While I sigh in frustration, River sends more than a hint of amusement down the Bond. I send her a side eye. “You don’t have to deal with him,” I grumble at her. She just sends me more amusement for my pains.
Striding forwards, I grab the offending raptorcat by the roots of his stubby wings and lift him up to eye level. He looks a little remorseful, but I have a strong feeling that it’s more to do with being caught red-pawed, rather than any second thoughts about having committed the crime in the first place.
And it truly is red-pawed – he’s managed to overturn the container the samurans have been collecting of red berries. Normally that’s not something they’d bring down since they would rot too quickly, but since I’ll be using my Inventory to transport anything I can, they are able to do it this year. Fortunately, even without Energy they’re still very tasty.
Of course, other things are not so forgiving when it comes to having or not having Energy – dried plants for use in potions or tanned hides, for example. Tanning is another technique I’ve taught the samurans and that a group of Unevolved have taken to with gusto – I wonder if I’ll see my first magical tanner before the year is out.
To deal with all the goods which need to be transported in a more traditional way, we’ve had to come up with another means of moving them. And this one is once more something that existed on Earth and also exists on Nicholas’ world if my ‘memories’ are anything to go by. And that’s something else Trouble’s actions have interfered with.
The cyrans who are being fitted for harnesses to pull the large cart are pawing the ground, keen to attack the young raptorcat who dares to get so close to them. The samurans who were in the process of trying to fit them back off, wary about the large herbivores’ horns. If I don’t pacify them in the near future, they’ll be breaking out – and probably breaking the cart in the meantime. Even with Wood-Shaping on our side, that’s the last thing we need right now.
Glaring at Trouble, I flick reassurance and a request for calmness down the Tame Bonds between the cyrans and me and remind them that they’ll receive an Energy Heart fragment if they comply with the samurans. They quickly settle down, though keep sending threatening looks to match my own at the raptorcat in my grip.
I suppose that I should be relieved at least that Trouble didn’t manage to tip over the clay pots that a group of Unevolved have been making – they’re getting pretty good at the pottery process by now. I hear that the last batch to be fired had barely any cracking during the process, and I notice that there are even fancy designs carved into the outside of the ones to go down to the festival. Breaking them now, the day before we leave, would not have gone down well with anyone.
Which reminds me. I move away and drop Trouble on the ground, crossing my arms and glaring at him.
“What have I told you about getting into the supplies?” The raptorcat looks an odd mixture between apologetic and defiant. Using Animal Empathy, I can tell that he’s apologetic for having incurred my anger, but plans to get back into the food as soon as my back is turned.
I sigh. He’s just not getting it and we don’t have a Bond for me to be able to communicate properly with him. I don’t know if Animal Empathy is failing me because he doesn’t have a communication system much more sophisticated than feelings at the moment or whether he’s intentionally misunderstanding me. Honestly, I think it could go either way.
However, the fact of the matter is that I’ve had enough of this. I don’t have time to watch over him every minute of the day, but the number of scrapes he’s getting into just seems to be increasing.
“Right. We’re going to see Bastet,” I decide. It’s fortunate that she’s in the same place as Kalanthia is, meaning I can kill two birds with one stone. Though, to be fair, that’s probably why Trouble is being so troublesome – when she’s around, she keeps him in line. But after having only just recently making it past the blockage holding her at ten percent progress towards Tier three, she wanted to make the most of the den’s Energy density before we leave. Understandably so.
“And don’t you dare try to sneak off behind my back,” I warn Trouble – I can tell he’s considering it. “I will put a collar around your neck and drag you along if I have to. You know I will,” I warn him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Perhaps he remembers the humiliation and discomfort he felt the last time he annoyed me enough to tie him up – and the way his sisters teased him without him being able to react. Either way, I see him abandon the idea.
“Where are your sisters, anyway?” I ask. Because if it’s time to offer the raptorcats Bonds, then I probably ought to do all three at once.
Trouble points with his nose towards the upper part of the village. Good – that’s on our route. Yeah, I don’t think the issues are due to him not understanding my words – not when he’s able to respond appropriately to a question like that. Whether he understands the idea or not is another question.
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“Do you want to come or stay here?” I ask River. She considers for a moment, then answers.
I might as well come. I’d like to meditate a bit before we leave.
“Alright.” With an apology to the samurans now having to refill the container – and remove the berries squashed by the troublesome raptorcat cub – we set off to collect Trouble’s sisters.
