Once the little jogging troop had reached upon the edges of the Brownwhisker ranch they then slowly cantered into a fast walk. With the poor band of the Deitric’s Thumpers who were bringing up the rear and mightily unfit, pretty much crashing into the wayside before collapsing with rasping breath on the soft grass and weeds. The Badgian who was before them was not much better but was able to keep himself on his feet as he followed like a defeated soldier behind the village guard recruits and Gazelle.

With the beautiful Leonid who was in her prime, happily cooling down from her light exercise, wondering to herself if she should call out for the Rancher to announce her presence or just look for Lem. But she didn’t need to wonder for long as the large Capyban man slowly wondered out from the first stables on the right-hand side, wearing his usual suspenders and holding onto a large hollow and cylindrical object.

“Good morning to you Lem!” hailed Gazelle in a casual walk and easy controlled breathing as if she had not just lead what was essentially a sprint from Pancreedy.

“Morning to you too Lady Fellclaw, what can aye help you with on my Ranch today? If’ it’s eggs then I’m sorry to say I’m very low in that regard… and if it’s a Kaholin-hire then I’m also sorry to say I don’t have enough saddles for all your tired kids there,” replied Lem as he pointed at the dying kids with his hollow cylinder.

“Haha.. I won’t be needing either of those Lem, even If I wanted too, all I need is to have a walk around your wonderful farm and see some beautiful sights,” replied Gazelle as she started to purr in a low tone and smiling wickedly at the Capyban.

But if he was affected by her attempts at charming him, Lem didn’t seem to let it show and instead he was looking highly unamused. This is because the Capyban’s own charisma stats were just too high for basic attempts of coercion through flirtation.

“I’m a wee tad busy right now so jokes aside.. how can I help the guard?” he asked back whilst trying to keep his tone level. Lem didn’t want to seem rude to the Leonid or her husband who in his opinion did a great job at keeping the village safe, but he was still slightly bitter that this high-leveled defender in front of him hadn’t been able to protect his wife. For they were all in the same party with Sarking-Tars on that nonsensical and tragic nobless-oblige farce from the overlording noble that they had called a subjugation mission nearly half a dozen years ago. It was hard to let such things go even if he knew it wasn’t her, Sarking’s or Shade’s fault, but it did affect his interactions with the Fellclaws. At least Sarking-Tars showed some form of guilt over the years following the event, whilst the Fellclaws with their militaristic backgrounds just continued with life like there hadn’t been no issue.

“I’ve got to help a wee foal do it’s first shedding also, and if you don’t mind I’d like to go back to not letting the wee babe die from suffocating,” he added in a matter-of-factly tone.

Pursing her lips for a minor fraction of a second and wrinkling her feline nose in dissatisfaction, Gazelle then conceded defeat. There was never any fun in trying to flirt or tease with a Capyban who wasn’t interested.

“Well I won’t be keeping you from your important duties Lem, I’m only here to see the Chitpulka that has defeated recruit Tars,” she replied with her treacle-like syrupy voice all gone as she barked out her explanation.

Dornmit who was standing beside and behind his master was only able to shift uncomfortably in embarrassment whilst Timothy who stood beside him snorted in surprise before casting his friend a questioning look. The reverse-Centaur boy’s equine face was a mixture of bewilderment and dawning shock for he could hardly believe his master’s word, but whilst on duty and training he could not ask for details unless given permission to speak freely and he had never found any instance of master Gazelle lying whenever she used her usual tone.

Lem was also in shock but thought of it more as a jest for he had never heard of anything of the sort and only had assumed it was the Lesser-Garuda that had caused the boy to be bruised black and blue.

Who’s gonna ever lose to a Chitpulka? Surely Gazelle is joking? And who would ever admit it if they did? He thought to himself with a musk of joy at how ridiculous it all was.

“What in the realms Gazelle? Are you kidding? There’s no way that my Chopeck could’ve beaten Dornmit, it’s insane,” Lem pointed out with some mirth in his voice.

