After the Ostpoor, Marmar made me milk the goats. While helping her with the goats, I noticed a black goat near the fence, but it was no goat; it was a Goasat.
“Is that a goasat?” I asked Marmar, who was teaching me to milk goats.
“Oh, you know what it is.” She was taken aback by how knowledgeable I was.
“Yeah… but…” It looked too small. It was an immature Goasat. Goasat’s are dangerous monsters that can grow as large as a house. That is if you feed them enough monster cores. But if you kept them underdeveloped by only giving them grass, they’d resemble goats.
“Yeah, they’re pretty docile if you keep them small.”
“Right…” I thought.
“The kids like to pet it. Its fur is one of our attractions.” She explained, but I knew they didn’t have fur but a kind of universal-space magic surrounding them that gave the impression of black fur from a distance. When they get big and monstrous, they use their fur to attack their enemies. It’s game over if you get sucked into their fur.
“Isn’t it dangerous?” I inquired. “Letting kids get close.”
“Oh, it’s fine as long as they don’t get too close.” She emphasised the ‘too’. “You should try petting it. It feels nice.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t worry, it won’t try to attack you. It’s tamed.”
“Tamed? Who tamed it?” Monsters can’t be tamed without a Tamer. They aren’t like regular animals.
“Lina, she’s one of the clowns. I’ll introduce you to her later.”
“Hmm… I think you told me about her already.”
“Did I?” She thought about it. “I don’t remember.” She shook her head and rose from her stool. “All right, we’re done here.” My bucket brimmed with goat milk. “Why don’t you go pet it.” She encouraged. “You should  get comfortable with the animals here.”
“Ah…”
“I’ll get this back to the trailer.” She lifted the bucket of milk. “Just gently sweep your hand over it.” With that last bit of instruction, she walked off back to the trailer, leaving me in the goat pen… So I walked over to the Goasat and looked it over. Its fur was like something cut out from the night sky, black yet filled with little sparkling stars and galaxies. It was like fur but also like a flame. I swept my hand into it. It was cold and unresistant. Stars and galaxies broke on the edge of my hand. It was like pop rocks against my skin. I was sure the kids would get a kick out of it. The Goasat bleated and shook its head cutely. If it sucked you into the vast vacuum of its fur, you’re as good as dead. But the one before me was docile, and when it got annoyed, it simply walked away.

Marmar  returned and gestured to me to, “Come on.” I climbed over the barbed wire fence, careful not to get pricked by the metal thorns.
“Where are we going next?” I asked, rubbing my hand to get the feel of the stars out.
“The goats and the Ostpoors are the only things that produce anything. The rest are just attractions.” She was holding a bucket labelled Crown  Seed.
“Okay.” I nodded along.
“Right now, we’re going to the bird cage. There are a lot of monster birds that live in it, so don’t be alarmed if you see one.”
“They live with the regular birds?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, they’re tamed.”
“I see…”

A giant  bird cage the size of a five-storey apartment stood on top of a small  mound. It was called The Big Bird House. There was a mini forest inside, and the sound of chirping birds could be heard from a distance. We climbed the small set of stone steps, past a bronze plaque with its description and history, to the front door.
When she popped the key into the lock, Marmar realised the door was already unlocked. “Someone’s already in there.”
“Oh…” I stood beside her and made sounds.
“Come on.” She opened the door and led me into the vestibule. “Make sure you shut this door before you open the second one.” She said and shut the door behind us.
“Oh, okay.” I nodded and held open the second door for her. I noticed that she’d struggled with the first door. One hand prosthetic and the other holding a bucket; she had a tough life.
“Thanks.” She smiled. A bunch of birds came down from the trees and landed beside her the moment she entered the birdhouse. I spotted a few  monsters among them, though I couldn’t place their names. Which made me think of the books I had bought and stored at my mother’s place. She opened the bucket lid, hooked her prosthetic hand under the bucket, and  tilted the feed right onto the grass. The birds pecked at it enthusiastically while she walked around and spread it all over the place. “You don’t want to spread the feed on the same spot every day.” She explained. “Yesterday, I emptied it on the other side of the cage.”
“Oh, okay.”
“After we feed these one’s we’ll have to feed them,” she motioned with her chin at the tree tops. I looked up and spotted a few coloured  Amphipteres. “Their food is stored over there.” She gestured to a wooden storage container the size of a room sitting against the cage bars. The container had a ladder beside it to get to its hatch.
“Oh… okay.” I waited for her to empty the feed…

