Open Working with birds

[Fox Starseer]

Fox woke up early, a little after sunrise, and walked to the tent where his mother, Alvera, did business, looking after, and hiring out birds to the hunters and scouts, as well as some training in the use of falcons and other large birds for hunting and scouting. Fox's duties, usually, included taking care of the cages and birds, occasionally he listened to the training groups, and occasionally did some training of the birds themselves.

"Ah there you are, I need to go into the market and get some more meat and seeds for the birds, I'll trust you to do your duties, as well as dealing with any customers who come by, just give them the bird they ask for, and put the money in the strongbox and note it in the ledger" Alvera said as Fox walked behind the table that served as the counter. "Of course, mother" he said. Alvera buttoned up her cloak and they gave each other a small kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "I'll hopefully be back by lunch time" she said as she turned and left. Fox walked along the first row of cages. "Birds and people, today should be interesting" he mused as he opened the first cage and started to remove the old straw from the bottom of it and put in fresh stuff, as well as checking the water dishes, toping them up as they needed it.

[Fox Starseer]

After he cleaned the first row of cages, Fox was called to the front of the tent by some hunters. "We need a bird to help us with hunting" the lead hunter said, rather gruffly. Fox nodded. "Any preference?" he asked. "No, just give me a bird and we'll pay you, that's how your mother does her work" the hunter replied. Interesting, he knows that my mother owns this shop, he must have seen me around before Fox thought as he went and got the hunter a harrier. Once he handed the bird over, the hunter placed a bag of mizas on the table. Fox took the coinpouch, put the coins in the lockbox and handed the pouch back to the hunter. "Thank you" the hunter said, bowing slightly before leaving.

Fox went back to working on the cages, and a few minutes later his mother returned. Alvera put the bag of seed and meat on the ground at the back of the tent. "Fox, can you but up this meat into strips for the birds?" she asked. "Yes mother" Fox replied, grabbing the knife that was used for this work. He began slicing the meat. "A hunter just came in and hired a harrier from us, the coins are in the lockbox" he said as he worked. "That's good, I was hoping someone would come in while I was gone, I hope it all went well" Alvera said. "Yes it did mother, he didn't care what bird he got" Fox replied.

[Fox Starseer]

Fox kept working for a couple more hours. The hunter returned and Fox took the bird back from him. "I hope this bird served you well" he said. The hunter nodded. "A fine bird, your mother has always been good with her falconry though, we suspect it could be because of her Inarta blood" the hunter said. Fox nodded to this. "I would believe so, she's a good teacher too, she taught me how to train the smaller birds, like the kestrals" he said. Fox and the hunter bowed, and the hunter left as Fox put the bird back in it's cage. The sun started to set, and Alvera and Fox started to do the final clean up of the day before closing up the shop. "You did very good, Fox. I'm proud of you" Alvera said, smiling warmly. Fox smiled back. "Thanks mother, I learnt from the best" he said. They gave each other a quick hug and Fox went about giving a strip of meat to the birds before they closed the flap of the tent and went back to the main tent of the pavilion for dinner.

Fox's first day of work was finished. He looked forward to many other days of helping his mother with the birds and learning more about falconry.

[Limey]

Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Observation 2 The Young Man In Charge Birdkeeping 3 The Right Bird For The Customers Rhetoric 1 Preparing The Birds' Food Additional Notes : Well, nothing too special about this one, but I did like the dynamic between Fox and his mother. I liked the... I don't know, the everyday nature of it. That's rarely explored in Mizahar, and it's refreshing. I would suggest that you expand it a little more next time. Break up your text into paragraphs and flesh it out a little. Be introspective, talk about Fox's dreams or desires. Throw in some hurdles for him to overcome. That said, good work, and I hope to see more. Any questions or queries, please PM me.