Bai Xueli listened to the sound of animals talking. Shanlin Ba's voice spoke with growls, barks and yowls. The other voice yipped, yapped and whined. Xueli couldn't figure out what kind of animal it might be related to.
While she listened, she cautiously sat up, wincing in pain. It looked like while her injuries were much better, they were still bad enough to prevent her from moving around freely or going anywhere on her own. Add to that, the fact that she was lying in a bed of dried grass lined with moss, furs and feathers. She had to admit the bed was pretty comfortable.
[Lie still,] the luhu's voice rumbled through her mind, knocking her flat and making her wince. [While your life is no longer in danger, you're still seriously injured. I don't want you reopening any wounds.]
Xueli grumbled inwardly but lay still. What else could she do? She was completely at the mercy of the creature that had captured her like a Pokémon - just without the pokéball. It's a pity there was no hospital that could heal her up within a couple of minutes to make her fighting fit.
[What rubbish are you thinking of? Stop complaining and rest.]
Rest. It was easy to tell someone to rest. It was hard to rest when one had no freedom, a master whose voice blasted your brains out like a debris filled whirlwind whenever he talked to you and could read your mind. There was no privacy, she could barely move, and had no clothes. She felt cold, vulnerable and exposed. She had lost all independence, dignity and sense of self.
It was a whole new world where there were meridians in her body that didn't exist before, some sort of spiritual power or something and gigantic intellectual beasts that could transform. She had no sense of place, purpose or belonging and she still couldn't decide if she wouldn't rather just die.
Xueli had a feeling that her owner would easily be able to stop her even if she did try to kill herself. There was no escape. Now she knew what wild animals felt like when people captured them. Only this was worse. Her captor didn't even leave her the privacy of her own mind.
A shadow fell on Xueli and a furry animal skin was dragged over to cover her body. A big furry body curled up around her, radiating comfort and warmth while the luhu continued its conversation with its visitor.
When the shifting shadows settled down, Xueli recognised the visitor as a fox. A big silver fox with nine tails and fur that shone like starlight. It's size was only maybe one or two heads smaller than the deer-tiger creature that had decided to make her its pet.
So nine tailed foxes were real?
The fox's green flecked hazel eyes gazed at her with a gentle expression. For a moment, Xueli felt like a child. The fox looked at her the same way an adult might look at a child they found interesting.
[So what do you think, Moonbeam?] Shanlin Ba's voice asked.
Xueli felt like a channel of communication had been opened up to her in her mind so that she could hear and understand what was being said.
[She's so young,] the fox commented, tugging one corner of the fur up to help cover her better. [I'd feel like I was a bully taking advantage of a cub. Besides, imagine what it'd be like for you through the contract link. You'd feel everything when we mated and then I'd be linked through to you through her and that would be too much like the two of us mating with each other through her.]
Both males shuddered and looked away from each other in disgust.
[I didn't think of that. You're right. Forget it then,] Shanlin Ba said, sounding nauseous at the thought. [Perhaps I'll just have to capture a few humans to find one of good quality that might be compatible with her.]
It was like listening to parents or grandparents trying to think of ways to arrange a marriage for her. Xueli stuck out her tongue in a grimace. There was no hurry. She was only in her twenties. She still had plenty of time. It was more important for her to learn about this world and find out how to get stronger. Maybe learn to fight. When she was strong enough, she'd find a way to get rid of this troublesome contract or whatever it was and escape.
Then she'd find somewhere safe and relatively secluded where she still had access to food and water to settle down. Maybe then she could find a way to get some electricity going, rebuild her lab and recommence her research into the spatial dimensions. Surely the laws of physics here wouldn't be too different from back home.
To generate electricity, the best way would be to find some running water and build a water powered generator. For that, she'd need a good river or stream with a relatively fast flow. Either that or a windy place for a wind powered electric generator. She didn't have the solar batteries to collect solar energy but she could do some research and build them over time. The most important thing was that she would need copper. Lots of copper wire. She hoped this world would have copper and somebody who knew how to extract and refine it from copper ore, because she didn't know anything about the refining and smelting process.
While Bai Xueli was thinking to herself and imagining what she would do, she didn't realise that the two creatures were looking at her and listening to her thoughts with amusement.
[She's a funny little thing, isn't she?] Moonbeam, the silver nine tailed fox's voice broke through her thoughts and plans for the future with a laugh. [Have you named her yet?]
Bai Xueli froze. Had they just heard all of her plans? It was easy to forget that her owner beast could read her mind.
[Not yet,] said Shanlin Ba's lazy voice said to Moonbeam, totally ignoring Xueli's internal panicking. [She seemed to come with her own name but I haven't given her one myself yet.]
[Why don't you call her 'Little Thing'? She's so cute. She has quite the imagination and can come up with so many different theories and scenarios for different situations. She even had back up plans all the way to 'Plan M' as she called it.]
Cute? Bai Xueli resisted that adjective. She resisted it very strongly. She was not cute. She was no where near cute. Cute was for small furry animals and chubby little toddlers. People had been calling her cute all her life and because they thought her cute, had never taken her seriously. People could call her all sorts of names. She was used to it. They could call her anything but cute. If they called her cute, it meant they weren't dealing with her seriously or sincerely.
A heavy paw on her chest held her down and the fox helped to restrict her movements so that she wouldn't accidentally hurt herself in her attempts to get away.
[Calm down. Calm down,] Shanlin Ba soothed, sending her to sleep. [Hush. We understand. You're grown up. You're not a child. You're not cute. Lie still and go back to sleep. Moonbeam doesn't want to mate with you anyway. You're still too young.]
Too young, her foot!
Xueli wanted to get up and teach them a lesson, but her owner shut her down and sent her into the dark.