2nd of Winter, 518 A.V.
Lake Ravok
The water glowed like hot orange steel from the morning sun's awakening. Birds announced day's presence from the pink and yellow clouds above. The toned light brightened his warm brown fur, relaxing his unconscious limbs. The lake breeze tickled his nose, making him turn his head towards the chest he laid against.
"The fella sleeps a good long while, doesn't he? He's been sleep for almost a full day." The chest vibrated with a raspy voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to get too attached? We're selling it for money and that's that. I don't want you crying to me about how much you miss it tomorrow." The water droplets patted the lake's surface as they dripped from the paddle of the rower.
The man's chest scoffed,"I don't care about it. I just think it's interesting that he's slept all day. I haven't seen anything do that since my Uncle Jeof."
"Oh, you don't care? Then why don't you put him in the cages like the rest of them instead of wearing him like a petching necklace?" The rower threw him a narrow eyed gaze.
"You have to admit, I can keep a better eye on him from here."
"Don't care about it." The rower rolled his eyes. "What a bunch of horse shyke."
The other man shook his head, looking down at the sloth in slumber. "He may not even wake up until we get there."
"Let's hope so, because keeping him out of a cage like this is serious business. I'm not taking any downfall if something happens to him or to you. Got it?"
"When have you ever taken the downfall for anything?" The man asked, giving him a sharp stare.
Itt shifted his arm through a gentle twitch, dreaming happily of birds and the air. But a bird hit a tree and Itt flinched awake, his grip releasing from the man's neck. He fell with a whine onto the stranger's lap, causing the man to jolt as well. "Careful there!" He warned the sloth, picking him up and placing him on his lap upright. Itt didn't like sitting upright as a sloth. It was unnatural. It was almost as bad as crawling on the ground. Sloth's hang, they don't sit! Wishing to return to his previous vantage point, and to a more comfortable position, Itt stretched his arms towards the man's shirt so he could climb up again.
"See what I mean? He's bound to cause trouble. Put him in a cage right now." Cage? He's heard that word before. Something to do with birds, right? Or was that cagebird? Birdcage? Yeah, birdcage, that's it. Are they going to put him with the bird?
"He just fell, calm your petching horses. He's not going anywhere-"
The rower lifted his paddle and placed it on the floor of the boat with a loud thunk. He stood up, the small boat wobbling under his weight. "If you're not going to put him in a cage, then I will."
"Okay, fine, I'll put him in a cage." The man huffed. He picked Itt up from under his long arms and stood up, walking carefully a step or two towards the other captive slaves. One was an crow in a cage with a round top, cawing loudly at the traders. Another was a small cat with yellow and black fur and big brown eyes, pacing along the edge of their cage. The man noticed Itt staring at the bird cage, his long arms reaching aimlessly towards it. "Okay, let's try this." He carefully opened the cage, starting to place the Kelvic with the crow. However, once Itt's arms were in reach of the bird, he tried to touch them. The bird hopped away and cawed angrily. Itt continued to reach, wanting to greet them and see their feathers, clueless as to what the crow's caws meant. The bird became desperate as Itt started to wrap his long claws around it, the stranger resorting to pecking the algae covered Kelvic's arms. Itt whined, retracting his arms.
The crow cawed more, fluffing it's feathers, the human quickly pulling Itt back and closing the cage again. "Okay then, not with the bird. Let's put you here." He knelt down and started to open the cat's cage, blocking the opening with his arm until Itt was able to replace it. Itt stared at the black markings on her pelt and became enamored by them. The feline did not return his feelings, however. She hissed at the intruder, not wanting to share the already small space with another, clingy Kelvic.
The man frowned, deciding to pull Itt back. After all, he didn't want any fights to start; they were worth more when not completely battered and torn up. As Itt was being pulled out, the feline pounced towards the door, slinking under Itt in an attempt to escape. The man gasped, shoving his knee into the door to slam it closed. His reflexes weren't quite fast enough to lock her in, despite the effort, and the door closed on the cat, catching her hind legs. She hissed and slashed his leg. The pain caused the man to grunt, and although it didn't hurt terribly, the initial pain made his leg flinch instinctively, allowing enough pressure to release from the door to allow the feline to squeeze her legs out.
Still in the man's arms, Itt watched with wide eyes, the events rushing past him like a bug in the wind. "Gah! She's loose!" The man hollered, putting Itt down on his old seat and lunging for the cat who looked out on the water towards the city that was now in view. The trader grabbed the cat's tail, the Kelvic, not liking such, lunged for his face, her teeth sinking into his nose.
