The well is a success, to the chagrin of the Ape King. Things get hot in the kitchen when Tony offers to taste test. 100 points if you know what a NCMO is. Ugh, be gone bad memories. No wonder he dumped me...

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The City of Beasts fell over itself thanking Winston, who, although initially uncomfortable with the attention, publicly thanked Ethel and Benedict for their help. Ape King seemed furious, although he also publicly thanked the duo and Winston for their work. Neara stayed out of sight, and the gossip, by loudly proclaiming her part in it, and trying to urge others to talk about her as well. The Tiger King, anxious to preserve the well, posted several guards around it and, at Neara's suggestion, braced the walls with thick stones, carefully carved to fit neatly against each other. The City of Beasts enjoyed an increased supply of water, although Ape King insisted each female keep her Ape guard in case the well ran out.

Neara enjoyed watching Winston order beastmen around in the throne room; he commanded the attention, and respect, of every beastman who came to him with a problem, ranging from lack of adequate prey, which he personally took care of, to a female struggling between two suitors (he advised she mate them both). While she no longer attracted the same looks she used to, she still got her share as an 'ugly' female mated to an 'ugly' beastman.

Ethel, on the other hand, seemed to command more than enough admirers to continually fill the halls of Tiger Castle, not the least of which were several Wolves who made sure to stay away from Winston.

"I need to check on the well." Winston said one morning, his voice slightly deeper than normal. He looked worried, a small wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows as he watched Tony grind wheat. Even with the well, using enough water to cook rice was out of the question, so Neara used it to make some bread instead. Until her starter fully matured, she knew she couldn't do much besides feed it and hope the intense heat wouldn't kill it. She longed for the coolness of the mountains, but she couldn't leave the City without someone getting suspicious; not to mention the beastmen she'd have to drag with her. Speaking of which...

"Why aren't you gone yet?"

Benedict fluffed his beard and smirked. "Getting sick of me already?"

"As if that wasn't possible the minute I met you. Shouldn't you have gotten your salt already and gone?"

"Winston said he can't just let me leave with such a large quantity of salt or they'll ask questions about why he gave away all of his personal stash. He promised once this was all over, I could take it and go. Besides, I like annoying you."

"I'm glad you're proud of your talents." Neara carefully patted on the powder again. "Or maybe it's because you like Winston."

"Oh yeah, definitely. All those muscles and long hair? Very nice. He doesn't seem to be too interested in anyone at the moment, so I might take a shot."

A blush threatened to close her throat. "No! He's... well, he liked me once."

"And yet you have a fake mark. Couldn't convince him to give you the real thing?"

Neara wiped her hands on her cloak. "Shut up!"

"Gods, you guys fight like you're mated." Orson lounged in a corner, thumbing through a handful of dry grass. Occasionally, he'd pick one out and chew on it distastefully. "I thought antagonizing her was my thing."

"When did it..." she started.

"Maybe you're not good enough anymore." Benedict leaned against the stone wall, then winced and jerked away.

Orson stared at him for a few seconds, completely motionless, then shrugged. "I'm too hot right now. How about you take the summer shift and I'll switch for winter?"

"It better not take you beastmen until the end of summer to kill Ape King. I have things to do for winter myself. Not that I couldn't get them all done super fast, but I'd hate to abandon you in your time of need."

Tony burst through the door, like he burst through everything, with a grin on his face. "Agatha! I found the most amazing thing."

Grateful for a break from the ribbing, Neara stood and brushed the residue from her lap. "What is it?" She held out her hand for it, palm up and slightly sticky from the plant paste she used to secure the powder.

Tony held out a closed fist proudly. "Red powder!" He opened his hand and a small dust cloud puffed from his fingers.

Neara peered closely at it and almost choked on the smell. Metallic and dusty, like someone made her bite into a piece of tinfoil. "Where did you get that?"

"Since you found water by digging a hole, I wanted to see what else I could find by digging a hole! I've been looking everywhere and I remembered you're always using black powder. So I brought this so you could use something else on your face." He poured it into Neara's open hand.

She brought it closer for inspection, carefully prodding it with a finger. It seemed fine enough, no big chunks, but the smell tickled her brain. She knew this smell from somewhere, but why did it feel almost important? Like a hiccup of an idea.

"If she changes the mark, people will get suspicious." Orson rolled over, his arms and legs spread wide to try and absorb some coolness from the stones. Neara thought he missed being a giant sheep; trying to sleep on all his bony limbs couldn't be comfortable.

Tony's face fell. "Oh."

"It's a nice idea, Tony, I appreciate it. Thank you." Judging by how he perked up, maybe she shouldn't have said that. Tony tried to take on more and more responsibilities under the guise of 'Guardian'. Winston didn't say much, but Orson put his foot down when he tried to convince Neara to let him cook for her.

"Where are you going?" Orson asked as she walked to the door, though he didn't open his eyes.

"I have to check on the soup."

"I still don't understand how you..." Orson trailed off as she walked downstairs, followed closely by Tony.

They walked in silence and Neara squared her shoulders until it strained. She had to play the part every minute; you never knew who was watching. Especially Lawrence. Ugh, even the name made her shiver. He seemed to be everywhere when you didn't want him around, but absent when you needed to talk to him. Maybe he had some kind of mind powers like the Ape King, even without a stripe.

