Waking up the next day, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the sight of the village children scooping out everyone’s by-product of eating. I’m not positive about why it took until now for the humans to decide it was a good idea to clean out our cages, but who was I to complain? While waiting for my own cage to be purified of its putrefying contents, I clambered on top of sibling No.1 and eavesdropped on the children’s conversations.

 

Much of what was mentioned seemed to be about how cute some of my neighbours were, or how frightening their appearances were. One of the girls actually screamed when a beast with massive eyes and a hard carapace tried to crawl up her arm. Although, to be fair to the girl in question, I think I might have fainted if it had been me since I absolutely hate bugs! Just…ignore the fact I eat termites primarily.

 

As the boys laughed at the girl who screamed, their conversation eventually drifted towards which beast they were contemplating choosing as their first partner. Of course, several of the girls immediately pointed at the Molnir Panther cubs and squealed over how cute they were. Some of the boys pointed at the beasts with a more…aggressive personality – one of which was the horned one I made a note of in an earlier investigation.

 

Eventually, one of the boys turned to look at the quiet boy who always seemed to be covering his entire body with a cloth. He smirked before nudging his elbow at another boy beside him who was cleaning out the Umbral Spider sling’s cage. They looked at one another before grinning mischievously.

 

“Oy, Teival! Which one were you thinkin’ of pickin’?”

 

“…” The quiet boy, who I assumed was called Teival didn’t seem to respond as he continued cleaning out a snake’s cage.

 

‘“Forget about i’. He’d probably pick a weaklin’ to match ‘is own lack o’ strength.”

 

I heard all the children then laugh in unison except for Teival who just silently scrubbed away at the caked-on muck of another cage. Curious as to why the children were treating this boy so differently, compared with everyone else, I tilted my head in the hopes it would improve my cognitive abilities in analysing the scenario. However, my mind just turned blank. With such an indeterminate conclusion, I decided to place this case on hold as I patiently waited for mine and sibling No.1’s cage to finally be rinsed of its filth.

 

The slightly pretty girl from before made her debut in the conversation while portraying an innocent smile:

 

“Now, now. Don’t pick on him so much. He probably just hasn’t had time to think about which one he’ll pick yet and was too embarrassed to say.”

 

She somewhat elegantly walked over to my and sibling No.1’s cage before picking me up and stroking my head with her delicately soft fingers. “Ah, that feels so nice.” Nuzzling into her hand, I wagged my tail in delight over the affection as the girl continued her mini-speech:

 

“I, for one, think this thing is really cute – whatever it is. Look how friendly it is when I pet it. Don’t you think we suit each other?” She batted her eyes at the boys before holding my face close to hers. Experiencing many judging gazes, I unintentionally froze up before regaining myself and licking the side of the girl’s cheek to gain more affection points. Some of the girls squealed at how cute the scene was, while some of the boys’ cheeks reddened as they offered praise over the high affinity between me and the girl. “What can I say? Perhaps we are a match made in Neveah and were meant to be together!” The girl then placed me back into the cage and patted my head before returning to the one she was helping clean out.

 

With the atmosphere becoming jovial, I climbed back on top of sibling No.1 and waited for our turn for our cage to be cleaned out to arrive. As I waited, I noticed how the boy dealing with the Umbral Spider sling’s cage was stressing the creature out – with it raising its forelegs up and its head beginning to rear back for a strike. It appeared that I wasn’t the only one to realise such a thing as the quiet boy suddenly pounced on the other one – pulling his hand away from the sling just before it struck. My mouth hung open in shock at the scene that followed, since it truly baffled me as to the negative reaction the children bestowed towards Teival.

 

“Wha’ the heck?! Wha’ do ya think yer doin’?!”

 

“He’s a devil, as ‘is name says! He strikes without provocation!”

 

The two boys then punched Teival, resulting in the quiet boy punching and kicking them back. I was on the edge of my seat (sibling No.1) as I watched with avid interest while wagging my tail. “Ooh! That’s going to hurt for a while! Ah! Watch where your head is falling! Oh! Don’t step in the faec- ah…too late…Oh! Don’t slather such stinky stuff on his face! Think about the germs and bacteria in that!...Germs…? Bacteria…? Never mind. Ooh! Right in the jaw!”

 

I could have watched that play-fight and been entertained for a long while, however my fun was cut short when the door into the area burst open. An adult male I’d never seen before strode in and assessed the situation. Determining the culprits involved in the ruckus, I watched the adult close his hands together while muttering something before opening and aiming them at the boys fighting. My eyes widened in awe as I saw what appeared to be walls of solid water pushing each boy back – thus separating them from one another.