"AAH!" The trader lurched backward, the boat rocking to the left. The crow's cage, which was stacked on top of the cat's slid precariously towards the edge of the boat, the bird cawing in terror. Itt looked towards the bird and it's flapping wings, crawling his way over.
"What did I tell you?!" The rower tried to walk over and grab the cat, but she let go of the first man's nose and leaped from his face and into the water.
Meanwhile, Itt tried to navigate the cage bars to navigate his way to bird since his claws were too big to navigate the small bars quickly. If he rotated his paw backwards, put his claw in one of the holes, then rotated his paw forward, then he could hook onto the bars properly. So left arm, reach up, rotate, hook, rotate again. Right arm, rotate, unhook the claw, lift, rotate, hook the claw, good. He's got this, he'll reach the bird in no time!
"NO!" The rower of the board screamed at the cat, reach out of the boat to try and grab the fleeing Kelvic. However, given it was a small boat and now both men were leaning their weight onto one side, the boat start to rotate. The bird cage slid off the cat cage and tumbled into the water, Itt blinking. But he wanted to see the bird...
His disappointed was quick to come and go, as the whole boat flipped over, Itt and the cat's cage splashing into the cool water.
Well this isn't good.
Water and bubbles rushed around him, blocking his vision. He had to wait for the water to become still before looking around the green foggy water, hearing the splashes of the men and animals rumbling in his ears. He saw the bird cage sink, a hand reaching down to grab it, legs kicking. Muffled, Itt heard the rower growl,"Flip the boat back over, I'll get the cat!" He swam over Itt towards the cat who desperately paddled towards the city that Itt did not recognize. The one who held Itt tried to flip the boat, placing the bird cage in it as he crawled to it's safety.
Itt looked at his paws, his claws still hooked around the bars of the cage.
This really wasn't good. But it's okay, he just needed to breath. Not actually breath- well, he did need to breath, but not at this moment because he's underwater. He just needed to relax and do this calmly. So breath, not literally, in and out. In and Out. In. Out. In. Out. In... Out... In...
His panicked heart pulsed widely, but as he thought to himself it began to slow. It slowed beyond his normal heart rhythm, beating like a slug travels.
"I got the cat! Where's the cage?!" The rower of the boat called from the surface, their voices getting more and more muffled the deeper Itt sank.
"Inthewater!"
"Thenfindit!"
There was a splash as the man dove in. Itt could hear his swimming about, but he never saw in his murky vision. The man returned to the surface with another splash. "Ican'tfindit!"
"Whatbouttheing?"
"Idoninkeysim."
"YoupechinmmmmMmmm!"
Their words became unintelligible through the water. Itt looked up towards the surface, the sunbeams of the morning sun bent into fractures and faded into the foggy lake. Bump... bump... went his heart, his body to slowed down even more than usual.
Same as before. Rotate, unhook, free. Rotate, unhook, backlegs free.
Itt looked up when he felt the water move near him, seeing a speckled fish swimming leisurely by. He wondered what kind of fish that was. He's never seen it before. Then again, he was more familiar with plants and bugs than fish. Nevermind, he needed to unhook his last two paws. He repeated the process he did with his hind legs and unhooked his front paws, the cage continuing to sink while he hovered in place. By the time he was done, there was no signs of the men on the surface.
Itt decided it was best to head to the surface. As cool as being underwater was, he did need to breath eventually, and he'd very much like to be back in the trees. Paddling his paws with the speed of a molasses, he tried to swim to the surface. But something was wrong. Even though he was moving his arms and paddling upward, he didn't seem to be moving. It's probably this weird necklace thing they put on him at the start of their trip. It's heavy and it was weighing him down.
Itt knew he couldn't take it off. He had tried early last season to remove the collar as it was uncomfortable and he wanted to shift into his human form, but he couldn't. He didn't have much of a choice at this point. Either continue to keep his heart rate slower than usual so he could hold his breath longer and try and swim up at his current, slower than usual rate, or return his heart rate to normal and hope he has enough breath to make it to the surface.
With his heart rate so slow, everything he did was like moving in honey, so his paddling wasn't strong enough to propel him forward. Although he could hold his breath for another 30 minutes or so, it didn't matter if he couldn't reach the surface eventually. He had to move faster.
You can do this. Bump... Bump... Bump. Bump. Bump, bump. Bump, bump, bump, bump. Swim now! Swim!
