Shuule and Set slept soundly in their room that night, the first hours of real normalcy that they had both had for days. They were both woken up early, by the sounds of the city coming through their open window.
"You know you aren't actually obligated to do anything, anymore," Set spoke, trying to coax his spouse back to sleep. "That's the benefit of living here, or not by ourselves. Sleep longer, until the doctor comes."
Shuule shook her head, crawling out of his snake coils and getting to her feet. "No, I want to eat real food today, and I want to see the city. And, you haven't eaten at all yet, you have to be comfortable leaving me here with Anna and going to hunt!"
Set smiled at the fact that she was worried for him, but snakes could go much longer than a few days without eating. He was opportunistic, and happy to gorge himself when they lived at the cave, because prey was abundant. But he had no plans on leaving Shuule here by herself. The only obstacle he
Iro got up to open the door, but by scent they were all aware it was Harvey, eager to see how Shuule's wounds were healing."Hello!" Shuule waved from the table, all put licking her bowl clean. Even in her small home village, manners did exist, but they barely did at her cave, so she was starting to slowly remind herself what wasn't acceptable.Harvey's eyes beamed at the girl's enthusiastic welcome, having to stop himself from wagging his tail like a dog. Yesterday had been a lonely day and night. After being so central to many important decisions, he spent his time doing...nothing. Being nowhere, not being of service. He would have been at Anna's house at the break of dawn if he didn't know he would be intruding."I'm glad to see you doing so well!" he exclaimed, though his eyesight suddenly settling on the undeniable, dark snake mark, visible from the top of her clothing. Nearly coughing, he looked up at Set, who was keenly aware of Harvey's eagerness to touc
"Let me Carry you," hissed Set as the two of them walked out behind Anna and Iro, with Harvey tailing them."I don't want to look like a child," snapped Shuule. Perhaps the honeymoon was already over in twenty four hours, but Set, now on the defense as Shuule had purposely shown support to Harvey, let his jealousy take over, scooping her up off the ground while she growled."SET," overreacting, the fox pinned her ears, and aggravated, bit him on the arm. Anna looked back, alarmed, but her spouse, who had a grip on her hand, kept walking, ignoring them."They're fine," purred Iro. "You're forgetting how we were the first weeks."Iro was correct in this observation - the spousal bond was more than just a mark on the woman's skin. It fundamentally changed behaviors, especially in the men, and they had to figure out how to settle the new urgent emotions that they had. Jealously was normal on a good day, but attached to it was the undeniable need to protect th
Elena and the other woman next to her took a second to register what Anna was even talking about, and then gasped, gripping their tea."Is this....?" the stranger woman asked Anna, staring suspiciously at the fox, who had backed up and curled herself around one of Set's legs.Anna cringed, scanning the women's faces trying to figure out what their next moves would be. "Er.... yes. That's Shuule. And that," she pointed to the three striped male standing squarely on guard, "Is her mated spouse, Set."In his full human form, a male's sense of smell was always good enough to sniff out species, but women didn't have the same ability. To make sure they knew exactly who he was, Set blinked, letting his reptilian pupils dilate into slits.Elena and her friend peered upwards at the dark haired man, gulping, giving him a grim smile, but had nothing else to say."Let's keep going," Harvey requested gently. Happy to oblige, Anna ushered everyone forward down t
Iro hissed at Harvey's interpretation. "He didn't steal her," he snapped, but Harvey also had his ears pulled back, crouching low to the ground as if he was ready to turn into his leopard."He took the most beautiful female out of the village for himself, and the only remaining bloodline of the Tiger King," the doctor roared. "And don't act like I don't remember that you and your siblings helped him!""An'An?" Set asked, his eyes darting between the two angry leopards. Anna had stepped back to stand next to Shuule, who was watching with curiosity but not concern.Iro, not threatened by the unmarked leopard's aggression, easily turned his gaze away from his spitting opponent to question his snake brother. "How do you even remember her? You were all worms when you were set free."Set diverted his eyes, looking over at his mate, who's nostrils flared. "It doesn't matter," he answered. "Is she dead?!""No, I would think not," huffed Harvey, still raisi
The rest of the day allowed Shuule some normalcy, scampering away into the flowers and stalking down a rabbit so she wouldn't feel like a burden being fed by Anna's spouses again. That night, under the moonlight in the room to the left, she lounged in Set's coils back, bare skinned, in her human body, looking at the rabbit's foot she brought back - this one was pink - turning it over in her hands. Her mind wasn't on her souvenir, though, thinking back to Anna in the skystar field in the morning.Not being able to keep his hands out of her hair whenever she let him, Set was brushing her orange tresses back with his fingers in silence while she leaned into his chest."What are you worried about?" He asked quietly."Nothing," Shuule mumbled, still heavily inspecting her lucky foot."You're lying.""How would you know," she hissed back half heatedly."I can feel it. I can feel it because you're sitting on me, but I can feel it inside, too," Set
The next morning, Anna and Shuule were fed well by Iro again, another feast that Shuule had never had: fish paste balls and sour oranges. Shuule wasn't very in love with the oranges, but Anna explained that the vitamins in the fruits were supposed to help your immune system - which also had to be explained. As Anna should be going into heat soon, as most of the women in the city, she wanted to be as healthy as possible to give herself the best chance of conception."Iro and I are trying again this year," she explained between bites of the bitter juicy fruit, which she had brought out into the backyard. "One pregnancy in three years is really good, but he deserves a litter so badly, as do all of them. It's so hard thinking about the fact that they may not all get children." She sighed. "And of course Arthur is the one that managed the first litter."Shuule was holding her orange, looking over at Set for help, who was fully in his snake and sleeping. He wasn't going to t
As the skies overhead finally gave way, both girls shrieked, then laughed, running inside. Shuule shook her head vigorously to get the water off her ears and hair. They were met swiftly with the smell of wet fur in the house, muddy paw prints on the stone floor."KITTENS!" Screamed Anna, while twisting her hair into a knot on the top of her head. "IF YOU ARE IN THIS HOUSE I SWEAR"Shuule couldn't help but stifle a laugh under her hands, remembering her own mother scolding all of them for the same reason. A pang of guilt ripped through her at the thought - she missed her mother. Shuule was an adult now, and should be off on her own, but it would have been good to at least have a proper send off, the unknown now starting to spiral in her head."KITTENS." Anna paused to listen, no response being given."I don't think anyone is in here," Shuule offered, being able to hear better. She paused, sniffing the air. "I think Remi is upstairs?"A broad smile c
"What do you mean, 'how'?" Asked the bear, gruffly. "Rarities like jewelry I'd need something in return, but if it's basic needs, I just give it to you. Unless you're planning on leaving the city with it. Then that's stealing."Shuule and Set both starred at the three striped man, slack jawed."It's a trap," Shuule said, plainly.The iron smith's stubbled face first twisted into a scowl, then broke into a hearty laugh. "Uh.... what? No? Everyone here gets what they need unless," He shot a warning glare to the serpent man, "they truly act terrible or useless. Especially the women, you would never go without. Come back when you have your home set up and I'll give you what you need."Set nodded in understanding, putting his hand on the small of his mate's back, ready to turn and leave. Though this isn't what was in his legacy memories, most of the way the city now operated wasn't. It had clearly changed since he hatched.The bear then pointed to the w