Her Beasts

Salt

Walking into Blue Lake City, Iris was stunned by the sheer number of beasts that filled the city. Most were in their human forms with the occasional beast mixed in. Almost every person Iris could see was a male beast man.

The single glance at a female Iris could get showed her surrounded by several males who looked to be guarding her carefully as she rode in the back of a lion. Many other males appeared to be cramping their necks in an attempt to get a glance at the female.

Caspian pulled Iris closer to him as he pulled her hood to cover more of her face. In a worried tone of voice, he instructed,

"Stay close to me, don't wander off. The female population here is still rather low despite the overall population being larger. Some male beasts even become desperate and try to kidnap females. You only have me to protect you so it's best you stick close to me."

Iris merely nodded her head in agreement as she wrapped her arms around one of Caspian's large muscular arms. She was still eager to take in the scenery but did not wish to be swept away by the crowd and separated from her mate.

Caspian quickly led Iris towards the business district of the city explaining its layout as they walked.

"This beast city is divided into two sections. There is an inner wall much like the outer wall that separates the two. The inner city is primarily for the nobles and religious authorities in the city. This section we are in now has the homes for the general population as well as business and entertainment areas."

As this beast city appeared rather small for a city, Iris could easily see the inner wall in the distance. Observing the buildings around her, Iris noticed that they were also made of stone. They appeared to be one floor and only as large as the main room in her home. She inferred the homes must be a single room on the inside.

None of the homes had windows on them and their doorways were covered by animal skin. As windows would only add to how cold the homes would be in the cold season, Iris supposed the lack of windows was for the best. Iris could only feel thankful that she lived inside a mountain where there was more shelter and that she knew how to utilize fire for warmth.

"The homes are largely on the outskirts of this area while the shops, inns, and an arena for duels are on the innermost section. Only residents of this beast city use the actual shop buildings. Those wishing to sell items from the surrounding tribes just place their wares on beast skins on the ground."

As they were finally done making their way through the crowd to the marketplace, Iris could now see these things with her own eyes. There were less than ten shops with goods for sale and almost double the amount of temporary shops were set up.

"Anything catching your eye? We can buy anything you want."

Caspian smiled indulgently down at Iris. He'd happily spoil her and buy her anything she wanted.

Iris, however, did not have any clue where to begin looking through the market. While she'd often been to shops and even malls in the modern world, this was different. Iris had some knowledge of history and had seen some ancient relics in a museum but she'd never been to a market selling such items!

Caspian quite enjoyed the look of wonder in his little mate's eyes. He knew that in the future he'd have to bring her out to beast cities to shop more often. After all, this was merely a smaller beast city. The medium and large beast cities would have even more amazing things for his curious little mate to be amazed by.

"Alright, it seems you're struggling to decide. Let's just head over to the Golden Tradesmen market stall first. This way we can buy your salt and then we can slowly make our way through the rest of the shops."