The little sloth paddled his long arms and weak legs up towards the surface, brown eyes searching the light green fog for the colour of the sky. Like a dog he paddled, crawling his way through the water with his strong arms and treading with his short legs. The light above him vaguely got brighter but there was no distinct signs of how close he was to safety.
Itt tried to remain calm, thinking about the city that lived on this lake. He never heard of a city on a lake, and although he only had a glimpse of hat it looked like, he could tell it was beautiful. He wanted to see it.
He had to see it.
Itt could feel his tiny chest stinging as his body consumed the air in his lungs. He paddled as fast as he could, but there was still no signs of the surface. His chest was getting tense and his brain started to rush through thoughts in panic. What if he didn't make it? What if he never saw the sun again? Or the birds? Oh he wanted to see the birds! He wanted to feel the wind on his cheeks and see their wings spread wide, kissing the sky. Oh he wished to see them and be them! He wanted to be a bird! He wanted to spread his arms out wide and force the sky below him and join the wind in it's domain!
Thinking about the birds, Itt started to replicate their movements, raising his arms above his head and pulling them down and out, above his head, and down and out. His clenched his jaw, trying to prevent it from opening and inhaling the lake. But he wanted to so badly, his body ached for it!
He wasn't going to make it. He wasn't flapping his wings fast enough, he wasn't going to see the birds again.
Man. He really liked birds. At least he can imagine being like one. Flapping his wings in the cold, green, foggy sky.
Itt broke the surface, his mouth opening desperately, inhaling as deeply as he could. Wha- he was alive?! Yeah! He was alive! Itt looked up to the air and sky, seeing a Gull fly by. He smiled, letting out a victory cry in a long, sloth whine. He won!
Okay, now all he needed to do is swim to shore. He could see the grand city, so it couldn't be too far away. He'll just start paddling. No big deal. He's floated and paddled some ways before. This will be no different.
Five minutes later, Itt was gently floating along the surface. It felt like forever he's been swimming! He's not that far away from the shore, or the buildings or whatever it was but he was so tired, he didn't want to move anymore. But just like before, he had to continue or perish. So with his waning strength, he doggy paddled weakly towards the floating city, hoping for the strength to reach it.
Lake Ravok
The water glowed like hot orange steel from the morning sun's awakening. Birds announced day's presence from the pink and yellow clouds above. The toned light brightened his warm brown fur, relaxing his unconscious limbs. The lake breeze tickled his nose, making him turn his head towards the chest he laid against.
"The fella sleeps a good long while, doesn't he? He's been sleep for almost a full day." The chest vibrated with a raspy voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to get too attached? We're selling it for money and that's that. I don't want you crying to me about how much you miss it tomorrow." The water droplets patted the lake's surface as they dripped from the paddle of the rower.
The man's chest scoffed,"I don't care about it. I just think it's interesting that he's slept all day. I haven't seen anything do that since my Uncle Jeof."
"Oh, you don't care? Then why don't you put him in the cages like the rest of them instead of wearing him like a petching necklace?" The rower threw him a narrow eyed gaze.
"You have to admit, I can keep a better eye on him from here."
"Don't care about it." The rower rolled his eyes. "What a bunch of horse shyke."
The other man shook his head, looking down at the sloth in slumber. "He may not even wake up until we get there."
"Let's hope so, because keeping him out of a cage like this is serious business. I'm not taking any downfall if something happens to him or to you. Got it?"
"When have you ever taken the downfall for anything?" The man asked, giving him a sharp stare.
Itt shifted his arm through a gentle twitch, dreaming happily of birds and the air. But a bird hit a tree and Itt flinched awake, his grip releasing from the man's neck. He fell with a whine onto the stranger's lap, causing the man to jolt as well. "Careful there!" He warned the sloth, picking him up and placing him on his lap upright. Itt didn't like sitting upright as a sloth. It was unnatural. It was almost as bad as crawling on the ground. Sloth's hang, they don't sit! Wishing to return to his previous vantage point, and to a more comfortable position, Itt stretched his arms towards the man's shirt so he could climb up again.
"See what I mean? He's bound to cause trouble. Put him in a cage right now." Cage? He's heard that word before. Something to do with birds, right? Or was that cagebird? Birdcage? Yeah, birdcage, that's it. Are they going to put him with the bird?
