Turin, radji Cradle Ecologist

Date [standardised human time]: May 2nd, 2117

(19 years, 4 months before the invasion of the radji Cradle).

It had been a little over seven weeks since Ki-yu had hatched and she had grown considerably. She now stood—still on all fours—a little above Turin’s ankles and had now definitely outgrown her pen. Not that they had managed to keep her in it once she figured out the latch. For some time, they had kept a heavy rock against the door, but then Ki-yu would keen and umph! all night long. They eventually compromised by keeping her pen in their bedding-room, which had quieted her. Personally, Turin was excited to return to an active sex life; neither of them had found the prospect of being watched by their predator/child particularly enticing.

Turin heard Braq coming up the hall as she set down some water, bread, and rubar spread on the living room table. Having decided to move Ki-yu into a dedicated room, Braq had begun excavation of one of the softer patches of bedrock. His strong body and claws made quick work of the strata, but it was still hard going. Every few pawfuls he would gain he would have to reinforce with wood and plaster with clay, and the dirt built up behind him. If anyone asked they would say they were building a storeroom, a structure they absolutely needed, but secretly they were also installing a hidden backroom that would be Ki-yu’s. It was perhaps a four radji job, but Braq was always headstrong when it came to their home. Not that we’d want renovators to see our little project either.

Ki-yu padded alongside Braq as they entered the living room. The little predator would try and ‘help’ Braq as he dug, but that was mostly limited to scratching at the rock and rolling around in the dirt. They were both filthy. Ki-yu’s regular slate-grey scales that mottled into dark bands towards her rump and tail were instead coated in brown-grey splotches of dirt and clay.

Panting out a happy chirrup she flowed over towards the couch, her long flexible tail held aloft behind her swished with each step. Turin just managed to get to her before she leapt up onto it, emitting an irritated whine. Braq chuckled as he watched Ki-yu wriggle in her grip, covering her in dust and soil.

“Off, off!” she commanded, to no avail.

They had begun to try and teach her some basic words, mostly through the association of just talking to her whilst they went about their day. It was clear that she had some grasp of what ‘food’ or ‘water’ meant, but she was yet to attempt to make the sounds themselves. Turin had expressed concern to Braq that they might be missing some critical steps of pyq development.

“We can only do what comes naturally to us,” was what he had said, but Turin feared that there would always be parts of prey culture that would be foreign to her.

Her concern came from more than just the proper development of a child or the desire to talk to her, although that was a singularly terrifying prospect in-and-of itself. Perhaps the most important word they would have to teach her would be ‘hide’. So long as she did not understand that word and the fullness of that concept therein, they were all in danger.

Communication was on their minds for other reasons. They had 17,000 acres of forest to monitor, and they were effectively on their own when they were not in the lodge. Braq returned from Bendara city last week with a new dedicated radio amplifier that should cover most of the region. He had also purchased half a dozen handheld units, lest any befall the rapids again. Whilst expensive, the amplifier was also relatively small and resilient, a dish about twice the size of her head. Today, Turin thought she would attempt to scout out the best sections of terrain to install this system. It would have to be installed somewhere quite high, so the mountains to the east would be the best bet.

Her partner sat for his lunch as he watched Turin wrestle with the pyq.

“She’s full of energy today,” he commented through a mouthful of bread. “and growing fast too. Don’t know where she’s getting it from.” Eventually freeing herself from the struggle, Turin looked down and tried to brush the muck from her overalls. Sighing, she washed her paws in the sink before joining her partner at the table. Ki-yu, seemingly quite contented by the brawl, padded over to sit at Braq’s feet. On her way she snatched up Spike, a radji-shaped plush toy Braq had bought as a ‘joke’.

“Hmm. Perhaps I should take her with me.” Turin mused as she applied some spread to her bread. “Get her out of the house, off of your back.”

