Inside, six big, fluffy-looking creatures, puffed up with downy feathers in shades of white and blue, were perched or nestled down in various places.
“I’ve already collected the eggs, fed them, and replaced their water,” Rivven explained.
“Replaced their water? I’m surprised it wasn’t an ice puck!” This shelter was insulated from the wind, but didn’t seem to be heated at all.
Rivven pointed at a metal bowl of water in the corner. It was placed on top of a tiny box.
“That there has got a small heat coil,” he said. “It runs on a solar battery attached to the roof of the coop. I have something similar in the barn where I’ve got my shuldu and bracku. Keeps the water from freezing, and shuldu seem to drink more in the winter when the water’s warmer.”
“Hold on. Bracku?”
“Two females,” he clarified. “A mother and her calf. For milk.”
“Gotcha.”
“I can show you them next. If you want…?”
There was a kind of rise at the end of his sentence, turning it into a question. He looked down at me. White danced through his eyes before he blinked and looked away.
White means strong emotion.
Affection or arousal.
I swallowed, suddenly extremely aware of his proximity in the tiny coop. Of the hot bulk of his arm in mine.
“I’d like that.”
We exited the coop, and Rivven firmly closed the door behind us before taking me down another shovelled path to a larger building nearer to a stretch of trees. Many of the trees back hereseemed to be coniferous, retaining their spiky sense of green even this deep in winter.
This building was the barn. It felt warmer than the coop had, and I had to imagine it was at least partly from the body heat of the gigantic animals inside. There were three of them. Two were shorter and wider, with big, bovine faces. The larger of the two had big, pink udders. These were obviously the bracku. The smaller one, which had a coat the colour of good butter, gave a trilling sort of low at our entrance, which yanked a startled but genuine laugh from my throat.
It was pretty dang cute.
The other big creature in the barn had to be the shuldu. It had the general shape of an Old-Earth horse, but with curving horns and a stubby little tail that pointed straight up, like an arrow at the sky.
Rivven confirmed my thoughts.
“That is my shuldu. Her name is Foxitt,” he said.
Foxitt’s coat was a lovely, light reddish brown, as were her horns. The only part of her that was not this colour was her pointy tuft of a tail, which was a creamy white.
“And you ride her, then?” I asked. She was sobig.It was a little intimidating. But at the same time, the prospect seemed an undeniably intriguing one. Fun, even.
“Yes. Of course. It’s the only way to get around.”
“Other than the slicer things.”
“Yes. But only the wardens have access to those. Would you…” He paused, turning his attention to Foxitt, patting her neck gently. “Would you like to ride her?”
“Alone?” I balked. I was definitely interested in the idea. But notthatinterested! I’d never even been around an animal this big, let alone been in charge of one.
“No! Not alone,” Rivven said, turning back to me at once. His eyes were bright white. He cleared his throat. “With me.”
“Oh. Right.”
Was there any real reason to refuse? I couldn’t think of one. I did want to try riding Foxitt. If I was going to be living permanently on this world, I should get used to the way of life here, including being on a shuldu.
“Alright, then. Let’s do it,” I said on a rush before I could change my mind.
