"You're leaving?!" Eve was taken aback by the news.
"Yes." Chiaki nodded. "Qianhuang and I only planned on spending the Wint- uh, cold season here in the Leopard Clan Village. Now that the season has changed and it is warm enough to travel safely, we will be continuing on to the City of Beasts."
"We have only had such a short time as friends." Eve said sadly. "And this is the first time in my life I have seen Eudora be nice to anyone who wasn't a male."
Chiaki laughed. "I think Eudora will still be friends with you Eve, even without me here."
Eve frowned. "I hope you're right, Eudora is much nicer to be around after you befriended her! Are you going to go say goodbye to her next?"
"Yes. Qianhuang and Curtis are packing our belongings for the move. So I took Kimba with me to say my farewells."
"Kimba?" Eve said questioningly.
"My cub!" Chiaki said as she nodded to the basket in her arms. "I know it is odd to name my male offspring, but I just couldn't see myself doing it any other way."
"So his name is Kimba?" Eve said smiling at the little white cub.
Chiaki blushed. "When I was little I was told stories about a white lion cub named Kimba who lost his parents, but found many friends and grew up to be a great king. Qianhuang said it was a fitting name for a cub that would one day become the Saint of the Winged Lion Tribe."
Eve nodded. "It sounds like a very good name Chiaki. I'm sure your cub will one day be a strong male."
With a wave Chiaki headed to her next stop around the village to say goodbye to the friends she had made. Several males were saddened to see she was leaving their village so soon, but with Curtis as her second mate all of the no-stripe males were too afraid to pursue her any-longer.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Qianhuang chuckled as he looked at Curtis all draped in their belongings. The huge red snake was saddled with set after set of Clay jars filled with food. While they had eaten out of the food stores for several weeks now, it was still as heavy as ever being in the more permanent clay jars instead of the woven reed baskets.
Curtis snorted at the sight of Qianhuang covered in a pile of reed baskets. The winged lion had all of the rest of their belongings packed onto him, once again keeping his wings from being used. Chiaki had packed anything that would be harder to replace quickly once they arrived at their semi-permanent home in the City of Beasts.
Chiaki shook her head at the two males as each tried to look dignified under their heavy burdens. With it being a short way into the Spring they would be able to travel to the City of Beasts without needing to stay over in another village again. She couldn't help but think that the slow trip between the village of winged lions and the village of leopards had been because Qianhuang didn't want to share her, only for it to lead to them being in the village of leopards at just the right time for Curtis to show up. Maybe it was the will of the Beast God. Maybe that was why she was so insistent that it was time to leave for the City of Beasts. Was something waiting for her there?
With one final wave at the people who had gathered to see them off Chiaki, Qianhuang and Curtis left the Leopard Village.
Kimba watched excitedly from the sling around his mothers chest, he had not been outside the village before. Father was not running, so he could see everything clearly. The trees outside the village were bigger, the water was bigger, everything was bigger! ~Wow!~ The cub voiced in the language of lions.
Qianhuang heard the tiny vocalization. ~Good morning cub.~
~Father! The world is so big!~ Kimba exclaimed.
~The world is very big, my cub. Our family is moving today. We are going to the City of Beasts. It is the largest city in these lands.~
~Really?!~
Qianhuang chuckled. ~Really.~
Not understanding the sounds were speech Chiaki then asked a question. "What will we do once we reach the city? Will there be empty homes like in the Leopard Village?"
Switching to spoken words Qianhuang responded. "There are lots of homes already built in all villages, towns and cities, the City of Beasts will be the same. Though I have heard that you must pay to buy a home in such a city because so many wish to move there for safety."
"Buy one? I didn't know this world had anything but bartering."
"Yes, most to simply trade for what they need. Such a large thing as a home in a city though requires the use of spar or crystals."
Chiaki looked to the side where Curtis was keeping pace with them. "Curtis said he got the food with a crystal, didn't he?"
Speaking up Curtis responded. "Yes, I traded a clear crystal for the food."
"A single crystal is worth that much?!"
Curtis hissed in pleasure. "Clear crystals are hard to get and contain magic that can save a life. One needs to be very powerful to collect one." This would surely make his mate favour him even more.
"I do not wish to admit this, but the snake is right. One gets crystals from colossal beasts, to kill one is difficult." Qianhuang said. "We will probably have to sell enough things to collect spar to afford a house-"
"I will buy the house." Curtis interjected. "I have two more clear crystals, one will be enough for a home in any city."
Qianhuang faltered in his steps. The snake male had killed three colossal beasts?! The power of a four-stripe male was nearly unthinkable. It would take him a long time to become as powerful. He had only broken through to a single-stripe male during his fight with Curtis, as much as he had been rivals with other no-stripe males none of them had ever gained a stripe. There were no single-stripe males in the entire Winged Lion Clan or the Winged Tiger Clan, except for him now. He was truly the strongest of his people... but that only made him one of the weaker males in the world.
"What is spar?" Chiaki asked bringing Qianhuang out of his thoughts.
"Spar are small gems mined from the ground. They come in many colours and the harder the colour is to find the more that spar is worth. A colourless spar is the most common. I've seen red, blue, green and yellow."
"I have also seen black and purple and orange." Curtis added. "The black one was owned by another snake feral I met in passing when I was still a child."
"Amazing!" Chiaki said. "Do you trade with metals too?"
"Metal?" Both males repeated in confusion.
"Like gold or silver? You mine it out of the ground too?"
"I don't think I have ever seen anything come from the ground except spar and rock." Qianhuang said.
"What about you Kurt?" Chiaki asked her other mate.
"I am unsure. Without being shown 'gold' or 'silver' I cannot say if I have seen any before."
Chiaki sighed. If neither of them recognized gold or silver did that mean there was none of those metals on this world? Did the people here just not know about metal yet? She would have to ask around in the City of Beasts. She had been told beast men from all over the continent passed through the largest city, surely if metal was known then it would be known by someone there.