Keeping Ki-yu inside was for now the most sensible strategy; it stopped her from running off, stopped her from being seen, or from attacking anything herself. The latter issue was yet to raise its head. Aside from the odd pounce on Spike, or her admittedly aggressive play-fighting, Ki-yu was positively docile. Her teeth and claws, whilst sharp, stayed behind lip and paw, and neither of them had observed anything from her that could be called stalking or hunting.

Braq thought for a moment as he worked the bread.

“Are you sure you’d be alright?” he asked. When Turin raised a brow at that, he hastily added, “Of course, you’d be alright, I mean would you be okay looking after her? We’ve never taken her outside before, might be best to keep her on a leash.”

That seemed sensible to Turin, and she nodded in agreement.

“I think I’ll take one of the large vexise carry cases as well,“ she said.

“Smart, don’t want her jumping out of the buggy, do we?” he replied.

Turin stood and fetched some predator kibble from they were storing in the kitchen. Ki-yu followed her in, Spike dangling by a paw from her jaws.

“Who wants to go for a walk?” Turin asked.

~*~

At first, it seemed Ki-yu was afraid of the buggy. Perhaps it was the loud noise, or maybe the lopsided bounce of the vehicle’s suspension. Maybe it was not the buggy at all, and instead the overwhelming stimulus of being outside the lodge. Regardless, Ki-yu had only been coaxed into the carry case with kibble, Spike, and gentle words.

But once the vehicle was in motion her snout was firmly placed between the bars of the case. Her dark nose and eyes took in the boundless sky, the green trees, and the rocky terrain with alacrity as they whipped by. Turin headed towards the mountains. The track was old, well-rutted, and rocky, but it was the only trail that headed east.

After driving for perhaps twenty minutes, they arrived at the foot of one mountain she liked the look of. But after circling its base in a fruitless meander, Turin found it was far too steep to make an ascent and tested the signal from the buggy. The shrill whining the handheld made when she linked it to the amplifier told her that the terrain was interfering with the signal. This one won’t do.

Ki-yu also began whining in the seat beside her, the same umph-ing sound that she made when distressed. She wants out of the case, Turin thought to herself, I guess I can risk it if I’m smart about it.

Tipping the case upwards, she secured it with a seatbelt and slid open the hatch just far enough that she could stick her head out. Ki-yu panted happily into Spike as she looked out into the world unimpaired for the first time. Satisfied, Turin drove north along the mountains.

A short time later, a new mountain became visible through the trees. This one was not as tall as the previous one and had much more assailable terrain. Eventually finding a route between the trees Turin brought the buggy to a stop. On this southern slope, the mountain was much more like a hill than the steep drop-offs to the east and west. The rock was a dark granitic grey, speckled with black inclusions, a colour not so different from Ki-yu’s glossy scales.

After separating Spike from her lest he be lost on the mountain, Turin fixed the leash around Ki-yu’s long neck. The reptile strained against Turin in her eagerness to explore but otherwise did not complain. Ki-yu usually detested being encumbered by any fabric, but today her curiosity seemed to tolerate the sensation.

A ridge ran up around the steep eastern side of the foothill, and Turin began walking them up it. Kay-ut’s pyre was beginning to pass its midday peak, so the day was warm, but the high air brought with it a cool breeze, so the ascent went by rather quickly. Or it would have, had Ki-yu not stopped to look at every little leaf, twig, rock, flower, or hole, or to listen to every animal call that rang out in alarm at their passing. I suppose I’d be curious too if it was my first day outside. At one point a small, winged scansa stopped in a nearby tree, squawking down at them. Turin noted that Ki-yu paid it a little more interest than the other objects in this strange new world.

Finally, they reached the end of the ridge, and Turin feared that the hill was also unsuitable. But when she went to turn back, she found Ki-yu sniffing down at an opening in the mountain. It was unmistakably the mouth of a cave. Predators often den in caves, came a warning from some primitive part of her brain. The largest predator in this forest is currently walking beside me, she reminded herself. Right? Cautiously, Turin moved toward it.