 

The children had fallen silent as they all hung their heads low in what I assumed was shame and embarrassment. It kind of reminded me of whenever Father picked me up in his mouth and moved me away from my siblings when I was becoming too excita- I mean, when I was being bullied by them all and needed protecting! Sibling No.1 took that moment to shift his body, causing me to lose my balance and face plant the cage wall. “Watch where you’re moving, sibling No.1! You have an important person using you as a platform for a better vantage point!”

 

The adult then took the pause of silence as his opportunity to speak: “Would any of you mind telling me why you all were acting as the beasts we have bought?” I witnessed him eyeing each child with a stern gaze before shifting it towards the somewhat pretty girl. “Dinara, my daughter, do you have anything to say on the matter?”

 

I saw the children all cast fearful glances towards the somewhat pretty girl who I deemed to be the one named Dinara. Watching her reaction, I swear I caught her cast a malicious look towards Teival before revealing a distraught expression:

 

“Unfortunately, father, I do. We were all doing the chores the elder set for us – passing some jokes around and having a few laughs to pass the time when…Teival suddenly pounced on Michael and attacked him.”

 

“Oh?” The adult turned to stare angrily at Teival, with a rage clearly bubbling behind his eyes. The boy in question remained silent, which I found odd since I knew he was only trying to stop that Michael boy from getting bitten by the sling. However, I soon came to understand why he didn’t bother defending himself as the other children voiced their support for Dinara’s version of the tall tail – ah, pardon me for my Freudian slip, tall tale. “Freudian slip? What next Schrödinger’s cat? Hahaha, as if such a thing exists…or does it?”

 

Retreating from my ruminations, I managed to catch sight of the adult march over to Teival before grabbing his wrist and dragging him out of the area. As he vacated the premises, I overheard him announce: “I’ll be punishing Teival for his transgression. Michael, inform your parents that I shall be visiting them later this afternoon to recompense any injuries you sustained.”

 

“Ah, yes Teacher!”

 

Seeing the door close behind the ‘Teacher’ dragging poor Teival, my ears picked up nothing as everyone remaining kept suspiciously silent. Tilting my head in confusion as to why none of them were continuing with their work, I noticed they were still staring at the door as if on pause. Then, I heard it, the sound of that clashing thing that was often used on sibling No.1 when he’d been disobedient. That’s when it dawned on me – they were waiting to hear the evidence of Teival being punished. “How mean of you all?! Stop copying me whenever sibling No.1 gets in trouble! That’s my hobby!”

 

With things having returned to normality, the girls started flapping their mouths again with disparaging comments about the quiet boy. I wasn’t personally that interested in their slander, however I thought it might prove useful if any element of truth wheedled its way in. Of course, sibling No.1 just licked his fur while ignoring the fact I was standing on him. “Finally! You have come to terms with my greatness and your inferiority! Continue to grovel beneath me as I laugh at how stu- ah! Hold on! Don’t turn around so suddenly, or I’ll fall into our dung!”

 

Excluding my minor lapse in being distracted by my stupid sibling, I managed to garner some intriguing information with regards to how the children viewed Teival:

 

“He’s so wild! I can’t understand how such a beast is your relative, Dinara,” voiced one girl who had finally started scooping out our cage’s detritus.

 

“Well, wha’ can ya expect when even ‘is own mum forced ‘erself on Teacher?” The boy next to Michael came out with – which I found to be quite a juicy morsel of gossip.

 

Turning my head to see how Dinara reacted, she simply smiled wryly before one of the other girls admonished the boy for belittling Dinara’s family.

 

“Oy, don’ get me wrong, Dinara! I jus’ meant tha’ he’s given your dad tons’a trouble, is all.”

 

I poked my head out of the opening to the cage so I could observe without my view being obstructed. The somewhat pretty girl evoked sadness as she carefully gazed at the children before stating some truly vicious oratory: “If only that was all he’s to be held accountable for…it’s just, he scares me at home.” She held onto another girl’s hand before being pulled into a comforting cuddle and rested her face on her shoulder. “Sometimes, when I walk past him he suddenly…hits me…”

 

I have to say, this Dinara’s acting is amazing and awful at the same time: amazing because she was able to successfully convince the entire group of children that she was crying – even though she was performing what I assumed to be her most used trick of fake-crying; she was awful because I highly doubted – with my exceptionally keen intellect and observation skills – that she was telling the truth. Instead, I believed her to be slandering Teival viciously. Saying that, I was also incredibly impressed at her ability to control the group with some simple shaking of the body to simulate crying. “I’ll be sure to remember this for the future!”

 

The rest of the conversation got cut short, I’m afraid, when the ‘Teacher’ returned and ordered them to stop chatting and clean faster. It appeared that these little humans were terrified of earning the big human’s ire, so I fortunately got to experience living in a clean cage much sooner than I expected. “Ah, this is wonderful! Now I don’t have to sleep on top of sibling No.1 to avoid our waste…although he made a good pillow…”