Ao-ao had been running nonstop for days in his beast form, not stopping for any reason until at last he reached the home of the Eagle Tribe at the Sea Cliffs. Panting, he looked up toward the towering spires and steep falls in which the eagle race alone flourished. Making his way through the mountains and various passes headed to each, he finally found the comparatively opulent staircase leading to the very top of the tallest of all the peaks. Standing guard at the base were two stoic-looking eagle guards, each with two dark blue stripes on their faces representing the amount of power they possessed. 'Only two-stripe beastmen guarding the Spire? Patch had better be here,' the fox thought to himself as he approached, his tongue dangling from the side of his mouth both from necessity and the desire to let these guards know he wasn't intimidated by them at all. "I need to see King Patch, if you please," he said to the guards as he shifted into his brown-haired beastman form.

"And who, pray tell, are you?" one of the guards inquired, obviously unimpressed by the fox beastman's manners and lack of reverence for their king. "Just tell King Patch that his very favorite of all the red fox beastmen is here to see him and that I have a gift for him that's going to shake his tailfeathers," Ao-ao grinned slyly, "He'll know what you mean." The guards looked at one another dubiously, but out of respect for their king, one of them turned his arms to wings and ascended the cliffside to deliver the strange message brought from an even stranger beastman. "So," the fox said cheerfully, "where are your friends who normally guard here? Is anything amiss?" The eagle beastman straightened his spine, but still managed to reply disdainfully, "I am not at liberty to discuss that." "Oh, naturally," said Ao-ao, "I guess we'll just wait here until I'm allowed up. The guard rolled his eyes and remained silent until his partner returned.

After a few short minutes, the other guard returned in a puff of feathers, the words, "The king will see you now, please follow me," erupting breathily from his mouth. King Patch had obviously sent him back down in a hurry. Ao-ao eyed the staircase wearily, but time was of the essence, and he began to run at top speed once again after flashing back into his beast form. "Hey! Wait!" the guard called, flapping his wings once again to build the momentum he would need to chase that stuck-up fox. His pursuit carried him all the way to the top of the mountain, where his king awaited his unexpected visitor. Seeing the giant red fox arrive, he stretched out his arm in welcome and placed it around his friend. "Callum, you are dismissed," he said to the eagle beastman behind him as he turned his head in farewell. The agitated shock in Callum's eyes was enough to restore a great deal of Ao-ao's strength as he chuckled to himself quietly, returning to his humanoid shape.

"So," King Patch began, "my red fox friend, what is it that brings you to me? Don't go on about some gift either, we both know there are strings attached to anything of that nature. Doesn't mean I'm opposed to hearing about it, though; we both know you always come through for me." Patch was an anomaly among eagle beastmen, mostly because he wasn't one, technically. His beast form was that of a gryphon, a mix between a tiger and an owl that was powerful enough to rule over the entire eagle race, and this was where he made his home. He did his best to comply with the aloof cultural proceedings of the eagles, but among friends, his personality was entirely different. "Well, my dear friend, it's about our females, so it's an ever so slightly more delicate matter this time," Ao-ao replied, letting himself relax now that it was just the two males. Their friendship had spanned decades, and there were no secrets between them.

"Our females? You must mean our lack of females, because it's all anybody ever talks about and to be frank, I'm sick of hearing about it. And for that matter, why didn't you give your name to my guards? Are you going incognito again, Spencer? Or which name is it I'm using now? I've honestly lost track," the tanned gryphon joked. "Spencer is fine, this time. But only up here," 'Ao-ao' gestured to the royal pavilion they were strolling across. "I have to spend some time away from the tribe for just a little while longer," he explained, "so if you could keep all of this on the down-low for the time being, I can make it worth your while." He clicked his lips jokingly at his friend, but Patch knew Spencer was preparing to get down to whatever business had brought him here.

"Spill it, I don't have all day," Patch scoffed, though he was honestly dying of curiosity on the inside. For as long as he had known him, Spencer had done his utmost to bring happiness to his friends, even if that happiness sometimes came at a cost. "So," Spencer the fox drawled, "You've heard what's become of our friend King Scott? Or should I say, King Scott the Besotted?" Patch snorted; ever since their wolverine beastman friend had met the feistiest little pallas cat female, he had been the butt of jokes everywhere except for within his massive Wolf Kingdom. But King Patch had earned each of his four green beast stripes not only because of his brawn; he was no fool. "Spencer," Patch said slowly, "what did you do?"

Spencer gulped guiltily and proclaimed, "You haven't seen how happy he is! Our own Scott is over the moon, if you'll excuse the joke, in love with a female! If it could happen to him, of all beastmen, why couldn't we find mates as well?" Patch gave him a royally disdainful look and said plainly, "You didn't answer my question." Spencer sighed. "I was going through some of the old teachings from our tribe a while ago, just to keep things organized-" he began, and Patch cut him off. "Just cut to the chase; is this going to be trouble for us? Being king of an entire race is no easy thing, and just because Scott has it easy now doesn't mean his subjects - or his enemies - won't be looking into that cute little pallas cat," Patch finished. "Okay, okay!" the fox cried, giving in, "It's a ritual, but only the strongest beastmen can complete it. And one of them," he paused for dramatic effect, "needs to belong to one fox race in particular."

"So you went to Scott because he earned his fourth mark and you didn't want to be the test subject," Patch sighed, having figured his tricky fox pal out. "Well, that, and you know what a hopeless romantic he is! He's the wolf king but he can't find love for himself? Can you imagine what a toll that's been taking? But as you can see, it worked like a charm, and he's well on his way to happily ever after with his mate Eira," the fox rushed to finish before Patch could interrupt once again. "And you know he's this happy how, exactly, Spencer? Do you even know where his mate came from? How did they meet? How can you claim to know what's going to happen to one of our best friends and allies?" Patch asked sternly.

"I know it works because I did the ritual on myself, too," he sighed, "and I summoned a female beyond my wildest dreams. She's amazing, Patch. I fell in love with her instantly, it was the most incredible feeling. You know how long it's taken me to find a mate, and while she isn't my mate yet, I know there's nobody else I'll ever want to fill that role except for her." Patch sighed as well, but his was out of exasperation and not lovesickness. "So let me get this straight," the gryphon said, looking Spencer dead in the eyes, "You did some weird, ancient fox ritual on Scott, and then yourself. You're both head over heels for these females that you summoned from nobody-knows-where, so what do you need me for?"

Spencer bent his head, his tone becoming somber, "That's the problem, Patch. Er, King Patch. The female I summoned, she's sick. She's dying. Right now, she could be dead. I had to leave her in the forest and run to you to beg for help, because nobody else was close enough for her to even stand a chance. If you let me do the ritual for you, and you fall in love with the female we summon, please, give me as many emerald spars as you deem fit. Anything you can give will help me spare her life, if I can make it back to her in time. If we do the ritual and you have any regrets at all, I'll give you my largest luminous pearl and you'll owe me nothing. I left it at the edge of my tunnel system, in the one that lets out nearest here. Is that fair?" Patch could sense the desperation in his friend's voice, and knew that he could trust every word out of Spencer's mouth. The fox, though clever with his words at times, was honest if nothing else. "Fine," Patch said exasperatedly, his newly dyed red and gold hair gleaming in the sunlight pouring into his mountain pavilion, "Let's get started before the sun goes down."