The opening was concave and wider than it was tall. Turin had to duck her head to pass beneath its lip, but within she could see light. As she pressed forwards, she found the interior of the cavern to be quite spacious, enough that even that freak Juran would have to jump to touch the ceiling. Where one would expect the cave to pinch shut, an even greater opening filled with sky beckoned her deeper. There was no sign of anything, living or dead, in the cave. Ki-yu followed her in, and their paws echoed back the footfalls of ghostly dancing partners.

This isn’t a cave, Turin realised, it’s a tunnel right through the mountain! The interior was polished smooth along the floor and walls. Perhaps in some ancient day, the cave had flowed with water? Or maybe it was the result of volcanism during the areas formation? Regardless, some water they found in a pool beneath this new opening before the rock gave way to open air. There was some distance of flat rock before that though, so Turin was confident that neither of them could fall. Ki-yu joined her at the water’s edge and looked down at her reflection. Dipping a paw into the water, Turin found it to be fresh. Rainwater? The pool was not particularly deep, but enough certainly to wade in. A delightfully devilish idea blossomed in Turin’s mind, and she stood so that Ki-yu was between her and the water. Turin dropped her bag from her back, and the predator watched it fall.

“How about a bath?” Turin asked playfully, an evil grin on her lips. Ki-yu’s dark eyes widened, and she tried to back away. Realising the water was behind her, she turned back and attempted to dodge to either side of Turin but forgot that she was still tied to the leash. Oh no you don’t!

Pulling her scrabbling towards her, Turin grabbed Ki-yu round the middle and, giggling, threw them bodily into the pool. The cool, clear water passed through her overalls and her fur, kissing the skin beneath. It had been a long while since Turin last bathed, and Ki-yu fought against being washed at the best of times, so the mud, dust, and clay flowed out of them. The reptile scrambled against her as Turin’s feet found purchase, and they returned to the surface. Turin laughed as she took in air. The radji nestled the writhing predator between her arms and her chest so that her head was above water. Ki-yu writhed for a moment before settling, snorting water out of her nose. Then she emitted a strange rasping sound from the back of her throat.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Hhsss- Hhsss- Hhsst!” That’s a new sound. Turin thought. She also saw that the dark spots around her eyes were drawn upwards, and the corners of her mouth pulled back. “Hhsss- Hhsss- Hhsst!” she uttered again.

Is she laughing?! The look in those midnight eyes was unquestionable mirth. She’s laughing!! Turin’s little boat was lifted by a wave of joy.

“Was that silly?!” she asked gleefully.

“Hhsss- Hhsss- Hhsst!”

Turin giggled and span in the water. She took up a pawful and doused Ki-yu over the head with it. The girl shook her snout as the moisture flowed over her, and she snorted out a laugh again. Taking retribution, she chased up Turin’s neck, her lithe legs and tail kicking up cool dirty water as she went. Turin laughed as she was licked around her ears and snout.

“Get off you little monster before you drown me- aha!”

Eventually, they dragged themselves shivering from the pool. Turin’s overalls were soaked through as she tried to dry off, but it was worth it. Ki-yu shook herself head-to-tail and stood shuddering for a moment before she padded out towards the sun. Turin followed her out. The cool breeze gently ruffled her sodden fur, and the pair took in the great mountainous view.

A stretch of flat rock extended out of the opening, overhanging the sheer slope beneath. The view looked down on the valley; their ascent had brought them up the eastern slope, and the tunnel looked back west. Turin could see the half-buried lodge and the long straight rows of pens stretching out into yard. A chain of smoke was starting to rise from the chimney, Braq would have started on dinner. Her eye was drawn to the southern extent of the mountains, where stony sentinels even greater still than the one they sat atop now were capped with white snow. But as far as the eye could see the landscape was dominated by a great lush green canopy and the dark underwood beneath it. So much unspoiled wilderness, one could never see it all. Ki-yu sat and yawned beside her, and Turin idly reached out and patted her head.

