OKAY! Turns out I didn't re-post chapter 118, I just accidentally posted up 118 as chapter 114! So it's 114 that I missed! So I went back and posted that up. Sorry yall!

_____________________________________________

Sorry for the late update. I got admitted to the hospital and they didn't let me have anything other than the second volume of 'The Swamp Monster,' crappy food, and a little plug-in-the-wall noisemaker that was a step above what they make for babies. But, that aside: Ethel takes Neara to make out with trees and pretend the world isn't crashing around them. And Leopard King drops by to be a mega-creep, so TW if reading creepers isn't your thing. Orson has 0 sympathies.

______________________________________

Ethel pulled her friend along a path only she knew, reaching into the deepest parts of the forest. Their feet stumbled across once-thorny vines, now shriveled and so dehydrated they burst apart when the women's feet touched them. They walked for so long, Neara felt positive they walked out of the City of Beasts entirely although she hadn't seen a wall since this morning when she and Winston first left the Castle. Gasping over stones, which hadn't lost their resiliency in the drought, she felt like they'd been walking forever.

Soon they reached a quiet thicket, crowded with dead leaves and arching trees too thick to be anything but ancient. Ethel's blonde head stood out against the dead color of the trees, sunlight condensed into strands as she raised a hand white with winter to her mouth.

Any fascination with describing the ethereal scene in front of her disappeared when Ethel's light pink tongue fell out of her mouth and sloppily licked her own palm.

"Ugh!" Neara couldn't help a grunt of disgust even as she watched Ethel do it, then smear her hand across the tree in front of her.

"What? I didn't want to use water to show you, and unless you want me to pee on it or something, this is what you get." Ethel gestured for Neara to get closer, which she did although hesitantly. The bark underneath her friend's fingers slowly pinkened like the tree blushed at such an intimate encounter. The pink turned to red, which grew darker until it resembled blood.

"Whoah." Holding a finger to her mouth, Neara licked the tip and pressed it against the smooth bark. It came back dry, the bark absorbing the liquid, and turned a bright shade of pink. Her friend's mark stayed damp, even as the edges of Neara's spit began to slowly fade to a dull brown again.

"You need more than that!" Ethel stuck her tongue against the bark. The pink moved outwards from her mouth like a glow, the parts touching her instantly going red while the rest of the pink spread like water on asphalt.

Neara edged closer to the tree and noticed small white spots, like freckles, appearing on the surface where the red was darkest; speckles like on a fawn. She wondered what the entire tree would look like, or what kind of amazing fruit it produced to be called 'sweet-crystal'. Summoning her courage, and feeling Inner Shay cheering her on, she slowly moved within makeout distance to the tree and extended her tongue.

The bark felt bumpy, like citrus skin, beneath her tongue and the tip itched where the bark leeched the moisture out. It felt like licking concrete, or trying to suck the last bits of a popsicle out of the wooden stick; you always gave more than you got.

She opened her eyes and the tree fuzzed into focus. The bark bloomed beneath her tongue in all shades of red and pink, white marks appearing nearest her mouth and spreading outward. A giggle managed to sneak out of her mouth and Ethel joined in, both of them soon laughing too hard to continue the experiment. They collapsed to the ground, howling with laughter that held an edge of desperation. In the middle of a drought, in the middle of chaos, they were using precious moisture to bring temporary life to a dead tree.

Her stomach twisted slightly, like someone was watching her answer a question wrong in class. A clarifying horror drenched her body in sweat as she watched the moment end, swallowed up in the beastman who'd just entered the clearing.

"Agatha, I'm surprised Tiger King let you so far from the castle."

She scrambled up, leaving Ethel to come to her senses in the dirt. "Leopard King."

A warm smile seemed to open his face like a flower. "Yes. But I'm surprised you recognize me; we've never met."

"You're the only three-stripe Leopard," she pointed out, then remembered her persona. It felt even more fake in front of the person she most wanted to fool. "Although you'd be a fool not to have taken an interest in the newly crowned Leopard King." She licked her lips for bad measure.

