shekeira

The three Dires, Llewellyn, Sun Dog and Jewel, clustered around the corpse of the goat, curiously sniffing at the deceased animal, as their handler Alex spoke to the goat’s owner over by the fence of the paddock. There were several more goats clustered behind the other human, bleating quietly to each other, and all of them looked incredibly distressed by the presence of their former herd mate, though their handler was attempting to keep them far away from the fence, even while she continued to answer Alex’s questions. Goats were incredibly important to the people of Nihla Village, so Alex was treating the death of the goat with all of the seriousness necessary. Sun Dog carefully turned over the corpse with his nose so that he, Jewel and Llewellyn could continue examining the goat’s body. All three were concerned about the complete lack of blood around the body, and there was very little evidence of there being any blood in the body at all, not even coagulating around the three small

Alex swung down from Ronja, pulling his binoculars out of the saddle bag before he flopped down onto his stomach, peering down into Aniriit Valley, looking for signs of his charges: three Dire Tokotas that had been turned loose three days ago. Sun Dog, Jewel and Llewellyn were only three days into their week of freedom, and they had already given Alex one minor heart attack when Sun Dog had literally fallen off of a mountain (just a small one, he was not even limping when he walked away from where he had landed), and a panic attack when Jewel walked right up to a wild Dire. Thankfully the wild sphinx Dire was spooked off by the presence of both Llewellyn and Sun Dog behind Jewel, and she had run instead of trying to stand her ground, which would not have ended well for Jewel, Alex was certain. Both incidents had happened in their first day in the Aniriit Valley, and Alex was praying that the three of them would just remain calm and not do anything stupid for the rest of the trip. He

Alex held tightly onto the leads of the three Dires he was in charge of for this lure coursing event, as Sun Dog eagerly surged forwards, anxious to begin as an earlier heat of the lure coursing went by around the track in front of them. All three of the Dires were excited, the quick flash of the false ‘prey’ catching their attention and holding it until the reddish cloth fox was out of their sight. Jewel tried to surge forward, to join the current heat racing after the fake prey, but Alex quickly curbed that attempt by turning her head and getting her to turn, accidentally knocking her into Llewellyn, who huffed in annoyance at being jostled. She grumbled in response, sounding repentant, and both of them settled down again relatively quickly. Sun Dog, on the other hand, was still straining against his lead, not allowing Alex to get any leverage to turn him away like he had with Jewel, so Alex just braced himself and kept Sun Dog from bolting. Alex was really regretting not having a

Aurora had to fight the urge to stop and itch at her shoulder, the harness carrying her over-full baskets sitting just a tad uncomfortably, but the delicate floral seedlings in the baskets would not survive the type of vigorous scratching she wanted to engage in. Eldritch glanced over, laden with two heavy jugs of water on her harness and a watering can in mouth, concerned for her friend, but Aurora just shook her head, brushing off her friend's concern. Surprise, her baskets full of tiny trees, was oblivious to Aurora’s itchy shoulder and she just continued to lead the way to the next spot where they would be planting some of their precious burdens. Aga was wonderful and everything, with Her ability to walk and simply have plants appear where She stepped, but even She needed a little bit of help, so here the three of them were: helping. Spring in Tokota was in full swing, and it was the best time of the year for planting. Surprise padded into a clearing, seeing that there had been a