Salty and Sweet

"I told Rupert about her, sir, I've known about her since she was a child. Her mother came to the city in search of anyone else like Shuule, but of course I hadn't heard of any girl like her. I told the King at the time right away, He must have just not thought it relevant to inform you when you took over."

"No, Rupert did not think to tell me that there was a transforming fox female outside of the city while he was nursing his wounds," growled Edgar. "This is unnatural."

"Then you'd let her leave if she wanted?" asked Harvey.

"NO," the king snarled.

Quietly, Anna, Iro, and Harvey all exchanged glances at each other. It seemed pretty contradictory, but the tiger was clearly on edge and not even Iro wanted to cross him today.

"She's not a threat," Harvey continued, trying to soothe the beast. "She's young, she's scared, she'll be loyal to whoever gives her a soft place to land and lacks judgment."

The tiger stared down the doctor, but he knew that Harvey had a good sense of people, and wouldn't put the city in harms way if he could help it.

"And the snake?" asked Edgar.

"Hopelessly in love like most young men when they get attention for the first time. You're old enough to remember Curtis, truly sir, the snakes aren't bad. They just don't like company."

Now Iro purred into his spouse's ear. "Curtis ate a bunch of wolf pups once," grinning at her when she shrunk back at him horrified.

"HERE?" cried Anna, making the other two males look at them as they all started to slowly walk again.

"No, no," Iro cleared things up. "In the first city. It was a story my mother told yours more than once. Hilarious, honestly."

Harvey cleared his throat. "I was there, it wasn't hilarious. So, yes, maybe the city needs to know that harassing their house, wherever you end up putting them, is probably not wise. But when left alone, Curtis was fairly non existent. I'd expect Set to be the same."

Anna scrunched her nose, opening her mouth to argue, but Iro squeezed her hand, hoping she would reconsider. She did, for the time being.

A small crowd had stalked behind the group by the time they made it to Harvey's home, clearly having overheard their hushed conversation with the male's superior hearing abilities. The King and his commander, Iro, both gave long warning glares to the group, mainly cats and wolves, before stepping into the home behind Harvey, who quickly used the trust Set had in him to set the stage.

"Set, we have company, stay calm," he said softly, but firm.

Set had not moved from the corner since Harvey had left. Shuule had woken up before the newcomers had even stepped foot inside, and was sitting in Set's protective arms. Her clothes were still in tatters, but her mate had combed and plaited her hair into one long braid, making her look less like a disheveled victim.

Rather than just allow the thick animal skin hanging in the entrance to be their door, Harvey went ahead and closed the real wooden door tightly, Ukko springing up and feeding the fire for more light after lowering his head in submission to the king.

Shuule kept her eyes diverted from everyone, practically in the dirt, while Set's green gaze of warning landed coldly on Edgar, unwavering. There was no use in trying to hide her identity anymore, with the deep purple stripe on her face. Therefore, she had also not made the effort to put her ears away. The King, as she assumed, was four striped, but Set was three striped and volatile. If something was going to go wrong, she had a decent chance of escape, or worse case, they'd die together.

However, before the king could speak, Anna stepped away from Iro, suddenly unafraid. Because she was female, Set was also not concerned as the girl bobbed her head to show she wasn't an aggressor, speaking in hushed tones.

"Your name is Shuule, right? I'm Anna. I wanted to personally welcome you to the City of Beasts."

Shuule looked up, ears pricked at the hope of such a warm and friendly smile greeting her. She sized up Anna for being around her age - which was close, she was three years older. She had orange hair as well, being a tiger woman, but it was paler than the fox's hair, and she did not have the pointed human ears and heavily lined eyes.

"Th-thank you," Shuule stammered.

"You won't remember, but you've met my mate, Iro -" Anna gestured to the leopard male, who stepped forward and handed her the fringe lined bag. "I've brought you a gift. This set of clothes isn't fancy, but it should fit you."

"Thank you," Shuule said again, wishing she could think of more words, but falling short, she reached out with her good arm and took the orange tiger printed tie top and skirt.

Edgar cleared his throat, Anna lifting her upper lip into a low growl, exchanging a sympathetic glance to the fox girl, before moving out of the way, but oddly, standing a few yards off to the side of Set, rather than back behind the king.

"Welcome to my city," Edgar said in a booming voice. "You will be given a home, and in exchange you will" he locked eyes with the snake, snapping his teeth in warning, "both of you will, obey the rules of this city. We do not hunt each other, and all the males provide services to the city. And, you should not have been allowed in the city unmated."

Iro's eyes rolled practically into the back of his skull. "You are a liability to my people until we know you're mated for life, snake. You two have until sunrise tomorrow to figure out whatever this is you have going on, or she stays here and you leave."

Neither Set or Shuule reacted. Set didn't care; they'd have to take Shuule from him from his dead hands. Shuule was numb. She knew now for sure she wasn't going back to her silver stream paradise, and she hadn't been able to say goodbye.

"And what about the rest of her," Set inquired.

Edgar became tense, opening and closing his fists a few times.

"What about it?" he answered. "Harvey says she's not a threat. I don't have the faintest understanding why she's been born this way. I'll tell the city to leave her alone. But I'm a busy man and cannot deal with petty arguments; elders may have a hard time accepting her, and I expect you to settle things without slaughtering them, snake."

"Set," the snake corrected. He didn't find his species an insult, but one too many times being referred to it rather than asking what his name was - which he assumed Harvey had told them anyway - set his teeth on edge.