At this point the short Badgian had finally caught up and he too, also had a look of amused shock on his face. But the short black and white humanoid decided to keep quiet and refrain from commenting, knowing that the Leonid was quite sadistic towards people she was in charge of that spoke out of turn and it was something that the training Badgian had already found out first-hand.

“I have reason to believe that you have managed to rear an elite Chitpulka whom has defeated one of my recruits in the village guard, therefore I wish to see for my very own eyes. And if this proves to be the case, maybe use it for some training,” Gazelle explained with another easy smile on her face. For this was going to be a fun experience either ways for the high-leveled retiree. Whether the boy lied and she had to punish him, or he told the truth and she got something to train her new recruits AND punish him for losing in the first place. “I assure you, your spiky Chit will be fine even after our training is over, especially if it was an Elite variant.”

“You know this is insane right? I cannot condone you and your guards coming here to beat up one of my Chitpulkas like that, its cruel and unnecessary. If you wanted to power-level then the Whisperwoods is that way!” shouted Lem as he pointed behind his home towards the forest that lay beyond the copse and the stream, the normally calm Capyban was starting to lose his temper for he did not really abide with the idea of unnecessary animal cruelty.

“Here’s a silver to cover the cost of the renting the Chitpulka for the next week, and rest assured I will not allow any of my trainees to attack your Chitpulka, we are only training our defensive skills today anyways,” retorted Gazelle whilst twirling her hand nonchalantly. “Also why would it be an issue if what I heard from recruit Dornmit is correct? Your son is now a creature healer is he not? So if we damage your precious Chitpulka then there should still be no issue with him fixing it up, no?”

“But this is ridiculous?!” Lem tried to protest with the little cylinder that turned out to be a shed Kaholin-foal leg exoskeleton.

“What is ridiculous, is that you have a Chitpulka elite that is capable of defeating a bronze ranked guard.. whom I have personally trained!” Gazelle barked whilst pointed back towards Dornmit-Tars without looking. This caused the usual gumdrop-green color of the orc boy’s cheek to now turn into a crimson red as he blushed in embarrassment.

Unable to hide his amused curiosity even in the face of punishment, the Badgian man asked in a raspy voice, “ You lost to a Chitpulka?”

But the bashful Dornmit did not reply.

“I thought you said you fought a lesser-Garuda?” asked Lem as he too also sought the truth from his friend’s son.

“Permission to speak freely,” permitted Gazelle with wicked amusement for now she knew that she essentially was forcing the boy to speak up and confess.

“I did mister brown… but then I later lost to Chopeck,” whispered Dornmit whilst trying his best to study his own shoes.

“By the Divines, are you for real?” Lem asked in shock and his musk of surprise. He was finding this whole farce to be more and more preposterous.

“Well I’m not too sure, but I have reason to believe he’s telling the truth. Because who would lie about something so shameful like that? Ehh Dornmit?” the Leonid asked before whirling round and then playfully elbowed the Orc boy in his bruised rib and eliciting a muffled grunt. “ And judging by the type of bruising he’s suffered, they look like blunt trauma instead of beak-marks such as that of the likes of a lesser Garuda,” see added as she then unsheathed her retractable claws and tracing them along the neck of the embarrassed Orc recruit.

Lem and the Badgian were left shaking their heads in disbelief whilst Timothy snorted in disdain, for his friend had told him some tall tales the day before.

“Well?” asked Gazelle as she whirled back round on her heels to face the rancher.

“Well what?” asked the confused Lem in return for he was still coming to grips with the fact that he had reared an elite monster, even if it just a Chitpulka. Maybe what the boys told me about being beaten by Chopeck all those times were true…

“Can I burrow your Chitpulka for some training then? I promise that none of my trainees will harm it.. much,” asked Gazelle once more before raising her chin to look down upon the already tall Lem.

I’m never going to get this persistent cat off my back if I tell her no.. Realms she’s worse than my kids, Lem thought with a defeated sigh. “Do whatever, just don’t kill it alright? I’ve got some important work to do,” he finally conceded before returning inside the stables.

“Fantastic…. Boys, go grab those new adventurers and Dornmit… lead the way,” announced Gazelle with another evil grin on her feline face.