Tamsah Trouble (July 29870 - [One-Shot]
May 3, 2018 14:06:42 GMT -5
Post by Sibi on May 3, 2018 14:06:42 GMT -5
The sound of the river barges sailing up and down the water was familiar; the calls of orders to crew, the sound of clanking pulleys, or songs lifted as work began, and the lap of wave against the wooden ships was the heartbeat of Kahf Al’asad. Indeed it was the great river that made the city in the desert hold against the bearing heat and raging sandstorms that blew in. This was, however, the first time Sibi was seeing it this close.
That sun was warmer here, where he had ended after the Long Walk; Sibi could feel it wash over his back, and his large ears that flapped and fanned about as he plodded easily behind the small figure before him. He reached far with his trunk, sniffing the oil that reminded him of the trees he could almost not remember within her dark hair. Amira, Sibi knew her called, laughed and looked up to him with eyes that gleamed bright in the daylight, reaching a hand to take hold of his trunk.
Sibi made a small sound of joy, tromping his feet in a little dance. He liked this little animal, the one that was small and strange for its use of two feet. Amira was his first friend here in this place where there was no jungle. She had grown a little in the time he had been playing with her, though he, too, had grown, and she still looked small to him.
“Come on, Sibi,” Amira sang to him, her voice sweeping like the long stretches of golden, shifting lands that he had crossed to get here. “You will like the water. But we have to be careful,” he girl continued, looking upward to him and running a hand over the mûmak’s long nose. “There are altamasih in the river.” Amira knew well the dangers that lurked in their life-vein of water. Green, long, and with teeth like razors, altamasih were quick, and nearly impossible to spot if they were below the surface.
His ears perked, swishing through the air, and once more the mûmak made another sound. Amira was gentle with him, and so he was gentle with her in turn; he moved his trunk, once more patting her head, sniffing deeply of the dark locks.
Amira once more laughed. Ahead the waters shown blue and bright, the tall reeds billowed upon the far bank, and the docks that butted up against the city walls were busy. They had needed to take a long trek around the city, for Sibi had grown enough that he was not easy to fit through the main gates any more. Not that either of them had minded.
“We have to stay in sight of the adults,” Amira explained to her grey-skinned companion. Indeed, she could see the Dockwardens watching, guards under Maalik’s employ, already marking their presence. She offered a small smile to them in greeting, though knew better than to speak to them. She was, after all, just a little girl.
Her ’Um, mother, had been busy today with Basira; Amira’s youngest sister seemed to have been taken by a great whim to run and cry the whole morning through; perhaps because she was yet too small to go to the mûmakil fields as Amira was now allowed to. Shula was uninterested in the giants from the south, for she was frightened of them. Basira, though, had wanted to go, and their mother had been very clear she was not allowed.
Basira was only able to get away with her tantrum for the fact that Saif, their Alab, was on campaign to the west to bring resources home for their city from the heathens of Gondor. He did not like crying.
Amira led her mûmak down to the riverbank, steps slow as she eyed the waters first one way and then the other. They looked clear enough, and there was enough commotion from the men on the docks, unloading and loading their ships, that Amira mused all the scaly monsters of the long river would look elsewhere for their waiting. “Here you are, Sibi!” She gleaned to her friend, looking up with shining slate-grey eyes.
Sibi’s ears shot out, his dark brown eyes looking wide and happy upon the stripe of blue water before him. He lifted his trunk, trumpeting a sound of glee, and immediately his long legs thundered him forward at a run. It had been a long time since he had seen the water like this; not since the trees had been around him, not since before he had come to this place and had taken the Long Walk. He did all that he had missed doing in the waters back home, and in the mûmak barreled, sending great waves and splashing up and down the river.
Amira laughed as Sibi trumpeted and pressed his face direct and deep into the water, back end high and tail wagging and swishing happily. “Careful,” she hummed to him above the thrashing in the water. “You need to breathe!”
Sibi lifted his trunk, and it poked from the water as he left his face buried. He loved the water; almost as much as he loved the strange animal that had led him here. That strange animal was laughing; Sibi liked the sound of it, because it meant she was happy like he was. With a great splash, Sibi stood, grey skin now almost black with the water he had sank himself into. He swept his trunk now, side to side, making a wave of tinkling water droplets.
Eyes were upon them from the docks, incredulous stares and whispers passing back and forth; none dared approach though. The guards knew well whose daughter this was, and also the dangers of provoking one of Maalik’s new war beasts. Even if this one was young, and perhaps controllable by force, none wished to deal later with the chief himself.
