Two days later...
"Finally, we can sleep on a bed..." Sophia murmured as Katherine paid the front desk a few coins.
The four of them were finally at their first official town stop of the trip as they went past the mountain tops.
"Hey, it's not that bad. Besides, you guys are going to miss that mattress when you realize what kind of bed hotels usually have."
As the three kids followed Katherine past the counter and towards the staircase, several tables nearby were full of people drinking some sort of beer.
The majority of them were men, but there was still a small fraction of women in several of the groups.
"Mom, are those adventurers?" Alex asked curiously, noting that several of them carried swords and some sort of magical wand.
"Adventurers? They are more like drunkards who drink every night... Never be like them, okay?"
Katherine lectured as the four of them finally arrived on the second floor, which was just a long hallway with doors on both sides.
"Anyway, here's our bed for tonight."
As she opened the door to one of the rooms, the inside revealed a twin bed made of cloth on top, filled with straw on the inside.
"Huh?"
"What? Don't act surprised. Do you guys genuinely think a hotels in the middle of nowhere are supposed to be comfortable?"
Katherine quickly took off her shoes and hurried the three kids to take off their shoes as well.
"Mom, couldn't we at least buy two rooms instead?" Mary complained, feeling a little squished as she became the first one on the bed.
"Too bad you guys aren't adults yet, so they aren't willing to let you rent a room just for you, my little princess."
"Whatever..."
As Katherine pulled the blanket back up, everyone quickly closed their eyes, as the day had been extremely tiring.
Soon, everyone fell asleep except Alex, who just couldn't fall asleep on the hard straw bed.
What was made worse was that Katherine, who slept on the edge, had her entire body surrounding him so that she wouldn't fall off the bed.
Meanwhile, Sophia's chest was directly against his back, all thanks to Mary taking way too much space sleeping on the inside.
"When did Sophia start having boobs?" Alex thought to himself as if he could feel a slight bump against his back.
"No, no, no. I need to stop thinking about this. She's your sister, for God's sake. Don't make it even weirder."
As Alex tried to distract himself a little, Katherine's arm suddenly surrounded him, with her legs wrapping around his leg.
"Mom?"
Hearing a steady sleeping sound from Katherine, Alex realized he was being used like a body pillow.
He tried to push her back a little, but it was no use, as her body was way too heavy to push away without waking her up.
"Come on, Alex, she's your mother. Don't think about her body. Just go to sleep and wake up tomorrow.
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep, five sheep, six sheep, seven sheep..."
As Alex kept counting sheep in his head, he soon got too exhausted and fell asleep on the bed.
---
The next day...
Katherine was the first to wake up, feeling a little energized as she opened her eyes.
"Alex is so cute... Such a cute little boy."
Katherine thought to herself after the first thing she saw was Alex being fully embraced by her body.
But soon, just as she was about to let Alex go, she felt something hard poking against her thigh.
"Oh my... He's at that age already..." Katherine thought to herself as she quickly sat up in bed and lifted the blanket.
Right before her eyes, Alex's pants had a little wet spot around the crotch. The one thing that showed he was getting closer to becoming a man.
"Alex? Wake up..." Katherine softly whispered, shaking him a little as she avoided waking the other two up.
"Hm? What's wrong, Mom?"
As Alex slowly opened his eyes and got up from the bed, Katherine's face flushed a little as she pointed at his legs.
"You are a man now, Alex." Katherine awkwardly murmured as Alex immediately felt the wet mark on his body.
Alex first thought it was a period again, but then he quickly remembered that his period cramp had already passed.
Realizing the situation down below, he immediately got out of bed and ran towards the bathroom.
"Mom, can you leave? I——"
"It's okay, Alex. There's no need to hide it. I'm your mom. I won't be disgusted just because you had a wet dream."
As Katherine forcefully entered the bathroom and took off Alex's pants, she was a little shocked at how pointy it was through Sophia's panties.
"Mom, I can clean this myself——"
"Shush. Let Mommy clean this up... You don't know how to clean it properly yet."
Katherine slowly took off the panties, revealing Alex's immature cock fully erect, pointing at her as if it were angry.
