Winston worked on their castle and only came home to sleep. Shelly knew he was a workaholic and made sure he had breakfast and dinner at least. She would bring him lunch sometimes, but he said males did not eat as often as females. He was happy she was thinking about him though. He just wanted her to be happy.
About 2 weeks after the males left with the salt they returned with 4 new females and about 15 new males. The chief was happy to welcome them and assign new homes for the females. Winston welcomed them and announced a banquet would be held to celebrate their arrival. The males went to hunt for food. Molly came over to talk to Shelly. She said, "I'm worried that with the new females I won't be able to get any new mates." Shelly said, "What about Indigo? I thought you were interested in him?" Molly sighed and said, "My father doesn't want me to move away from the village to the sea. He is worried about my safety all alone out there." Shelly nodded and said, "So, What do you want to do?" Molly said, "I will listen to my father and look for new mates in the village." Shelly nodded and said, "The new females will also attract more males. You will have more males to choose from. Soon we might even get flying beastmen!" Molly clapped in excitement and said, "I would love to fly!" She got excited thinking about all the new types of beastmen. She had only grown up with tiger beastmen, but that was changing.
Shelly thought, I guess we will have to keep looking for a female for Indigo. She was thinking about a trip to the fox village next. They were known for their beauty. As she was planning her trip, Molly brought her out of her thoughts. She was sad again and said, "I haven't even had my estrous cycle yet. I need to get some flame fruit to help." Shelly said, "Don't worry, it will come sooner or later. I can have Harvey give you a check up if you are worried." Molly nodded. Shelly asked Harvey to check Molly. He did and said, "You are healthy. If you are worried about your estrous being late, you can go to the flower fields every day. You can also try flame fruit if you have some." Molly nodded and went off to the flower field. She would ask one of her admirers for flame fruit. It only grew in the desert, so it was a little hard to get. She heard it was juicy and tasted sweet. She couldn't wait to try it.
Shelly was busy in her herb garden and singing to herself. She started to dance as she sang unaware of a pair of black eyes that were watching her from above. Shelly was dancing and singing SOFI TUKKER's 'Purple Hat' when a giant Albatross bird beastman flew down and landed in front of her. He was flying above and noticed her 'mating dance'. It was so unique that it caught his attention. He had ADD and could never remember all of the steps for their tribes mating dance, but he liked the way this female moved. He was a three striped beastman who hadn't succeeded with his mating dance, but he was determined to do it right this time! Shelly was shocked to see such a big bird near her. He transformed and tried to copy the dance moves he saw her do earlier. He was really tall and had white hair with black tips. His black eyes stared at Shelly with intensity.
Shelly held back a laugh and smiled. She thought I was planning to bring music and dancing to the beast world. I might as well start with this guy. She was unaware of the flying beastmen mating dance and just thought he wanted to learn. She started to sing and dance again. Finally after the song finished the beastman bowed to her and said, "I have come to answer your mating call and we have performed the mating dance together. Will you be my mate?" Shelly was shocked and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that was your mating dance. I just thought you liked to dance. I am not looking for more mates." The beastman was sad for a second, but then said, "I like the way you sing and dance. Can I be your guardian?" Shelly thought about it and nodded. She could always use more guards and this bird beastman seemed like fun.
He said, "My name is Albert. What is your name?" Shelly told him her name. "Shelly." He said, "Like the sea shells?" Shelly nodded and said, "Have you been to the sea?" Albert nodded and said, "My tribe is from the cliffs near the sea. We grow up there and travel to find our mates." Shelly remembered the hawks from the book were from the cliffs. She wondered if they were neighbors. He seemed to be a lot bigger than hawk beastmen. Even in his 2 legged form he was at least 7 feet tall! Shelly was 5 feet 8 inches which was considered tall for a female from her world. Here all the men were well over 6 feet tall. She was used to tall men. In her family, the tallest one was around 6 feet 5 inches. She thought this guy was going to make me stretch my neck to look up to him. Good thing she made that hat to shield her face from the Sun. Shelly brought Albert inside to introduce him to her mates. He had to duck to get through the door frames.
David was the first to notice Albert and stood up in an intimidating stance at the intruder. Shelly said, "It's ok. This is Albert and he will be my new beast guardian." David sat back down. Shuu huffed in acceptance and Harvey came up to meet Albert. Winston was out working on the castle. Shelly would introduce them later at the banquet. Harvey said, "Hi, my name is Harvey. I am a doctor. I have not seen a bird beastman as large as you before." Albert looked proud of his size and said, "I am from the Albatross tribe. We are the largest birds in the world. We live near the sea. I was flying from the sea and saw Shelly's mating dance." The guys gave Shelly an inquisitive look. She clarified, "I was dancing while gardening and did not know it was a mating dance." Harvey nodded, he knew how inexperienced Shelly was with the beast rituals in this world.
They got to know the new guy for the rest of the evening until it was time for the banquet. Shelly picked a campfire close to the water hole to talk to Indigo. She would need to make plans to travel to the fox tribe and others if he could not find a suitable female. She had hoped it would work between him and Molly. Some things just were not meant to be.
The banquet started and Winston introduced the new females. He said, "You don't need to find a new mate tonight, but if you choose a tiger from the village you will have better housing." He did not feel it was right to force the females to accept a new mate as was the custom in many other villages. The females were grateful the new village respected their choice. They respected Winston as a leader.
Winston left the chief in charge of the housing arrangements and went to find Shelly. He was surprised to see a new beastman with her around the campfire. He approached them and Shelly got up to greet him. She hugged his neck and kissed his cheek. She said, "Winston, this is Albert. He is going to be my new guardian." Winston seemed relieved to have another 3-striped guardian around his mate. He welcomed him, "Hi, I am the tiger king of this village. How did you find our village?" Albert said, "I flew from the sea and saw the female doing a mating dance. I came down and danced with her." Shelly was embarrassed that he kept telling everyone she had performed a mating dance. She thought she really needed to tell him not to tell people that anymore. They will think I'm a tease
She explained what happened to Winston and he understood the misunderstanding. He asked, "Are there other flying beastmen who are headed this way?" He remembered the hawk beastmen in the City of Beasts and hoped to add more flying beastmen to his village.
Albert said, "My tribe is raised by the sea and heads inland to find mates. We fly in all different directions. It is possible there might be more headed this way." Winston nodded and Shelly offered him some meat. They all ate and Albert was pleasantly surprised at the delicious meat! Shuu said, "Wait until you try the other recipes Shelly has taught us!" Albert thought he had made the right choice in choosing this female!