldn’t think of anything he wanted.
But at this time, the baby remembered a sweet taste. It was from when he had first met the youth in front of him and he had fed him that small round milk candy.
It was not just the sweetness, but also the soft feeling of being treated tenderly.
Unprepared, Xie Luan was slightly shocked when the muka cub suddenly lowered his head and carefully snuggled against his chest. After reacting, he raised his hand to hold the slightly crooked hat in place and took the opportunity to stroke the muka cub’s head.
When he named the muka cub, he was flipping through the dictionary of the sevilla race’s language.
The name Nick meant “to be born” in the ancient language of the sevilla race.
[1]– Something like this:
