"Watching the red Shaman-Ai make her way though the air was nothing like watching Gin move around on the ground.

Watching Gin ambulate her noddly limbs was kind of like watching a hot water bottle fall down a set of stairs. Gin wasn't graceful, and while she always got where she wanted to go and rarely knocked things over on her way there, her movements were never something I envied.

The red Shaman-Ai flowing through the air like water flows in a fountain though, made me understand Lilly's greatest hurt in life, the desire to take flight and be as graceful as the flyers you could observe.

All the food I'd offered her hadn't been good enough, even the living Drifters I'd managed to herd her way. It took Gin bringing some live food to entice the red furred Shaman-Ai closer, several days of food to convince her that touching me was a good thing to do.

I crouched on the ground, Gin napping in a patch of sunlight in a different part of the field somewhere off to my right, watching the flying Shaman-Ai above me as she hunted the last of her food. Once the final Drifter had disappeared I watched as she landed near Gin, and bent to rub her mask against Gin's belly. Shaman-Ai don't have any organs which should allow them to smell, but they can. Gin's the only Shaman-Ai I've ever seen with a nose, but it's on her mask, so it's not like it connects to anything. At least, I don't think it dose. Observing Gin and the other Shaman-Ai interact though, I begin to wonder if that's right. It seems as though the red furred creature is smelling Gin, and Gin only responds with a sleepy flick of her tail, seeming to accept her inspection. The flying Shaman-Ai did this Yesterday too, only with less care. It seemed more like a greeting ritual than anything of use, though her careful inspection of my charge Today seems focused on information gathering.

When her head bobs up and she looks toward me butterflies do back flips in my stomach. She steps over Gin, her long, paddle ended tail sliding over Gin's body without my sleeping charge seeming to notice, and the red furred creature approaches me as she mantles her wings to her sides. Her steps are sure, and she comes over to me with almost as much grace as she shows in the air, flowing across the ground, the holes that serve her as eyes fixed on me.

When she's within an arm's reach she lowers her head and looks up at me through her rounded red fringe. Her fur clumps together like feathers, and I long to see what it feels like against the felt of my palms.

I reach out a tentative hand, which shakes slightly.

She raises her dipped head into my palm and closes her eyes. As the black holes turn to slits I register the feel of her mask as it slides against my hand. What serves her for skin is cool to the touch, despite the time she's been spending in the sun. A deep, raspy sound resonates from her throat as I let my hand slide up her forehead and into her fringe. The texture is feathery, but gives like fur. It sort of feels like feather down, but more rooted. Very, very gently I seek the not quite skin below and scratch her with my blunt nails, the way I know Gin likes. The raspy noise grows louder.

I have to say something. I ask her if she liked her snack.

In a voice so quiet that anyone with ears smaller than mine would have missed, she tells me that Brag thought the Drifters were tasty.

I ask if Brag is her name.

She tells me its better than Run, or No, or Stop, or Don't, things the villagers have undoubtedly been yelling at her.

I tell her that she doesn't have to keep Brag if she doesn't like it.

Gin has gotten up and passes us on her way to, who knows, somewhere. Brag is distracted from both my scratches and from our conversation, and turns to follow Gin. The two of them trot together side by side, and I note that Brad is a little taller and a lot longer than my little charge.

I ask Gin where she's going, and she tells me home.

Brag remantles her wings against her sides, gaze on Gin.

I ask Gin what about Brag, and Gin repeats that she's going home, and then says that the two of us should come along, or we'll miss dinner.

After months of tracking and weeks of courting, it was just that simple. Gin decided Brag should come home with us, so she did. As I follow the two of them back down the road to my home, I wonder idly how many of these creatures I would end up with at my manse. I have so much room I could easily fit four creatures of their size, but did I want to? What even do you call a group of Shaman-Ai? It didn't matter, I guess, because for now, I had saved Brag from the villagers, and the villagers from her. How many various and sundry creatures wound up at my home would resolve itself, and I'd have Gin there to take cues from. For now we go home, and we have dinner, and we focus on the thins a pair of Shaman-Ai need, instead of just one of them."

World: Knights of Nodd.
Characters: Brag.
Media: Easy Paint Tool SAI and Microsoft Paint.
Art, ideas, partial design, and character © me.

-Topknot