The two Capyban boys trudged through the vegetable field once again. This time they cut a diagonal path left and towards the bronze ranked plot instead of heading to the house first. Paek and Mentor were now quite a bit higher than the tree line on the west and shone directly in the face of the boys.

“Oh my eyes! Little Nose you will have to help me!” Kano joked with a musk of joy as he floundered about before resting heavily on his little brother’s shoulder.

“Hahaha, get off me you stinking butt!” Shouted Nosal as he struggled with his heavier brother who now dropped his act and started to grapple the little Capyban boy.

“Stinking you say? You call me stinking?” Accused Kano as he started to wrestle Nosal to the ground and squashed some poor innocent leafy vegetable in the process.

“Get off me, I’m all dirty now you asshat!” Shouted Nosal as he squirmed futily under his brother’s bullying. What a dick! He thought as he grunted in frustration.

Kano was slightly surprised at his brother’s small resistance that never existed before his calling. He summed it up to the points Nosal placed into strength as he got some mud to smoosh into the boy’s face before getting up. Gonna have to put some points in strength too or else Nosal’s going to be the one bullying me soon, he thought as he shook his hands free of mud whilst chuckling evilly with his musk of joy. He then turned away to proceed with his tasks.

All this dirty mud on my face! Kano’s such a bully! Angrily thought the boy as he struggled to get back up. “Eurggh KANO! YOU’RE SUCH A DICK!” He shouted at his brother’s back with a musk of anger. “Just you wait till I get bigger and have more Strength! It’ll be you with mud on your face!”

“Oh little Nose is threatening me now is he? Does he want more mud for breakfast? And what’s this about calling me a dick? How’s that even an insult?” Tormented Kano as he turned around with an evil glint in his eye. He then pretended to approach the incensed little Capyban with his hands out like grabbing claws.

The little Capyban who stood there with mud caking all over his back and face realised that he was about to get bullied again so he turned tail and ran for the house with his musk of fear in his wake.

“Alright you run along little Nose and I’ll water the plants myself then!” Jeered Kano at the retreating figure of Nosal who was scampering away whilst starting to feel foolish. Damnit I’ll have to do it myself again.

Kano continued on his way until he reached the corner of the netted bronze ranked vegetable garden. Upon reaching it he heard a few warning calls from the Owlmite sentries within the shadow of the orchard trees just beyond the fence that enclosed it. Those blinkers are really riled up today huh? He thought as he rounded the back of the storage shed. He went to the hay barn that sat just across from the front of the orchard. Just to the side of the large wooden barn was a squat water barrel with a small pail and ladle.

He absentminded filled up the pail by dunking it into the murky algae filled water and grabbed the ladle before heading back down the dirt path towards the bronze garden. In the orchard a small group of shadows flitted about in the shade whilst following Kano as they performed their thrumming hoots in alarm at Kano’s presence.

The boy paid the angry Owlmites no heed as he headed towards the furthest row within the acre or so of bronze ranked vegetables. He was very well aware that he would get pelted with Earth Spits if he drew too close when they were on such high alert. He also knew that the trick was to get the dumb beasts used to your presence and they would just lower their guard when they knew you were harmless.

Kano began his task and started to lightly splash each plant on both sides as he slowly made his way along the furrowed space between the vegetables. He would work his way along the lot and by the time he was on the last row beside the orchard, hopefully the Owlmites would’ve calmed down and gone back to hunting or doing whatever they did.

Kano didn’t mind the little beasts and found them to be quite useful at hunting the pests that attacked the fruits and vegetable garden. He also enjoyed playing the fruit gauntlet game with his brother and Dormit-Tars. It was a simple game where they would agitate the Owlmites with stones or loud hollering before each person went in with a small wooden buckler and see how many fruits they could pick.

