After crying Chiaki felt the stress of the situation lessen. She'd been pushing herself too hard these past few weeks and hadn't noticed until it had overwhelmed her. The worried looks from the two males accompanying her as she packed up camp the next morning showed.

She didn't care if they took it the wrong way, but she gave them each a hug, before saying it was time to leave. "Okay, it's just a few more days til we hit the top."

"You still worry about the birds nesting near the temple?"

Lu Yue pushed a strand of her bangs from her face and she waved him off. "Yeah, I do. But it can't be helped, maybe they are just camping for a while."

"Right." Bai Kun nodded, not sounding convinced.

The trip up the mountain side was thankfully not harsh. Just long and winding, the path taking the way of least resistance. Chiaki finally started talking about her family to the two men following her. She had to admit, Yue was a talented healer outside of his magical ability. She thought he and Harvey would have talked long into the night for weeks or months about their methods. The deer was also more persistent in catching her eye as a potential mate. She had to sigh at that. She was from another time and place, even if she did take him as a mate... what then? From what she knew of the destruction of the Beast God's Temple and the death of the Beast God's earthly vessel, a male loosing his mate by disappearance was the catalyst of the tragedy.

Bai Kun didn't vie for her attention, simply doing what was asked. He seemed to be enjoying the lack of fawning from a female. Maybe he hadn't been exaggerating how rough he'd had life because of simply being a very handsome fox tribe male. It made her wonder if the fox tribe had made it closer to her own location in present time. If the males were that wanted, surely they had spread further.

"And it isn't as if I'd not like a mate," Kun continued, talking to Yue, "I just want one who sees me as more than a beautiful breeding mule."

Chiaki chuckled along with them. "So you want someone who sees you for your brain, not your body."

The fox nodded, put out at the lack of prospective choices. "It would be nice... someone I can talk to on my own level."

"You'll find someone some day." She reassured him. Talking more causally had helped Chiaki lessen the longing for home and her mates. It made her realized she didn't have many friends outside her family. She should try to befriend more people... well females. Unlike on Earth, being just friends with beast men was nearly impossible due to the culture. She was doing her best right now to keep these two at arms length, even as she became more comfortable in their presence. Actually, Bai Kun was the first male in the world who seemed at ease being around her as a friend. It felt nice.

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

"So, what's for dinner?" Chiaki asked as Bai Kun as he returned later that evening. They had set up camp just below the largest outcropping of rock that counted as their destination. Tomorrow they would make it there. The bird beast men were now curiously drifting in the sky just out of range for her to yell at them to stop acting like vultures. She was annoyed that none of them had came down, to ask them what they were doing or to warn them away.

"Ring necked birds." He said, holding up what to her looked like a pair of partridges. The ring was more around the eyes and down the front of the neck than around the whole neck, but whatever. Most animals here really were just called descriptive terms instead of proper names.

Eating a bird after nothing but dark meat animals for a while felt like a treat. Even with no seasoning. Chiaki happily took the breast meat of the birds, while the males tried to get her to take the 'better' parts. Even if the white meat was the lesser choice she liked it a lot better. This high on the mountain, the greens to pick from was non existent. There were thin and twisted pine trees and some spiky shrubs, that was it. Where the birds had been caught was a mystery, but she didn't mind. The only green she could use was the fresh pine needles, she knew this kind was safe after a simple identification. So she was able to have pine nettle tea.

The water was from a small stream, she wouldn't even consider it a stream if she had known a word for running water she could step over. It was one of may of the small streams that connected and made the river down the mountain and out to the lake. She settled down to sleep as Yue took watch, Kun resting closer to her back because the cold was harder to keep away at night this high up the mountain.

As dawn arrived the next morning, Chiaki was annoyed to find a red feather in camp. There were no red birds and definitely none with feathers nearly a foot long.