What Is Art

It was far past dark now, the only light in the doctor's home coming from two large column candles, as Set used a flat piece of bark to swat at flies that dared to come near Shuule's arm. Previously too wary to even turn his back on the snake, when Harvey noted that there was a three striped guard outside, he had slept for a few hours.

When he awoke in the dead of night, his eyes focused in the dark first on the refracting light off the snake's neon eyes. Set had not moved from his post. A pang rang out in the doctors heart; this man really was loyal to the girl. He knew there were doubts rolling through the city that perhaps the snake had injured her himself, but Harvey couldn't see how.

Quietly, the leopard male got to his feet, to stand next to the kneeling Set, arms folded.

"Is she from the Fox Village two days past the river?" he asked softly.

"I didn't take her, if that's what you're asking," Set snapped, swatting another flying insect.

Harvey shook his head. "It's not my business how you came to have her, my business is to get her well enough to tell me herself. But, no, I'm asking because," he paused, looking at her orange flecked skin, "Has she.... is she unique in any way?"

He watched the back of the other male's head as his whole body stiffened up. Set was hoping nobody had noticed the peach fuzz developing on Shuule's skin, but he also figured nobody knew what they were looking at.

"Why."

"I think I met her mother a number of years ago. While she was still a child. I told her to send the girl to The City when she was of age and I would watch over her," Harvey admitted.

Set whirled his head around to face the doctor, searching his face for deception. He remembered that Shuule had mentioned that her mother had traveled to the city and took on a wealth of information, including -

"What weapon was my mate traveling with that her mother learned from The City?" questioned Set.

"A bow and arrow," nodded Harvey, easily passing the test. "Or a spear, but we already had that weapon before your mother came here, so I assume that wouldn't be the answer you're looking for."

It felt like the first time since Shuule got injured that Set could exhale fully, his shoulders slumping forward as he tilted his head down.

"So you know," he said, slowly.

"Yes, she can change into a beast," Harvey continued, "and to be honest I don't like that she seems to be losing her ability to stay human, though it hasn't gotten worse than she is now."

Set contemplated the same thing, before offering up that she had always been most comfortable with her fox ears, "But I told her to put them away when I met the eagles. I didn't want to explain anything at the gate. Not that it mattered," he snorted. The eagles made things twice as long as they needed to be, anger starting to simmer.

"Eagles and snakes have never gotten along," Harvey chuckled. "It didn't help that Bai Qingqing's only mate that is missing from their statue is the bird, but that rivalry is older than this city, or your father, or the first City of Beasts. I wouldn't take it personally."

"What's a statue?" Set was confused by the entire thing, even though that gray eagle had mentioned the word to him before.

Harvey, his defenses down now, laughed again and sat cross legged next to Set, taking over fly swatting duty. With ferals it was hard to remember that they too were young at one point, and this man was younger than even Iro. Even with the three stripes on his face, the leopard wondered if he had had the ability to turn into a human for even more than a year or two.

"A statue," he explained, "Is art. Art is from the human world. It's a way to make the world around you... different. It doesn't serve a survival purpose. You can't eat it or use it as a weapon really, but it makes the world more beautiful, and sometimes it's used to remember history. There is flat art - we've learned how to use bark, or stone, or wood pulp pressed into paper, and put color on it with dyes or charred wood. Statues are bigger and you can look at it from all sides."

Set nodded, deep in thought. "It seems counterproductive to put energy into something that doesn't keep you alive," he decided.

"Well, it was - but we are comfortable here. The strongest men don't trouble themselves with such things, but the younger men and older men worked on the statue, and the women are so well off in the city now that they needed something to do. Many took up learning flat art." Harvey paused, counting the years in his head. "There's a lot that you probably don't know about that's changed here. At least no other territory in the area has what we have. We even have clothes that aren't just furs - mostly those with high status get to wear such clothes as they are hard to make, but we can make them all different colors." As he said this, Harvey pointed to his own flowing red cotton robe.

Again, Set felt this was highly impractical, but he had seen nothing of the city besides the doctors house. Suddenly, there was a faint whimper from the girl's throat.

"Shuule?" Set leapt, crouching over her. She coughed, and shuddered, attempting to move her injured arm. Lighting fast, Harvey grabbed the girl's hand, not allowing her to pull it in.

SSSsssss Set turned to instinctively lash out at the other male touching his mate, but Harvey pinned his golden ears, hissing back at him. "IT NEEDS TO HEAL, Set."

Set nearly took his head off anyway, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw something change on Shuule's face, and he whirled back around, fearful. At the same time, the leopard guard came crashing into the door.

"WE'RE FINE," Harvey barked again, staring at Set, then down at the girl.

"I can stay," quipped the guard.

"No," snapped Harvey, growling at the guard, who snorted in displeasure but exited.

Now both the men were staring at the girl's left cheek, which had formed a deep purple mark. It was patchy, much like a bruise, but it was there, forming. At the same time, she shuddered again, her fox tail and ears sprouting, her fingers forming into clawed nails, but then stopped fighting sleep, and went still.

"Well, we have two new developments," Harvey marveled in his quiet way. "First, she's still losing her human. I ...." He didn't want to make the snake mad, thus didn't finish his sentence. "Second, we've answered one of my questions I've had since I met Shuule's mother; she can gain stripes."