His smile deepened. "You've taken an interest in me? I'm happy to have caught your eye."

A blush threatened to wreck her disguise. "You've... caught everyone's eye. It's just that you're..."

"Too young to be a King. Yes, many beastmen told me that, but I was stronger than all of them." His eyes glinted with a slight furrowing of his eyebrows, almost like he'd enjoyed beating them. "How did you two sneak so far away from your mates?"

Ethel stood now and brushed the dust from her fair skin. "My mate's an Eagle; he's circling overhead."

Leopard King followed her finger where a dark spot was the only thing in the sky. His eyes quickly flashed down and his ears swiveled backwards. Leaves shook on the bush where his tail lashed against it. "Yes; that's good someone's keeping an eye on you."

Neara's stomach twisted again and Leopard King's eyes widened.

"Agatha, we should get back to the castle." Ethel frowned and patted her loose clothes gently. "I don't have any cotton on me."

The warmth on her leg trickled into a nightmare as Leopard King swooped forward and bundled her into his arms, racing away from Ethel as she whistled for her mate.

His feet made no crunching sound on the dead leaves as he ran, one hand pressing forcefully against her neck and the other clutching her thighs so tightly, his knuckles turned yellow. Dried grasses gave way to a dirt path, then a cobbled street and his grip on her body only tightened. A sharp pain lanced across her stomach and her toes started to tingle. She wondered if she was leaving a trail of scent behind them, a sharp and icy chill sweeping to her ears at what Orson and even Winston might do.

The castle flashed past them and he settled her onto a thick bearskin rug. She winced at the feel of the fur under her fingers, wondering if Tony would show up. His eyes looked simpering, even with the dangerous scar running through one. He didn't seem to recognize her, despite being this close, otherwise he probably wouldn't have kept her inside the City.

"Agatha, I apologize for the lack of cotton, but we will find something." He barked a few orders towards the door and she noticed tails whipping away. He moved to the small cookfire and prepared something, stone grunting against stone as if there were nothing in the bowl, then he brought it to her side.

"Leopard King," a voice purred, "I was wondering when you'd..." A slim woman stood in the doorway, but slim... didn't quite seem to fit her either.

"Katrina, please leave us alone. She's in her estrous cycle and..."

"Why should I leave you alone?" She sniffed derisively and eyed the bowl, acting like she couldn't see Neara. "You've barely been home and now that you're here, you throw me out again?" Her voice whined through her nose, like a violin played under syrup, a tone she obviously thought sounded pleasant.

"Leave."

"Leopard King!" Her fingers tightened around a mark on her upper arm and Neara saw a tail poking out behind the woman's pinky.

Calvin stood, slowly, seeming to grow larger with every second. He stalked toward the woman, tail held in a stiff semicircle. Neara fought the urge to scream, or even run. She didn't have any allies here, not that anyone would let him hurt her, but the only time she'd seen treachery was from Winston... nobody else seemed to stand up to their Kings too often.

"You insult our guest." He meant the smile to be polite, but it came off more Heath Ledger's penultimate performance. His eyes glistened with fury, the icy flames searing her in place. "You will leave."

"Y-yes, Leopard King," she gasped, and scrambled out.

His eyes softened slightly as he turned to Neara, still retaining a shard of power. "I apologize for Katrina; she, ah, forgets her place. Often. Now then," he crouched before her with the bowl and gently tapped her knee. "Let's see if this helps."

Neara clenched her legs together even tighter and scooted back. "Leopard King, I'm grateful for the hospitality, but I promised Winston the next batch of cubs and even if... though, even though I find you attractive, because you are attractive, of course, I... I promised." Tears clogged her throat, all rushing to her eyes at the same time. Calvin's face glowered darkly, the storm on his brow and nose threatening to break over her.

