Yellow Rock City

Iris woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Today was the day she was going into the beast city. This one was called Yellow Rock City and it was a small beast city located on a cliff face.

As Iris approached the city she admired the tall walls that she could only assume were made in the adobe style. They were likely made from mud bricks mixed with straw since there weren't many places where clay was likely to be found in such an area.

Iris entered alongside a few other females and their mates. Many of her tribe mates couldn't afford to pay a fee to enter the city and would remain with the others. Iris took pity on Holly and offered to let her come with her into this city.

Since only Quentin had a high enough combat level to be granted entry, Holly would not have enough mates for protection otherwise. Ember had grumbled about having to babysit, but Caspian and Basil didn't care since it was unlikely any issues would emerge.

Holly gratefully thanked Iris as the two entered the city

"Thanks for bringing me with you Iris. With all the travel, my other mates wouldn't have time to earn crystals to pay for entry. It gets boring traveling all the time and it's nice to have a change of scenery. Don't worry I promise I won't wander around too much or bother you."

Iris smiled dotingly at her cute friend. Iris wasn't bothered by such a small thing as spending time with her good friend. Holly would make good company as she happily chattered about this and that and she was always cute as she displayed various facial expressions throughout their conversations.

The interior of the city had many one-story building Adobe style homes. There were even the telltale exposed wooden beams to support the roof. However, Iris highly doubted the houses had central courtyards or fireplaces like most Adobe homes in the modern world's history due to the nature of the beast world.

Iris and Holly both had to wear cloaks today and we're being carried by their mates for their safety. Thus, Iris had to point to the stall she wanted to go to and wait for Basil to walk over. Caspian or Ember usually carried Iris, but Iris wanted to play with Basil's soft tail if she was going to be forced to be carried around.

Their first stop was the food stall in the market. As this prairie and desert environment had different plants from usual, Iris was curious what she would find. Luckily, Iris had been studying her books as well as reading the books to Basil who could more easily recognize many more plants.

"These tannish pods should be mesquite, right? I think you said these are good as flour or coffee if you grind them up. These large rounded green ones should also be yucca fruit, if I remember correctly."

Iris was shocked by how well Basil remembered the information and kissed him as she praised

"I have such a smart fox! You're exactly right. I can grind the dried mesquite directly for a sort of flour or roast, grind, and add it to water for a coffee substitute. The yucca is great when you roast it, but toxic raw. We should buy some of these to feed the tribe."

Caspian stepped forward to negotiate with the vendor to buy all of their stock of both items. Iris managed to get six large bags of dried mesquite and three of the yucca for eighteen uncolored crystals. Iris felt this was quite a good price for nearly 450 lbs worth of food.

Iris felt guilty making Ember and Caspian carry so much so she had them rent an inn room to use while they put the items away. Iris passed Caspian her bag while she waited outside with Holly. Holly thought her friend's behavior was quite strange, but didn't feel the need to question such things as she didn't want to strain her relationship with the only complete females to treat her well.

Holly was sure that many in their tribe were willing to overlook Iris's family's peculiarities due to how many benefits it brought. No one had to go hungry and everyone's health was being cared for even despite such harsh travel. Many knew it was likely they might have starved to death last cold season as well if it weren't for Iris's generosity.

This wasn't even to mention how much their lives had improved as well. The games Iris invented made their boring lives much more interesting and she was always feeding them delicious sweets. Plus, many of the half-orc females had been able to increase the size of their families recently thanks to Iris's gift of soaps and combs. This was a huge feat for half-orc females who often struggled to find enough mates to ensure their basic needs would be attended to.

After the goods were taken care of, Caspian returned the bag to Iris and they continued on their way. Since this is a desert city, there are snake and lizard skins for sale along with turtle shell-based goods.

Iris happily bought all of the snake and lizard skin available in the market that was of even half-decent quality. This sort of animal skin would be good for water-resistant clothing like boots or a new cloak, which Iris wanted to make sometime in the future.

As for the turtle shell goods, Iris wasn't sure about most of it. Many items were just bowls or broken pieces of shell used for jewelry. However, Iris found that a souvenir would be nice so she found two especially nice-looking turtle shell bracelets and paid for them she then turned to Holly and asked for her wrist.

"Here, give me your wrist. I got us each a turtle shell bracelet as a keepsake so we can remember our travels fondly. Who knows if we'll ever have the chance to visit a similar city again in the future."

Holly gave Iris a bright smile as she profusely thanked her.

"Oh my goodness! Thank you so much, Iris! I don't have anything I can do to return the favor, though...."

Iris pursed her lips as she reprimanded

"I keep telling you, you don't have any debts with me. We are best friends so we can just take care of each other like this without worrying about evening things up."

With this, Iris considered her shopping done. Luckily there was a small oasis nearby so her tribe mates could stock up on water and bathe before they set off again at sunset. Iris yawned, feeling ready to head back to sleep.