Seeno sulked in a corner, it knew that it couldn’t do anything risky here with more armoured figures around, especially ones with weapons. That didn’t mean it was entirely compliant, when it first saw where it had to stay it pulled itself away.

***

“Come on get it,” some of these part-time guards barked as Tomobi couldn’t lead Seeno into its stall, pulling its head away.

“Move,” one guard pushed his luck as he probed his gun against Seeno’s tail. And with a surge of instilled fear and instinct, Seeno lashed its tail at the guard and roared. Some guards got defensive while Tomobi tried to regain a hold on the reins with Rookie’s and Kiorif’s help.

“Calm down it’s okay,” Tomobi boldly held onto Seeno’s head, pausing its rampage to see Tomobi’s face.

“It’s going to be fine, just follow me,” the stiff tension still held as Seeno slowly moved into its stall. Guards kept their distance as Tomobi was the last to leave Seeno. When the gate closed Seeno groaned and pushed against it.

“Don’t worry, we’ll stay here for a bit then we’ll leave. Just be patient,” though as time passed it huffed whenever it remembered Tomobi’s words.

“Just be patient,”

***

Close by and overshadowed by the inn, a stable of sorts held a menagerie of life. Tomobi knew exotic life existed, moulded by man and only limited by their creativity.

Some even matched the oddity of Seeno, dogs with sabres, armoured pigs and many other oddities were found, some being cared for by people. And Tomobi joined these people as he reached over to Seeno’s stall.

“Seeno,” without saying another word Seeno rushed to the barred gate and began slobbering over Tomobi with kisses.

“It’s okay, I’m here,” though another large beast entered the stables.

“Oh, you’re Rookie’s friend. Tomobi right?” Arthur towered over Tomobi, who craned his neck to maintain contact.

“What are you doing here?” Arthur lowered himself seeing Tomobi’s strain, though Tomobi still felt a little unsure about Arthur. As even with his seemingly softer demeanour, he still seemed imposing.

“Ah, right you’re here. In the stables, with that behind you,” his awkward sentence made Tomobi feel slightly eased.

“Um yeah, I’m here for Seeno,” Tomobi patted Seeno’s snout from behind the gate, though its eyes were still on Arthur.

“I thought you were with soldiers,” Now he had questions that he wanted to pry at Tomobi.

“We found Seeno at Fresh-Root, then it decided to follow us,” Tomobi managed to say after being drooled on.

“Well looking at it it wasn’t like you could say no,” he tried getting closer to Seeno, who rammed the door and hissed.

“Ah I see,” Arthur awkwardly moved back, bringing the attention of other people nearby.

“Hey what’s wrong? He’s fine,” But Seeno still bared their fangs.

“No no, that was my fault. I just thought that since it was so calm with you and how you were with the soldiers, I should’ve known not to get around,” Arthur stopped talking as he tried to get a better look at Seeno.

“Actually I have no idea what it is,”

“Um so why are you here,” Tomobi tried to change the conversation, still unsure about Arthur’s reaction towards Seeno.

“We were letting our hunting chickens stretch their legs, Meili’s just training them,”

“Meili training your chickens?”

“Well they already understand hand commands, she’s just testing to see if they can do it without hearing a voice. After all, they do listen to her a bit more than me, even though I spent more time with them,” Arthur sighed. Though as he kept talking Tomobi realised that while he was large and imposing, he was a little awkward.

“Would you like to see them?” Arthur’s offer got Tomobi’s attention.

“I can,”

“I guess, no harm. You could bring out Seeno with you if you want to,” Now Tomobi felt a little excited, opening Seeno’s gate.

“Okay Seeno, we’re gonna go for a walk. Behave yourself,” Seeno made a scoffing chirp as it slowly followed beside Tomobi.

‘What is it, I mean can’t be a drake. Maybe, no. Unless?’ He juggled these thoughts in his mind as they reached Meili, and if Arthur hadn’t said otherwise the two creatures in front of her would not be mistaken for chickens.

Their bodies modelled like their ancestors with clawed wings, elongated tails, talon-like spurs and a fanged maw, Tomobi was looking at a modern dinosaur. These wolf sized dinosaur mimics were pledged with mottled brown feathers sprinkled with white dots, only having bright red wattles and combs along with the occasional deep cluck revealing their nature as chickens.

Both waited as she raised her hand, sticking a finger out while both sat down. A small smile grew as she pulled out two mice in one hand. Both got excited as they chirped out, though with her free hand out she held it out like an officer, signalling they must wait.

The larger of them, with larger snowflakes splattered on their feathers, was a little skittish and shook slightly for the mice whilst the smaller chicken dinosaur, whose white pattern was less bold, sat perfectly still.

Looking over to the smaller one, she signalled it to rise. It was given mice and was silently ordered to sit back down. Quickly afterwards the larger chicken finally calmed down and followed the same process to get its reward.

And with the last twirl of her hands, the two creatures rose and she welcomed their embraces as they huddled around her legs, both pruning her pants.

“Meili,” Arthur called out, getting the group's attention, a beautiful smile painted across her face as the two creatures ran over to greet Arthur.

“Hi boys, how are you,” The larger of the two responded by jumping on Arthur, forcing him to carry the feathered puppy as it started to prune and pick at his beard.

"Hi Arthur we just finished things off." Meili signed to Arthur, who walked over to her with a chicken dinosaur still in his arms.

“That’s good here, I actually brought some company. Trust me I think you’ll love it,”

"What do you mean?" Meili’s question was answered with the sight of Tomobi and Seeno. And while she was shocked, the two trained chickens immediately stayed closer to Arthur and Meili, with Arthur having his chicken flap out of his arms and holding a cautious pose.

“Meili you remember Tomobi right. Well, he has a friend,” Tomobi awkwardly waved while Seeno saw the chickens, and boldly started to move closer to them.