Amira bent and worked with quick, eager fingers to undo the sandals on her feet. “Wait for me!” She called to Sibi, and the mûmak turned to look to her and dance its happiness. The little animal with dark hair did not have any hesitation in her, and she waded right into the water and set a hand upon his leg. Sibi sucked water up into his trunk, and lifted it high, spraying it up and into the air for it to fall like the water did from the clouds. Amira squealed, little arms locking around his leg. “Sibi,” she called up to him.
His name. He liked it. He patted her head with his wet trunk, and despite the fact her hair was wet, he smelled still the oils she had put it in that morning. His trunk locked around her little body, and he easily lifted her a few feet into the air.
Amira wriggled, holding tight to his trunk, pealing with laughter the same as the water that tinkled back down into the river. Sibi lowered her quickly, for this was his game. She was still so small, and he not. It was easy to make her fly like the feathered animals he saw about. He did not let her go, though, for she was naked of the feathers she would need.
The little animal was laughing yet, though her breaths were harried for the amount of air she had already expended. She needed a trunk, Sibi thought. It would help her breathe better. “Sibi, you are so silly,” the little girl chimed to him, grey eyes rising. “I love—” Her words turned into a shrill shriek, though, and Sibi saw the long from of a scaly log burst up from the water.
It startled him nearly as much as it startled Amira, though Sibi was a brave mûmak. He trumpeted the way he had heard the larger members of his herd do, and charged forward, using his trunk and forelegs to throw the tamsah away. It thrashed, righting itself quickly and snapping its large jaws closed just as Sibi was able to get its trunk away.
Amira was screaming, trying to scramble from the water and calling for help; she had not, though, thought of abandoning her friend. “Sibi! Sibi, come on! Come on!” She was urging, tugging on his leg.
The mûmak instead squared its shoulders to the long, green-skinned creature, trumpeting once more. He did not know what to do now, but it did look rather small. He lifted a leg, avoiding one of the toothy lurches the beast attempted and dropped it once more.
It did not appear to like the weight of the mûmak’s foot upon its back, and so the young Sibi moved forward, adding first his other foreleg, and then his back ones. It was like standing on a moving rock.
Amira gasped. “Sibi!” She called. Yet the log creature thrashed beneath him, and he reached with his long trunk to whisk the little animal with two legs from the water, shifting her to sit upon his back. “Good boy, Sibi,” the little girl said to him as she clung to his neck, water dripping down his grey skin.
More of the two-legged creatures were running for them now, the metal things they carried pulled out to glint in the sun. They slowed as they approached, looking first to Amira, then to Sibi himself, and finally to the now-still tamsah beneath the mûmak’s feet. Quickly, Sibi stepped from the creature and moved for the bank, snorting water and air out of his long trunk as he did so.
“…Are you hurt?” One of the guard asked, the bright robe of his service indicating his position.
Amira sniffed and shook her head. “No, sir. Sibi saved me,” she added thoughtfully. She peered over the mûmak’s side, wondering how it was she would get down. It was a long way. She shifted, wriggling her toes as she sought to lower herself, though before her arms gave way, Amira felt something firm and long wrap about her waist as a belt. “Good boy, Sibi,” she said to him, rubbing his trunk as he set her gently down upon the riverbank.
Warily, the adults eyed the mûmak and girl, muttering amongst themselves in deliberation. “Sibi,” one of the adults repeated, looking to the creature himself. It was a strange name for something already so large, though he was sure to grow more if the others of his kind were any indication.
“Yes,” Amira answered in song. “He is my best friend.”
The men were approaching the tamsah now, eyes peering, curved sabers poised at the ready in case it was not as dead as it appeared.
The mûmak was once more content to be able to wade into the water, and trumpeted a happy sound before dunking his trunk back beneath the river’s surface, blowing water upon the others who had come to play. The bigger two-legged animals, though, did not laugh as Amira did.
“Perhaps you and your…friend…should not play in the river. It will be safer,” the guard offered after a moment, clothes dripping as he eyed the creature with a firm frown.
“Oh, no,” Amira chirped, already heading back to stand at Sibi’s side. “We are all right! Sibi will keep me safe.”
As if in answer, the mûmak bellowed another call and shot more water into the air to rain down upon Amira’s giggling head. The adults exchanged a strange look with each other, though began slowly to head back to the docks. It was, perhaps, all right to let the child play there now; her Sibi had already proven he was already as powerful as Chief Maalik had claimed of the mûmakil.
