"It's time for the great hunt." Qianhuang announce as he entered the house.

Chiaki was tending the fire pit, roasting a whole rabbit. Curtis had simply swallowed a second skinned rabbit whole and uncooked, thankful that the female didn't mind him eating in his full beast form. He was curled up in the corner of the room, digesting. He lifted his head. "Great hunt?"

"You remember, Eve was talking about it before the sickness swept through the village."

A pause. "Yes. The Aurochs?"

"Yes, that's the conversation."

Curtis nodded, his large scaly head bobbing up and down. He looked at Qianhuang. "Chiaki wishes to see an Aurochs, she has not seen the animal before. You will kill one on this hunt."

Qianhuang bristled as the feral male demanded he hunt only an Aurochs. "You have no say in what I hunt!' He growled.

Chiaki glanced between them. "Actually, I do want to see one... I don't recognize the animal name and Eve didn't know how to describe one."

Curtis puffed up, the female had taken his side of the argument. She had picked him over the winged lion male that was her mate! Qianhuang twitched his ears, folding them backwards against his head. The snake gloated off to the side, so he refocused onto Chiaki.

He found her right in-front of him. "Don't let him get to you." She said as she hugged him. "How long will the hunt last?"

Qianhuang hugged her back. "I don't know, the village males say they will be gone for as long as it takes." He rubbed his cheek against the top of her head. She'd came out of her heat cycle while sick and now smelled the same as she normally did during the month. Still he kissed the top of her head now. "I want to spend the afternoon... together." He said as his eyes gave a little flash and his cheeks turned pink. It wasn't often that he would proposition his mate right in front of the feral snake male, but Qianhuang was feeling vindictive.

He didn't wait for his mates reply before scooping her up in his arms. "Whoa!" Chiaki yelped at the sudden movement. Then she started laughing, wrapping her arms around Qianhuangs neck. "Key! They'll leave you behind when they head out on the hunt!"

"I'm the fastest flier in the Winged Lion Clan, I'll catch up." He continued to ignore the now fuming snake male and carried Chiaki into the bedroom.

"Oh, put me down!" There was laughter in Chiaki's voice as she playfully protested.

Qianhuang felt a tightness in his chest loosen as he listened to his mate make weak attempts to have him leave on time with the rest of the village males. There were too many happy giggles to take serious any of it. "Let's mate!" He said dramatically, as if that wasn't where they were headed already.

Chiaki found herself laying in the furs several hours later, feeling less stressed than she'd been. She was languid, half dozing. Qianhuang had left to catch up to the hunting party, after many false starts. Her body finally told her it had had enough mating, sore in areas she wouldn't mention in polite company. This had been how she'd gotten Qianhuang to head out.

She needed to relieve her bladder, not a dire need, but a passing thought. She needed to go bathe in the lake, it was rapidly becoming cold water and while Qianhuang was out on the hunting trip she needed to find someone in the village that knew how to build a bathtub. She'd seen one in Parker's house when she visited Qingqing, so someone had to know how.

The village was in no way empty. Males would never leave the females all alone. All the unmated males had gone hunting, hoping to bring back a prize big enough to impress a female into mating them. About one-third of the mated males had gone, this hunt the biggest of the light-rainy season and how they would feed their families through the cold season.

This left two-thirds of the mated male population still in the village, to protect the females and the cubs. She'd have to ask around in the village to see if anyone made bathtubs. Tomorrow, she decided. Right now, she was sleepy.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Chiaki didn't wake until the next day. Curtis was coiled up at the entrance to the bedroom, his human half inside the room. His arms were crossed and his head was resting on them. He stirred awake as soon as Chiaki sat up.

"You are awake!" He said, pushing himself up. "You fell asleep when it was still light out yesterday."

Chiaki rubbed her eyes. "I was just really tired." After several rounds of sex went unsaid. Now her bladder was painfully full. "Let's go to the sand pit?"

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Chiaki tried to hide her amusement as she watched Curtis tending the meat cooking over the fire. He didn't cook his own food, just turning into his full snake form and eating what he was offered whole, so his skills were nonexistent. "I don't like fire." He said. "It's too hot, cooked food..." He trailed off.

"You aren't use to cooked food are you?" She asked softly.

Curtis shook his head. "Living as a feral beast, why would I waste time and energy? Plus fire drawls attention to your location." He yawned, then yelped and pulled his hand away from the fire, dropping the speared meat cubes he was roasting. He put his burned fingers in his mouth. He mumbled a curse around his fingers that Chiaki couldn't understand.

Chiaki plucked the end of the stick up before it could catch on fire, but the meat was covered in wood ash. "I'll eat that one." Curtis said, taking it from her hand and laying it in the dirt beside him.

Males, Chiaki had realized, did not take care of themselves the same way they did females. Best parts of the food? It went to the female of the family. Best furs, best sleeping place, nicest items the males created? All to the females. It was no wonder that most of the females in the village acted like Eudora. They really were spoiled. From the time they were born, they were doted on. Males though, they didn't pay attention to getting hurt unless it was dangerous levels of hurt... and even then, she'd heard stories from Eve. They ate the food 'unfit' and 'unsafe' for females, or starved themselves during the cold season when food ran too low.

Chiaki didn't argue with Curtis that the meat was now covered in ash AND dirt, or that it was only partly cooked. It wouldn't sway him from his decision to eat it. Instead she handed him a cup with melted animal fat mixed with a few of the plants they had gathered. Cooking was not Chiaki's strong suit either and she'd asked Qingqing for a few tips. She quickly realized the teenager liked MUCH spicier food than Chiaki did.