"He just fell, calm your petching horses. He's not going anywhere-"
The rower lifted his paddle and placed it on the floor of the boat with a loud thunk. He stood up, the small boat wobbling under his weight. "If you're not going to put him in a cage, then I will."
"Okay, fine, I'll put him in a cage." The man huffed. He picked Itt up from under his long arms and stood up, walking carefully a step or two towards the other captive slaves. One was an crow in a cage with a round top, cawing loudly at the traders. Another was a small cat with yellow and black fur and big brown eyes, pacing along the edge of their cage. The man noticed Itt staring at the bird cage, his long arms reaching aimlessly towards it. "Okay, let's try this." He carefully opened the cage, starting to place the Kelvic with the crow. However, once Itt's arms were in reach of the bird, he tried to touch them. The bird hopped away and cawed angrily. Itt continued to reach, wanting to greet them and see their feathers, clueless as to what the crow's caws meant. The bird became desperate as Itt started to wrap his long claws around it, the stranger resorting to pecking the algae covered Kelvic's arms. Itt whined, retracting his arms.
The crow cawed more, fluffing it's feathers, the human quickly pulling Itt back and closing the cage again. "Okay then, not with the bird. Let's put you here." He knelt down and started to open the cat's cage, blocking the opening with his arm until Itt was able to replace it. Itt stared at the black markings on her pelt and became enamored by them. The feline did not return his feelings, however. She hissed at the intruder, not wanting to share the already small space with another, clingy Kelvic.
The man frowned, deciding to pull Itt back. After all, he didn't want any fights to start; they were worth more when not completely battered and torn up. As Itt was being pulled out, the feline pounced towards the door, slinking under Itt in an attempt to escape. The man gasped, shoving his knee into the door to slam it closed. His reflexes weren't quite fast enough to lock her in, despite the effort, and the door closed on the cat, catching her hind legs. She hissed and slashed his leg. The pain caused the man to grunt, and although it didn't hurt terribly, the initial pain made his leg flinch instinctively, allowing enough pressure to release from the door to allow the feline to squeeze her legs out.
Still in the man's arms, Itt watched with wide eyes, the events rushing past him like a bug in the wind. "Gah! She's loose!" The man hollered, putting Itt down on his old seat and lunging for the cat who looked out on the water towards the city that was now in view. The trader grabbed the cat's tail, the Kelvic, not liking such, lunged for his face, her teeth sinking into his nose.
"AAH!" The trader lurched backward, the boat rocking to the left. The crow's cage, which was stacked on top of the cat's slid precariously towards the edge of the boat, the bird cawing in terror. Itt looked towards the bird and it's flapping wings, crawling his way over.
"What did I tell you?!" The rower tried to walk over and grab the cat, but she let go of the first man's nose and leaped from his face and into the water.
Meanwhile, Itt tried to navigate the cage bars to navigate his way to bird since his claws were too big to navigate the small bars quickly. If he rotated his paw backwards, put his claw in one of the holes, then rotated his paw forward, then he could hook onto the bars properly. So left arm, reach up, rotate, hook, rotate again. Right arm, rotate, unhook the claw, lift, rotate, hook the claw, good. He's got this, he'll reach the bird in no time!
"NO!" The rower of the board screamed at the cat, reach out of the boat to try and grab the fleeing Kelvic. However, given it was a small boat and now both men were leaning their weight onto one side, the boat start to rotate. The bird cage slid off the cat cage and tumbled into the water, Itt blinking. But he wanted to see the bird...
His disappointed was quick to come and go, as the whole boat flipped over, Itt and the cat's cage splashing into the cool water.
Well this isn't good.
Water and bubbles rushed around him, blocking his vision. He had to wait for the water to become still before looking around the green foggy water, hearing the splashes of the men and animals rumbling in his ears. He saw the bird cage sink, a hand reaching down to grab it, legs kicking. Muffled, Itt heard the rower growl,"Flip the boat back over, I'll get the cat!" He swam over Itt towards the cat who desperately paddled towards the city that Itt did not recognize. The one who held Itt tried to flip the boat, placing the bird cage in it as he crawled to it's safety.
Itt looked at his paws, his claws still hooked around the bars of the cage.
This really wasn't good. But it's okay, he just needed to breath. Not actually breath- well, he did need to breath, but not at this moment because he's underwater. He just needed to relax and do this calmly. So breath, not literally, in and out. In and Out. In. Out. In. Out. In... Out... In...
His panicked heart pulsed widely, but as he thought to himself it began to slow. It slowed beyond his normal heart rhythm, beating like a slug travels.
