Trip's Adventure

Tecnuts and trouble

Trip was awakened by a wet gecko paw. Opening her eyes she saw her little lizard friend, he looked like he had been dragged through a puddle. His green and blue scales shone with extra brilliance due to the moisture covering its silver speckled surface. His jeweled black eyes smiled at her with intensity that she was sure only he possessed. Then Trip realized how light it was. J hadn't gotten her up this early last night.
"We will need to be able to see in order to find our way there, it gets dark pretty fast at this time of year," J's baritone voice informed her as if he had read her thoughts.
Trip had almost forgotten about the farm and the succulent tecnuts. She grabbed her travel bag and picked up J as she rose to her feet.
After the short journey it was already looking more like sunset. The clouds were masked in shades of maroon and crimson, some light yellows and oranges, as well as some very deep blues.
J, who had been exploring her bag, finally popped his head out," Trip, I think you should put a pocket in here." Trip looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"For me," he replied simply as he disappeared into the confines of the bag a second time. Trip smiled and let out a slight chuckle. Of course he wanted a pocket of his own, leather beat flax cloth any day.
"J?"
"Yes," J emerged from the travel bag again.
"Yesterday...er this morning or whenever it was, when I was fixing the bag I noticed it smelled. What is it?"
"The smell? I think this bag was used to hold spices and, considering where I think it came from, that is perfectly understandable."
"I don't see how that makes it perfectly understandable," Trip stated despondently as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"I think the bag was made by or at least once belonged to a U-cito," J said matter-of-factly.
"I don't know what a U-cito is," she responded shaking her head.
J smiled broadly," A U-cito is a magical creature that once inhabited the plains of Karcaya. They are about six and a half froyes tall with long manes and unicorn tails; they have cloven hooves for feet and walk upright like you."
"I still don't see how that explains the strong smell of spices in this bag," Trip said as she scratched J's chin.
"I was just coming to that, they like extremely spicy foods and were the ones to first invent the travel bag to hold them hundreds of years ago," J said practically purring with pleasure."We're here."
That news quite surprised Trip. She was sure that they had been only half way there when they started talking. Trip looked around for any sign of the people. They must have gone in a few hours ago and not come back.
"Take four or five from up high in each tree, and don't skimp. I figure that, given the size of the equipment that is lying around, the farmers are Greydons," J whispered in one breath.
"That would take all night and how would I carry all of it?" Trip asked as she climbed over the gate.
I'll tell you what; we can leave as soon as the bag is full." This sounded reasonable to her so she started picking. She figured that, considering the size of the bag and the speed that she could pick at due to previous experience, it would only take a few minutes. She was extremely surprised when she had picked for three hours, her arms were starting to get tired, and the bag still wasn't full!
"I don't understand," she said exasperatedly," it should have been full hours ago, is there a hole in it?"
J laughed, “No, Trip, there is no hole. The truth is a U-cito's travel bag can never be filled, that is how they are magic."
"And why didn't you tell me before?" Trip demanded throwing her arms up.
J smiled innocently," You picked with such extreme zeal and determination; I figured you might succeed in filling it." Trip giggled, "We should be able to go pretty far without worrying about food now." Trip shook her head and took five pods from the last tree. There were almost a hundred trees and she had taken five from each of them; that was five hundred!
"No kidding," she remarked as she walked off toward the gate.
"Hold up," J said from his perch on the travel bag strap," I noticed a few wild and domestic spices bushes over there, go get a few handfuls from each." Trip would have argued that there wasn't any room in the bag but knowing this wasn't true and that they weren't going on tonight did as she was asked.
When they finally got back to their designated camp spot, she unloaded some of her positions and laid out the plant springs before her small gecko friend.
"Go to bed, Trip," J whispered barely glancing up from his project. Trip happily submitted and soon slept.
J looked up from what he was doing. She fell asleep so easily, he sighed, if only he could do that. He put some drome leaves in a pile and looked around for something to tie it together with.
"If I can find some tall grass I can use that," he said to himself. Taking one more look at his Brede companion, he waddled out of the clearing. It proved more difficult then J had expected to find grass of a suitable size and flexibility then J had originally thought.
"J!"
He turned sharply to see a metallic magenta and green humming bird flying toward him. He recognized her immediately.
"Ra, what are you doing here?"
Ra landed in a patch of maryn moss just across from him," I could ask you the same question." J smiled, she had some right to an explanation J had been on his way to meet her so she could introduce him to her children when he met Trip.
"I got side tracked," he replied though he was a little embarrassed.
This time Ra smiled," Who is she?"
J looked perplexed," Who said anything about a girl!"
Ra looked sweetly at him," I know you to well, nothing, not even a herd of stampeding unicorns, can keep you from fulfilling a promise you've made. So, who is she?"
J could see there was no getting out of this one, “She is a Brede named Trip," he said slightly irritated.
