Kamala sighed as she set down a heavy sack she had slung over her shoulder. Before her was a thin steam that was trickling downwards on the hill she was sitting on. Despite the steepness of the hillside Kamala had chosen this as a good spot to stop for a rest. Mainly, it was because her legs ached. Her throat was parched which didn’t help the situation any and who knew the next time she’d come across a stream of drinkable water? The b’alam extended her telekinesis powers out to keep her precious bag from falling over as she stepped away from it, though this action was not needed as the bag stayed in place. Call it caution on Kamala’s part but she was aware of the steepness of the hill and that it threatened to send her collection of junk spiralling downwards into a recently formed puddle of mud. The last thing Kamala wanted was to have to carry around a dirty satchel. Not three days prior had she fallen into a puddle of water before while walking, no, waddling around with her findings. Oh, how horrible that day had been!
It had started out fine enough, just a bit of a drizzle lightly dabbing the ground with polka dots of rain pellets as they fell from the sky. Travelling under the cover of trees provided Kamala with the advantage of not taking the bulk of the rainfall and only open patches here and there were wide enough to allow her to get somewhat wet. She had been in no rush that day. She was only journeying away from the main castle of the clan for the sake of collecting new items to sell. The forest wasn’t lively but she had blamed that on the rain, most animals of the forest avoided coming out for fear of being soaked.
By midday the rain had yet to lead up, Kamala was deep in the forest’s territory and to her delight she had happened upon a treasure trove of findings. Honey from a fallen beehive had lay waiting for a bigger creature to happen upon it. Excitedly Kamala set about to collecting some of it. Most of the honey had been eaten by a forest creature, probably the one to cause the nest to fall to begin with- and so she had to scrape what remained out of the hive and into a crudely fashioned box she had intended to fill with gem stones. No matter, she had five of the little boxes crafted for her; the sacrifice of filling one box with delicious honey was not a large problem.
She had also collected some other minor treasures aside from the honey. Pretty flowers had been infesting a small patch of the forest not on the well-worn path Kam typically walked on. She had received some cuts to her legs from sharp branches and twigs snapping under her feet as she stepped to get to said patch of flowers, but in the end she considered the small flecks of blood dazzling her dark coat worth it. The flowers were in full bloom and looked lovely. If she hurried she’d be capable of placing them in a bowl of water, extending the life of the flowers and increasing the chances that she’d be able to sell them.
On her way back to the main path Kamala tripped over a hidden snare of vines and rather ungracefully plummeted forward towards the ground. She had been unlucky enough to land face-first in a growing puddle of mud. The result was that the material her bag was made of absorbed a good chunk of the water, and it took almost a full day before the bag was dry again. When she had peered inside it seemed that the water had leaked through and damaged some of her goods. Bits of dried leafs had fallen apart from the water touching it and a small pile of what she had dubbed “white sand” disintegrated from the wet. The box she had put the honey in had tipped over and the lid cracked open slightly when she had fallen, though because she hadn’t noticed this initially the honey had been allowed to leak all over the contents of her satchel. Even the pretty flowers she had collected were sticky with the yellow liquid!
Much to Kamala’s discontent she had been forced to empty her bag and spend the following day cleaning the collection of stuff she owned. The honey-soaked flowers were impossible to clean completely and had to be tossed away. This almost physically pained Kamala; she loathed the fact that anything was capable of becoming garbage and liked to keep things even after they broke. This was why she had decided to dedicate a day to clean her bag and its contents. She couldn’t bear to just let the items she had worked so hard to find go to waste. She’d find a way to salvage them. She would!
Unfortunately however the flowers were a lost cause. She had admitted defeat on that front and abandoned them to let nature handle the decomposing process. So much for potted arrangements…
To add to her troubles the box she had filled with honey was not exactly cooperative while being cleaned. Perhaps the most notable mistake Kamala had made was trying to clean it with river-water. The box was made of wood, and wet wood did not produce a very pleasant aroma. She knew, even as she was cleaning it that mold would eventually begin to grow if it didn’t have the opportunity to properly dry. So she had set the box in the sunlight to do just that… Then a paroo come down from the sky and decided to fly away with her box.
Kamala sighed. She should have known better then to leave her items unattended. Then again she allowed herself some mental mercy on account of not expecting a forest-creature to take interest in her wooden container. She had chased that Paroo as well, but Kamala wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to tree climbing and by the time she had hoisted herself to the top of one the Paroo was long out of sight.
The dark pelted b’alam sighed with remorse for the loss of her box. Now she only had four to carry jewels in. If she ever found more jewels… With the sudden downturn her luck had taken she somehow doubted she’d locate more any time soon.
Turning her attention to the present, Kamala lowered her face to the stream. She didn’t like to dwell on bad things so she reluctantly decided to let go of the thoughts of her box and flowers. She’d focus more on what she did have left in her satchel for trade. Which were sparkling stones, a glass jar filled with various spices and a few colourful feathers in decent condition. Her thoughts on counting what she owned also lead her to recall that she had a canister with her for holding water.
After drinking what she could from the stream Kamala turned her body around and dug into her bag a few feet away. She rummaged through the boxes, jars, rocks and feathers until she found what she had been searching for buried at the bottom. She released a small grin of success after lifting the canister free and then was quick to turn back to the stream to set about filling it. Kamala wasn’t usually forgetful when it came to her possessions, they were important to her in a way she couldn’t quick explain to the average b’alam. They were like children she supposed. Children she eventually intended to sell or barter away for better things but… No, actually, comparing items to cubs was a bad analogy. She’d stop now before she finished that line of thought.
