To say that there was no meat in the village would be wrong, however the amount of meat was very little. The Dark Ice Mustang Tribe only hunted once every few weeks. The prey was small ground animals. The large roaming herds of Bison and other animals were only bothered to keep them away from the village's crops. This allowed the visiting Rock Mountain wolves free choice in hunting. They would eat their fill, trade for the foods they wanted to impress females with, and then bring back those and the remaining meat to their home village.

Chiaki's mates also took advantage of the surplus animals to pack on the calories. They traded the furs for more foods after each successful hunt, keeping Chiaki supplied in the most fresh fruits and vegetables she'd had in the past two years. This way Chiaki found herself fully healed after the birth of the five cubs and began to enjoy making love with her mates again.

Her cycle restarted, but after a frantic conversation with Tobi she was reassured that no pregnancies would happen. Of course, the slight smell of blood coming from her had attracted more attention.

"I'm the fastest mustang in the village" The male boasted, only to be pushed aside by another. "Don't listen to him, I beat him in a race just the other day!" "Forget being fastest! I can carry the most hay from the fields at a time!" "Look at me, see how high a can buck!"

Across the road a few females stood, agitated. The short female that arrived with the traders was getting all the attention just because the males could smell her estrus. Just wait, they would be getting all the attention once the hot-dry season passed and their own estrus' came!

When the time came for the Rock Mountain wolves to return home, only a few of the males stayed. This included Faolan who wanted to become Chiaki's mate. He'd watched the effort her males went through, bringing her both fatty and lean meats, lots of the plants that were grown around the village, and even the ability of one of the tigers to make a deal for salt. They worked together and it seemed nothing went to waste in the group. Neither the bones or innards ended up thrown out. Pelts were all traded away fresh for a lower price, but they didn't seem to mind. He'd even seen some of them go foraging past the village territory, bringing back baskets that smelled like plants.

He'd brought her courting gifts and she'd turned him away for the first few times until it seemed like she changed her mind. Now he brought her a part of each of his kills, leaving it wrapped in long green leaves he'd seen the herbivore beast men eating.

Faolan snapped the thigh bone in half, digging out the rich marrow from inside. The female of his choosing already had many mates, several of them were very strong. He still didn't want to give up. He'd watched them feed and take care of all five of her newest offspring, even keeping the runts of the litter alive. If he could get her to take him as a mate, maybe he would learn more things like the fish traps and if he was lucky she'd let him father a litter of pups with her. There was even a good chance of their survival, if they were taken care of as well as the young she already had. His white tail beat gently against the dusty ground.

Rumor had it that the female and her mates would be leaving the horse village soon, heading further south to the rabbit village that shared the great green plains. They were waiting for something, though he didn't know what. He split the rest of the bone, allowing him to get the rest of the marrow in that half, then tossed the splintered pieces into the grass. He took the other half, eating the visible marrow before splitting it the same way. If only he could find something to impress her. Obviously, his hunting was not enough. It didn't matter that he'd been taking down Bison and other large prey on his own.

Following the pattern he'd seen from Chiaki's mates he didn't waste his time working the hides from his hunts. He simply traded them to the merchants from Darkmoon City for Spar. They too would soon be packing up and headed back. The city was a month travel west at least.

At this time the males of the horse tribe had started to dig up clay soil and mix it with small amounts of dry grass and water, forming clay-mud bricks and allowing them to dry in the sun. With the promise of their leader returning home with a mate, and perhaps her other mates, the whole village was coming together to build them a new and much larger permanent house. They had also started to prepare for the rains that would arrive sooner than later, creating low walls around the entire village that would allow any flooding to be handled. This year, the population had even grown enough that they were planing to expand the whole village north by adding another row of houses along one side.

The Rock Mountain wolves dug their homes from the stone mountain side, so watching the way the mustangs made homes interested Faolan. No one could see the blue energy that was released from the wolf male as he watched and learned the horse tribe's ways.

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

"Harvey still hasn't arrived." Chiaki said worriedly. "What if something has happened to healer Langzhu? Or to Harvey on his way here?" She worried out-loud.

"Calm yourself." Qianhuang said, stroking her hair. "He'll catch up, it will just be a little later than planned."

Chiaki looked at the packing traders. The group from the city were headed back, as were those from the rabbit village. If they wanted to travel in a larger, safer group, they would need to leave at the same time. Not that she didn't believe in her mates strength, she knew well the power at their command. It was just, a feeling. They shouldn't stay too long in the Dark Ice Mustang Village.

"I'm sure he will." She said, not sounding convinced.