*****
Heading out of the village with three raptorcats and a Pathwalker, we see Artemis and her little pack on their usual patrol around the farming area.
Doing OK? I ask her through our Tame Bond as we’re a bit too far for my voice to carry.
Yes. No enemies, she answers, never taking five words to say what she could in two. I see her pack raise their heads to take note of us, and then return to their guarding duties.
After Artemis evolved, going from a wolfish-looking creature about the height of mid-thigh on me to a sleeker and larger creature who almost reaches midway up my chest, she came to break our Bond.
I was disappointed at the time – although she’d certainly pulled her weight by defending those I’d left behind at Kalanthia’s cave while I was away, she had developed into a dangerous-looking creature and excellent hunter who I was sad to lose.
But I understood – she’d always wanted me to go and convert more of her pack. That had been her condition for staying from the get go. But with my responsibilities with the samurans, it just wasn’t going to happen any time soon. So I let her go with regret but no rancour.
Surprisingly, though, that wasn’t the last we saw of her, though her return was a more recent development.
*****Previously*****
Honoured Tamer, there are several beasts sitting outside the down-valley gates, the Warrior tells me, his eyes slightly wide. I believe the biggest is one of yours.
I frown. Why wouldn’t the Warrior recognise all the members of the group? My Bound have become familiar sights around the village, especially those who tend to go out hunting. And why would they just sit outside the gates instead of coming in?
“Alright, I’m coming,” I answer, pushing myself up from where I’ve been trying to examine the differences between two plants. “Sorry Flower, Tarra. I’ll come back when I can. The changes to the plant seem promising, though – there’s little difference between the one grown naturally and the one your potions and magic have worked on. A bit less Energy, perhaps, but the size difference is impressive.”
Yes, Flower answers, though we would still like to increase the size if we can. Double helps, but is still not enough for what we’re planning.
“No,” I agree, “but double already means we need half the amount of space to keep the same number of animals. It’s a good start and shows that by adding small fragments of Energy Hearts we can make up for the speed of growth. This was grown in three weeks instead of six, right?”
In a little less than a moon cycle rather than two, Flower corrects me. I shrug – I don’t see much difference.
“Which also impacts how much food we can grow. Do we know if this process works with the animals themselves?”
They have much less Energy in their meat, even in comparison to the Energy difference between these two plants, Tarra reports. I am still testing if adding more Energy fragments will help with this.
Honoured Tamer… the Warrior hesitatingly interrupts, reminding me that I was supposed to be going somewhere.
“Sorry, I’m coming. Alright Tarra, Flower, keep up the good work. Tarra, keep testing. Flower, try to work out how far we can expand this, and how many cyrans, killer chickens, and stios we can keep at full production.”
After giving that final instruction, I quickly hurry off with the Warrior, following him to the down-valley gate. Sure enough, as he said there were a group of beasts sitting outside – five in total. And I did recognise one of them.
“Artemis?” I ask, my eyebrows rising into my hairline at the return of the prodigal…wolf.
*****Now*****
Fortunately, Artemis and I managed to communicate by triggering the negotiation part of a Tame Bond. As it turned out, she had decided that if I wasn’t going to help her find her pack, she would go and find it herself. That much, I had already concluded. The surprise was that she came back with them all. The answer as to why ended up being very simple: power.
Having found her pack, and seeing that they hadn’t made much more progress to Tier two than before she had been snatched by the danaris, while she had already Evolved, she decided that I obviously offered a better opportunity for progress. I can’t deny her reasoning – Bastet has indicated that even among a pack with a Tier two leader, the chances of the pack mates having a successful Evolution aren’t much better than with a Tier one leader.
Perhaps if I’d actually come to help her convince them myself, they would have become part of ‘my’ party – like Bastet and Fenrir – instead of coming more for the den. As it is, they are far more attached to the location than me, but I’m not too sad about it. They’re still contributing to the village and, frankly, I have enough members to be getting on with for my personal ‘party’.
In the end, we decided that I would form a Tame Bond with all five of them – four females and a male – but that Artemis would remain the leader of the pack, her position assured as long as she was the strongest and led them well. They quickly found a role as guards for the new farming lands and have been bringing in a good portion of the meat eaten at dinner time. After all, the fields of magically-enhanced, large and reasonably tasty plants are a great draw for the herbivores of the area.
Continuing on our run, we see another of my Bound who has taken to being of more use to the village than me personally.