I had barely awoken from my sleep when I started to hear the clucking of hens, the sound of a door opening and closing, and the feeling of a blanket being violently ripped away from my tender, and loving embrace. With my eyes still shut, I felt around for my blanket, while making a low grunting sound, but it was to no avail, as the response to that, was to be lifted off the ground, taken outside, and have copious amounts of water splashed on my face, forcing me to wake up, and shiver in my drenched clothing.

I had finally mustered enough strength to open my eyes, but I had to keep on blinking and adapt to the brightness of the sun, and when I finally opened my eyes, I was face to face with Rodney. I wouldn't say that I disliked Rodney, but I think he could've gone a little softer on me, and improved his image of him in my mind. I mean, this isn't a military camp. Well, actually, my life did depend on it.

"Umm... What are we supposed to be doing right now?", Matthew autistically asked.

It was actually kind of obvious what we were supposed to be doing right now, as not only did Alexandra mention taming a hen for me, but we were literally standing right next to the wire mesh, and chicken hut.

I was expected him to respond with words, but he ended up pointing at the chickens, and that's when I remembered he was mute.

Rodney used his hands to push down the wire mesh, but then he looked at me. First,  my belt, then my empty hands, and then my shoeless feet. He sighed, then motioned me to wait there, but I obviously wasn't going to wait there, as I was well within the hens' fire breathing range, so I moved a little. My clothing wasn't anything special either. A long sleeved, uncomfortable, wet, medieval tunic, a cheap looking, medieval belt, medieval socks, which were made of wool, were wet, and sadly, stained with mud (These were actually pretty comfortable), and linen underwear, which also happened to be medieval.

While I was waiting for Rodney's return, I noticed a sundial on a tripod near the door of the hut. It was too far to tell what time it was, so I focused too hard, that I was only alerted to Rodney's presence when he was 5 steps away from me (He was a pretty muscular, and tall guy, so it wasn't that short of a distance). He brought with him, long leather boots that barely looked like it would fit me, the cloth pouch filled with dried corn and the wooden staff. First, he handed me the leather boots, which I put on, and had magically altered its size to fit me, and as soon as my feet touched the sole of the boots, I knew I wasn't going to have a fun time walking long distances in them. He then tied the pouch to my belt, also giving me the staff.

I wondered why he had given me a staff. I wasn't a magician, sorcerer, or a healer, so what was I to do with it? Beat the hen into submission? I wanted to ask Rodney, but not only was he mute, he was also in the process of lowering the wire mesh, so I looked around, to see Alexandra emerging from the trees. When we made eye contact, she waved and smiled while walking towards us, with a rabbit or hare in her hand, a longbow in the other, a quiver filled with arrows hanging from her shoulder, and a hen following behind her. Presumably, a fire breathing one, and as soon as the hen arrived, she jumped over the wire mesh, and joined her family, leaving me to wonder about the safety the wire mesh provides.

"So, are you ready to attempt to tame your first hen?"

"Well actually, I'm feeling rather nervous, yet apathetic at the same time, but that would be a no from me, Simon?"

"Who's Simon?"

There was a moment of silence, as I mourned the loss of my dignity.

"He's just a famous man, and part of a bad joke now."

Again, we took a moment of silence to mourn what was left of my dignity. I could only pray that she was used to dealing with weird people, not that I was weird though.

Alexandra turned to her husband, Rodney.

"Well... I'll call for both of you when the food is ready."

When she turned her back on us and walked away even Rodney raised his eyebrows in confusion to what I said, but seemed to understand the pain I was going through, as disregarded it, and faced towards the chickens. He spread out his arms, looking at all the hens and roosters, then back at me. I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me, but it's not like he was a telepath, so I couldn't expect to understand him, unless I asked him.

"Do you want me to choose a chicken?"

He smiled at me, but he pointed towards a hen and nodded his head, while he pointed towards a roster, but shook his head.

"Do you want me to pick a hen, but not a rooster?"

He smiled once again. He pointed towards a hen and put his palms a short distance away from each other, then he widened the gap. He then flexed his right bicep, which made his tunic rip slightly and then he blew air out of his mouth.

"Are you trying to say err... that the hens are larger, stronger and are able to breathe fire, while the roosters can't?"

He nodded head, but this time he grinned and ruffled my hair. The fact that he ruffled my hair was pretty weird, as I was a 15-year-old adolescent boy, and you only do that to 10-year-olds and below. Did I look like a 10-year old in their eyes or something? I mean, I'm not particularly muscular, but perhaps it's my race or my previous body from Earth? I began to wonder if my face looks anything like it did from before. I have nothing to remind myself of my origins, and neither would my body... except a bag of Kettle chips.

As I pondered such thoughts, I took time looking at each hen, until I found the one. I didn't know for certain, but I had a hunch that it was the same hen that breathed those majestic flames at my first night in this world.

"Is this hen taken?"

Rodney shook his head, he then reached into his cloth pouch and pulled out a piece of charcoal, then he reached into a rectangular leather pouch, which I hadn't noticed before, and pulled out a small sheet of paper. He wrote 'Your staff has a rune inscribed on it, which allows you to communicate your feelings with animals, and people. Try to feel submissive, then communicate that, so that the hen will also feel submissive.'

"Okay, but how come you don't communicate with others like that?"

On the other side of the piece of paper, he wrote 'It takes too long, the paper is limited, and it wastes paper if I'm still able to describe it using actions.'

"Is there something specific I have to do?"

'Try to imagine a way that your feelings would be communicated'

I tried searching my memories for something, and I came up with something that I saw when skimming through a biology textbook, which was "The mirror neuron system". To put it simply,  it's when animals or people see others do one thing, then they mirror the actions. It also works with emotions, and that's also one way people have empathy, or experience the emotions of others.

Although I had no idea which parts of the brain it used, I played back the memory of being dragged out of the mattress earlier in the morning, and the feeling of submission I had at that time, then I imagined the neuron's necessary for the mirror neuron system firing. I looked deep into the hen's eyes, and it looked into mine, as if in some type of trance. After 10-20 seconds, I stopped imagining it, and barely a couple seconds afterward, the hen ignored my existence, and carried on walking around.

I looked back at Rodney, who was the owner of a content smile on his face. The strange thing was that Rodney was on the other side of the wire mesh, but I didn't even hear anything. He motioned for me to come over, pulled down the wire mesh, and we walked back to the hut. Rodney spoke to his wife in sign language as Alexandra poured the rabbit or hare stew, and she kept on giggling.

"I don't mean to be rude, but didn't you say that you would call for us when you finished cooking?"

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"I did, but from what Rodney tells me, you spent a very intimate two hours with your new hen?"

"Two hours? It was more like ten to twenty seconds."

In response to that, Alexandra asked me a question,

"Where is your pouch?"

I looked down at my belt, but my pouch was gone. This was rather embarrassing. I had only received it yesterday, but I had already lost it... at least, that's what I thought, but Rodney tossed something towards me, and it was the said pouch.

"After two minuted of you staring at the hen, Rodney went to look at the sundial when it was around 8:30 O' Clock, then he went to take care of his business in the forest, and do some drawings, but when he came back, more than two hours had passed on the sundial, but you were still staring at that bird, as if you were in some sort of a trance."

Rodney communicates to his wife in sign language again, which she giggles at, then translates to me,

"Rodney says you both were in a trance."

"I suppose so. Is that a bad thing?"

"Of course not! It only shows how strong of a bond which you can have. Anywho, let's not talk about this during your break, which you should use to relax from your hard work."

I wonder if they have any books I can read...