cage.
“How’s the Academy, petal?” asked Shullia.
“Lots to tell,” said Telisia, touching one slim hand to her forehead. Pip had no words. Telisia was pretty, but the ugliness that came out of her mouth …
“Oh?” Master Balthion prodded.
Telisia affected a huge sigh. “Later. I’ve a headache, which the stench in here isn’t helping. Dad, haven’t you learned that you can dress up a monkey, but you can’t make them Human? Honestly.”
And with that, she swept out again, leaving a nasty silence in her wake.
“Oh, she can just go jump in a Cloudlands volcano,” Arosia snarled.
Balthion sighed. “That girl, I swear … Pip, I’m so sorry.”
Pip swallowed back a hard, sour lump of misery. “I thank you for this outing, Master Balthion. But I’d like to go home to my cage, now.”
Chapter 7: Hair Today
A RoSIA HAD BEEN pallid with rage. When she held Pip’s hand in the litter, she was still shaking. Pip did not know why Arosia felt that way, nor why she sat in a thin-lipped silence as her gentle friend dwelled on her thoughts. She looked at her fingers. Arosia’s fine, soft hand had clutched hers all the way back to the zoo.
The zookeeper unlocked her manacles. Slipping free of the unaccustomed dress, Pip handed over her outfit. “Thank you.”
The girl only nodded. Her eyes had a wounded-animal quality about them.
The cage door slid shut behind a loincloth-clad Pygmy girl. With a click, her world became bars and walls once more. Although her feet felt too heavy to move, she managed, somehow, to trace back the steps she had taken so lightly earlier. Why was Arosia acting so hurt, she wondered? She wasn’t the one relegated to the world of animals.
“Pip smell funny,” Hunagu murmured, half-asleep.
Pip crawled beneath the new shelter she had built them, drew the rajal skin about her frame and pulled Hunagu’s arm around her.
What did that make Hunagu? Some undefined half-Human half-animal?
That night, the shadow chased her through the jungle again. Pip jerked awake with a shrill scream. She could not seem to get warm, despite hiding completely beneath Hunagu’s arm. Had she sensed the creature again? Was it still hunting? Now every shadow in their enclosure seemed to gleam with dark, oily menace, to hide loathsome and fearful creatures of the dark. Pip admonished herself to stop jumping at shadows. But she did not calm down for hours.
Exhausted, she slept. The shadow brushed the edges of her mind.
Arosia and Shullia arrived early the following morning by pony cart, with three servants in tow and a list of demands that had the poor zookeeper hopping like the giant khaki grasshoppers her tribe used to fry and eat for a treat. Pip watched in mounting astonishment as a tub, a brazier, metal pots, five barrels of water, a mound of large green towels and three cavernous bags of outlandish implements made their appearance. She began to feel a little frightened. Some Pygmy warrior she was.
Hunagu grunted, “Water? Pygmy-girl wash? Pah.”
Shullia had a kindly but implacable air about her as she beckoned Pip over. “Right, petal. We need to have a talk. There are things my husband, that gruff old rajal, cannot teach you about being a woman. How old are you?”
“Fourteen summers, I think,” said Pip. “I don’t remember very well.”
“And you’re such a tiny sparrow,” said Shullia. “Actually, Duri’s been calling you a sparrow hawk behind your back. I think you rather scared him. That zookeeper. Says you shouldn’t get too clean. Ha. Kick his scabby rump to the next Island, I will. My Balthion calls you the most natural warrior he’s ever seen. He sent you something. Arosia?”
Pip’s head spun as Shullia’s thoughts jumped about. A natural warrior? Balthion had been drilling her and Duri mercilessly. In his first ten seconds of instruction, he had wiped out her smugness. Her bruises had multiplied since.
“Oh–they’re wonderful, Arosia.”
“They’re only
“How’s the Academy, petal?” asked Shullia.
“Lots to tell,” said Telisia, touching one slim hand to her forehead. Pip had no words. Telisia was pretty, but the ugliness that came out of her mouth …
“Oh?” Master Balthion prodded.
Telisia affected a huge sigh. “Later. I’ve a headache, which the stench in here isn’t helping. Dad, haven’t you learned that you can dress up a monkey, but you can’t make them Human? Honestly.”
And with that, she swept out again, leaving a nasty silence in her wake.
“Oh, she can just go jump in a Cloudlands volcano,” Arosia snarled.
Balthion sighed. “That girl, I swear … Pip, I’m so sorry.”
Pip swallowed back a hard, sour lump of misery. “I thank you for this outing, Master Balthion. But I’d like to go home to my cage, now.”
Chapter 7: Hair Today
A RoSIA HAD BEEN pallid with rage. When she held Pip’s hand in the litter, she was still shaking. Pip did not know why Arosia felt that way, nor why she sat in a thin-lipped silence as her gentle friend dwelled on her thoughts. She looked at her fingers. Arosia’s fine, soft hand had clutched hers all the way back to the zoo.
The zookeeper unlocked her manacles. Slipping free of the unaccustomed dress, Pip handed over her outfit. “Thank you.”
The girl only nodded. Her eyes had a wounded-animal quality about them.
The cage door slid shut behind a loincloth-clad Pygmy girl. With a click, her world became bars and walls once more. Although her feet felt too heavy to move, she managed, somehow, to trace back the steps she had taken so lightly earlier. Why was Arosia acting so hurt, she wondered? She wasn’t the one relegated to the world of animals.
“Pip smell funny,” Hunagu murmured, half-asleep.
Pip crawled beneath the new shelter she had built them, drew the rajal skin about her frame and pulled Hunagu’s arm around her.
What did that make Hunagu? Some undefined half-Human half-animal?
That night, the shadow chased her through the jungle again. Pip jerked awake with a shrill scream. She could not seem to get warm, despite hiding completely beneath Hunagu’s arm. Had she sensed the creature again? Was it still hunting? Now every shadow in their enclosure seemed to gleam with dark, oily menace, to hide loathsome and fearful creatures of the dark. Pip admonished herself to stop jumping at shadows. But she did not calm down for hours.
Exhausted, she slept. The shadow brushed the edges of her mind.
Arosia and Shullia arrived early the following morning by pony cart, with three servants in tow and a list of demands that had the poor zookeeper hopping like the giant khaki grasshoppers her tribe used to fry and eat for a treat. Pip watched in mounting astonishment as a tub, a brazier, metal pots, five barrels of water, a mound of large green towels and three cavernous bags of outlandish implements made their appearance. She began to feel a little frightened. Some Pygmy warrior she was.
Hunagu grunted, “Water? Pygmy-girl wash? Pah.”
Shullia had a kindly but implacable air about her as she beckoned Pip over. “Right, petal. We need to have a talk. There are things my husband, that gruff old rajal, cannot teach you about being a woman. How old are you?”
“Fourteen summers, I think,” said Pip. “I don’t remember very well.”
“And you’re such a tiny sparrow,” said Shullia. “Actually, Duri’s been calling you a sparrow hawk behind your back. I think you rather scared him. That zookeeper. Says you shouldn’t get too clean. Ha. Kick his scabby rump to the next Island, I will. My Balthion calls you the most natural warrior he’s ever seen. He sent you something. Arosia?”
Pip’s head spun as Shullia’s thoughts jumped about. A natural warrior? Balthion had been drilling her and Duri mercilessly. In his first ten seconds of instruction, he had wiped out her smugness. Her bruises had multiplied since.
“Oh–they’re wonderful, Arosia.”
“They’re only
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