After the bucket was emptied, we went over to the large container. Burlap sacks were stacked on a table next to the container. She grabbed one and handed it to me. “Hold it open,” she commanded.
“Oh, okay…” I held it open like she asked.
She went through her ring of keys and found the key for the hatch. She climbed the ladder, opened the hatch, and disappeared into the container, out of my view. I kept my eyes up and waited. Minutes later, she popped her head back out and said, “Catch it.”
“Ah…” When I saw the live rabbit in her good hand, I realised what she wanted and opened up the sack as wide as it’d go. And she threw it in with perfect accuracy.
She went up and down and brought more fat rabbits for the sack. Finally, she said, “Okay, that’s everything. Tie up the sack.”
“Okay.” So I tied up the sack. She disappeared out of view again, and when she returned, she had a cage in her hand. In it were fist-sized  beetles. “Ah…”
“Come up here and get it!” She shouted. So I quickly put the sack down, climbed up, and helped her with the cage of beetles.
“These are monster beetles,” I realised when I took the cage from her hand.
“Yeah,” she confirmed. “We’ll have to cut out the cores before we feed them.”
“Feed them to what?” I could tell the rabbits were for the Amphipteres. But what were the beetles for, I wondered?
“The Starsling,” she answered. It was another famous monster.
“Do you keep them underdeveloped as well?”
“Yeah, we have to take out the cores before we give them the beetles.”
“I see…”

The Amphipteres followed us deeper into the birdhouse, jumping from one tree to the next. It was terrifying to watch. They menacingly eyed the sack in my hand while following us, slithering across the sky, jumping from tree to tree.
“They’re harmless,” Marmar assured me. “They won’t attack humans.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, gazing into their eyes.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” she chuckled.
“Okay, this is good enough.” We were in the middle of the bird cage. “Lay it on the ground, and untie it. Keep the opening on the ground,” she instructed as I laid the burlap sack on the grass. “Let the bunnies  run out. They’ll hunt it.”
“O… kay…” I nodded and untied the sack. The rabbits ran out, but they didn’t get far before the monsters came down on them, viciously scooping  them up with their claws. One of Amphipteres smashed it, threw it into  the air, caught it in its jaw, and slurped it into its mouth. Watching the rabbit get crushed in its throat was a sight to see…
“Alright, now the Starsling,” Marmar said without blinking.
“Oh… Okay.”
“Fold up the sack. We’ll have to put it back for tomorrow.” She instructed as she carried the cage of beetles to a Bluerock tree that stood hidden behind the many Ash and Sand trees. The bark had a bluish  hue to it. And a person was sitting on one of the branches, petting the  Starsling. Little light balls materialised and vanished around it like twinkling stars. The Starsling was still small, but if it matures, it’d be able to shoot them off like laser beams. “Oh, I thought someone was  already here.” Marmar smiled.
The woman waved to us as we neared her. She was short and had a buzz cut that made her head look like a cue ball. And she was wearing a red clown nose. She noticed the cage in Marmar’s hand and shouted, “I  already fed the Starsling.” She was dressed in a brown leather jacket. Underneath the leather jacket, she had on white overalls with polka dots  painted all over. A Mockingbird sat on her shoulder.
“Oh, you did!” Marmar cheered. “Thank you! Thank you!”
“Ah, you don’t need to.” She shook her head, letting the Starsling fly back to its nest. They made their nests on the top most branches. A trail of sparkles followed its flight.
Then turning to me, Marmar said, “This is Lina.”
“Oh, nice to meet you.” I smiled.
“Ah, you too…” She looked at Marmar for an introduction.
“This is Sheryl.” She told her my fake name. “She got caught stealing food.”
“Ah, I see…” Lina frowned sympathetically.
“Now, she’s my assistant.”
“I see… Well, you couldn’t have been put under anyone better than Marmar. She’s the nicest person here.” She consoled.
“You’re going to make me blush.” Marmar cackled.
“Though that isn’t saying much in this hellhole,” she added, which put an end to Marmar’s laughter.
“Oh, come on. It isn’t so bad.”
“Hm,” she puffed.
“All right, why don’t you come with us.” Marmar tried to lighten up the mood. “We’re going to the flamingos next, but after that, it’s the monsters, so we’ll need your help.”
“Ah… I want to play with my Starsling for a little longer, and I haven’t looked into the Goasat yet. I’ll meet up with you at the monster cages.”
“Oh, okay.” Marmar agreed. And turning to me, she said, “All right, let’s go back. She already fed the Starsling.”

“So, she’s the Tamer,” I said as we walked back to the large food storage box.
“Yeah, that’s Lina. She lost a few bets to Silva and now works for her.” That was one way to put it.
“Bets?”
“Ah, maybe she’ll tell you one day. Get to know her first. She’s a nice girl.”
“Hmm… What’s up with the clown nose?” That was a question I had wanted to ask since I first saw her. “And the mockingbird.”
“Ah…” Marmar’s expression saddened. “It hides her bent nose and scar.”
“Oh…” That was unfortunate to hear. “And the mockingbird?”
“Oh, that’s just her pet.”
“Ah.”

***

It was more of the same with the flamingos. Except they ate blue-green and red algae. Which I helped Marmar dumb into their feeding area.
When I tried to avoid getting wet, she said, “Magicians,” in a derogatory way. After that, I stopped trying to keep myself dry.

By the end of it, I was wet and panting. “Magicians,” she shook her head at me again.
You’ll see! I thought to myself. You’ll all see! Magicians are the best! They might be kind of weak in the beginning, but in four years, I’ll be standing at the top of this world!
“Next, we deal with the monsters,” she puffed out her chest. “Come on!” She gestured with her head for me to follow.