It was great fun until father replanted the Earthen Dullberrys to promote some of the Owlmites after a particularly bad year of Firelocusts, with the Locusts ruining the harvest from the orchard and the bronze garden. Now the boys had to wear leather armour just to play the game and it gave Dormit-Tars a marked advantage with his light armour passive skill from his Guard class. You would think he would’ve done better at blocking before but the Orc boy had terrible Perception stats and only mained in Vitality and Strength.

Whilst he reminisced as he began to retraced his steps to refill the pail, Kano spotted a particularly large Owlmite that was roughly the size of a small ball in comparison to its fruit sized kin. The creature was of a darker shade of brown than its dusty coloured kin and had a black streak running from its temple down its back. It stood out in the open beyond the fence and glared at Kano with its large owl-like eyes and started blinking furiously as soon as he spotted it. The creature then tapped its right foot as it hooted out a weird guttural thrumming sound as its neck feathers fluffed up in challenge.

Oh no it’s a bronze ranked one, thought Kano as he eyed the angry Owlmite. The boy slowly backed away as the creature was slowly joined by its fist sized brethren, whom now started to leave the shade of the trees in ones and twos to back up their leader in fending of this trespasser.

The lead owl was emboldened by the support of its family and finally lost itself in its frevor as it charged the hairy interloping giant upon their hunting grounds. It’s smaller kin was right behind it as they formed a glorious flying wedge shaped charge of tiny hooting Owlmites with their tiny hands waving furiously to keep balance as they sprinted towards their foe.

“Holy fucking fruitflys!” Shouted Kano as he turned tail and ran whilst throwing the pail and ladle up in the air in his hurry to escape the small angry feathered horde.

The lead bronze ranked Owlmite came to a stop as a small corona of green mana started to coalesced into a spell just in front of its beak as the foe attempted to escape, with a few of its kin catching on and beginning to cast as well whilst many continuing to run wildly and hoot.

With a sound like many a mud pool bubbles popping, the Owlmite family shot out their Earth spit spell en mass at the retreating Kano. Most of the spells flung wide but the empowered Earth Spike from the bronze Owlmite hit Kano right in his left shoulder. It elicited a resounding yelp from the boy as he felt the spell connect with a thump. It was like dropping a hammer on his foot and even worse than the kick from Chopeck this morning.

The boy faltered and nearly fell over but caught himself. He found his balance as he sprinted even harder away from the bronze ranked garden as he moaned in pain.

…

Nosal entered through the side gate with a whimper as he felt all the wet and dirty mud caked on his back fur and with the mishappen drying lumps clinging on here and there.

I just showered and now I’m going to have to shower again because Kano is such dick, he thought sullenly with a musk of anger as he automatically headed for the kitchen. The boy didn’t even take his boots off, as he tracked mud on the wooden floor on his way to a small tray of Yesterhay that sat on the countertop beside the barrel of Groundfrits. Nosal grabbed a handful of the hay straws with a harumph before he left the kitchen. He then started eating it on the steps at the back of the house.

I might as well go tend to the Kaholins whilst I’m still dirty, the boy thought as his sulky mood cleared after having a snack. He got up and shook himself free of the smaller clumps of hardened mud before he turned right towards the stables. Halfway there he forgot that he needed some normal grass hay for the Kaholin mare and her foal that was currently paddocked. So he turned left towards the hay barn at the back of the courtyard.

Nosal peeked around the corner of the barn and spied his brother watering the crops. The hooting of the Owlmites could be heard even from where he was and a plan formed in his mind. Nosal entered through the front of the wooden barn and grabbed a small bale of hay from the many stacks that were neatly piled up inside the cavernous building. He placed it just beside the entrance he came through then made his way to the back of the barn.

He quietly sneaked through the smaller back door of the barn and stealthily rushed up to the compost heap. He peeked around the pile of rotting vegetative matter towards the orchard. He spotted no Owlmites nearby, so he ripped off a Stopnip from the batch he disposed of earlier and slowly crouched his way towards the fence that lined the orchard.