Sibi happily turned and planted his face once more beneath the water, lifting his trunk from below to sit in the air and sun, content in the listening of his friend laugh and stroke his leg.
“I love you, Sibi!” The girl said to him, and though Sibi himself could not utter such things in reply, he hoped she knew he very much loved her too.
That sun was warmer here, where he had ended after the Long Walk; Sibi could feel it wash over his back, and his large ears that flapped and fanned about as he plodded easily behind the small figure before him. He reached far with his trunk, sniffing the oil that reminded him of the trees he could almost not remember within her dark hair. Amira, Sibi knew her called, laughed and looked up to him with eyes that gleamed bright in the daylight, reaching a hand to take hold of his trunk.
Sibi made a small sound of joy, tromping his feet in a little dance. He liked this little animal, the one that was small and strange for its use of two feet. Amira was his first friend here in this place where there was no jungle. She had grown a little in the time he had been playing with her, though he, too, had grown, and she still looked small to him.
“Come on, Sibi,” Amira sang to him, her voice sweeping like the long stretches of golden, shifting lands that he had crossed to get here. “You will like the water. But we have to be careful,” he girl continued, looking upward to him and running a hand over the mûmak’s long nose. “There are altamasih in the river.” Amira knew well the dangers that lurked in their life-vein of water. Green, long, and with teeth like razors, altamasih were quick, and nearly impossible to spot if they were below the surface.
His ears perked, swishing through the air, and once more the mûmak made another sound. Amira was gentle with him, and so he was gentle with her in turn; he moved his trunk, once more patting her head, sniffing deeply of the dark locks.
Amira once more laughed. Ahead the waters shown blue and bright, the tall reeds billowed upon the far bank, and the docks that butted up against the city walls were busy. They had needed to take a long trek around the city, for Sibi had grown enough that he was not easy to fit through the main gates any more. Not that either of them had minded.
“We have to stay in sight of the adults,” Amira explained to her grey-skinned companion. Indeed, she could see the Dockwardens watching, guards under Maalik’s employ, already marking their presence. She offered a small smile to them in greeting, though knew better than to speak to them. She was, after all, just a little girl.
Her ’Um, mother, had been busy today with Basira; Amira’s youngest sister seemed to have been taken by a great whim to run and cry the whole morning through; perhaps because she was yet too small to go to the mûmakil fields as Amira was now allowed to. Shula was uninterested in the giants from the south, for she was frightened of them. Basira, though, had wanted to go, and their mother had been very clear she was not allowed.
Basira was only able to get away with her tantrum for the fact that Saif, their Alab, was on campaign to the west to bring resources home for their city from the heathens of Gondor. He did not like crying.
Amira led her mûmak down to the riverbank, steps slow as she eyed the waters first one way and then the other. They looked clear enough, and there was enough commotion from the men on the docks, unloading and loading their ships, that Amira mused all the scaly monsters of the long river would look elsewhere for their waiting. “Here you are, Sibi!” She gleaned to her friend, looking up with shining slate-grey eyes.
Sibi’s ears shot out, his dark brown eyes looking wide and happy upon the stripe of blue water before him. He lifted his trunk, trumpeting a sound of glee, and immediately his long legs thundered him forward at a run. It had been a long time since he had seen the water like this; not since the trees had been around him, not since before he had come to this place and had taken the Long Walk. He did all that he had missed doing in the waters back home, and in the mûmak barreled, sending great waves and splashing up and down the river.
Amira laughed as Sibi trumpeted and pressed his face direct and deep into the water, back end high and tail wagging and swishing happily. “Careful,” she hummed to him above the thrashing in the water. “You need to breathe!”
Sibi lifted his trunk, and it poked from the water as he left his face buried. He loved the water; almost as much as he loved the strange animal that had led him here. That strange animal was laughing; Sibi liked the sound of it, because it meant she was happy like he was. With a great splash, Sibi stood, grey skin now almost black with the water he had sank himself into. He swept his trunk now, side to side, making a wave of tinkling water droplets.
Eyes were upon them from the docks, incredulous stares and whispers passing back and forth; none dared approach though. The guards knew well whose daughter this was, and also the dangers of provoking one of Maalik’s new war beasts. Even if this one was young, and perhaps controllable by force, none wished to deal later with the chief himself.
Amira bent and worked with quick, eager fingers to undo the sandals on her feet. “Wait for me!” She called to Sibi, and the mûmak turned to look to her and dance its happiness. The little animal with dark hair did not have any hesitation in her, and she waded right into the water and set a hand upon his leg. Sibi sucked water up into his trunk, and lifted it high, spraying it up and into the air for it to fall like the water did from the clouds. Amira squealed, little arms locking around his leg. “Sibi,” she called up to him.