"A Brede?" Ra repeated as she started to preen herself, "Really J, can't you stick to your own species."J mumbled something indistinguishable about humming birds and minding your own business. Ra ignored him, "Well now that I've found you we can call off the search party. Come, we should return and let everyone know that you are alright." Ra ruffled her feathers and prepared to take off. J had to reason this out. He couldn't just leave Trip out her to fend for herself, especially since she didn't know the first thing about where she was going or what things were like in the world. No, that was wrong. She did know about the world was, or at least how cruel it could be.
"J? Are you coming?" J looked up at her.
"No, I made a choice and I am determined to honor that commitment. If and when I come back, I will be more than happy to meet your family but as it is there is something I have to do."
Ra's eyes narrowed slightly, "Who is she that she sparks such a sense of obligation in you?"
"It's difficult to explain," he shrugged and proceeded to resume his search.
"I have time," Ra said forcefully as she landed almost on top of him.
"No you don't, you have a family to take care of and I have work to do," J moved away with more determination. Who knew that humming birds were so demanding?
"What are you hiding?" J heard the flutter of her wings and turned to watch her disappear into the night. J sighed, she had a point. What was he hiding?
Trip woke up a little before dawn to the sight of J tying a few springs of various plants together with blades of grass.
"Ah, you're awake," he said as he let out a yawn.
"Have you been doing this all night?" she inquired while she stretched.
"Yes and when you're more awake I will tell you the reasons why we are taking these things along."
"Did you ever get to sleep last night?" Trip muttered, splashing water from the stream on her face.
"I had a short nap around midnight but that's all."
"Are we going on our way tonight?"
J smiled," no, I think we will stay here one more night."
"Hmmm, so what exactly is all this stuff?"
"Burrow root, for minor injuries, drome leaves neutralize poison, I don't remember what these yellow leaves are called, but they help with sore stomachs. The silver tipped flowers are excellent for headaches and the rest are spices, cicery, quid, and freet for example," he said showing each one in its turn and letting Trip hold them.
"And these large ones?" queried Trip, picking one of them off the ground.
"Those," he retorted," are ferrow leaves. They have amazing preservative properties and I have wrapped a great deal of the tecnut flesh in them."
"Why did you do that?"
"One, you no longer have to break them open when you want one and two, they are now a lot easier to eat on the run."
Trip looked at the large carpet of shells that littered the nearby forest; there was no way that the little gecko could have done all that."J, how did you crack all those nuts?"
"I could ask you how you managed to stay asleep with me doing that. It took a long time but I enjoy that type of labor."
"Are we going back to the farm?"
J looked up from his things, “yes, Trip, we are, but right now I want you to help me put these things in your bag."
Trip laughed," you can break into hundreds of tecnuts, collect who knows how many plants and spices, all in one night at that, and you want help putting the things away." J just smiled and passed her a package of nuts. After loading a rather vast amount of food into her bag, J gave Trip what looked like a large gourd full of some kind of liquid.
"I put the excess paste into there; I figured we would come up with some kind of use for it."
There was one uncracked nut left out and Trip decided to make that her breakfast or supper or whatever this meal was. She broke it open and having eaten all the flesh and milky past inside she scanned the remains of the shells on the ground till she found a couple that made ideal dishes and an extremely round spoon. J watched her tuck these items into her bag.
"I don't understand why people insist on taking dishes with them everywhere they go."
"You never know," she insisted looking over at him," I don't think we want any more nuts in here so why are we going back to the farm?"
"Simple, I distinctly remember there being a barycot bush there. I don't think there will be any berries on it, but you will be able to use the thorns as needles."
"Needles?" Trip repeated, “Isn’t that a rather minor item?"
"None the less, one that will come in handy and I doubt we will come across a more convenient time to get them."
"If you say so."
Evening came quickly after Trip had some exercise and a long nap. Trip slung her bag over her shoulder then turned to J. She had to laugh when she saw him perched on his hind feet with his forearms extended like a toddler who wanted 'up'. Slipping her hand around his scaly middle she picked him up and placed him on her shoulder. Almost at the small path she heard voices, voices she recognized. Trip gasped, these men were old friends of her master! Trip stopped short, her bare feet frozen to the ground. A thousand questions raced into her mind. What if they spotted her? What would she do if they caught her? But worst of all how would she explain it to Kess? She couldn't see any way to get out of this. If only she knew how familiar she was to become with such feelings.
"We can work this to our advantage and find out what is going on at your previous residence, go closer to the path so we can better make out what they are saying," J prodded. Trip didn't want to get any closer to them then she already was but again she heard J say, "Go."
She crept up to the last few trees before the path. She could hear clearly what they were saying so settled behind a tree to listen.
"As I said before, if it were my slave who had disappeared I would make far more of an effort to recover it."
"Gaston has never been of the opinion that slaves are no more than items to be worked or sold for more money," said the second man that Trip knew as Corem.