At the far left corner he looked down the perpendicular fencing and spotted the crowd of Owlmites that were keeping watch on his brother on the orchard side. I hope this works, Nosal prayed with a musk of fear as he lobbed the Stopnip towards the little guards. The effect was immediate, with the now lax monsters immediately becoming alert again at the ballistic missile that landed amongst them as they hooted in alarm and scattered.

Nosal looked on with bated breath between his brother and the Owlmites. His brother paid the ruckus no mind as he was absorbed in his own daydreaming. Nosal waited and sure enough a larger Owlmite appeared amongst its smaller kin beside the fence that were gesticulating furiously at Kano.

“Oh yes!” Nosal whispered with a musk of joy as he scurried back and away from the fencing towards the hay barn. He ran up towards the water barrel and hid behind it to watch his prank unfold.

He saw the bronze Owlmite leave the Orchard just as his brother turned to look at it. He then saw the challenge unfold and could only imagine his brother’s expression of fear at the confrontation without wearing the leather armour. He then witnessed the Owlmites chase his brother away as Kano hollered in fear and surprise. Finally he saw the bronze Owlmite pelting him with a Stone spike.

“Hahahahaha!” Nosal giggled with glee and a large musk for joy as he sneaked back inside the haybarn. That’l teach brother to bully me, he thought smugly as he retrieved his hay bale and left the building towards the Kaholin stables with a swagger in his gait.

Nosal was extremely pleased with himself as he walked past the front of the mounting stables adjacent to the hay barn and towards the larger Kaholin housing barn. The boy dropped his bale as he had to use two hands to pull the large reinforced stable door. He was out of breath by the time he created a gap that was large enough to slip in with his hay.

I’m nearly empty on stamina and I haven’t even done anything, thought the panting boy. Inside the large stables was many steel paddocks that had the earthy smell of Kaholins and dung. All the paddocks were currently empty with the Kaholins out ranging in the grazing fields for the summer. With the exception of the last paddock on the far back right that contained a large black coloured Kaholin with her tiny grey foal.

The insectoid monster hissed angrily in warning with its antennae whipping about at the intrusion of Nosal into the stables. She quickly calmed down as she recognised that the approaching boy was no threat. The mare was segregated in the stables because Kaholin mares that had a foal were highly aggressive towards its own kind. In the wild the mare would’ve separated from the herd with her foal for the first year before re-joining.

“Hello and good morning Deb, good morning baby,” Nosal greeted the pair with his musk of joy and received a soft hiss in reply from the mare and a tiny chirp from the foal.

With greetings over, Nosal heaved the bale of hay inside the paddock with some slight difficulty. The mare and her foal immediately started to feed with their large incisors chomping into the dried grass. Whilst they were occupied Nosal went and grabbed a large thin rake and went into the adjacent paddock. He then bent down on the dirt floor that was littered with stale hay and slide the rake under the steel bars of the paddock and started to rake the large circular dung in the occupied paddock towards him.

Lem could just walk into the paddock and easily sweep out the dung, but he explicitly warned Kano and Nosal not to enter the paddocks of a mare and foal for their own safety. The Kaholins they kept never showed any aggression towards the children. But at the end of the day they were still steel ranked monsters with a vicious kick and very protective with a foal.

Nosal gave a quick glance at the mare’s hind legs that were the size of his father’s but also armoured in chitin and thorny spikes. Even as it was currently occupied with food and docile it still brough back the memories of the bulls kicking each other last autumn with resounding booms and hitting with the crack of a falling giant. It was impressive whilst it lasted until his father rushed into the field. With the green glow of his Pack Leader skill used actively and some whacks of a large log, Lem broke up the fighting bulls and penned the beta in the stables.

Nosal then looked on at the spindly little foal that looked like a mishappen chair beside its behemoth of a mother. The foal that quickly had its fill walked on over towards him. The foal then slid it’s thin feelers through the iron bars to feel and smell the hairy boy as it chirped softly.

