How It's Going, III

... What the hell just happened? Shuule stood, mouth fully agape, as the snake left her.

It was a beastman's entire purpose to find a mate, of which they could only have one their entire lives. She was told the ferals, beasts who lived in solitary with no clan or city rules, would mate the first woman they found, forcibly or otherwise, because the chances of them ever coming across another in their entire lifetime was slim. So again, she asked, what the hell just happened? A miracle, like herself, she figured. In a world with some sense of magic, but no concept of higher power, she wasn't so convinced that someone invisible wasn't watching over her.

With a huff, she brushed off her skirt, and picked up the leather bag that was strewn on the ground when she had shifted and fled. In truth, there wasn't anything in it. It was an empty bag she could put her clothes into before she turned into a fox on purpose, with a strap on it that she could throw onto her shoulders even in beast form. That's all she had, now. The clothes on her body, and an empty bag. Considering her options for a moment, Shuule decided that the commotion of the snake - Set - would have probably scared off other threats for at least a little while, and briskly walked east, taking the advice she had just gotten. She knew she was in danger out here, but she also wasn't in a rush to get to the City of Beasts. She didn't know what was going to meet her there, acceptance, capture, or rules on how many mates she would need to take to stay - if anyone would want her.

That thought pinged off the back of her mind constantly. She had had suitors in her village, but she also had, mostly elders, who wouldn't even cross her path. She had a whole family attempt to ambush her a year ago, thinking her existence was a curse keeping the other women from birthing anymore females. Her mother felt she may be accepted whole heartedly in a city who nearly worshiped a girl who was flung into their world by magic, and then sucked back away with all of her mates in the same way - but the legend of Bai Qingqing didn't start off with such reverence. She flew half the world away to flee assassination. She was almost drowned by the entire Merman clan. Marrying into royalty was honestly what stopped suspicion of her, but that was only how Shuule picked apart the legends in skepticism. The way it was told was much like a fairy tale, but all fairy tales are dark when you think critically about them.

After about a half hour of walking, she shook her body like an animal would from head to toe, giving an exasperated sigh, before putting her bag down and reaching over her head to untie her top. Neatly, she folded her clothes away in the leather bag, before shifting back into the comfortable embrace of her red fox.

Shaking her body again, but this time with vigor, she stretched all her legs and then rooted her nose under the bag's strap to shuffle it onto her back. Losing all her items wasn't so bad. She missed the companionship of Xunsu, and she hoped the horse had enough wild left in her to survive, or maybe she could navigate her way back to the village. But beyond the worry about her pet, losing her human items gave her the freedom to just be her animal. She hadn't mastered riding the horse as a vixen, since that wasn't something anyone could teach her, so she had been forced to stay a human for what she assumed was her whole trip to navigate effectively. But now? Maybe she wouldn't even bother.

When her brothers had finally grown old enough to shift into human men, they talked endlessly of how free they felt when they were just animals, still planning days among themselves where they could go to the outskirts for a week or two and just hunt mice and be free before they settled down. Shifting as a child, and never being invited as an adult, Shuule never experienced such freedom, and figured now was the time.

Another few hours of hiking, this time fleet footed and silent, winding through the lush vibrant underbrush, she found a stream, and stopped to lap up a drink and take in the sight. It was so peaceful here, with large leafed trees giving ample shade under the hot summer sun, but with the sunlight still beating down on the open stream. The stream was just wide enough that it wouldn't run dry, but wasn't so wide that she couldn't swim quickly across. Water meant that there would be prey about too - possibly also wild predators larger than her, but she could climb. Beastmen foxes especially were better at climbing than their wild counterparts. Wild Grey Fox could climb as well as cats, but Beastmen foxes of all types could tree themselves easily, with retractable claws that were as sharp as a leopards. Still, they were smaller, and needed to always have an exist strategy.

Many species of trees in this world were massive, with trunks so wide that you could hollow them out and live in them, leaves so broad that you could turn them into blankets. Shuule needed to only find a tree a fourth that size, so she casually trotted down the bank - North, she had no intention of trotting even a step closer to Flame City than needed, even if it was a hundred miles away - inspecting the trees on the bank, until she found just the right one. It was tall, and plenty wide, but all she really needed was a flat, thick branch, and when she found the right one, Shuule nimbly scampered up the trunk. The broad limbs were perfect, wide enough for her to drop her bag off her body without worrying it was going to fall in a breeze. She did so, bent downwards to stretch and yawn, and then circled, curling up to lay down in a ball, her nose tucked under her white tipped tail. On these branches, she was able to fall into a deep sleep without worry of falling herself.

This, Shuule decided, would be home, for now. She'd make it to the city by winter. By then they wouldn't turn her away anyway, for fear she would starve, and even in beast form she would be too vulnerable out here as smaller prey would become scarce and she would be a target. But for now, in the early part of the dry season, she had plenty of time to just relax, and be.