Three days later, while swimming in the Emerald Green Lake, Muri changed his appearance again.
When he went down, he was a tall man, and when he stood up, he turned into a giant beast. Mary heard the movement in the lake and turned her head to see a white-haired beast that was bigger than the previous big bears. It stood up from the water like a small mountain, and water drops dripped down from his body.
Mary was stunned, with surprise in her eyes.
Murray is back!
The giant beast walked to the edge of the shallow water and shook off the water droplets on its body out of habit. At that moment, it was as if it was raining, and countless crystal clear water droplets flew in all directions. Meili was the first to be hit and was soaked by water.
Murray froze in place while shaking off the water droplets subconsciously. He forgot that his body shape was different now.
Meili wiped the water off her face, and seeing his reaction as if he had done something bad, she smiled, walked up to him and scratched his long hair, "Come up quickly."
Murray walked to the shore, a little further away from her, before continuing the swinging motion.
Not only did his body shape change, his fur also turned translucent. Because the fur was so thick, it still looked snow-white when spread over his body. As he swung his hair, the whole bear looked like a fluffy ball of fur, getting bigger, with the outermost hair slightly puffed out, glowing dimly white.
Mary felt a little envious that her hair could be made clean and fresh by just shaking it.
Every time she took a bath and wiped her body in the polar regions, she shivered with cold.
"I'm back, we're going back."
"Well, we're going home."
Murray picked her up and held her in his arms. Mary felt her whole body lighten, and she rolled into a pile of fluff and was wrapped up.
The hair under Muri's neck and on his chest is softer than other parts of his body. When he reached out to grab it, he felt a thick handful of hair. The touch really made him feel indescribably happy.
The Red River that had caused Muri so much pain when he came here now had no effect on him. Also, the ice fields and ice seas they came from... in the eyes of Muri as an adult, they were no longer challenges.
In order to get on the road faster, Murray ran on all fours. Mary changed her position, lying behind his neck and pulling his long hair hard to keep her balance.
Murray's fur and body temperature kept her warm and supported her through the coldest areas.
He ran in this form at such a fast speed that when Mary saw the familiar snowfield near the lighthouse, she was unable to come back to her senses for a moment.
Back home!
Meili slid off Murray excitedly, ran over with her bow and arrows on her back and pushed open the door of the lighthouse. Looking at the dusty utensils and fur mattress inside, she naturally thought about how to clean it up.
When she came here, it was as if she had returned to her own territory. She exuded a sense of ease and rolled up her sleeves as she walked in.
The lighthouse shook, and Muri, who was also happy and ready to go in with her, silently pulled back the half of his head that was stuck in the door.
The door of the lighthouse is not big. Before, Muri could barely squeeze in with his size. Now it is absolutely impossible for him to fit in with his tonnage. Not to mention getting in, he can even sit down on the lighthouse with one sitting.
Mary also noticed this problem and stood in the house covering her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud.
The next moment, she saw Muri, who had turned into a human, walking in from outside. Surprisingly, he stepped over the gate in his human form and stepped on the stones and wooden boards on the ground.
Mary turned away from him and went to the box to look for clothes.
When Muri turned into a human, his height was about the same as his previous bear appearance, but he was not as stout. His whole body was sturdy and solid, with distinct but not exaggerated muscles, thick arms and long legs.
He put on his old clothes, which seemed a little loose, but with this slightly loose top and the trousers tapered at the cuffs, there was a sense of laziness besides the wildness and danger, which looked very good.
Murray tightened his belt, not caring how much bigger the waist of the pants was, and was ready to wear them casually.
Meili walked forward silently, unbuckled his messy belt, and measured his waist. "The waist of your pants is much bigger. I'll alter it for you so it's more comfortable."
This was a very ordinary sentence, but when Murray looked at the red whorls of hair on her head and her drooping eyelashes, he suddenly became dazed.
Before meeting Mary, Murray lived a casual life. Compared with real wild beasts, he only knew how to wear clothes and eat cooked food, and he didn't care about anything else.
Since Merry was around, he had started to adopt more human habits.
She was more attentive than him, and would care for him in some subtle ways. Sometimes he would not notice what she did, but after a while he would suddenly notice something, and he would have a very strange feeling in his heart, as comfortable as if he had eaten his fill and was sleeping in a safe and warm place.
He had rarely felt this way in his life, but he felt it frequently from her.
He used to be alone. When he was hungry every day, he would go out to eat. He never kept any food at home. Even if he suddenly felt hungry in the middle of the night, he would not want to go out and would just lie down with his head covered.
But when Mary was with him, she would carefully store food. After she had been in the Arctic for a while, she heard his stomach rumbling in the middle of the night. She got up silently, made a fire, and cooked him a meal. She waited until he was full before going back to sleep.
Because he was about to enter adulthood, he was always anxious and came home later and later. She would sit by the fire every day waiting for him, giving him sweet water with sugar, looking at him with a look of worry and love, and gently stroking his head for a long time at night.
