What If?

Chapter 7

Sorry for the long wait, I hope this chapter will be worth it though. Please enjoy. 

"Here are the bottles," Malaia said as she put four rather large buckets on the table which she filled with the mixture she and Alex had been stirring.

"There they are." Malaia said as she pointed to two elephants and two baby rhino's. "they're so small. How old are they?" Amelia asked Malaia, she hadn't expected these little ones to be this small. "the one elephant we guess is only three months old." Malaia told her as Amelia felt herself get a bit emotional as Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her into his side to kiss the side of her head.

"Will they be able to be released to the wild again?" Amelia asked as she dropped to her knees in front of one of the baby elephants. "We don't know yet, it all depends on how well they cope in the coming months," Malaia explained to her as Amelia asked her. "Would you keep me updated?" she asked her as Malaia nodded her head at the young woman.

"Here you go," Malaia said, handing her one bucket to give to the little one as she fed two at once and Alex was feeding a baby rhino to her right.

"here you go little one," Amelia whispered, rubbing his little face as he suckled from the bottle. "Poor little thing," Amelia whispered as she kept on rubbing the elephant's little face. "Now they'll sleep till their next bottle probably," Malaia told them as they got up. "I knew you were coming so we kept one task till today," Malaia explained to them as she shared a look with Alex.

"We have a few elephants here at the reserve, those who we can't let go back to the reserve. So we keep them here and care for them. Two of our older females need to have their bath at the pond we have here at the centre." Malaia explained as she looked at Amelia as a smile started to grow on her face.

"I thought you guys could do it," Malaia suggested as Amelia turned to look at Alex as he nodded his head. "That would be amazing," Amelia said as they approached their enclosure and a few elephants were waiting by the fence.

"These are the two ladies who're waiting to be washed. The one on the left is called Zylonna and this one here is called Nima." Malaia told them as they followed her in the enclosure as Amelia followed Malaia's lead even if she wanted to reach her hand out to pet them. Malaia knew them best and the last thing she wanted was to get injured in her rush to get close to them.

"They're very sweet, they won't do anything," Malaia explained as they got closer to them and Amelia started to pet Zylonna. "Hey girl, you looking forward to your bath?" Amelia whispered, resting her hand on her head, between her eyes as she looked at her cute little eyes. Her trunk coming up to run over her head and to then wrap around her shoulders.

"She likes you, she barely does that to our keepers, let alone strangers," Malaia noted in amazement that Amelia had managed to connect with Zylonna so quickly without much effort. "She's so beautiful," Amelia whispered, looking up at the giant standing in front of her. She'd always loved these animals. They were such giants, yet they were one of the most caring and sweetest animals that existed as far as she was concerned.

"good surprise?" Alex asked her as she nodded her head. "Yes, you just fulfilled one of my dreams you know, this is really amazing," Amelia whispered, turning around to look at Alex as he gave her a small smile. But Zylonna wasn't too happy that she'd lost Amelia's attention as she pulled her trunk around Amelia's waist and pulled her towards her as Alex let out a burst of laughter.