Apparently some squabbling had still broken out while Chiaki was gone, but no one involved seemed more than annoyed at whatever conclusion had been made about Stripes and Totems. Ah well at least Curtis had been turned away from attempting to show he was right through a fight with Faolan.
Chiaki finally got to enjoy her fish and crawdad stew. They hadn't been able to harvest any grains this early in the season, so there were no dumplings in it and no bread to soak up the juices either. She missed bread and milk, and especially cheese.
"How did you make the traps for the fish?" Shuu asked. The other males didn't even know the fish hadn't been gathered by hand.
"I worked with Huanhuan, that's-"
"That's the village leader's female mate!" Lupin interrupted.
"I didn't know you knew the leaders mate." Jun Hei added.
There were a few more small comments before the four Rock Mountain males quieted again.
"We worked on them together." Chiaki said. "As I was about to say though, the ones we made seem to be only able to catch the smaller fish in the local river, I might have to make a bigger one."
Shuu hummed and Chiaki noticed a bit of a blue glow. As he studied the fish traps, the glow grew quite considerably. "I would like to learn who to make these fish traps." He said. The blue glow flashed and was gone, Chiaki felt like she had just seen something important.
"I-" Chiaki stopped. If she offered to teach Shuu how to make the fish traps it would be abit of a double edged sword. On one hand she would be bringing new skills to the people of the world, something she was here to do. She would drag them kicking and screaming into the age of metal, as soon as she could find some. On the other hand, giving one-on-one crafting lessons to Shuu would pretty much advertise that she was going to take him as a mate. Did she think Shuu would make a good partner for her? Well, perhaps. She didn't want to feel like she had became just taken him as a mate because he had wanted to learn the new skill... She did already feel like she was going to proposition the wolf male. Did it matter if there weren't clearly defined skill sets between her mates? No. She just didn't want a husband that turned out to have nothing at all to offer besides being a good roll in the hay and an extra set of hands. Besides she'd taken Bai Di without knowing too much about him. And Winston she'd simply followed a gut feeling about. "I can teach you how to make them if you come back tomorrow, after breakfast."
It was sealed in the eyes of the males. An invitation to come see the female again was often the thing that happened the least when pursuing a mate. It said, okay I'm interested now. The rest of the visiting males steadied themselves and waited to be sent on their ways. It didn't happen.
Chiaki turned the conversation to the fish traps and the plants that Huanhuan had grown and that she'd gotten seeds to plant. "But I don't think there is enough space left around the village to add another large growing field."
"That's true." Bai Di agreed. "Every bit of space has been planted already and if you go too far south we would be passing into the lands used by the rabbit tribe and horse tribe that live there."
"And what remains of the Black River wolves headed that direction." Muchen added. It was quiet for a moment as the bad memories from the last cold season came to mind.
"What is the land like south of here?" Chiaki asked, breaking the silence.
"Lots of grassy plans and small woodlands. That's why the area has two herbavore villages." Bai Di said.
"And past that it becomes badlands." This information came from Shuu, surprisingly. He touched one of the shoulder pauldrons he wore. "The city guards used the scales of the giant sand digger in making our armor. It lives in the sandy areas of the badlands. It's a large beast, but the real danger comes from the gargantuan beasts that hunt in the area."
Chiaki hadn't thought about what the shoulder covers were made of. The idea of any kind of armor used by beast males was not something that had crossed her mind. She nodded at the information. "And beyond that?"
"Wild lands, as far as I know no tribe has tried to cross the entire badlands and form a village on the other side." It didn't matter who had said that because the look in Chiaki's eyes said it all. They sparkled in curiosity. Qianhuang knew his mate would ask to go to the wild lands.
Chiaki continued to talk with the five males until the food was all eaten and the night was growing deep. "Our mate needs her rest." Curtis said once Chiaki gave the first yawn. Surprised at how smoothly the evening had went with the rocky start she had to agree though.
"So, will we get to see you tomorrow?" Faolan risked asking. Out of all the males he had caused the most problems during the evening.
"I think, yes, why don't all of you join Shuu with me at the river tomorrow and see the fish traps?" Her words went through them like electricity, she wasn't going to turn any of them away right at the start?! With this information, the group of males split up and left for home, all of them sure that during the next day they would try their best to show this female they were worth choosing over the others.
"Surely you aren't going to take them all as mates?" Curtis was the first to speak, but this time he was sure that the question was in the mind of all of Chiaki's mates.
She gave a small laugh. "Oh, no, I really don't think adding five more guys all at once would be good for anyone. But this gets them all to come learn to make the fish traps, and that information will get around the village faster with more males knowing how it's done.
Curtis curled around her. "Such a devious little female." He flicked his tongue at her and she simply stuck her tongue out at him in response. He kissed her. "Well, if you will be spending tomorrow with a bunch of smelly dogs and fish, can tonight be-?"
Chiaki touched their noses together. "Yes, tonight can be just for us." Unfortunately for her other mates, Curtis scooped their mate up and disappeared into their temporary home, leaving them to do all the cleaning up.