His name. He liked it. He patted her head with his wet trunk, and despite the fact her hair was wet, he smelled still the oils she had put it in that morning. His trunk locked around her little body, and he easily lifted her a few feet into the air.
Amira wriggled, holding tight to his trunk, pealing with laughter the same as the water that tinkled back down into the river. Sibi lowered her quickly, for this was his game. She was still so small, and he not. It was easy to make her fly like the feathered animals he saw about. He did not let her go, though, for she was naked of the feathers she would need.
The little animal was laughing yet, though her breaths were harried for the amount of air she had already expended. She needed a trunk, Sibi thought. It would help her breathe better. “Sibi, you are so silly,” the little girl chimed to him, grey eyes rising. “I love—” Her words turned into a shrill shriek, though, and Sibi saw the long from of a scaly log burst up from the water.
It startled him nearly as much as it startled Amira, though Sibi was a brave mûmak. He trumpeted the way he had heard the larger members of his herd do, and charged forward, using his trunk and forelegs to throw the tamsah away. It thrashed, righting itself quickly and snapping its large jaws closed just as Sibi was able to get its trunk away.
Amira was screaming, trying to scramble from the water and calling for help; she had not, though, thought of abandoning her friend. “Sibi! Sibi, come on! Come on!” She was urging, tugging on his leg.
The mûmak instead squared its shoulders to the long, green-skinned creature, trumpeting once more. He did not know what to do now, but it did look rather small. He lifted a leg, avoiding one of the toothy lurches the beast attempted and dropped it once more.
It did not appear to like the weight of the mûmak’s foot upon its back, and so the young Sibi moved forward, adding first his other foreleg, and then his back ones. It was like standing on a moving rock.
Amira gasped. “Sibi!” She called. Yet the log creature thrashed beneath him, and he reached with his long trunk to whisk the little animal with two legs from the water, shifting her to sit upon his back. “Good boy, Sibi,” the little girl said to him as she clung to his neck, water dripping down his grey skin.
More of the two-legged creatures were running for them now, the metal things they carried pulled out to glint in the sun. They slowed as they approached, looking first to Amira, then to Sibi himself, and finally to the now-still tamsah beneath the mûmak’s feet. Quickly, Sibi stepped from the creature and moved for the bank, snorting water and air out of his long trunk as he did so.
“…Are you hurt?” One of the guard asked, the bright robe of his service indicating his position.
Amira sniffed and shook her head. “No, sir. Sibi saved me,” she added thoughtfully. She peered over the mûmak’s side, wondering how it was she would get down. It was a long way. She shifted, wriggling her toes as she sought to lower herself, though before her arms gave way, Amira felt something firm and long wrap about her waist as a belt. “Good boy, Sibi,” she said to him, rubbing his trunk as he set her gently down upon the riverbank.
Warily, the adults eyed the mûmak and girl, muttering amongst themselves in deliberation. “Sibi,” one of the adults repeated, looking to the creature himself. It was a strange name for something already so large, though he was sure to grow more if the others of his kind were any indication.
“Yes,” Amira answered in song. “He is my best friend.”
The men were approaching the tamsah now, eyes peering, curved sabers poised at the ready in case it was not as dead as it appeared.
The mûmak was once more content to be able to wade into the water, and trumpeted a happy sound before dunking his trunk back beneath the river’s surface, blowing water upon the others who had come to play. The bigger two-legged animals, though, did not laugh as Amira did.
“Perhaps you and your…friend…should not play in the river. It will be safer,” the guard offered after a moment, clothes dripping as he eyed the creature with a firm frown.
“Oh, no,” Amira chirped, already heading back to stand at Sibi’s side. “We are all right! Sibi will keep me safe.”
As if in answer, the mûmak bellowed another call and shot more water into the air to rain down upon Amira’s giggling head. The adults exchanged a strange look with each other, though began slowly to head back to the docks. It was, perhaps, all right to let the child play there now; her Sibi had already proven he was already as powerful as Chief Maalik had claimed of the mûmakil.
Sibi happily turned and planted his face once more beneath the water, lifting his trunk from below to sit in the air and sun, content in the listening of his friend laugh and stroke his leg.
“I love you, Sibi!” The girl said to him, and though Sibi himself could not utter such things in reply, he hoped she knew he very much loved her too.