Nora's Quest 2: Log Cabin

Aibu appeared on my doorstep after one of the month’s worst snowstorms, a satchel held carefully in her left arm, close to her chest. Upon opening the carrier in my small kitchen, both Iru and I found ourselves looking at the cutest little Kusubi chick ever! So small still that the serpentine part was barely visible in the thick, fluffy coating of light blue feathers.

“Where’d you get it?” Iru inquired as he quickly withdrew his poking finger from the front of the striking snake-head’s mouth.

“Explore small island. Found wood home.” She described, “Small home.”

A cabin. What was a log cabin doing out on one of those islands? No, wait. A better question: what was Aibu doing in the woods of one of those islands? Her lips drew into a tight line signaling that she would not divulge her secrets to me when I asked. Fine by me, I changed the subject.

“Why’d you bring home a Kusubi chick?”

“I now have pet too.” She stated at my question, baring her teeth in a proud grin. And as the little chick blinked up at us, I could find nothing wrong with her keeping the little darling.

Iru was the one to pause in his gushing of the chick in order to direct a curious look her way, knowing her better than I, perhaps, “Wait, where are the parents?”

“No parents.” She stated dismissively with a passive wave of her free hand, “Mine.”

Iru’s look turned worried, “You killed them?”

My head snapped up at that—She wouldn’t! Would she? As I saw her pout at Iru in a rather disgruntled fashion, I knew that she very well could have. “Aibu…!”

“No.” She snapped, glaring at both of us as though we were the ones that had only yesterday been scarfing down freshly caught, uncooked fish from the river, “Not wild born.”

“Then where did you get it?” I questioned cautiously, already feeling sorry for the poor chick. The poor orphaned babe.

“Trade.” She stated before giving Iru a putout look. “Know better.”

“Sorry.” Iru muttered with an embarrassed look, “Traded with Rin then?”

Aibu snorts and then rolls her eyes. Even before she says ‘no,’ I’m already dismissing such a silly question. Of course it’s not from Rin. She said she’d found and traded the little thing on one of the islands. Rin hadn’t left his lodgings since the first drop of snow had hit and hadn’t unwrapped himself from his mountain of coverings since the weather had dropped below zero. As it was, he wouldn’t be traveling outdoors of his own free will until either the snow melted or…the snow melted. Rin definitely wasn’t the one she’d traded with.

“Then who?” I queried interestedly, perhaps this person would have more interesting things or creatures to trade? But again in answer Aibu gave me the tight lips, her head lifting haughtily and I barely prevented myself from rolling my eyes as I huffed in exasperation. Perhaps she’d dish later, after I’d coaxed Iru into bugging her to death about it.  

“Alright.” I said turning for the basement, “Alright, give me a minute I think I have a cage somewhere in the basement, should be the right size for a Kusubi….”

“Cage?” Aibu inquired, withdrawing a handful of nasty looking grubs from a pocket in the satchel’s side, “What for cage?”

“You mean what the cage for..” Iru corrected automatically watching avidly as she began feeding both ends of the hatchling.

“To put your Kusubi in, it’s very young and will stay small—”

I was cut off by the sound of Aibu’s growl, “No. No cage for Heath.”

I paused near the door to the basement and turned around at her decleration, “But he’ll grow too big if we don’t cage him. Don’t you want him to stay small and cute and cuddly?”

“Not natural stay small. Kusubi grow when adult. No cage. Mine!” She snarled and quickly snatched up the satchel housing said Kusubi before turning towards the door.

Where the heck did she think she was going? All she had was her watery home and mine to choose from and, normally when she stormed off in a temper I allowed her to—but this time she wasn’t alone and in her fit of upset she may have forgotten that her new pet did not have gills.

“Aibu! Wait!” I called quickly. Upon gaining her sneer I rushed to add, “You’re right! Cages are bad. Your…Heath won’t stay in one! Don’t leave. I’m sorry for upsetting you. Here, Iru’s curious about feeding the Kusubi, aren’t you, Iru? Why don’t you show him how to do it while I set up a nice spot for your pet, hm? It’s so cold outside, we should make sure its trip over the water didn’t sicken it, don’t you think?”

She continued to glare at me a moment or two before finally muttering, “He. Heath male.”

And as I watched her settle back in the kitchen and pick up the wriggling grubs she’d dropped in her haste to leave, I wondered what idiot had decided it a good idea to give an air breathing baby to a sea-faring carnivore. Surely if she’d wanted a pet, a gyupii would have been better…?

I can’t help but to ask now that the question’s struck me, “Aibu….why didn’t you want a pet gyupii or sphyrna aumakua? I’d have thought you’d find those chimera more your type of pet.”

She snorts at me as she is in the midst of handing a grimacing Iru a wriggling, furry bug, “Eat gyupii,” she accompanied that with a chomp of her sharp teeth, “Sphyrna boring. Kusubi fierce and smart. Protective. Good pet.”

And that is how Heath came to be in our possession.

And how I came to know of a hidden log cabin dying for me to find it and its secrets...