"While I had intentions to collect more Shaman-Ai at my home, I hadn't actually made plans for the third one before he came along and turned everything on its side.

Gin and Brag had been getting along well, Brag seeming to learn how to be an almost-person from Gin, and Gin learning about how to play with someone her shape from Brag. Gin loved to follow Brag around, and their games of hide and seek could last for hours. It was cute to watch Gin try and mimic the red furred Shaman-Ai, even if it did mean watching her jump from things like the second story balcony and off the top of the garden wall.

I found Brag in the Summer, and in the Fall of that same year, right at garden harvesting time, when all my beloved gourds were ripe and ready to be brought inside, first to decorate, and then to feed us, the third Shaman-Ai showed up.

I had stacked a few of the ripe gourds on the porch, readying them to be set up to decorate my hallway. I didn't have social functions at my house often, but one of the two holidays I did have a party for was during the Fall Atween. I loved the Fall Atween, when the pink planet drifted for a single day between us and our Sun, casting all the world in a pink glow and hours of shadow, the kind of eclipse only achievable when something passing in front of the sun isn't a solid. So decorating was cheer making.

Coming back outside for a fresh armload of gourds I saw Brag flying across my path, holding one of the crooknecks, banking to head into the house. I thanked her for helping as she drifted by. Gin stood on a large pumpkin, ready to leap off it and make for the air. I warned her not to, so that she wouldn't damage the pumpkin. So instead, she perched and watched as Brag came back out and swooped to pick up another crookneck.

It was on this second trip of Brag's that I saw the third Shaman-Ai.

He was sitting on the edge of the porch, one of my delicatas in his hand, watching Gin and Brag.

I froze when I saw him, and when he saw me he blinked slowly, and then turned to watch the other two once more. He didn't have the nervous, darting motions of a wild animal, like Brag had, and he wasn't trying to become one with my lap, like Gin was when I first found her.

Gin noticed him when I did, and slid off the pumpkin to sit beside it and stare at him. Brag brought her squash inside and then landed next to me, her tail looping loosely to frame my feet. The feather like gatherings of fur on her head began to stand up as she made a grinding noise low in her throat, the Shaman-Ai's answer for a growl.

After a moment I gently placed my hand on Brag's head, feeling her growl vibrate her mask slightly. I called to Gin, but she didn't turn.

The yellow furred Shaman-Ai on the porch parroted me, piping Gin's name in a questioning call. Gin still didn't move.

I took a few steps out the door and placed my other hand on Gin's tail, Brag staying at my heel, like a Hound. The moment I touched Gin the third Shaman-Ai turned, dropping the gourd, and fled.

My two charges and I watched him go, and I frowned. Asking Gin, I wanted to know if Shaman-Ai could be male. Gin told me yes, they can be whatever they decide they are. I asked if they breed, because what other function could sex variation have? Gin gave me a disdainful look and went to pick up the delicate that the third Shaman-Ai had dropped, carrying it to Brag, who stopped growling, took it, and flew inside. Gin followed her.

I stood looking after the Shaman-Ai who had just fled, unsure of what to do.

Looking back on it now, I should have just let him go. I should have let him flee into the gathering Fall evening and never spared him another ounce of effort. But, since I didn't know then what I know now about Shaman-Ai 'pack' dynamics, I didn't do that. I spent most of the rest of the week trying to coax him to come close enough to talk to Gin, and got her involved in my mess too. Mark me, readers, if someone you love and trust takes an intimidate dislike to something or someone, pay attention. They may not be right, but their opinion should be one you consider, instead of discard, the way I discarded Brag's feelings. Of course, the events of the third Shaman-Ai ended up making us all grow closer, but it was still an adversity that I would have avoided, if given the chance."

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

-Topknot