"Everything is still in an uproar down in the village." Chiaki said as she and Qianhuang sat on the cliff overlooking the Winged Lion Clan's village. He nodded.

Then there were the beating of many wings echoing up to them, and they watched as half a dozen male winged lions took to the sky, one of them carrying Ji Mo. "That's the way to the sea." Qianhuang told her. "I can find out what they are doing, if you would like to know." He stood. "I can catch up to them."

"Ah, just ask in the village."

"Then I shall." He leaned down and picked her up. "First though, you must rest on the bed now." A soft blush rose to his cheeks. "Perhaps when I get back, we could-?"

Chiaki chuckled. "Eat the animal you caught us for dinner?" Qianhuang frowned, but Chiaki simply kissed his cheek. She whispered, "And then we can do the same things we did last night, yes?"

Qianhuangs eyes lit up. "Yes!" As quickly as he dare he placed Chiaki on the bed, trying not to bump her still swollen knee. Then he was gone from the house.

Chiaki shook her head. Beast men seemed always ready for mating, but she wasn't about to complain. After she'd gotten Qianhuang to slow down the night before it had been a fun experience. A little pain, a little blood... reassuring him he hadn't hurt her... Okay, maybe it all hadn't been fun. She couldn't see any young woman who hadn't at least started into collage being able to handle the intense personalities of the men of this world. But Qianhuang was gentle and kind, even though mentioning anything about sex or having children often lead to him to ask her to mate with him. Even out by the river he'd become aroused when trying to help sooth her knee. Because she was only in his wrap, and it was only tied closed above her breasts, and he could see everything from where he had been sitting.

The animal he had killed looked like an Okapi, with its mostly reddish-black body and zebra striped legs. He said he would use its pelt to make her clothes. She wasn't sure what he planned to do with such a big animal, then she thought about how large Qianhuang was in his winged lion form. The Okapi would probably only feed them for two days. Right now she didn't know where most of the animal was, but a single whole back haunch was simmering in a large clay pot just outside.

Qianhuang looked worried when he returned. So Chiaki asked him what was wrong. "The Shaman says we need to burn the sick females to keep the curse from spreading. The female Ji Mo says that the females can be saved. They are at odds with each other. The Matriarch has chosen to allow Ji Mo to try to heal the females, with something she called 'salt'-"

"Salt?!"

"You know of this cure?"

"Salt is a mineral that people need to stay healthy." She paused. "Ji Mo asked to go to the ocean to get sea water didn't she?"

"Y- yes, how did you know?"

"Sea water is also called salt water, uh, to females like Ji Mo and me..." How could she tell him that his Beast God had dropped a couple of twenty-first century Earth-girls into his world? Actually, now that she thought about it, why wouldn't they be getting enough salt? It had to be a fairly new problem, or the Winged Lion Clan would have died out quickly living here. The village didn't look like it had been built recently, from what she could tell.

"This is knowledge gifted to you by the Beast God then?" Qianhuang asked with a smile.

Chiaki didn't want to lie to him. He had been nothing but kind to her. Loving. She shook her head. "No, I learned about it as a child, back where I grew up." She looked up into his eyes. "I'm not sure how much of this will be understandable, but supernatural things are normal here."

"Supa-?"

"Supernatural, like the magic of the Ape Tribe you told me about."

Qianhuang nodded. Yes he understood magic existed.

"Okay. I want to start with saying, I believe you when you say the Beast God brought me to the Winged Lion Clan." Qianhuang brightened at his mates words. "But he didn't bring me from another part of this world and he didn't just make me out of nothing. I was born on a world called Earth..." She began, telling him everything important, trying not to overload him with details. It would still be a long discussion that would last long into the night.