He would occasionally have some small wounds when hunting or fighting other monsters, but he didn't care. Meili would always carefully look through his fur and take care of those small wounds that he never cared about. Sometimes he didn't even notice any small wounds on his body, but she could see them at a glance.
When she was mending his torn clothes, she would embroider a little bear on them and a few small flowers around the little bear.
A little bear like him was placed at the entrance of the lighthouse to welcome him home.
…
She was not a magical beast born to live in the polar regions, but a tiny human being with tiny hands, feet, head and body. But she could not only take care of herself, but also take care of him.
She would curl up into a ball at night when she couldn't sleep due to the cold. She was more fragile than any monster cub he had ever seen, but she would grit her teeth and practice archery even if her hands were frozen and cracked. Even if she couldn't kill a single monster, she would be very happy if she successfully drove away the beasts near the lighthouse.
She had been eating the same monsters as him, which made her feel uncomfortable, but she didn't say anything because she knew that food was precious here and she never picked and chose.
When Murri looked at her, he could always feel that she was trying very hard to live, like a seedling under the snow.
One night, she woke up from a dream of her own and suddenly started crying, crying silently and biting her hand to prevent any sound from coming.
He woke up almost as soon as she uttered her first soft sob, but was frightened by her tears and dared not move. He waited until she finished crying, wiped her face, and fell asleep again with her arms around his neck, only then did he dare to put his hands on her.
At that time, many strange and indescribable emotions surged in his heart.
He wanted to hide her in his arms like a mother animal hides her cubs.
But she wasn't his cub. He felt weird.
Meili measured her pants waist and looked at Murray's bare feet, thinking about how to make the shoes, which were two sizes too big, fit better. As a hostess who gradually began to take charge of the family affairs, she had to take good care of a cute little bear who had just grown up, and she needed to consider many issues.
Just as she was about to step back after measuring, Murray suddenly hugged her.
Meili: "..." Why did you suddenly hug me? And Murray is too tall, so her feet can't touch the ground when she is hugged like this.
"Muri?" There was something completely different about being held like this by a furry bear and being held like this by a man, even though they were the same person.
Muli suddenly let her go and walked out barefoot. After a while, he brought back a magic beast and handed it to her, saying solemnly, "Eat more."
Mary found that since Muri grew up and turned into a big bear, she was increasingly confused about what he was thinking.
Because of his increased size, the lighthouse could no longer hold him and he had to maintain his human form as long as he stayed in the lighthouse, so she could no longer use his fur to keep warm at night like before. However, Muri insisted that he would be warm enough as a human and still lay with her.
He was indeed like a stove, and it felt very warm lying next to him, and Mary accepted it.
Muri brought back more thick furs, as well as softer thin furs, which were almost covering the entire lighthouse.
Mary thought he was testing hunting in human form, so she didn't stop him from hoarding the furs.
But she didn't just bring back furs. She also took the initiative to find lots of sweet and crisp grass stems for her to eat, and brought her a different fish every day - he caught them by smashing big holes in the ice and jumping into the water.
Like collecting different kinds of fish, each one was caught and brought back to her.
Mary realized belatedly that he seemed to be trying to please her.
Or rather, he seemed to feel that he had grown up and was trying to take on the responsibility of taking care of her, learning to do what she did to him and giving back to her in the same way.
What a mature bear.
As he slowly learned to be a mature bear who could take care of humans, the long polar winter finally passed and the short and precious polar summer arrived.
The summer here is different from the summer Mary remembers.
In the summer in her world, there are forests with a mixture of dark green and light green, bright sunshine, and a variety of equally bright wild flowers and grasses, as well as plump berries.
The summer in the polar regions is not hot at all, and the temperature is quite suitable for humans. This temperature is enough to melt the ice and snow outside the polar regions, and the barren tundra will be moisturized by the melted snow within a few days, growing green lichens and mosses, as well as various flowers.
All the plants grew close to the ground and did not grow too tall, as if they had used all the energy they had accumulated over the winter to bloom. Within a dozen days, they grew buds and quickly bloomed.
The most common flowers are bowl-shaped, growing in clusters in thin soil and in cracks in rocks.
Mary saw the polar summer she had been looking forward to for a long time and was fascinated by the bright flowers.
Their lighthouse is located in the middle of the polar region, and the ice and snow around it do not melt, so the flowers cannot be seen there. Mary does not want to miss the short flowering period, so they decide to live temporarily on the outskirts of the polar region throughout the summer, and then return to the lighthouse after the flowers on the tundra wither.
Muri transformed into a big bear, shaking his fur, and lying on the tundra, stretching his body as much as possible, absorbing the warm sunshine with the surrounding flowers. Meili leaned on his soft belly and accompanied him to bask in the sun.
The big white bear felt very comfortable and fell asleep lying on his stomach. There was a large patch of red flowers next to his nose on the ground, which swayed with his breathing.