183. Careful Choices: Wiremu.

We were now only two days out of Kirghiz and came up behind a long caravan. The roads were definitely getting busier. I kept my Wild Bison Bill look but didn’t start roleplaying the character yet. Most of the wagoneers gave us a friendly wave as we passed. Some took a double take at the lionesses, but they were obviously with the Catkin. A town was coming up, and the caravan would probably stop there for the night. We decided to as well. Wild Bill might dice with the wagon drivers for practice and to build some rumours.

We had taken rooms and the Inn, and Tāttā and I went out to watch the caravan roll in. Appā and Mutalil had taken their bonds out to a local farmer for some pest control hunting. Rabbits and foxes mainly.

The caravan didn’t take long to settle in. A number of merchants opened stalls for a night market for the locals, so we browsed the goods. Tāttā was the merchant and saw a couple of possible deals but didn’t yet know the local market, so refrained from buying anything. I had wandered over to a fur dealer as I was interested, and Wild Bill would also be interested. I was learning to lightly channel the Rolplay skill, which extended the time I could have it up.

Then I heard Tāttā say, ”Bill, I would like your opinion on these.”

I wandered over, and he was looking at an animal tamer’s selection. There were a lot of animals in cages, and some were just tied up. There were a lot of birds, most of them exotic to this region. Most of the animals were house pets, and the larger ones were guard animals. They looked well cared for and were in various training stages.

“A fine-looking bunch of animals,” I declared, “Are you looking for a pet?” I knew we didn’t need guard animals.

“Or more,” he said quietly. He was looking for a bond, interesting.

“What sort of pet are you looking for?” You don’t advertise that you are looking for a bond, or the price will go up.

“Something that might be helpful in my line of work.What about one of those?” he pointed to a cage of Black handed spider monkeys.

I tried Bond Care and was getting a strong no. “Their hands might help, but I don’t think one is good on their own and large cats are one of their major predators.”

“You seem to know your animals, young man,” I heard as a large human came out to try to make a sale.

“They call me Bison Bill, Monster Hunter Extraordinaire.” I introduced myself to him with a vigorous handshake, full Roleplay activating.

“Trevor of the Premier Kirghiz Animal Traders. Can I help you find something? If I can’t help here, our Compound in Kirghiz has a much greater range, and we can provide specialist training.”

“We are just browsing. Tāttā here is looking for a companion and perhaps a helper.”

Trevor looked at Tāttā, “What is it you do that you need help with?”

Tāttā replied, “I am a merchant. It is more of a companion I am looking for.”

“Merchant. I see. Moving around a lot. You need something small that won’t disturb clients. Being Catkin only limits animals that haven’t been trained properly. We at PKAT pride ourselves on proper training. With a few months of training, we can have a Geoffroys' Spider Monkey trained for you.”

My Skill was still saying no, so I said, “Let's look at what else is here. Small, you say?”

“Indeed, Come around this side.”

We follow Trevor around the huge wagon. “Have you considered a bird? These parrots draw attention and can be trained to carry messages. Pigeons or ravens are better and more discrete if you are looking for long-distance messages. I don’t have any ravens here, but our compound always has plenty in the aviary.”

My Skill was neutral on the Parrots but negative on the pigeons. I looked at the parrots and Tāttā. What is the connection, or rather why were the pigeons negative and not the parrots?

“I don’t think a bird is for me,” Tāttā said.

“I assume aquatic or semi-aquatic are also not suitable?”

“No, thanks”

“Right,” said Trevor. “This wagon over here has our nocturnal animals, and they should be coming awake. Do you want something that is active at night?”

“Let's have a look.”

“OK, we will skip the bats, although if you want some night-time recognisances, they are very useful. Popular with some of our clients. I only have one Owl here,” he looked at Tāttā, “but you are not interested in birds.” Let me see, “That's a Lemur. It is similar to a monkey but has noticeable differences.” his voice trailed off as I shook my head. I guess Tāttā had expressed an interest in monkeys, so he was trying.

“This is a rare species. We call him a Tas Devil. This one is a male. If you are looking for night protection, they have the strongest bite for their size. They don’t grow much larger than the size of a small dog, but they are very aggressive. They are marsupials.”

“I think we are good for protection,” Tāttā said.

I hadn’t heard of marsupials, and by the time I got an explanation of mammals that carry their young in pouches, Animal Lore went up a level. That rarely happens now it is Journeyman level. I was fascinated by the angry little devil, and I almost bought him as a pet. It wouldn’t work, and I knew that, so we moved on.

“These next three are squirrels but are not your usual ground squirrel from around here. These are Flying Squirrels from the Southern Forests. They don’t actually fly but can glide from tree to tree.”

Bond Care was giving me positive vibes. One of the squirrels was a stronger positive than the others. I looked to Tāttā to see if he was interested. I needed to figure out why these were positive.

I looked at Tāttā, “Are you interested?” He nodded. “Any particular one?” He pointed to the one that was the most positive in the Skill.

“That one is a Western Woolly Flying Squirrel. They grow quite large. This is a young male.” Trevor was sensing a sale.

“I know,” Tāttā said, “we have them where I grew up.”

“Can I understand your reasoning why?” I asked him.

“When I was a young kitten, I tried to befriend one. Got a long way, too, until it followed me home, and one of my siblings chased it off. The way this one is working, the nut is quite dexterous, and I think they are quite intelligent.”

“Indeed they are,” said salesman Trevor. “It will only take a month for us to train it for all sorts of skills. The extra cost is worth it, and we have highly Skilled trainers with multiple specialities.”

I looked at Tāttā, “I am good if you are good.”

Tāttā looked at Trevor and said, “I will take that one.”

“Excellent,” Trevor said. “Let me note down what skills you want him trained in, and I can estimate when you can pick him up at our Kirghiz compound.”

“I will take him now. I have a trainer friend who will help me train him.”

Trevor lost a little enthusiasm at the potential loss of the add-on sales. He and Tāttā started negotiating the price. The company would not guarantee that the squirrel wouldn’t run away if they didn’t train him first in at least basic house training. Trevor was trying hard to upsell.

Ultimately, Tāttā got the squirrel at a reasonable price, and the only extra he bought was the cage. I carried the cage back to the Inn and went to our shared room.

Tāttā enticed the squirrel out of the cage with some fruit. I watched the bond form with my Analyse Bond. It seemed to come in layers, from the initial reaching out from Tāttā to the response from the squirrel and a bit of back-and-forth strengthening it. I got the feeling each bond would be unique to the participants. Tāttā and Aṇil had a smooth, layered bond. I felt from Tāttā’s side of the bond that it was based a lot on companionship. There is definitely an emotional component to it.

I got a level in Bond Care and Analyse Bonds. I wish I’d had these skills when Modrica bonded with Težka, as that would have been very different. I also got to thinking about the slave bond. It is not exactly a forced bond, but I wonder how close it was to the bond Otto and the Griffon had. I really want to test these skills on the slave bond, but the best I can do for now is to level them as much as possible in preparation. I wonder if I can set up a business in Kirghiz assisting people with bonds. Maybe I could contract with PKAT. I am sure they at least offer bonding advice.