14 Fishy Prophecy (1/2)
[I feel like I need some paper to keep track of my personal bestiary experiences. But when it comes to centaurs, Frank Frazetta would be very disappointed.]
Nelda patiently accepted instruction about how to get the nut out of a sweetcone.Which is to say she picked one up, got her finger jabbed by the nettle-like spines, and was now being told how to take the cone apart from the flat bottom end.She turned to see Honeybeard chewing on the spiky cone like the stinging spines were potato stix.
[It's a goat thing, I guess.At least my throbbing fingers might distract me from my empty stomach.] Nelda sat sullenly with her throbbing fingertips in her mouth.
After the impromptu culinary lesson, the centauress introduced herself as BellMare Marta Marridottor. ”Do you know what a BellMare is, dear?”
”I can't say that I do.”
”Let me put it this way.If every member of the heard was in one place, ad I was in another, they would be the ones who were lost. \ I am always exactly where I am meant to be.”
[How very Gandalf of you.] ”Riiiiight.”
”And you are thinking, what good would that do me as I would still be all on my own?”
”Yes, I was thinking that.”
”And that is why I have the bell.” From under her shawl the old centauress pulled a large brass bell with a wooden handle, and a tongue that was wrapped in felted cloth that was tied with a ribbon. ”When I ring this bell, it can be heard for miles even in a thunderstorm.And the whole herd will gather to me.”
BugleHead whispered, ”Because the herd heard.”
HoneyBeard sighed,
”Do you have to do that very often?” Nelda asked, mainly to be polite.
”Most often we just lose a youngling or two an they can use the sound to find their way home.It is mainly, as the Gryphon says, a token of office.”
Dignity be damned, Nelda started to discretely ease of her shoes.But when she did the BellMare was clearly distracted by the sight of her feet.[Just how freaky do they look to these people? I bet the blisters aren't helping any.]
The BellMare tucked the bell carefully away again.”I say this…” she said, leaning forward companionably. ”Just to illustrate that I have a certain level of responsibility for what happens to my people because I brought them to this vicinity.Which is to say, near the mountains at laying time.There is normally no great risk foraging here during the during the time of lay but before the hatching when the mothers start to hunt. But Echidna… she is here all year round and her excursions from her cave are infrequent but also unpredictable.”
Several other female centaurs had gathered around the BellMare in a loose semicircle.They watched on with neutral expressions, the occasional twitching of their tail their only movement.