With a satisfied sigh, she retrieved the signal booster from her backpack and tried again. This time the signal came through much clearer, with minimal interference. This will do nicely, Turin thought. Best to test it. Holding up the handheld radio, she flicked to their predetermined channel.

“Eco 1 to Eco 2, what’s the status on dinner, over?” Turin giggled to herself in the silence as Ki-yu licked her lips next to her. A few moments later Braq’s voice, staticky but otherwise clear replied.

“Uh, Eco 2 I think you’ll find I am Eco 1, and the meal is coming along wonderfully… over.”

“Eco 1 to Eco 2, I think you’re in error, it was Eco 2 who lost the last unit down the rapids, and that wasn’t me. Over.”

Braq’s laugh was broadcast through the handheld.

“Right… well Eco 1, how’s Eco 3 handling her mission?” Clearly recognising his voice, Ki-yu had started snuffling around the radio.

“Very well behaved. She found a path through the mountain; we’ve got a lovely view of the whole valley from… here… that sure is a lot of smoke, Braq. Over.”

“Er, yes,” came the reply. “It’s a work in progress.” Turin shook her head at the man she married.

“We’re now heading back, see you soon. Over and out.” She shut down the handheld and sighed contentedly and the serene view. It was a wonderfully peaceful moment, but they had to start heading back. Turin affixed the amplifier to the rock, and the two started on the path back down the mountain.

Part-way down, Turin stopped as the prey-animal part of her brain shouted out a warning. For a fleeting moment, she thought she spied movement between the trees. She stood still as her wide field of view scanned the forest’s edge. Nothing, she chided herself, there’s nothing here. We’ve studied these forests for almost four years, and the largest predator here is currently at the end of your leash. Ki-yu seemed to sense her unease and whined beside her. Turin offered her another gentle pat on the head, and they continued down the path.

But as they returned to the buggy, Turin’s sense of unease only deepened. She could not place the source of her paranoia, only that she knew they were being watched. Hastily, she plucked up Ki-yu and placed her back in the pen. As she opened the door, she took one last look around her and choked out a gasp.

Ducking behind a tree she glimpsed a small, spiky back. A radji?! Out here?! she thought, half in relief and half in horror. She was suddenly grateful that Ki-yu was somewhat hidden in her case.

“I see you there,” Turin called out. Her voice was icy with false confidence. “This is government property; you cannot be here.”

“S-sorry…” an anxious voice squeaked.

“Show yourself!” she commanded.

From behind the tree stepped a young radji, far too young to be alone in the wilderness. A child?! How in The Protector did he get out here? The boy looked scrawny and gaunt. His quills were broken in places, and his fur was matted. He looked like he was perhaps six or seven years old, but Turin suspected he may have been older and that his growth was stunted.

“Sorry,” the boy repeated. “I-I’m lost.” Understatement.

“No kidding,” Turin replied. “Who are you? What are you doing out here?”

“M-mother says n-not to talk to strangers.”

“Kid. You’re lost on my property; I can get you out of here.” The boy bristled at that, and his eyes bulged in alarm.

“Y-your property? But m-mother and father own the vineyards…” Vineyards? Turin thought, who was it who owned…Oh!

“You’re Laenar’s son!” she gasped. “The one who found the-”

“The one who found the bryyn,” he finished quickly, screwing his eyes up and curling his paws into fists. He was traumatised Laenar had said, couldn’t sleep. “If this isn’t the vineyards,” he said, “then this must be the forest. And that would make you…”

“Turin,” she replied.

“The ecologist,” he said, tasting the word like a sour berry. So, he’s heard of us too.

“I didn’t get your name,” Turin said.

“Yotun.”

“Did you walk here Yotun?” Turin asked, dumbstruck. When Yotun nodded, she almost wanted to laugh. It was absurd. “You must have left ages ago, several days at least to get around the mountains.” But the boy shook his head.

