The Fox tribe’s females arrived as expected. The Fox tribe’s chief brought a total of a dozen females. They set up a big fire in the middle of the village, surrounding it with small fires one after another, on which they roasted all kinds of meat. The males also learned Moussa’s stew and set up a large shell on top of the fire to make one.
The females from the Fox tribe, from the same tribe of foxes, came out Logue’s partner, Dees, and Karida’s partner, Laka, was responsible for leading them from fire to fire. They would stop for each fire and let the male show his enthusiasm by presenting his food and gifts to the female he preferred.
In this way, the females were fed and received a lot of gifts of rare fruits and rare beasts’ teeth. There were so many different kinds of gifts. Anyway, as long as they could show their physical fitness and skills, the males were excited to do it.
The first cycle was the time for the males to express their good feelings to the females. The next was the time for the females to express their good feelings to the males. If the female had a good impression of any male, she could give him the gift he brought, wild fruit or a small flower. If the male accepted the present, the two could become partners and be sent directly to the cave for the mating ceremony! It was fine anyway, as long as she could express her feelings.
Typically, very few females would show their affection to the males on the first day unless they had come to the welcoming party before winter and already had a target. Dees and Laka gave all their efforts promoting the benefits of the males of their tribe to the females. They encouraged them to go forward and show their affection.
All of a sudden, a female came forward. Shyly pulling Dees’ arm, she asked in a whisper, “Dees, how come I haven’t seen Chelsea? Is he not in the village today?” She spent the whole winter in the lion tribe and was very fond of Chelsea. It was a pity that she was not an adult at that time and had planned to meet him at the welcoming party. It was strange that she had walked around but had not seen him.
Dees had some difficulty and looked at Laka. She pulled her aside and whispered, “Philo, in fact, there are many better males than Chelsea in our tribe. You should check them out and learn more.”
Philo asked anxiously, “What’s wrong with Chelsea? Did something happen to him?”
Dees shook her head and said, “No, he didn’t have an accident, but he already has a partner.”
Philo froze and shook her head incredulously, “That’s not possible. This is impossible. He wasn’t even of age last winter, and we agreed to meet at the welcoming party before the rainy season. He wouldn’t partner with another female.”
“Philo, calm down and listen to me. Ryan suddenly rescued a female from outside this spring. The elders of the tribe said she had the best reproductive ability and could produce the most powerful males and females with the most reproductive capacity. For the sake of breeding the most powerful next-generation, Chelsea was forced to partner with her. Chelsea is also helpless after being forced to do so.” Dees patted her hand comfortingly.
Philo was silent for a while and asked quietly, “The female who can reproduce best, she’s different from us?”
Dees puffed her lips in the opposite direction and said with disdain, “Check it out for yourself. The one standing right next to Ivy. The little one has been Chelsea’s partner for so long, but I haven’t seen her picking wild fruit. Instead, she brought in a green python egg, which prompted Ryan to burn down his house. In terms of reproductive capacity and so on, I haven’t heard anything about pregnancy. I guess if there is no news again next spring, the elders should throw her out. If she cannot work and has no reproductive ability, she has been brought up for nothing.”
Dees was dissatisfied with the elders saying that Moussa had the best breeding ability and so on. As if they, the females, were inferior to her. She complained casually to Philo.
However, the person who said it had no intention whatsoever but the person who heard it had the will. Looking at Moussa’s weak appearance, Philo’s dead heart came to life again.