The street was busy beyond the gated fence as curious males noticed the new family that had moved into the outer ring of the City of Beasts. The males were enchanted by the dark haired female playing with her cub in the yard. Those who were more bold sniffed around the gate and found the scents of Qianhuang and Curtis, of lion and snake. The snake scent was off-putting, but the fact there were only two male scents was a good sign the female would likely be open to being persuaded to take more mates.

"Look at how healthy she is. What a lovely female!" The males whispered between themselves. "She's so good with her cub! I wish I could be her mate and she could care for my cubs too!" "It's rare to see a female with long hair. It's shines in the sun!"

Kimba's ears twitched as his better hearing caught bits of the comments. He looked over to the male who were peeking over the low wall surrounding the house. He wiggled free from Chiaki's arms and approached the wall. ~My mama!~ He growled at the males.

The males chuckled at the cub. ~Ferocious cub.~ One male growled back.

Kimba bared his fangs. ~Fight you!~

"There isn't any need of that." Another male said. "Cub, you are brave. Do not worry, no one here will hurt your mama."

Kimba slowly relaxed. He watched the group of males. They stayed outside the boundary of the home. He stuck up his nose at the gathered males. ~Stay out!~ He said then turned and ran back to Chiaki.

"What was that?" Chiaki asked when her cub returned to her.

~Protecting mama.~ Kimba announced.

Chiaki looked over at the males gathered outside the property walls. "I see." A shadow passed over head, drawing her attention. She raised a a hand to shield her eyes from the sun light. The dark form grew larger and took form. Chiaki smiled. "Looks like papa is home."

~Father?~ Kimba questioned, looking up.

Chiaki pointed to the now recognizable white lion in the sky, "Right there!"

~Father Qianhuang!~ Kimba yelled in excitement. He scrambled to find a higher place to stand, fluttering his fuzzy wings.

Qianhuang landed in the yard with a loud sound. -THUMP!- He dropped the large animal he'd been carrying in his mouth and gently butted Chiaki with his big head. ~The hunting is surprisingly good for being so near such a sizable settlement. There are herds of wild animals that must easily outnumber the males in this city.~

Chiaki had heard the City of Beasts called the city of 10,000 beasts by the leopard tribe villagers. A herd- no- several herds of animals that numbered over 10,000? During the seasons when the animals migrated to this area, it was no wonder the beast-men could always bring back something when they went hunting. But during the cold season when all the animals moved to warmer areas...

"Welcome home." Chiaki said as she hugged Qianhuang's head with both her arms.

He transformed then, changing into his humanoid form. Hugging her back. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better!" Chiaki said looking up into his eyes. "I'll tell you later."

Qianhuang nodded. He noticed the males hanging around outside the stone wall that surrounded their property. He glared at them. Most of them were no-stripe males, with a few one-stripe males in the mix. Ears perked up, tails swished, a few growled.

Simple posturing. Feeling out the strength and viciousness of this new females currant mate. No one was in the mood to get into a real fight. Had they wanted a fight, they could have jumped over the low wall and trespassed onto Qianhuang's territory.

A red flash of a snake tail flicked one young male out of the way as Curtis arrived just after Qianhuang. A loud thud signalled he'd hit into a wall some ways away. The other males turned to posture at the newcomer, but the sight of the four red stripes upon Curtis's neck was enough to send the males scattering.

"Heh," Curtis smirked at the retreating backsides of the males.

~Father Curtis!~ Kimba called out happily.

"Curtis!" Chiaki waved. "You both have made it home."

Curtis slithered in his half transformed form passed the wall and through the gate. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

Chiaki hugged him. "I'm fine."

With a smile Curtis coiled his tail under her, pushing her up into sitting on him. The weight of her was comforting and it made it easy to kiss her. He captured her lips just then, a soft kiss. "Good." He held up a woven grass bundle. "The short-winged birds have started laying eggs. I collected enough for a whole meal. The birds too." He waved to the dead birds handing at his waist from a makeshift rope.

Chiaki had never seen a bird like it. The short-winged bird was bright yellow and had long tail feathers like a song bird. It was smaller than a modern-day chicken. "Oh, looks like you took out the whole nest!"

"Two nests." Curtis held up two fingers. "They nest in trees and lay lots of eggs, killing a few wont even be noticed by the whole flock."

"Lots of eggs?"

Curtis unwrapped the grass bundle and showed her that is held over twenty eggs. "They will lay eggs every day. If they aren't mating with a male the birds will break open and eat them and lay more eggs."

"They lay eggs even without a male?" That sounds useful Chiaki thought.

"Yes. That's why you can gather so many of them from a few nests."

Chiaki clapped her hands together and looked up at Curtis. He was struck by the sudden big eyed look she was giving him. He'd hardly seen that look from her. "How many can you catch without killing them?"

He blinked. Catch? She wanted live short-winged birds? Well, they were not very difficult prey, even for a young hunter. Chiaki's cub could probably catch the younger birds with a little teaching. "Without killing them? It might be a little hard at first, I never tried not to hurt them when I was hunting."

Chiaki laughed. "Yeah, not hurting the thing you are trying to kill is counter productive. But is it doable?"

"Yes, I might hurt a few until I get use to grabbing them, but I could catch as many as you want."

"As could I!" Qianhuang added in. "Of this I am sure."

"That's great, you guys!" She waved her arms excitedly. "Fresh eggs every morning! Without needing to hunt in the forest!"

Suddenly the two males understood the plan that had formed in their mates mind. She wanted to keep the short-winged birds where they could collect the eggs with ease. Neither of them would have thought of such a plan, it must have came from her being from another world. Unnoticed by anyone a small blue glow appeared and then faded away.

"We will work on that later, let's eat dinner!" Chiaki said.