“I left last night.” That’s not possible.

“What? You couldn’t have climbed the mountains, it’s far too-”

“There’s a path, between two of the mountains.” A secret path through the Brackwood? We found no such thing when we were surveying.

“You’ll have to show me,” Turin said, “but first let’s get you something to eat and drink. I’ll get my partner to tell your parents we’ve found you. They must be worried sick.”

Pulling out some water and rations which he promptly devoured, she sat Yotun in the passenger seat. She also surreptitiously slid Ki-yu’s case into the back seat and covered it with a blanket. Putting the new radio to the test, Turin informed Braq of the situation. He swore through the static, first at the boy, then the parents, and then the ‘secret path’. She left him to reach out to Laenar’s family, and let them know they would return the same way the boy came in. Following the boy’s directions to drive further east, Turin improvised a route between the trees. Yotun watched her cautiously, fiddling with his claws as she drove.

“What does an ecologist do exactly?” he asked.

“We study the nature of living things, life itself,” she replied. “Our job here is to maintain the forest, so that future generations can enjoy it.”

“Mother and Father say that you f-feed p-predators here…” Yotun said slowly.

“Yes,” she said gently, but he screwed his face up at that.

“W-why would you look after predators if you care about protecting life? Predators kill. Father says that’s silly… sorry.” Ah, the fur’s the colour of the clay it would seem.

“It’s okay. It is true, predators do kill,” she said evenly. “But predators are living things too, are they not?” He did not know how to respond to that. “Before we showed up, predators were an important part of every ecosystem. Their removal can do great harm, and their presence can do some good.” Yotun sat quietly beside her, and Turin suddenly felt quite sorry for the lad. He doesn’t need a lecture, he needs compassion.

“You didn’t answer my question back there… when I found you,” Turin said. The boy flinched at her words.

“S-sorry,” he offered. He says that a lot.

“It’s okay. But I want to know, why in The Protector did you walk out here in the middle of the night?” He chewed on his lip and looked out at the darkening sky.

“I… couldn’t sleep,” he said, weakly.

“Nightmares? Your mother said.” Turin noted he flinched at that too. “About the bryyn?”

“I get them every night,” he said nodding. “I see it every night, and it s-scares me all anew.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “you shouldn’t have seen that. All that blood…” She shivered at the thought.

“It wasn’t the blood,” he said quietly. Turin knew she should not pick at such a wound, but her curiosity got the better of her.

“Then… what was it?” Yotun turned in his seat to look right at her.

“Everyone always says it’s the blood, but it wasn’t the blood. It wasn’t even the smell, although that was pretty gross. It was the fact that some predator had killed a baby and left it for all to see without even eating it. So, tell me Ms. Ecologist, what kind of predator kills an animal without eating it?” No predator does, Turin thought. What a strange thing…

She was about to say as much when the boy gasped.

Turin looked down to see the end of Ki-yu’s snout duck back between the bars, and into the safe darkness of her case. Clearly, she had also been curious.

He saw her. Oh, Protector he saw her!!

“W- what’s that?” Yotun squeaked, gesturing at the case. Turin quickly shifted the blanket to cover more of the hatch. Ignore it, don’t make a big thing of it. The boy’s eyes went wide, and his quills stuck right out. “I-is tha-t-t a p-predator?!” The right truth is worth a thousand lies, she reminded herself.

“Yes. We-” was all she could say before the boy tried to throw himself from the moving vehicle. Cursing, Turin grabbed him by the scruff of his neck just before he would have impaled himself on a passing tree limb and brought the vehicle screeching to a halt.

The boy was a blubbering mess in her paws, scrambling to get away.

“Calm down,” Turin said, gently shushing him as she held him to her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It won’t hurt you, it’s okay.” Yotun shook in her arms as she soothingly rubbed his quills flat. Eventually, he calmed enough for shaky words.

