Mimi, her mates, Eudora, and Harvey had finally arrived back at the Leopard castle, just in time to see the chief and the king come out.
"Eudora, you're back," the chief said, smiling as Eudora rushed to see him.
"And what is this on your neck?" he asked.
"It is a necklace, Papa, it was a gift from a kind panther beastmen we met," Eudora replied, a bright smile on her face.
The chief frowned thinking she didn't know what the gift meant.
"And Mimi taught me about courting and pet beasts, so I don't accidentally accept a male as my mate." The young female continued.
"Oh, that is nice of her. Thank you, my Queen, is there anything I can do to repay you?" he said, slightly smiling in the queen's direction.
"Oh it is fine, but as repayment, you must come with my mates and I to the royal bonfire, all royals can bring their mate or family. It happens once every season and you must come so I can introduce you to my sons." Mimi smiled mockingly, in the end, the queen would be able to introduce her sons to the young female. After all, she would be a bad mother to let the opportunity of a young unmated female escape her grip.
The chief sighed, but in the end, nodded slowly. Eudora was excited to meet more females and spend more time with Mimi, just in the short time they knew each other, Eudora had clung to her.
"Well then, we better head off, it only takes a short time to get there, the ape king is hosting," the leopard king said.
The chief nodded, and transformed into his beast form and laid down to allow Eudora to get on his back. The king did the same for the queen, but her other mates helped her up.
"We will be there soon, my cubs are already there." the Queen informed as she got on top of her mate.
After a short time, they started to see smoke in the distance, the bonfire must have already started.
As they came to the clearing, the males roared to announce their presence. All heads turned to them, and some males stood up, probably Mimi's cubs, and ran to them.
Eudora jumped down from the father, and he transformed and quickly covered himself with leopard fur.
"My cubs, this is Eudora, she is the daughter of the chief of Camel Hump Village, and she will be staying with us for the night. Before she returns to her village." Mimi declared, before getting lifted off the king, grabbing Eudora, and walking off towards an empty fire in the center of the gathering.
"My Queen, I do not wish to upset you, but you cannot keep grabbing my daughter and walking off. She is young and likely to be taken advantage of." The chief said, with a frown on his face.
"Oh Chief, if you were not rootless I would accept you as a mate for your protectiveness. But do not fear, for you can stay with us this time." Mimi giggled before sitting down and dragging Eudora down with her. The chief just stood there dumbfounded, before too sitting down on the other side of Eudora.
"Let me introduce you to my cubs," Mimi said, still smiling.
Two 17-season cycle-ish old leopards stood in front of them, holding a piece of meat each.
"Their names are Parker and Patrick, my most powerful cubs, although they are still young,they already have a mark." She bragged, obviously proud of her cubs.
Eudora just nodded, not meeting their eyes, she hoped she did not to make them think she was accepting their courtship.
"cubs, you may leave, Eudora isn't accepting any courtships right now, but perhaps in the future." the older female said hopefully and winked at Eudora. Parker and Patrick let their heads drop and walked away, their meat still in hand.
Eudora and Mimi continued to chat and eat until suddenly they heard a stomping.
"Who are you?" rudely questioned a young female about the age of Eudora, she had dark hair and pale blue eyes, she was beautiful but in a dark way, not like Eudora's bright beauty. Behind her was a handsome tall and muscly white-haired male, with three marks on his shoulders.
"Rosa, this is not your campfire," Mimi said disdainfully, she must have not liked the female.
"No, but this female is new, and the same age as me, have you kidnapped a female to try to compete with my mother?" Rosa questioned angrily, a sneer on her face.
"No Rosa, this is Eudora, her father is the Chief of a leopard village. They came to do business and I invited her here." The female stated, pursing her lips. 'The queen must not like Rosa very much' thought Eudora.
"Hmph, well then I will leave you to your village female," she said putting emphasis on the village. For what reason Eudora didn't know.
Rosa strutted off, the large white-haired beast man close behind her.
As soon as Rosa turned her head, Mimi let out an emphasised sigh.
"I hate the female, so young and spoilt, it is no wonder she has no pet beast yet." She said very loudly, almost yelling. Eudora just let out a quiet giggle at the queen's antics.
"Who was that?" Questioned the younger female, after settling her giggles.
"Rosa, the tiger princess, thinks just because her father is the tiger king is her father she can get away with everything. I also hate her mother, we were similar in age so we were always competing for the best males. She tried to get my King to court her, but he liked me more, so she settled for the Tiger King, who was only a 3 stripe at the time. He has only just gained his fourth stripe and title, so he is much weaker than my King. She was so happy when in her litter there was a female. Bragged about it for seasons, I wanted to rip out her hair." Mimi ranted, she was obviously aggravated by the mention of her sworn competition.
"Sorry for asking, but why did you act like not having a pet beast was an insult? I don't have on either." Asked Eudora, who although the sad question was smiling softly at the queen.
"Oh, for her it is. One of the jobs of a mother is for her to find their children's possible mates, by socialising with other females and introducing your cubs. Seeing as her mother is the Tiger Queen it should be easy for her to find a possible mate with high potential, but because all the females hate her, no one wants to promise their cubs to her." The Queen explained, giggling at the end, she had always hated the Tiger Queen and loved to gossip about her.
Eudora wanted to question who would get her a pet beast if she didn't have a mother. But she was interrupted by her father clearing his throat. Before that, he had just been listening to the talk.
"If you want, Eudora, I could find you one, I have an old friend who has cubs." The Chief volunteered. He had heard their discussion and the crestfallen look on his daughter's face, and he hated seeing her without a smile.
"Really, oh, thank you, Papa," Eudora gasped before giving her father a tight hug.
"I agree, that would be very responsible of you, though I must ask. Who is the old friend you speak of," asked Mimi, who was very curious herself. She had hoped Eudora had asked her to find a pet beast and was fairly surprised when the Chief volunteered.
"Back when I was still mated to Eudora's mother, a pack of wolves passed through, looking for a new village to settle in after theirs was destroyed by ferals. They stayed for a season, before leaving to settle here in the beast city, but I became friends with a specific three-striped wolf. I even asked if my mate would accept him, but she denied saying she only wanted leopards." He explained.
"After I came here for the first time after becoming Chief I met him again, I noticed he had cubs and secretly hoped you would take one as a mate someday. Turns out, I was not the only who became a leader. The old friend I speak of became the Wolf King."
Hi, me again
Another update, YAY.
The story is progressing and next chapter Eudora will hopefully meet the wolf prince's. A couple of backstories are there. I am not sure if anyone noticed, but the white-haired male behind Rosa was Winston.
There are only a couple more chapters before another time skip.
I just wanted to address a question: yes Qingqing will be in the story. She will be introduced soon. I will not be writing her as spoiled as some authors do, I am planning to write her as a naïve 16-year-old. As I am raising the average female's looks, Qingqing will not be overly beautiful, she will be average. The thing that makes her attractive is her attitude to males, not her looks.
As usual thanks so much for reading, please comment and mistakes, constructive criticism, or ideas.
(The image at the top is what I picture Rosa to look like and is not mine)
XOXO 01orax