"You should give the powder to Ethel." Neara said, keeping an eye out for beastmen. "She might like it." The smell lingered in her brain and she tried to remember where she'd smelled it before. It's not like you ran into something metallic-smelling in the beastman world every day... or ever. Shay would definitely have brought it up if she'd seen metal outside of the City, or even a clay pot. Maybe she needed to hunt down some clay.

"I didn't get the powder for Ethel; I got it for you." Tony sounded cheerful, like his voice skipped over the words. "But if you don't like it, I won't bring you more."

Holding her breath until they descended the stairs, Neara shot a superior look at a passing beastman, who barely disguised his sneer and walked in the other direction. The best way to blend in was to stand out... apparently.

"So why did you want all of our bones? They're not good for eating unless you suck the marrow out." Tony slid down several steps and steadied himself.

"You ok?"

"Yes. These stairs are too small." He frowned at his feet, then continued.

Neara led him to the kitchen, raising her eyebrows or licking her bottom lip at every beastman she passed. Nobody gave her a second glance. Was she being too bold? Maybe that wasn't a question for Agatha... although she hadn't seen anyone so oversexed in the beastman world. A large pot of soup, though only filled a third of the way, bubbled over the fire. Bits of bones and leafy greens floated on top, although Neara knew softened chunks of root vegetables lurked beneath the surface, along with the sturdier bones. Assorted seeds/rices helped balance it out. A little taste and she needed more salt, more pepper, more... something. Spices/medicines disappeared almost overnight and even Orson's hunting provided meager pickings. Maybe if she served this with her bread?

"You're boiling it? The only thing I've seen females boil is rice and meat, but not together like that. Are you wasting your bath water on that?" Tony sounded incredulous, but thankfully not disgusted.

"I, um, wanted to try making soup, and I remembered a way I could still be clean without using water so I've been using that and the water for the soup. You can keep adding to it and it'll still be good." She stumbled over her words, alone in the kitchen, and tried regaining a little confidence. "Try it; you'll like it."

Tony put the spoon in his mouth and his eyes lit up. "This... you made this?" He plunged the spoon in again, his knuckles almost brushing the surface. After bringing the full spoon to his lips again, he licked them in glee. Neara threw herself at him, preventing another taste test. Caught off guard, he fell, his arms latching around Neara and spilling a nearby bamboo stalk full of oil.

Without the time to scream, all that left Neara's open mouth was a loud cough. The warm oil slithered down her back, feeling like a raw egg, and dripped onto Tony. She felt it in her hair and the slime on her face, heading to her eyes. "Tony!" she spluttered against the oil on her teeth, hands flailing uselessly as he pinned her on top of him.

"I'm so sorry! Here, let me clean you up." Her hands were suddenly free and they flew to her face, only to be blocked by his enormous, hot hands. The thumbs gently pressed against her forehead, the base of his thumbs dragging across her eyelids as he scraped the oil from her face. Not daring to open her eyes, she could only wait, frozen on his slippery chest as he wiped her face clean.

His hands once again rested on either side of her face and her breathing stopped. She knew what was going to happen, but how could it? He was her guardian, not a mate, but he'd always liked her, but not since the... he'd wiped off the powder. Once she opened her eyes, he was going to...

Warm thin lips pressed against hers and she felt her oily hair sticking to his forehead. His nose pressed against hers uncomfortably, his fingers locking beneath her jaw to bring her closer. Her hands brushed the floor, crumbs sticking to the oil as she tried frantically to pull herself free. She couldn't even twist her head out of his grasp; there was no way to back up or anything. Honey and beef broth hit the roof of her mouth when she opened it to tell him off. He didn't put his tongue in, although she couldn't exactly be grateful for that.

"You're just as sweet as I thought you would be," he mumbled against her lips, still gently holding her face.

"Tony, let me go," her breath clipped through the words, rushing to fill her lungs in between thoughts. Nice... when was the last time a kiss hadn't tasted like grass?

"I thought I'd find you two love bears down here." Benedict's voice shot through her spine and she stiffened against Tony, who merely smiled up at the snow leopard.

"She said she was going to the kitchen; where else would we be?"

Neara pushed off against Tony's face with her nails and slid backwards down his body, falling off his soft stomach and almost into the fire. A strong hand laced through her hair and pulled her against a warm body, the fingers tightly curled around the back of her neck.

"Whoa there. Nobody said you had to get off just yet." Benedict laughed and let go, watching her with a shadow of a smile.

Sand, dust, and who knew what else stuck to her feet and stopped her from slipping again. Tony still lay there in a pool of oil, his brown eyes soft and... no!

Her mind couldn't go there; what would Orson say? Never mind: he wanted her to jump in bed with every available male! What would... Winston... He hadn't been talking to her lately, although she didn't know if that was because of the pressures surrounding his new position or if he didn't like Benedict. The two traded heated glances like... like Curtis and Parker traded blows. She knew Benedict didn't want anything to do with her, right? He could have had his chance in the wilderness and he didn't take it. Not that she wanted him to since he was rude, entitled, narcissistic and a jerk. She hadn't expected that from her favorite animal, but there had to be a beastman in this world unattracted to her and that beastman, apparently, was Benedict.

The warmth of the fire, the grit underfoot, the smell of her soup and the dry, almost dusty odor of the oil coating her body grounded her and she focused on not slipping as she walked back up the stairs to clean herself. She felt Tony behind her and tried not to think of the lingering sweetness in her mouth.