"Does that mean you two want to leave here too?"
"I would like to get away from the feeling this part of the sea is giving me. However," Here he paused and looked at her with determination in his eyes, "I promised myself to never leave your side."
Chiaki sighed and looked at the sand beneath her feet. "If that is the way you feel, I will not argue. I just- I can't take you as a mate. Please understand."
Fox ears drooped at her words. "I- why? No, it's alright. You don't owe me a reason. Forgive me." He turned to face the sea, tears at the corners of his eyes. His heart hurt.
Chiaki watched as the whale chunks disappeared into storage. She felt upset at herself. She'd hurt him and she knew why. They were divided by millennia. It would be cruel to give him hope. The only problem was, she had realized how much she had grown to care for Bai Kun and Lu Yue once she'd lost them to time already. Had she returned to her own time right away, she would have likely moved on. But now they had been thrust back into her life and she didn't want to loose them again. If only she knew a way change that. In thought she walked away, leaving the fox male to return to what he'd been doing.
'Tobi?' She called out with her mind. She'd moved away from her camp site, following the valley river. If he appeared she didn't want him to be seen.
'You know they can hardly see beyond.' Came the child's voice in her head and ears. Chiaki looked to the sound and found Tobi sitting on the rivers edge. 'What is it you called me for?' He asked in curiosity.
'Bai Kun... and Lu Yue...'
'You want them as mates.' He finished for her.
"Yes." Chiaki breathed out, the word slipping from her lips instead of silently.
'Then take them.' Tobi said as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
"Tobi!" Chiaki snapped. Then she glanced back towards where the camp was located. 'That's cruel! How could I live with myself if I did that and then returned to the future! It would kill them.' She stomped over to the see-through figure. 'It would kill me. I couldn't live with myself.'
'I can cast the into the future, with the power I have as one of the Beast Gods Voices. It would take me...' Tobi stopped. 'I would regain enough power to bring a human female to this world... just before I brought you.'
'You mean... you already.' Chiaki brought a hand to her mouth. Suddenly the system popped a small window up in her face.
[2/3 of quest complete.]
[Remaining goal - unknown.]
Chiaki touched the blue screen. It refused to give her any more information. "I really want to know how the system does things without your input Tobi.'
'It's the Beast Gods will.' The child nodded sagely.
She waved the pop up away. 'Well at least I now know one more thing I was suppose to learn? You you were suppose to learn?'
Tobi nodded again. 'So I shall allow these two males to go to your time when you return to it.'
'I don't think two new men appearing out of thin air in my home with mate marks is a good idea in any way, Tobi.'
'Now, now.' The child waved his hand as if he had it all figured out. And indeed, he probably did.
"Chiaki!" Tina called out to the other female, startling her from what looked like deep thought.
"Tina, is something wrong?"
The young woman shook her head. "No, you just were gone for a time, I worried you had wandered off too far."
Ah right, she wasn't by herself anymore. She couldn't just walk off and not tell anyone where she was going. "Right. Sorry. I'll return to camp with you. Your mates will worry if they can't find you."
"It's okay, I said I wouldn't stray so far I couldn't see them." Tina looked back over her shoulder. While the camp was at a distance, she could still see it from where she was on the top of the sand dune. Chiaki though, being down by the river was out of sight of the males in camp.
Chiaki turned to look where Tobi had been. Just as she thought, the 'voice' had disappeared. "Okay, let's walk back together."
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Lex promised they would follow Yue's directions for getting to a safe new home. The information passed to Yue from Kun and originally from Chiaki. If they turned and followed the next large river they would end up curving north west, going around the river valley, the desert canyon, and the grassy planes. On the map Chiaki knew it was the location of a village.
All the males had a large portion of the whale meat packed away in tall carriers on their backs. It would last them a long time once properly dried and cured, but they wanted away from this part of the sea so badly they were willing to wait a bit to do so. Tina was rounding up her three sons and then without much fanfare, they left.
Chiaki wave goodbye to them for a bit. Then watched them for longer as the group slowly disappeared out of sight far down the beach. Kun and Yue were working of the remaining parts of the whale. Chiaki looked at the carcass. I was too much for them at the moment. Given time, they could dry it. Could you salt whale? She guessed you could salt fish, so whale couldn't be much different. the still left them with large remains. She wondered how much Spar the system would give her for whale bones. not that she could trade it all in with others around now.
Chiaki stopped at that thought. Her mates knew about her item box and the system and Tobi. She just needed to get Kun and Yue to promise not to say anything... right? They wouldn't change their minds about how they felt about her if they knew she had these abilities, would they? No, it was still too big of a risk. Without the mate bond, she didn't think letting anyone know just how close she was to the Beast God was safe. Even if she really wanted to trust them. So here she sat, poking the hot embers and feeding the campfire back to life with bits of dry tender and dead plant matter.