The Foundling

Chapter 3: Picnic

He-ne awoke early the next morning to a slight chill, a pink and turquoise sunrise and a truly revolting smell. She closed her delicate nostrils and tried very hard not to gag. Of course, it was coming from that thing Mavrek had found the previous day, gods it was like death. Mavrek was lying sprawled across the bushels of tubers at the back of the wagon. Ta-lei as Mavrek called it was laying atop her husband's stomach. Both were still fast asleep. 'Like father like son,' the thought came unbidden to her mind. She frowned.

He-ne prodded Mavrek awake crossly, opting to let him deal with whatever this was. Mavrek awoke slowly, as always, he rubbed his eye blearily. As he sat up, Ta-lei stirred and opened its mouth. He-ne was briefly afraid it would begin wailing again. To her relief, the creature closed its mouth without a sound. It balled both hands and rubbed its eyes as if copying Mavrek.

Then it began screeching.

"The devil is that smell?" mumbled Mavrek. He-ne only snorted in reply and gave a pointed look to the thing on his lap.

Mavrek picked the creature up cautiously by the armpits. As the shawl fell away the exact source of the smell was discovered. He-ne reached over, extracting the now soiled piece of cloth, pinching one corner between her finger and thumb. That little monster had defecated on itself! Mavrek had told her yesterday that he thought Ta-lei was sentient, so he named it. He-ne hadn't been convinced. Now her suspicions were confirmed, clearly, no sentient being would ever do something so disgusting.

Mavrek glanced over at He-ne. "Guess we'll have to train him out of that," he said. Mavrek seemed to still be in good humour despite the situation.

Exasperated, He-ne exclaimed "Train him? No. We'll be turning him over to the city authorities remember?" Honestly, it was as if Mavrek had left what little sense he had at home.

Mavrek didn't answer. He turned his attention back to Ta-lei. "Now let's get you all cleaned up!" he said cheerfully as if Ta-lei had only gotten a bit of mud splashed on his clothes after playing in the garden. Still, it was hard for He-ne to argue with his plan. They'd seen a well in the yard of one of the old abandoned farmhouses a couple [kilometres] back along the side road.

He-ne left Mavrek sitting atop the wagon box to untether the galpinny from where they'd left it grazing the night before. She glanced over her shoulder and almost laughed. Mavrek was still holding the creature at arm's length. It was obvious the smell bothered him as well, he was just pretending otherwise. He-ne took in a couple deep breaths, now that she could no longer smell it things didn't seem half as bad.

He-ne was the one driving now, she wanted to touch stinky Ta-lei even less than when it had smelled alright the night before. Mavrek thankfully had not objected and had even gotten it to quiet down a bit, apparently by talking to it. After a short time, they'd reached their destination.

The water in the well was cold and fresh and Mavrek had Ta-lei cleaned up in no time. They hung the shawl and Ta-lei's clothing, damp, but no longer stinky, along the wagon's axel. The morning sun would dry both in no time.

Ta-lei seemed perfectly happy crawling around on the yellow grass. He-ne watched him while peeling a handful of tubers, Mavrek was a few meters off grooming the galpinny.

Him? She was almost as bad as Mavrek. Oh well. Ta-lei pulled himself up balancing against the bucket standing on two shaky legs. He splashed at the water with one of his strange small hands and made a noise that might have been a giggle. After a few seconds, he fell. He-ne hoped the little imp had not hurt himself. She needn't have worried, Ta-lei was back on all fours in no time. He crawled towards her, and He-ne startled and inhaled sharply.

The thing was devilishly fast when it wanted to be. A full-grown adult could probably have out-run it with relative ease but it unnerved her nonetheless. And those eyes... What sort of creature was it?

Ta-lei was grasping the edge of her outer robe pulling himself up. He-ne came back to her senses. Even standing Ta-lei barely even came up half-way to her knees.

He giggled, "up-a daa ga-da." Ta-lei seemed to be trying to communicate, but so far as He-ne was concerned it was nonsense.

"Ga-da" Ta-lei insisted, still staring up at her. He-ne was at a loss.

Fortunately, Mavrek came to her rescue. He scooped Ta-lei up in one smooth motion and deposited the creature on his lap. Ta-lei drank an alarming amount of the honey-coloured tea. He still refused to eat any of the tubers, much to He-ne's chagrin. He-ne was done trying to convince him, but Mavrek hadn't given up yet. He was sitting in the grass with the creature in his lap and small bits of the purple vegetable in the other hand. He-ne almost snorted, he was trying to reason with the little beast.

"Come on Ta-ta," he said in a sing-song voice usually reserved for the galpinny, "they're yummy and good for you too. See?" he asked, popping one in his mouth.

'Ta-ta' as Mavrek nicknamed him babbled something unintelligible in response. He grasped the small bit of tuber Mavrek offered him and promptly threw it. Mavrek patiently explained again and Ta-lei stuck the next piece in his mouth. A second later it was spat back up, covered in saliva, onto Mavrek's robes.

He-ne wondered how long this exercise would continue. "Aha!" exclaimed Mavrek, startling both of them. Ta-lei twisted his head up and looked at Mavrek reproachfully. "He doesn't have any teeth! No wonder he won't eat them." He-ne resisted a strong urge to sigh.

It was now mid-morning, and they were scarcely closer to Ma'ani city than the night before. He-ne had a sneaking suspicion that Mavrek was stalling them on purpose. She suspected he was hoping that she'd warm up to the little monster and agree to keep it. It wouldn't work. Ta-lei ought to be returned to his own people and the authorities would be the only ones able to find them, whoever they were. Everything would be as the gods willed them.