Her eyes flickered ahead of her when Kamala heard a loud grunting noise. She wasn’t startled per say, more curious. The forest didn’t belong to just her, but from what she could tell no other b’alam were nearby. Which meant some sort of animal had produced the noise. Or at the very least that is what Kamala assumed. She could have been wrong but something about that grunt sounded very not-b’alam to her…
The merchant slowly lifted her head. Beyond the stream the hillside flattened out to a normal level of terrain and although it was slightly covered with a layer of trees if Kamala squinted she could see creatures grazing in the field beyond her.
This was cause for alarm though it only made her slightly excited. Kamala had never lay sight on such creatures before. Granted, squinting distorted the image of what she was trying to focus on so she couldn’t be quite certain what they looked like up close. But the creatures possessed very long necks and were seemingly tall.
It didn’t take very long for curiosity to win her over and the merchant proceeded to gather her belongings and then crawl forward in almost a hunting stance. She kept her eyes trained on one of the grazing animals nearest to her as she advanced, the creature becoming easier to identify as she crawled closer to it.
Kamala held in a gasp. The forest before her opened into a patchy field of long grasses and smooth, rolling hills. This did not shock her, though it was quite pretty to observe. What attracted her attention was a large herd of animals were grazing peacefully together on the grasses, and that they were new to Kamala’s eyes. She had heard rumors of these beings before. Al… Alpacows? Alpacacows? Yeah, that sounded right. Alpacacows.
They all ranged in colour from browns to pink to even shades of yellow! One to catch her attention though… Was one that bore similar markings to Kamala herself? The creature had black and green coloring, the markings in similar places where Kamala’s own coat had markings. She felt startled. It was quite unsettling to come across an animal that looked like her.
Kamala gave little thought before she moved forward into the clearing. The Alapacacows did not seem to mind her doing so, most didn’t even give her a second glance before they went back to grazing. Kamala approached the one that resembled her. The animal looked at her it though its face did not contain even a sliver of concern as she did so. This worried her. Had they never been hunted before? The Nantil gazed into the eyes of the mimic-cow her resembled her. The creature snorted as if acknowledging Kamala and then lowered its neck to continue eating. No… She supposed they hadn’t. Or at the very least this herd hadn’t. Heck, would it really be that far of a stretch to assume they’d never come into contact with another b’alam before?
Kamala knew lives were not the same as objects, but that said she felt a desire come over her. She wanted that Alpacacow. Practical reasons aside the thing resembled her too much for Kamala to just turn around and walk away. Besides, she needed something or someone to carry luggage for her. Travelling around with everything she owned on her back made Kamala incredibly sore and stiff. Not to mention today was just a day-trip away from Clan Bayeux where the rest of her bags were currently being stored.
Only Kamala hadn’t ever kept a pet before. She wasn’t sure how to go about taming it. The Nantil starred at the Alpacacow in an observing fashion. She supposed if she was to tame it she’d probably need to give it a name first. That seemed most logical.
“Cow.” She spoke, testing the name. ‘Cow’ did not respond. So she tried a different name.
“Star.”
“Beasty.”
She paused for a moment. No… If she was going to name her new pet she’d need a good name, a name the animal responded to and liked.
“Robin.” She sung happily. Unfortunately the creature continued grazing with not even a flick of its ear. Hmm.
Kamala then turned her head to the trees from the bit of forest she had just come from. A flock of birds were taking flight as a breeze shifted through the landscape and rustled the leafs on the branches they perched on.
“Sparrows.” She was pretty sure that’s what they were called. She watched them fly into the distance far beyond her line of-
“H-Hey!” A shiver raced up Kamala’s spine as she felt a warm wet tongue lick her neck. Apparently the mimic-cow had decided it was done grazing and that it wanted to see how Kamala tasted. “Ew, gross!” She patted at her fur to get the drool off. And here she had been hoping to avoid getting dirty today…
“Sparrow, no!” She shouted as the cow turned to lick her again. To her surprise the creature listened and stopped to simply stare at Kamala blankly.
Sparrow. It had reacted to that. Or was she imagining things? No, no, she was pretty sure it had reacted to her… “Sparrow, come.” Kamala stood and walked a few feet away. Sparrow watched her do so, but didn’t move.
“Come.” The cow took a moment to process what Kamala wanted but then it lifted its neck and walked forward. The fact that it had responded almost made the b’alam squeal with delight.
Yes! Instant progress! Her pet had responded to her! She doubted taming many animals was as simple and easy of a task.
But how was she to actually go about training it? She’d need to always have the option to visit the animal. Otherwise if the herd of the beasts moved on from the clearing while Kamala ran back to the village she’d probably never see it again. Hmm.
Kamala peered next to her. They liked long grass. More specifically they liked eating the long grass. The merchant bent down and began to tug on the roots of the long grass with her teeth. Most of the strains were stuck tightly to the ground but a few pieces had come loose. Repeating the process she gathered more than enough for what Kamala had in mind.
She shoved most of the grass pieces in her satchel, but kept a handful out to hold onto.
“Alright then Sparrow.” She held the grass in front of her. “Come on, eat the grass!” She baited her pet and began to slowly reverse.
It wasn’t an incredibly ingenious plan but leading Sparrow back to the village would enable her to train it better and faster than keeping it out here in the fields. In the fields it could wander away at any moment. In the village… Well, let’s just say Kamala highly doubted a Paroo would pick up and fly away with an Alpacacow in its talons!
Kamala briefly wondered if Sparrow would remain hungry enough to get to the village or if it’d give up half way. Then the Nantil cast a glance to the remainder of the herd, still grazing lazily on the field of grass. Nah, Sparrow would remain hungry enough. Kamala had nothing to worry about there.
“Come on Sparrow!” She shouted merrily. “This way!”
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