298. Hunting, 4

(Rose)

This permanently flooded city is a fish haven.

So we're taking advantage of it for a little while.

We will leave before we deplete the place and scare all living species around.

Until Bleue feels fully healed and Ana fully trained.

The later one being incredibly easy.

We can't really train a bird of prey to hunt. It's in its blood. Or in its genes Blume would say.

Since Ana now knows us, and considers us part of her flock, that's basically it.

The so called training is more playing with her than anything.

From leftovers of materials found in the golden city, Bleue crafted us the armoured shoulder pads, for Ana to land on. She used old leather and tires of a truck I think.

It took her a while to craft them but it would be worth it.

That day, I was just resting and lazed around, feet in the water. All is soft.

The ochre and yellow city surrounded by clear sapphire water and dry lands as far as the eye can see.

It's an oasis. A beautiful one.

Ana flies with a strength that is a little intimidating. It's not a dragon, but when the wingspan of a bird is close to two metres, it's still very impressive.

And Ana caught her first fishes.

The giant bird dove through the sky at the thing that Bleue was pointing at.

The fish that seemed small from where I stood was but a small shark like the one I got last week. I saw Ana fall like an arrow through the air, plunge her talons in the water, and flap her wings with impressive strength to lift herself and the prey out of the water.

She almost didn't make it, flapping for a few seconds while thrashing over the water surface. But she made it, extracting a dying and bleeding shark out of the water.

I've never seen any bird actually hunt or fish like that. Some birds near the sea can dive to fish I know, but Ana doesn't. Or not yet. But she's not a seagull so maybe that's more how it works for her.

Bleue would tell me later that Ana managed to catch smaller fishes before. But now this was the real thing.

Ana then landed on a log left around and began eating some of the shark.

Bleue whistled from somewhere high I couldn't see from where I lazed. Ana looked in her direction, and then at me whom was standing outside of all that.

I nodded and Ana maybe understood. She spread her wings open and lifted off, carrying the shark. She flew upward along with the luggage all the way up to Bleue, somewhere I couldn't see.

It reminded more of the behaviour of a hunting dog right there. Ana doesn't bark, but I wonder what she can think about.

The only thing I understand is that Ana doesn't really need to stay with us to live now. She would be fine without us.

The taming of animals really is a fascinating science. Domestication is something different in the spectrum of relations we can have with other species.

I wonder where beings-like-her stand. Probably on a new range across this spectrum.

I wonder what Ana really thinks.

~

I was snoring in what was like a shallow pool, when she appeared before me in a gust of wind.

A large silhouette eclipsing all light, tall and ever so wide. It appeared with wings over its head like some mythical antic creature.

Then I recognised Bleue carrying Ana over her shoulders.

Bleue carried the shark in a wide bag behind her. She was beaming, proud and happy.

B - Look at what Ana caught!

R - Good job Ana!

A - Hyaa.

I swam the short distance between us to reach them.

Bleue set the armoured shoulder pads for me on the ground, and then Ana to stand on them, her talons clamping down strong. I stood near the edge of the pool, with Ana standing on top and looking at me weirdly.

I have the bizarre feeling that she's wondering whether I'm really Rose, or just a different kind of fish to prey upon. It's a little unsettling.

After exiting the pool, I went to pet her head. She didn't quite recognise me at first as she receded. But after my hand brushed her feathers, she did recognise me and went for the usual petting and scratching. She seems to be a good bird.

~

We now have stocks of dry shark meat. We will be able to leave this place in a day or two.

Bleue is feeling much better herself. She has many scars appearing on her skin, attenuated by our last drops of rejuvenating ink. Some scars are visibly older and others more recent. But she has many, on every limb...

When I look at my normal left hand, I see it's intact, there isn't even any scar tissues there.

But sometimes, it still tingles a little in a specific way, in my fingertips and under my nails. Something in my nervous system still has lingering scars of previous wounds.

I clench my fist for a few seconds when that occurs, and my mind along with my nerves brush these painful memories away.

I put the thick shoulder pads on top of my ragged clothes.

Ana lands on them shortly after. She manages to balance herself well, until we're both steady.

R - When the flying tree is a little bigger, it will be its duty to carry Ana, ok?

B - But I think Ana likes your head.

Ana does seem to enjoy rubbing and then resting her neck on top of my head. Even though it's a little of a stretch in the way she stands on my shoulders.

And when I raise my head to look up, she brings her head forward and down to meet my gaze upside own.

B - I think she likes you.

R - Well, she's a good girl.

Ana brushes her head below one of her wings, unconcerned by our chatters.

And we go.

We leave the fishing pond and follow the river northward.

As we walk, Ana looks at the surrounding green and ochre sceneries like us.

On the evenings when we make camp, while one of us is setting everything, the other one is going with Ana to hunt her dinner. Ana can't eat dry meat like us; she needs fresh food.

So we go catch something with her, although she's quickly becoming capable to sustain herself on her own.

Mice, cats, and even dogs. And other small mammals I don't really know.

She hunts but also can settle for scavenging or eating parts of fresh enough carrion. She can eat the flesh of animals that seemingly died up to a day before, but not older.

She's gradually learning to eat more diverse food like the crow she seems to be, from one parent maybe.

I'm sure she will soon be able to hunt her dinner by herself and to come back to us afterward.

That is as long as she sees us as her friends or family.

We will see.

And Ana clearly will hunt.

~