"I got the cat! Where's the cage?!" The rower of the boat called from the surface, their voices getting more and more muffled the deeper Itt sank.
"Inthewater!"
"Thenfindit!"
There was a splash as the man dove in. Itt could hear his swimming about, but he never saw in his murky vision. The man returned to the surface with another splash. "Ican'tfindit!"
"Whatbouttheing?"
"Idoninkeysim."
"YoupechinmmmmMmmm!"
Their words became unintelligible through the water. Itt looked up towards the surface, the sunbeams of the morning sun bent into fractures and faded into the foggy lake. Bump... bump... went his heart, his body to slowed down even more than usual.
Same as before. Rotate, unhook, free. Rotate, unhook, backlegs free.
Itt looked up when he felt the water move near him, seeing a speckled fish swimming leisurely by. He wondered what kind of fish that was. He's never seen it before. Then again, he was more familiar with plants and bugs than fish. Nevermind, he needed to unhook his last two paws. He repeated the process he did with his hind legs and unhooked his front paws, the cage continuing to sink while he hovered in place. By the time he was done, there was no signs of the men on the surface.
Itt decided it was best to head to the surface. As cool as being underwater was, he did need to breath eventually, and he'd very much like to be back in the trees. Paddling his paws with the speed of a molasses, he tried to swim to the surface. But something was wrong. Even though he was moving his arms and paddling upward, he didn't seem to be moving. It's probably this weird necklace thing they put on him at the start of their trip. It's heavy and it was weighing him down.
Itt knew he couldn't take it off. He had tried early last season to remove the collar as it was uncomfortable and he wanted to shift into his human form, but he couldn't. He didn't have much of a choice at this point. Either continue to keep his heart rate slower than usual so he could hold his breath longer and try and swim up at his current, slower than usual rate, or return his heart rate to normal and hope he has enough breath to make it to the surface.
With his heart rate so slow, everything he did was like moving in honey, so his paddling wasn't strong enough to propel him forward. Although he could hold his breath for another 30 minutes or so, it didn't matter if he couldn't reach the surface eventually. He had to move faster.
You can do this. Bump... Bump... Bump. Bump. Bump, bump. Bump, bump, bump, bump. Swim now! Swim!
The little sloth paddled his long arms and weak legs up towards the surface, brown eyes searching the light green fog for the colour of the sky. Like a dog he paddled, crawling his way through the water with his strong arms and treading with his short legs. The light above him vaguely got brighter but there was no distinct signs of how close he was to safety.
Itt tried to remain calm, thinking about the city that lived on this lake. He never heard of a city on a lake, and although he only had a glimpse of hat it looked like, he could tell it was beautiful. He wanted to see it.
He had to see it.
Itt could feel his tiny chest stinging as his body consumed the air in his lungs. He paddled as fast as he could, but there was still no signs of the surface. His chest was getting tense and his brain started to rush through thoughts in panic. What if he didn't make it? What if he never saw the sun again? Or the birds? Oh he wanted to see the birds! He wanted to feel the wind on his cheeks and see their wings spread wide, kissing the sky. Oh he wished to see them and be them! He wanted to be a bird! He wanted to spread his arms out wide and force the sky below him and join the wind in it's domain!
Thinking about the birds, Itt started to replicate their movements, raising his arms above his head and pulling them down and out, above his head, and down and out. His clenched his jaw, trying to prevent it from opening and inhaling the lake. But he wanted to so badly, his body ached for it!
He wasn't going to make it. He wasn't flapping his wings fast enough, he wasn't going to see the birds again.
Man. He really liked birds. At least he can imagine being like one. Flapping his wings in the cold, green, foggy sky.
Itt broke the surface, his mouth opening desperately, inhaling as deeply as he could. Wha- he was alive?! Yeah! He was alive! Itt looked up to the air and sky, seeing a Gull fly by. He smiled, letting out a victory cry in a long, sloth whine. He won!
Okay, now all he needed to do is swim to shore. He could see the grand city, so it couldn't be too far away. He'll just start paddling. No big deal. He's floated and paddled some ways before. This will be no different.
Five minutes later, Itt was gently floating along the surface. It felt like forever he's been swimming! He's not that far away from the shore, or the buildings or whatever it was but he was so tired, he didn't want to move anymore. But just like before, he had to continue or perish. So with his waning strength, he doggy paddled weakly towards the floating city, hoping for the strength to reach it.