"Well if you ask me...”
"I didn't," Corem said drily, his exhaustion from the conversation evident in his voice.
"Gaston is purposefully letting this slave get away with his puny search party."
"What slave was it?" Corem asked clearly pretending to take an interest in his friend’s pointless bantering.
"How should I know? You don't think I would waste my time finding out trivial things, like names, when it merely concerns a slave."
"Maybe that is why Gaston always had more luck keeping slaves then you did. He at least took the trouble of knowing his slaves names."
"I see no advantage to knowing a slaves name," the other man said in a pouty voice.
"They work more efficiently believing that he actually cares."
"Yeah, sure, anyway his small search party should reach here in a few days." Trip was convinced that even if they didn't see her they were sure to hear her breathing.
"Relax," J chirped," they are gone we can go now."
"Not yet," Trip whispered a little shaken by this experience. They lay in wait for almost ten minutes with the half light of the evening.
"Let's go, Trip," J urged. She reluctantly consented and darted across the path. "We need to leave tomorrow, J," Trip panted as she approached the farm at full speed.
"Over there," J said, "The bush is there." Trip went over and started to break off the long thorns. She found it to be more difficult than she had first imagined. Getting her hand into the bush without gouging her hands on the sharp needles was very difficult, but more so was the grabbing of the two inch spines and breaking them off. Trip eventually managed to get several handfuls and started back to the clearing. "Wait, Trip, leave me here, on the fence post, maybe I can find out more about how things are going at you old home." Trip didn't want to leave J; she wanted her companion to stay with her."Put me there," he gently commanded. Trip reluctantly placed J on the post.
"I'll come back for you tomorrow night," she said as she started off.
J stayed there all night and all morning. About mid afternoon he awoke from a short nap to the sound laughing.
"It's so wonderful to see you again, Timothy, I just wish you would have given me more warning that you were coming," a Greydon said as he escorted a rather tall Brede down the orchard path.
"Unfortunately, I will only be able to stay for today," replied the one addressed as Timothy.
"You really should come over more often," the Greydon remarked.
"I can't come any more often, Lausa Fields is a rather busy place to live, especially now that there are rumors that the people from the Enchanted Lands are passing judgment on the rest of the races," Timothy said, "I just hope nothing has happened since I left."
J glared at the Brede, he had sounded sad when he talked about the issues with the Enchanted Lands, but there was something about him that refused to let J believe what he saw.
"How long does it take to get here from where you live?"
"Well, I know that it is almost a hundred and seventy milos from here to Lausa Fields, walking about twenty milos per day, I'd say it takes about eight or nine days. That's not counting the river or other distractions," Timothy figured stopping to stand beside his friend.
"Counting the river and the other distractions," the Greydon insisted.
"Hugh, can you let nothing drop?"
"How long," Hugh insisted crossing his arms.
"Almost half a month," Timothy said looking down at his friend.
"I guess that means you can't come at any time you please," Hugh sighed.
"Yea. Hey! Do you remember what we used to do when I lived here? There was that small clearing in the trees by the stream."
"Oh yeah, we would go swimming there for whole afternoons together," Hugh responded sounding a great deal happier.
"Why don't we do that now, for old times' sake?"
"Great idea, we'll just head back to the house and get a snack and some towels, then head over to the stream clearing." With that the two teenagers took off in the direction of the farmhouse.
J had scouted the area and knew that there were no other clearings by the stream anywhere near this farm except the one which he and Trip occupied as a camp.
"I have to get over there and warn Trip. She's a heavy sleeper and won't hear them coming until it is too late," he said to himself in a worried tone," But I can't run fast enough to beat them there!" J was really starting to panic now. He impatiently paced back and forth on the fence post till his eyes fell on the malt colored cat resting in the sun. "Hey you, Fluffy," he called crawling closer to it.
"I beg your pardon, my name is Demetrius," he said in a low mischievous tone.
"Demetrius, I'm J, can you take me to the clearing by the stream?"
"I might be able to do that," Demetrius said as he rolled on his back to scratch, "What's in it for me?"
"What do you want?" J asked knowing that cats like to feel vastly supreme over everything else in the world.
Demetrius stopped scratching and turned over to look at J," What do I want? I want someone that will understand me and some fish."
J though this was an odd request, but knowing that the former part of it could definitely be fulfilled, he responded in this manner," I will try to obtain some fish for you and the sooner you take me to the clearing the sooner your other request can be granted."
"I'll think about it," the cat said as he started to walk toward the edge of the barrel he was sitting on. J looked up and saw the two boys approaching at a good gait.
"It's now or never, Demetrius. If you don't take me now, you will never get another chance," J said solemn and sharply to the malt cat. J turned to watch Hugh and Timothy go out the gate toward Trip's hiding place. He was starting to despair when he heard Demetrius jump up onto the fence beside him.
"J," he said, "I've decided to take you."