A wet towel appeared on her hand as she began gently wiping around his thighs first, cleaning the edge before moving onto his crotch proper.
Slowly, she moved the towel over to his cute, small cock and gently rubbed the dried semen that stuck onto his skin.
Next, she gently wiped below the balls, where his labia were located, before moving directly to the two small, cute pairs.
"Mom... can I do this myself?"
Alex shyly asked again, feeling a little embarrassed to see his mom staring at his crotch. But Katherine didn't answer his request.
Instead, she moved onto the small shaft, peeling his foreskin back a little, just enough where it didn't hurt as water appeared out of thin air.
With a cool sensation washing every inch of his crotch, Alex shivered a little before Katherine finally stopped and stood back up.
"Okay, you're all good now... Remember to clean below your foreskin. It can get real dirty down there."
Katherine lectured as her face started blushing redder and redder, but she quickly calmed back down as she took off both his panties and pants.
As Alex nodded in agreement, Katherine started chanting some sort of spell under her breath.
A stream of water appeared to rinse both the pad and his clothes, with another spell making the water evaporate completely.
"Okay, now you can wear it... I'll wait for you outside."
This time, Katherine quickly ran out of the room, leaving Alex alone in the bathroom as he thought back to what had just happened.
---
When the four of them got back onto the horse wagon, the two girls noticed an awkward atmosphere between Alex and Katherine.
But it quickly vanished when the horse finally began to move, as another bumpy ride was now ahead of them.
A few hours later...
As the sun was now in the middle of the sky, the four of them took a short break to have lunch.
"Here's your guy's clothes. I just washed and dried them," Katherine murmured as she put the empty laundry basket on the back of the wagon.
"Thank you... Mom, why is one of my panties missing?" Sophia curiously asked.
"Your brother is wearing it right now. I'll buy you another one later." Katherine replied as she began setting up the campfire.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wear it without telling——"
"It's okay... Don't worry about it. I don't mind you wearing my clothes." Sophia interrupted Alex as both of their faces blushed a little.
"Mom! I'm hungry!" Mary complained.
"Okay, okay, I'm cooking already..."
After the short lunch, the four of them boarded the horse-drawn wagon and resumed their journey to the capital.
Mary's constant complaint eventually replaced the awkward atmosphere as she was getting bored once again.
The three kids were once again given a chance to sit in front of Katherine's lap, but Alex hesitated when it was his turn.
"What's wrong, Alex?" Mary curiously asked.
"Nothing."
As Alex quickly ran up to be with Katherine, he was hit by a strong wind, almost pushing him over.
"Whoa, be careful... Who told you to run?" Katherine asked with a hint of anger as she gently put him onto her lap.
"Sorry..."
The two sat together in silence until Katherine was fed up with the awkwardness between her and her son.
"Alex, you don't always have to be so independent... You can rely on Mom to help you." Katherine murmured as she pulled back the reins a little.
Alex didn't say anything back, his mind still a little conflicted over everything that had happened the past few weeks.
"You know, sometimes I feel a little scared having you as a child... It's not because of your body."
Katherine paused for a second, then continued.
"Alex, you sometimes make me feel like you're the adult, you know that? You're so mature when you're only ten.
You're almost like an older brother to them, always taking care of your sisters and willing to take a step back.
Sometimes it makes my heart ache seeing you go out of your way to be with yourself rather than relying on others.
But I just want to tell you this... You can always rely on your mom, okay? I'll always be here for you, supporting you on whatever journey you're planning next."
As Katherine fell into silence, Alex's mind was conflicted. Deep inside, he wanted to tell her the truth about everything in his past life.
However, his mind knew it would certainly ruin his relationship with Katherine and the whole family if he said it out loud.
But the more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt. Eventually, he finally made up his mind, getting the courage to confess the truth.
"Mom, I'm actually——"
"Oh snap!"
Katherine immediately interrupted Alex as the road ahead of them had a giant log that blocked the entire road.
With the reins pulled back completely, the horses quickly came to an emergency stop just as they were about to trip over headfirst.
"Mom! What's wrong?"
Sophia and Mary asked as they ran out to the front of the wagon, their face full of worry and confusion.
"Just a wooden log in the way... Alex, what did you want to say again?"