“Wh-wh-why woul-d-d yo-u have that th-thing in h-here?!” he managed. The right truth…

“We keep them penned up usually,” she said still holding him, “I wanted to see how this one would react to being outside.”

“W-won’t i-it-”

“She won’t hurt us,” she said gently, “look.” Keeping the case covered so that he could not see in, she slid open the hatch and stuck her paw inside. Yotun squealed against her shoulder, clearly expecting her to howl out in agony. Within, she could feel Ki-yu shaking. Her wet nose pressed urgently into her palm; the soft shape of Spike locked her mouth. Turin gently patted her on the head.

“It’s okay,” she told them, “there, there.”

~*~

The sun was truly setting by the time they exited the path between the mountains. To most radji it would be a game trail like any other, but to Turin’s eye was clearly an unnatural thing. The path was far too wide, cut in too linear a fashion across the most accessible parts of the terrain; nature prefers curves and fractals, only people have a penchant for straight lines. The wood had healed in places, so the trail must be a few months old at least. But the lack of wood-song and animal calls unnerved Turin. Who would scare the scansa away?

Yotun had regained some composure when he saw that Turin had retained her paw but would occasionally look around at the case in the back seat. Turin was not sure how much of Ki-yu he had seen, or even if he knew what a pyq would look like at such a young age. Regardless, she had told him that it was a shadow monitor, and he’d seemed to take that at face value.

The mountain pass ended with a rise that overlooked Yotun’s family vineyard. Rows and rows of fruit were watered by an extensive reservoir of pipes and sprinklers, autonomous drones buzzing from grove to grove. In the distance, Turin could see the large estate that must have been the family’s home, a multi-story testament to brutalist architecture.

Standing between the vines were Laenar and a man she supposed must be Yotun’s father. He sported similar overalls to his partner and had a genial expression on his round ochre muzzle as he squatted by the vines. Laenar, by contrast, was pacing back and forth. The two looked up at the sound of the buggy and began walking over.

Turin killed the engine and exited to meet them halfway. The further I keep Ki-yu from them the better. Yotun was solemn as they walked, he looked like he was heading to his grave. Turin placed a paw on his shoulder and offered him a weak smile.

Laenar’s stride outreached her husbands, and she met them first.

“What were you thinking?!” she said, taking his face in her paw. “Walking out like that, what if Turin hadn’t found you? You could have starved, or frozen, what in The Protector were you thinking?!”

“Hi Mother,” was all Yotun said.

“’Hi Mother,’ look at your feet, your claws are ruined.”

“You must be Turin,” the man spoke up, “I’m Arrut.”

“Sorry that we only seem to meet your family under strange circumstances,” Turin said, trying to defuse the palpable tension. Arrut smiled toothily as he shook her paw.

“Not at all. We’re glad you found him; we were worried he’d headed for the coast,” he said, with a chuckle. Laenar crouched down in front of her son, talking straight into his face.

“You know it isn’t safe! After everything we’ve told you, after what you saw!” Turin could see the concern Laenar had for her son was genuine, but Yotun was positively despondent.

“I know, I’m sorry Mother,” he said numbly.

“C’mon son,” Arrut said, “Let’s get some food in ya, and then get you to bathing.” He turned back to Turin. “Our apologies for the inconvenience but thanks again for finding him. You’d better start back now if you want to get back for dinner.”

Laenar offered Turin only the briefest of nods before the pair marched Yotun back between the vines. She did not even get the opportunity to ask about the path.

They marched through lengthening shadows of shoko fruit as the flame of Kay-ut lit up the sky in shades of gold and yellow. Something about the placement of Arrut’s paw on Yotun’s shoulder disquieted Turin as she watched them go.

---

“Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood

With solemn reverence: throw away respect,

Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,

For you have but mistook me all this while:

I live with bread like you, feel want,

Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,

How can you say to me, I am a king?”

– Richard II, William Shakespeare, 1595.