Nosal was finished with piling up the dung and paused to enjoy the moment of curiosity from the baby monster as it tickled his fur. The moment ended with a warning hiss from the mare that sent her foal scuttling back towards her side. With her foal beside her, she continued to feed once again.

Seeing nothing else to do, Nosal got up and placed the rake back where he found it and instead retrieved a shovel. He placed the wooden handled shovel into a small wheelbarrow then wheeled it towards the waiting dung pile. Nosal then scooped the dung into the wheelbarrow before he headed towards the back door that lead towards the grazing field. He parked the wheelbarrow before opening the door.

Outside was a the large fenced field, with a multitude of dewdrops clinging onto tiny plants shining in the morning glow. Here and there Nosal spotted some blue tinted Dewphids sluggishly trying to crawl back into the underbrush as he wheeled his wheelbarrow to the left and towards the docking stables. Out in the distance was the herd of Kaholins with their exoskeletons that shined like polished stone as they reflected the light of the two stars. Above the herd was the small flock of Mentorsparrows that flitted about as they hunted the flies that pestered the Kaholins.

Nosal deposited the dung in a large dung pile just beside the docking stables. It would be used as fertilizer for their own crops and the farmers Mr. Joantack and Mr. Gneeples, who paid forty bronze for a cartful. Nosal then headed into the field and began his task of collecting more dung. On his third trip he spied a small Rainmouse. The small grass coloured rodent angrily squeaked at him then shot a Water spit at his wheelbarrow harmlessly before scuttling off into the tall grass.

The little beasts are really annoyed today huh? Nosal mused happily with his musk of joy at the distraction as he decided to take a break. He walked through the tall grass of the field towards the Kaholin herd that were placidly grazing. Nosal wondered about how they liked to graze from east to west and pondered about it as he approached them.

It’s because they are cold blooded and they follow the sunshine coming from the west to east where it sets in the evening, he concluded without being too sure how he knew they were cold blooded.

He headed towards the closest lumbering cricket-like monster. It turned to inspect him with its large and bulbous compound eyes that has a prismatic shine as it reflected the morning light. Nosal waited as the creature gave him a lazy wave of its menacing antennae the size of his arms as it inspected him further.

After having recognized him, it went back to its grazing as the boy approached once again. He went up beside the monster that was easily twice his height without even being a particularly large member of the herd.

The boy slowed down in his approach towards the creature’s side. He waited then carefully slipped in between its large thorny forelegs and smaller middle leg as it stopped walking to chew on a fresh patch of grass. He then reached in his right hand and started rubbing the joint of the middle leg to its abdomen. The monster responded with a deep brassy chirping to the delightful rub it received.

Nosal knew that this mare was called Janet and enjoyed rubs in this particular spot. He was proud of knowing each and every Kaholin and where they liked to be rubbed.

“How you doing today Janet?” The boy asked offhandedly as he continued to rub the Monster. His hand was enveloped with a soft green glow as an alien mind brushed upon his own, Good hairy child.

“WHOA!” Shouted Nosal as he fell down amongst the legs with his musk of surprise. Janet carefully rearranged her legs as she stepped over the small boy before she looked down towards him with a head that was larger than his torso. She gave him a wave of her antennae as she inspected him.

“You spoke to me!” Nosal exclaimed at Janet with his musk of joy.

Janet gently booped him on the head with her enormous feelers. The boy then saw a contraction of dark mishappen iris of her large compound eyes that reminded him of dirt in a puddle as she chirped at him.

The boy gently reached his hand up in apprehension past the large incisors of Janet and placed it on the small plating of armour where a nose would be.

His hand glowed in a soft green once again.

I always understood you hairy child, we speak but you never knew, spoke the weird chirping sound in his mind as Janet also chirped in reality.

Nosal sat in silence and then fell flat on his back.

With a few strokes of her antenna and soft chirping, Janet received no response from the hairy child and eventually got bored. Janet then lumbered off to graze somewhere else.