"Of course. I meant no disrespect to Winston's mate." He smiled lightly and set the bowl by her side. "I only mean that you are lovely and strong and, in this drought, could use another male looking after you. A mate to two Kings." He stroked his chin and looked at her again. "You would be very well taken care of."

"You... you flatter me." Shoot, too courtly. "Um, I have a lot of mates right now."

"I only see the lowly sheep and, of course, Winston's. Not very near your heart, is it?" A slow smile once again made its cold way to his cheeks, falling off the bones like icicles. "I could help you with that."

"I bet you could." Think! Why was it so hard for her to think when he was looking at her? She felt like a snake... no, a mouse... ok, she felt like whenever Curtis looked at her... no, Shay, no...

Holy ratballs, Batman, calm down. Just smile and say WInston has enough cotton for you, stand up, and freaking walk away!

"I'm glad you want to court me, Leopard King, but I need to get back to Tiger Castle. Winston stored cotton for me there and I wouldn't want to.."

His arms wrapped around her from behind and she felt the sharpness of his teeth on her ear. "I wouldn't dream of letting you walk through the streets while smelling so... intoxicating." He growled the last word, his sharp tongue darting against the top of her ear as he spoke.

Her eyes threatened to pop from their sockets in panic, her entire body soaking in the tension from the room as if that would make it go away. The room started to darken, like an eclipse was happening.

No! She forced her legs to straighten. They felt awkward beneath her, disconnected from where she was. "I. Must. Go."

At the door, she turned and managed a false smile. "Thank you for..."

He brought his hand to his mouth, a drop of blood glistening in the web of his thumb and forefinger. In shock and disgust, she watched his tongue slowly exit his mouth.

Not waiting to see the rest, her nightmares would do that for her, she ran.

***********************************************************************************************************

"What'd we learn?"

Winston turned a murderous eye on Orson. "What are you talking about?"

He shrugged, his normally thick curls lank and sweaty. "I'm asking if she learned something. A very important something; a something she should have learned earlier."

Tony's mouth slightly fell open, then shut again. He seemed to think better of it and said, "Don't go off by herself."

"Bingo, honey chops, but I was asking the trembling one." He tutted slightly. "Honestly, if you keep giving her the answers..."

The Bear beastman smiled, satisfied with himself. "I will give Agatha all of my answers."

Orson sighed and caught a rock from Benedict. "What?"

"I'm not saying I'll succeed in killing you, but I'd like to try." Benedict growled.

Orson's thin fingers pressed into an often-pressed line between his eyes, just above the bridge of his nose. "If she's going to keep getting into trouble..."

"We keep rescuing her!" Tony finished.

"She's going to need more mates." Every line on Orson's body looked furious. "Even with Winston," he shot her a frustrated look, "she obviously can't be trusted not to be bait! And what the hell is it with you predators and constantly snatching females? Sorry, women." He nodded at Neara, a reference to an earlier writing lesson where she'd explained how the opposite of men was women, not females. "Are you so hard up that you're turning into ferals? Might as well be, the way you drink blood and force women to choose based on the number of lines on your body. Like those couldn't be replicated by anyone with half a straw of sense." He turned to Benedict with a thoughtful frown. "And why do you care?"

Benedict shrugged, his mouth copying Tony's earlier motion.

"No, no, I mean why the hell do you care about her going off alone? If you want to mate her, start saying so and actually get to it. Fuzzy over here at least has the decency to be clear about it," he pointed to Tony, who couldn't decide whether to look happy or ashamed and instead looked confused, "and you're only here because of her damn salt price, so either you need to step up in your guard duties or..."

"You're allowed to be mad; if I were the only prey animal in a City of stronger beastmen, I'd be worried about my female too." Benedict raised an eyebrow at Orson.

Orson's face flushed so red, Neara thought he was going to attack Benedict right then. She'd do something about it... as soon as she stopped shaking. Winston's warm hand on her back did little to alleviate the terror still rocking her system and Calvin's possessive look remained locked behind her eyelids.