Chiaki waved at Eve when she exited the house again later that morning, Curtis following her diligently. The leopard female looked nervous with the feral snake male so close, but waved back. Eve wasn't sure, but the male seemed a little different than the last time she'd seen him. Less scary. Making up her mind she walked over to the pair. "Good morning Chiaki."
"G'morning Eve, sorry I haven't spent much time with you lately."
Eve eyed Curtis. "Uh, that's alright. I just wanted to let you know that the cold season will be staring anytime now. One of my mates was in the group sent out to scout for the migrating giant boar and Aurochs herds. They saw the first signs, so there is going to be a village wide hunt soon!"
Chiaki had seen the size of the local boar, they were easily over two hundred pounds. How big would a giant one be? "What is an Arocks?"
"Aurochs." Eve corrected easily as she would one of her cubs. "They are..." Eve faltered, how did you describe an Aurochs to someone who'd never seen one? "Uh..."
"I will make sure to show you one." Curtis interrupted.
Chiaki smiled at him. "Thank you, Kurt."
Even Eve noticed the sudden jerk in the males head and the way he suddenly looked brighter. She grinned. Oh, so that was what happened. She tried to glance discreetly over Chiaki's body for a new mate mark, but found none. Maybe it was hidden, maybe they hadn't mated quite yet... either way, Eve now could see Curtis was changing. He might be a feral male, but... he didn't seem so different from other males. But he was still a snake beast. She shivered. Better Chiaki than her! "I need to go feed my cubs." She announced. "I'll see you soon Chiaki."
"Right!" Chiaki said happily. "I'll see you soon!" She waved after Eve as the other female left.
Curtis suddenly wrapped his arms around Chiaki's shoulders. "You called me Kurt."
"Oh, you don't like it? I was trying to think of a nickname for you like Key."
"I love it, I'd be happy whatever you called me, but you gave me a nickname too!" His tongue flicked out for a split second. "You must really like me."
"Curtis~" Chiaki whined. "You know I like you."
"I like hearing you say it." He teased.
"Males." She shook her head. "C'mon, I have to go to the sand pit." Curtis nodded as he let her go and followed her so she could relieve herself.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
"Harvey! Harvey! Bai Qingqing is sick!" Parker ran through the village with the girl in his arms. "She went out in the rain!"
Chiaki leaned out of the doorway as Parker continued to make a fuss outside the healers home. She sighed. The girl probably caught a chill, a cold at the worst. Actually, she herself was feeling a little under the weather. She shivered.
"Chiaki? Are you alright?" Qianhuang asked as he came up behind her.
"Ano-" She wavered a little and turned to lean on him.
"You're burning up!" He gasped. "I'll get the healer."
She shook her head against his chest. "Parker has Qingqing over there right now. It's just from the dampness of the rain." Chiaki sniffled her nose. "I'm going to lay down, can you heat me up some broth? You can have Harvey come by once he's done with Qingqing."
"Let me." Curtis said holding his arms out to Chiaki. "My body temperature is lower than most beasts."
Qianhuang didn't want to, but scooped up his mate and passed her to the snake male. Chiaki sighed against the cool touch of Curtis' skin, shivering again. Carefully Curtis slithered into the sleeping room, glancing to see if Qianhuang would stop him from entering. He wasn't stopped, the winged lion male was already working on mixing up a easy to eat broth for Chiaki.
Curtis curled up with Chiaki by his side, pulling a sleeping fur over her to keep her from loosing too much heat too fast. He brushed her hair from her face, looking at her pink cheeks and damp forehead. A fever and a chill, she hadn't even seemed sick the night before. How frighteningly fast the female had gotten sick. Were all females so fragile?
"So cool." Chiaki sighed into Curtis' chest, rubbing her face against his bare skin. Curtis felt a quickening of his heart and a blush rose to his own cheeks. Such a precious little female.
Qianhuang brought in a bowl of broth and sat it beside the sleeping furs. "Here, get her to sip on this. I'm going to get the healer." Curtis nodded, picking up the bowl and blowing on it to quickly cool the broth. He brought it to Chiaki's lips as Qianhuang left the house.
Chiaki sipped the broth, letting the warm liquid slide down her throat and pool in her empty stomach. She turned her head away when offered another drink. "I'll be okay." She said softly. "It's just a chill from all the rain." She tried to assure Curtis.
"Females are much weaker than males." He insisted. "Your body can't fight off things like a males can."
"M'not that weak." She shook her head. "I'll be fine by this time tomorrow-"
"I'll be the one to decide that." Came a voice from the entrance of the house. At the door shaking off the rain water were Qianhuang and Harvey. Harvey had been the one to speak. "I'm the healer, after all."
"How's Qingqing?" Chiaki asked as Harvey got closer.
"Same as the other two females that I've seen this morning. A fever and chill from the seasonal rains taking their tole." He carefully pulled the sleeping fur away from Chiaki. "Now if you can move to the side?" He motioned Curtis to move off of the sleeping furs. Once he did, Harvey began to check over Chiaki.
Heart was fine. Breathing was fine. Temperature was too high. She took the shakes from the air hitting her hot skin. Eye color was fine. Skin color fine, though a little flushed. Dehydrated from the looks of her lips. Yes, the same as the other females in the village. "I have some medicine here I want you to add to her food. One will help fight the sickness, the other will help bring down the fever." He looked at Curtis. "Laying with her can help cool her, but be careful not to chill her too much." Then he looked over to Qianhuang. "And try to get the dampness out of the house or she might get a sickness in her lungs."
When all was said and done, poor Harvey ended up seeing every female in the village for the sickness in the span of three days. On the morning of the fourth day Chiaki's fever broke. The other females who had gotten sick first also started to get better at that time.
