Chiaki heaved a heavy sigh as she placed a hand on her swollen belly, was the walk to the river this hard yesterday? "Are you okay?" Jiu Ruan asked from beside of her. He had opted to come with her to the river where she would be spending the day with the unmated males as she taught them how to make and use the woven fish traps.

"Felling the pregnancy this morning." She responded. "From what both Harvey and Langzhu have said, I'm probably only a week or two away from birth and the babies are going to really put on weight from now to then."

Jiu Ruan nodded, looking longingly at his mates large belly. Where those his pups? He'd been told it was not likely, as wolf pups would have been born sooner than now. That left the four different feline mates as possible fathers of this litter, because if Curtis had fathered them Chiaki would have given birth long before now.

Arriving at the rivers edge they were greeted with the sight of not only the five males from the night before, but several others, who were all sitting and waiting. More than a dozen sets of eyes locked onto Chiaki as they neared. A couple of the males from dinner raised their hands to greet her. She waved back and saw the unknown males watch with jealousy at the small interaction. "Oh, boy." Chiaki mumbled to herself.

Jiu Ruan recognized many of the new males as his fellow Rock Mountain wolves, though a few looked to be males who had been in the village to trade at the market. He gave a warning growl as he moved closer to his mate.

"I see word of the fish trap making lesson has spread to more than just those who were invited." Chiaki said. Several sets of ears drooped, what if the female made them leave?! None had moved after several prolonged moments. "I'm happy to see so many interested in this new way to get food!" She continued after the pause, to see if any of the males would give up easily. As she spoke the second part, she saw several tails begin to wag and many ears perked up, a few males even pushed their chests forward and sat up strait. Oh if only she could have made people this happy with a few simple words back on Earth. She shook her head and gave a soft smile to the group.

"I need a helper. Shuu, you have seen the traps up close and how they work." Shuu jumped to his feet, standing at attention like he would if one of the higher ranked city guards had picked him out for a demonstration. "Please come up with me, I'll need your help with this many to teach."

All eyes were on the young male wolf that had arrived from the city. Shuu made his way to the front and took a seat where Chiaki pointed. Jiu Ruan handed him the fish trap that had been brought with them from the night before. Shuu looked at it. Other than the fact that it was now dry and the fishy smell was less noticeable, it was indeed the same item.

Chiaki nodded at Jiu Ruan. With a nod back, her mate went to collect the other fish traps from the river. Like the day before the traps had only had a short time to catch anything, but what had been caught was quickly fished out of the traps and placed in a leather bag hanging at his hip. The now empty traps were piled up a bit away from the edge of the river. They would be set by the other males when it came time to show them how.

"Thank you." Chiaki gave Jiu Ruan a kiss when he was back beside of her. "I think I can handle these guys for a bit while you take those back home."

Jiu Ruan looked worried. "Are you sure?" His ears twitched with worry.

"I know it will only take you a few minutes."

He gave a nod. Alone he could quickly make it to their home and back. He just didn't want to leave their mate alone with so many males who had all their attention on her. "Just for a moment." He agreed and with a quick boost of speed he headed to delever the fresh food to their home.

Chiaki clapped her hands together, not that she needed to, for the attention of all the males was still on her. "As you saw, even a few small traps left in the water over night caught enough small fish and other animals to make a simple meal. And you males who had dinner with my family last night know that given more time enough can be caught to feed several for a day."

There was much talking as many of the newcomers turned to the males who had eaten with Chiaki's family the night before and asked them questions. Once the questions began to slow, she got the groups attention once again. "I promised that I would teach how these traps are made and used, so let's start with everyone getting a good look at the traps!" She turned to Shuu and asked if he would hand out the traps to the gathered males. He happily obliged.

By the time Jiu Ruan arrived back, there had thankfully not been any problems. Indeed it looked like the males were having a difficult time deciding between giving Chiaki all their attention or being mesmerized by the new method at catching food. his mate was amazing! He told her so. "You are such a wonderful mate." He said as he kissed her cheek. "You are giving my people a new way of feeding themselves that can be done even by males who are hurt or too old to hunt large animals." Tears welled up in his eyes.

Chiaki cupped his face. "Don't cry." She said softly. "It'll make me cry too."

The gathered males watched as the female treated her mate so. It made all of them want to be hers even more! She was smart. She was kind. She was gentle. She was showing her low ranked mate such attention in front of a large group!

Chiaki looked at the gathered males, realizing they'd been driven to distraction by her and Jiu Ruan. She chuckled to herself. What a bunch. She stepped back from her mate and tried to get the class back on track. "Is anyone good at basket weaving? Let's try making the basket shape of the bottom of the traps together!"

Every set of ears shot up at her words. Baskets were most often used to carry pups when they were too little to keep up with their parents. The connection to such a use made them something of an innuendo. Lines like 'let's weave a basket together' was often a come on. Chiaki looked puzzled by the reddening faces of the gathered males. Jiu Ruan finally started laughing. Some of the males looked like they had stopped breathing, they were so red!

"I missed something didn't I?"

"Uh... you kind of propositioned the whole group." Shuu said from where he was seated.

"Shit." Chiaki said weakly.

Jiu Ruan stopped laughing and gave a loud wolf like bark at the first male who started to stand. The male quickly changed his mind. With her ability to understand the beast language, Chiaki knew he'd just yelled 'SIT!' at the other. "My mate was not suggesting any such activities." He said harshly at the group. "The fish traps use the same skill as making a reed basket." Slowly the group calmed.

Chiaki sighed. Well there was a mistake she hadn't even considered. "Thank you." She said quietly to Jiu Ruan.

"Always." Jiu Ruan's tail began to wag and his face gained a blush. It was wonderful being Chiaki's only mate in the area, all her attention came back to him. For a moment he could even pretend that he was her first mate, her only mate.

The class took all of the morning, between needing to show so many more males the way weaving a fish trap was different to weaving a basket and the fact that they had made several sizes of the traps. Chiaki was happy when Skye showed up carrying a lunch for her.

"Are these the ones Jiu Ruan took home this morning?" She asked, seeing that the wooden platter was piled high with grilled fish and a few sour fruits. Sour fruits tasted somewhat like lemons and limes, and would pair well with the meat.

"Yup! I cleaned them myself, Qianghuan grilled them." Skye smiled at Jiu Ruan. "There's a meal waiting for you back home as well."

Seeing that this was probably a gentle way of saying 'you had our mate all to yourself all morning, give others a chance' Jiu Ruan nodded and excused himself to eat lunch back at home.

Given the distance between their home and the river, the grilled fish had had enough time to cool to just the right temperature for Chiaki to dig in right away. She'd not had more then some water that morning because of a short bout of morning sickness. She'd not had much of that, but now it seemed to be becoming more common as she neared the end of her pregnancy. She was sure that was odd, wasn't it most common near the start? The fish was delicious. She would have to let Key know when she got home.

"How has the morning gone?" Skye asked looking out at the gathered males. "This is... more than last night."

"Yeah, the numbers doubled." Chiaki said. "But Rue has kept them in line all morning."

Skye nodded. He hoped they would stay well behaved. He knew he wasn't a wolf, he was a panther, and the males might not see him as being strong. He was a no-stripe on top of that. The males though seemed busy finishing their fish traps, or interested in the meal that he'd brought Chiaki. Fish was a very common food for felines like himself, but he wasn't sure if they were to wolves?