The six males outside the opening to their cave home stared as Chiaki returned with a male in tow. He was carrying one of the fish traps. Shuu stopped as they neared the group, carefully setting the basket down and getting ready to leave. "Shuu, would you like to have dinner with us?" Chiaki asked before he could make a hasty retreat.
Curtis visibly bristled at his mates words. Jiu Ruan smiled, leave it to their mate to bring home a male when she'd only gone to check the fish traps at the river. Qianhuang stiffened and the other three glanced to each other in surprise. Winston stood and retrieved the basket, giving the newcomer a good looking over before he turned and basket in hand returned to the group. Bai Di knew Shuu was a wolf male, but didn't remember he was part of the group from Highcliff City, so he thought their mate had gotten the attention from one of the local Rock Mountain males. Skye simply was curious as to what this new male might bring to their family, if Chiaki was considering him, he had to have skills, right?
Qianhuang stood and approached Shuu, he was quite a bit taller than the wolf male. He studied him for a moment. "You can clean the fish, if you do not know how Skye can show you."
Shuu let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. It seemed that the lion male was the highest ranked mate in the family. He had been given the okay to enter their small home territory. He stepped over the invisible line that separated the outside from the space claimed by the males.
Skye waved him over where he had claimed the basket from Bai Di. Shuu realized he had probably been given the smelliest task, cleaning the fish and prawns. The basket had been passed from one male to the other quickly, none wanting to end up smelling of dirty fish water and blood. Still, this was a chance to make himself stand out! He would do this and not complain. The other males would see he was willing to work for the better of their family. The female would- He paused in thought. He tried to remember, had he been given her name? Surely he'd heard it? Shuu wracked his brain while he started cleaning fish, sure it would come to him in time.
Curtis hissed in displeasure at the willingness of the other males to let the newcomer into their area, their home. Surely they didn't think another male was needed? Chiaki had six males already! More than enough to keep her fed and safe during a cold season in his opinion. He however wasn't thinking about offspring. Their family would continue to grow larger even without new males, and who would keep them safe and fed? As a snake male it wasn't in his memories, how difficult it could get. With only two offspring in two pregnancies, Chiaki's family had grow very little in two cold seasons. But with this pregnancy, there would likely be three new young added. Females often had several dozen young living with them once they spent several years giving birth, even with large losses during the cold season or lean times. He couldn't fathom that an entire village might be the children and grandchildren of a single female and her mates, with her sons and their mates and their mates mates all living there. It was why so many small villages of a single beast type had a Matriarch, she was literally the mother of the village.
Chiaki watched the reactions of her mates. Well, a bit less dramatic that she had expected. Then again, they had plenty of time for things to go pear-shaped before the dinner was ready. Curtis was internally fuming, a given as it had been his reaction for every one of the four mates she had taken after him. He was by nature jealous of her affection. He even had times when Kimba and Copper set off his desire to be the only one around her.
Qianghuan reacted as expected too, and surprisingly Winston had also taken time to size up Shuu. She hoped that wouldn't bring the two into conflict. She was surprised by Skye and Jiu Ruan having an easy acceptance of Shuu in their midst. She hazarded a guess it was because both males were from large families and still rather young in comparison. Bai Di seemed to react the least visibly and she didn't know what he might be thinking.
With a dinner being announced, the males turned their attentions to preparing a meal and away from their personal projects. Finished clay pots were left to dry and be fired later. Damp clay covered with a hide held down by rocks. Half-worked leathers were set aside, stretched on their racks to be worked more later.
Chiaki sat and rested, her back aching more than she thought it would for the distance she had walked that day. This pregnancy was already heavier than Kimba right before birth. Said cub joined her, resting his head in his mothers lap. "Mama!"
She scratched behind his ears and kissed the top of his head. Her cub was as big as she was! Of course he had no signs of a mane like his father, something that wouldn't start growing in until he was between two and five years of age. Then it would take until he was an adult to become full and majestic. Right now he looked more like an adult lioness from Earth. "Who's my baby?!" Chiaki said, more for Shuu to know who the newly arrived young lion was than anything else.
Shuu was surprised to see how large the cub was, perhaps he was from an older litter? Perhaps the young she'd had the year before had not made it? It was common enough. He watched as the cub received lots of attention from his mother. He remembered being loved by his mother. He was one of many but his mother had been kind to all her offspring. He might have been treated better because he was the son of his mothers favorite mate. Ah, yes. The cub was a winged lion, the same as the male in charge. He probably was the favored offspring.
A fire was built and fish two ways was on the menu, grilled and made into a stew. Shuu found the cray fish the hardest to work with, removing their heads and unsavory parts that would ruin the stew. They were small and he didn't think they would add much to the meal. Skye, the black panther male, insisted though. So Shuu worked his way through them all as the fish were taken to be fixed.
Onion, celery, and carrots appeared from inside, along with a small pot of salt and several pouches of plants that he somewhat recognized as medicine from the healers home. Highcliff City used some plants to flavor foods, so it wasn't a total surprise to him.
The smell of the food began to drift through the area, the mixture of scents foreign to the villagers. Several males came to investigate and found Chiaki and her family group working away at the meal preparations. Seeing their chances they headed to their homes and grabbed food from their stores.
Chiaki knew it wouldn't take long for the scene to draw a crowd. She'd had a short time unnoticed by the males of Rock Mountain Village as the three other females had gathered most of the attention as they actively spent time getting gifts from the males of the village. She'd spent more time with Huanhuan, keeping to herself.
"Female! Look!" One wolf called. He had a flat woven bowl filled with tiny rainbow potatoes, likely the ones collected early in the season. He was grinning and his tail shook behind him. "Would you like these?" He asked earnestly. He had soft brown hair and amber colored eyes, his skin tone lighter than Jiu Ruan.
Quickly she found herself being gifted with foods and even a few items. In total four males had taken their chances and brought things in the hopes of enticing the female to consider them for mates. Knowing it would be difficult to turn them away when she had Shuu being allowed for the meal, Chiaki relented and welcomed the males to share the meal.
