Winston came to find Shelly at the Water hole. She greeted him and said, "I'm going to show you how to filter the sand from the salt. I will need a big pot and some leather strips." Winston nodded and sent someone to get the things she needed. When the tiger beastman returned, Shelly nodded and asked him to go. She didn't want anyone to question her strange clothes. Winston had already seen them. She tied the pants legs together and used the top to go around the rim of the bowl. Then she tied the leather rope around the bowl to keep the pants in place. She said, "first we need to mix the salt with water and let it dissolve. Then we pot it through this cloth and let it filter out the sand and other things. Once the salt water is filtered we can either boil it or let it sun bake again and this time it should be clean." She demonstrated with a small batch and Winston saw all the sand and impurities in that one batch. He was convinced that Shelly was right. He would delegate the task to his trusted men, but he would not tell them where he got the clothes from. Shelly nodded and was happy to help.
Indigo seemed to like Molly. The only issue was where they would live. Molly's father was not going to be happy with her leaving the village for the merman and the water hole was not big enough to raise a family of mermen. They usually had a lot of eggs per pregnancy. They would have to sort out the details themselves. Shelly did her part by introducing them.
Only time would tell if Indigo and Molly would work out together. Shelly hoped to avoid Molly's unfortunate kidnapping from her ex. Molly remembered in the book how Molly's rootless ex came back and kidnapped her. He took her to the City of Beasts and raped her. She was rescued by Winston and the peacock beastman, but barely survived and then had his female cub. Molly was never the same after that. If Indigo could mate with her, Molly could have a female mermaid and save their tribe. She would be their queen. Shelly thought she needed to warm Winston about the scorpions and rootless beasts to avoid any kidnappings in the future.
The salt was refined and ready to use within a week. The beastmen were extremely happy about the large amount of salt that Shelly was able to create for them. They would never run out again with this new technique! They gladly accepted her as the new queen of their village. Winston's reputation also soared as Shelly's mate and the protector of their village. Shelly was happy to see his self esteem rise with his reputation. Shelly decided to make new clothes for her mates and herself. The weather was warming and there were new prey with thick furry coats. Shelly also experimented more with cotton to create more delicate items. She would introduce underwear for females. It would become especially helpful during a female's estrous cycle.
The other females noticed how Shelly's skin was glowing and she always smelled nice. Molly asked her about it one time. Shelly told her, "I like to stay clean and I make my own products to use on my hair and skin. Would you like me to show you?" Molly agreed excitedly. Shelly invited her inside and had her lay on the fur rug. She asked Harvey to bring her some water and fur cloth. She also had some wet cotton. Shelly gave Molly a simple facial with the lavender cleanser, almond scrub and aloe vera. Molly was so impressed with how soft her skin felt and she loved the way the products smelled! She was excited to tell her female friends about Shelly's new techniques. Shelly said, "I'm glad you like it! If you bring me any good smelling ingredients I will see if I can turn them into products for you." Molly was excited and went home to see if she had any good smelling ingredients.
Winston was busy helping the chief improve the security of the village and plan for new arrivals. Winston called a meeting with the male beastmen. He said, "Since we have so much salt, I plan to do a trade for females from the surrounding villages. I plan to expand the city and the more females we have, the more male beastmen will come to our village. The more male beastmen we have, the safer the village will be." The chief new Winston was from the City of Beasts and they had over 500 females while his village had less than 50. He could tell that Winston had big plans to expand their village. With the new salt techniques, he was not worried about their village running out of supplies. He was excited to see the new development of the village.
Shelly knew that Winston was capable of ruling a large city. She would help him as much as she could and her mates. Winston arranged for a group of single males to go trade salt for females. He would start out small at first for safety reasons. He planned to add about 5 new females and hopefully 20 new males if they already had mates. Hopefully some of the unmated males would also find mates. He wished everyone could be as happy as he was with his mate, but he knew Shelly was special. He felt extremely lucky.
Shelly showed her mates how to grow wheat, rice and vegetables. She had so many new recipes in mind. She also had them catch some short birds to keep in a coup in their yard. Shelly got used to having fresh eggs for breakfast and bird soup when the bird stopped producing eggs. Some of the villagers started to ask about their recipes when they smelled the aroma of their food. Shuu taught some of the male beastmen the techniques. Soon the village was known for having good food. The villagers were happier and their lives had improved so much since Shelly and her mates moved into the village.
Shelly talked to Winston about opening a school. He asked, "What is a school?" Shelly said, "Where I come from, all young children go to a place to learn things about the world. Some older people continue to learn to specialize in some things like how Harvey learned to become a doctor. I would like to start with the young cubs and then any interested adults." Harvey looked interested. He said, "I learned medicine from the Ape king in the City of Beasts." Shelly nodded and said, "A school is where more than one student learns from the teacher. When there is only one student we call it an apprentice or a tutor."
Winston nodded and said, "What kind of school would you like to open?" Shelly thought about it and realized that if she taught them to read and write she might give away her origins. This world was different from hers. The children were taught how to survive by their parents. She thought they needed some entertainment. Shelly said, "Maybe I can teach them music or games." David looked excited about the mention of games. He remembered the games Shelly taught them over the cold season. He really liked them and was excited to learn more. She noticed his excitement. It made sense considering her husband was an international gamer who has traveled the world to play and was even a judge for some of the games.
Shelly looked at David and said, "Would you like to be a teacher for the cubs? You can teach them the games I already taught you. I will teach you new games and then you can teach them to the cubs." David nodded in excitement and dreamily thought about teaching the cubs. He always wanted cubs of his own, but being able to teach cubs new things would help. Shelly looked at Shuu and said, "Would you like to teach the adult males how to cook? I noticed you were already teaching some males who asked you." He nodded and looked hopeful to learn new recipes. Shelly said, "Where I come from, someone who is a good cook is called a chef." Shuu looked happy to earn the new title.
Shelly looked at Harvey and asked, "Would you like to teach medicine to some adult beastmen? We could always use more doctors." Harvey nodded and would be happy if more males would become doctors. It would lessen his workload and he would be able to focus on his mate. Shelly asked Winston, "Could you make an announcement and see if anyone is interested in classes? We will have to figure out a schedule on some days and times when no one is busy." Winston nodded and said, "Anything you want I will do for you." Shelly felt lucky to have such loving amazing mates.