//------------------------------// // Cultivation // Story: Deer Me: Adwanee Sands // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// "So, where are we going, King?" Radivus asked. "I don't know," Stelimus answered. He was withholding his bubbling anger. "But we're just walking in a straight line through the city." "It will help us SIGHT see and vent frustration and stress." Tenyom stepped forward and decided to try and soothe the situation. "You shouldn't be so easily moved by personal anger. If you intend to return home a new stag, then you need to learn to control your emotions and find ways to vent them" "I found a way!" "Raging down the streets is not a discreet method of--" Stelimus stopped in his tracks and glared at his guard. "You have no idea what she did," he spoke calmly. "So don't act like you have some sort of 'magical' solution to my problem. It's longer lasting than you might think." Tenyom did not react nor did she flinch when her king walked away after that hostile response. Instead, she went immediately towards Yolumay to ask of the events that transpired. Unfortunately, like her brother, Yolumay refused to divulge the events, but it seemed far less unusual for her compared to Stelimus. The group continued their unfortunate walk through the large, desert metropolis until they reached the outskirts. Instead of just being a vast field of sand, there were several patches of blue, bubble-like plants surrounded by white leaves. "What are those?" Copper wondered. She fluttered towards the objects in question and noticed that the plants were a full head taller than she was, and their leaves were like humid sponges. Poking the body of the plant itself revealed it to be a soft membrane full of water, much like a balloon. "Finding our produce interesting?" a voice asked. Copper spun around to see an anyubinite with crossed arms looking at her with a disappointed expression. "I don't recall letting a Saddle Arabian walk through my fields." "But I'm not--" "She's not a Saddle Arabian," Stelimus explained. "She's a pony." The jackal's eyes widened and ye looked at the deer in awe. "What manner of creature are you supposed to be?" "I'm a reindeer of the tundra." "Tundra? There is no such thing here." "We came from across the seas upon invitation by your zaoris." "Ah, yes. Yir." "Yir?" The jackal looked at Stelimus with a bemused expression. "Him, her, it, yir." "Oh...I'm still not used to that gender neutral pronoun." The jackal huffed. "So you were invited to our country by the zaoris? You must be extremely important. I recall him asking a king from a faraway place to come here, but he was brushed off." "Excuse me," Copper interjected. "I wanted to apologize for intruding upon your lands." The jackal looked at the pony briefly then back to Stelimus. Radivus walked up to the pony and nudged her gently. "Did you forget that they aren't exactly the most 'sensitive' of people, Copper?" Radivus reminded. "No, but I thought it would be wrong not to do so." "So what exactly are these things?" Stelius asked as he poked one of the plants. "Aquinif. Water balloon plants." Ye grabbed a leaf and squeezed it slightly. "Their leaves absorb moisture in the air and create their own water from the nutrients in the ground, the excessive sunlight, and the extreme heat." "But I thought you didn't need much water to survive." "We don't," the jackal answered. "Unfortunately, we still need some. I supply my people, but other farms usually export collected water to the Saddle Arabians," ye explained while scratching yis head. "And...How DO you extract water from them? Just pull them out?" The jackal took a large, cooked clay bucket and poked a hole in the plant with yis claw. The plant popped and a large quantity of water flushed out of the membrane and into the bucket. With the water gone, the thin membrane was left empty and on the floor, although the leaves did not change in their positions above the ground. The anyubinite ripped the membrane off and folded it. "Like that. We even use the membranes," she said as she held the object up. "They can be used for covers or protection against heat." Ye placed the membrane on one of several hooks adorning yis shoulder pads. "Good for keeping the water fresh." Ye placed the bucket on the floor and observed yis guests. "So...Why are you here again?" "Because my brother has had issues with a certain someone who shouldn't have come here." She snarled. "I'm not too enthusiastic about her being here myself." The anyubinite waved yis hands. "That's none of my concern. Is there anything you really want to do here or will you be leaving?" Before Stelimus could give an answer, he saw a group of other anyubinites praying to the plants either on their knees or standing up. He was terrified to see large worms wriggle their way out of the sand and devour scorpions that were infesting the garden before returning to their homes underground. "What was that?!" Stelimus shouted. "Servants of our god of protection and agriculture." "Not the anyubinites," Stelimus rudely corrected. "The worms." The jackal crosses yis arms and frowned. "I was talking about the worms." Stelimus paled and shrunk. "Oh..." he squeaked. The jackal shakes yis head. "You like to yell a lot. Are all reindeer like this?" "Only Stelly," Copper said. "You should learn to control that, or I might be inclined to have the 'worms', as you call them, 'escort' you from my fields," the jackal growled. "How am I supposed to remain calm when I'm so stressed?!" "I am also stressed, but you do not see me screaming to a god of war." Yolumay's ears perked up. "You have gods of war?" The jackal nodded. "Many, in fact." "How much is 'many'," Yolumay attempted to inquire. "Mmm...About thirty, give or take. There are too many for even we to follow entirely, but few of them have 'war' as a major aspect." Yolumay carved a stray piece of antler off with her spear and looked at the tip. "Interesting," she mumbled. Stelimus shook his head in disappoinment at his sister and rolled his eyes. "I'm not an anyubinite. I'm a h--reindeer," he corrected himself. "I'm also responsible for so much and it stresses me out so much." "I can tell you have issues with such things." "Oh? And how would you know that?" "From your inability to determine when, where, and to whom you should share these details." "Told you," Yolumay interjected. "And what am I supposed to do?" "The fact that you're still here determines that you did something to our zaoris." Stelimus reared his head back. "Are you going to hurt me because of it?" "Not at all. We would've known if you physically wounded him." Ye flicked something of yis shoulder before continuing. "This also means that you somehow bested yim somehow in a battle of wits." Ye nodded in approval. "I like that. Keep going and you'll have my voice if an alliance or trade relations become a discussion in the future." "Oh...Thank you?" Stelimus stuttered. There was a moment of silence until the anyubinite spoke. "If you want to relieve yourself of stress, I would not be remiss to have extra helping hands." Ye looked at yis guests' feet. "Or hooves, in this case." Stelimus shrugged. "Well, learning more about you would help me a bit, so sure. I don't mind a bit of manual labor." "Then get to the group over there praying near the plants. They'll get you started. I have some fertilizer to get." Stelimus turned around to face the group. "This is just something I want to do. You can all do whatever you feel like or join me," he suggested. Yolumay left without saying a word and the two guards remained for obvious reasons, but Copper remained with the stag, preferring to stay next to her 'Stelly' rather than wander alone, or worse: Wander with Yolumay. The praying anyubinites actually brought something to Stelimus' attention. Something so obvious that he didn't even notice it except after introducing themselves. "Is yer a child?" he asked the grown anyubinite in regards to a few smaller ones running around. "Yes. They are our children," the jackal responded and looked into the field towards another. "Children? But aren't you genderless?" "Yes," the jackal answered casually. "But then how--" "That's not something we divulge outside of our own kind." Stelimus' eyes twitched and Copper scratched her head and practically drooled in confusion.