Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Creature Keepers

The gatherers who frequented Rover Grove started to see more and more of the wildlife, over their first year. Some of the smaller, less imposing kin were more likely to see the timid creatures, like snokka. Onnu wasn't sure how anyone knew what a quokka looked like, to know that it seemed to have been mixed with a snow leopard, but that's what they said. She had yet to see it, herself, as large as she was. Slate promised to sketch one, when they had spare papygrass.
   She had seen the liala, peakraptors, and worgles, though.
   The liala was a lion/koala hybrid, as best they could guess, which was lounging in a tree when she flew over. They were easy to catch in the trees, if you could maneuver, but tricky once they hit the ground. She could do it, but it was a workout. They looked gangly, but the longer forelegs gave them greater acceleration than you'd think.
   Peakraptors were one of her least favorite creatures to hunt, because the peacock raptors were just so pretty, and similar to dragons. They flew up in a whirl of color designed to confuse her eyes. It didn't, but she let them pretend that it did. She would cull the weak or elderly, because that was her job, but it made her a little sad.
   The worgles looked like quadruped furgoyles with wings, which caused quite a stir when they discovered them. Nobody wanted to hunt them, in case they were sentient. The furgoyles had been trying to make contact with them, but they responded with at best canine levels of intelligence. One individual seemed to have avian intelligence, but he was their pack leader. They didn't want to split them up, and throw off the pack dynamic. They did consider trying to herd them into the Bowl, but there wasn't a way to contain them without overly stressing them.
   The furgoyles became protective of them, and in time, the worgles returned their interest. Time would tell how close the two kin would grow, but for now, it sufficed that they stopped attacking gatherers if a furgoyle was with them. If the group was hunters, a furgoyle would toss them some scraps. That was how the first dogs were rumored to be tamed, and they were determined to try.
   And then there were the khagulo.
   According to Firmen, the etymology of the word "chameleon" came from the words khamal, which meant "on the ground", and "lion", so they were "khamal lion". Gulo gulo was the scientific name for the wolverine. Since the khagulo looked like a horrific blend of chameleons and wolverines, he'd been the one to name the creature.
   He'd also been the first to spot one. As it turned out, the khagulo was the reason they had such trouble spotting all of the other forest creatures. It let out an odd chirp when one of its freely rotating eyes spotted a potential predator, which alerted the rest of the forest to their presence.
   No one knew that he'd been into taxonomy as well as astronomy and crafting, but they couldn't argue that it looked like a khagulo. The name struck the right chord between terror and mystery. It also sounded sort of exotic, and the creature was definitely that, as well. Its fur changed color along with the scaly parts, so they were nearly impossible to spot unless you snuck up on it. Or, in Firmen's case, sit still studying a plant for so long, it let its guard down.
   He thought that if they could tame them, they would make excellent scouts. To that end, he observed their behaviors for any useful bit of information: what they ate, where they went, anything he could see from one place.
   What he learned made him a bit sad. They relied on the trees so heavily, bringing them to the relatively austere Bowl would be too traumatic. There wouldn't be anything to blend in with, besides the rocky base of the crystals, or the grasses, and those were much shorter than they had been when they arrived. As to their diet, khagulo were omnivores. Their food sources were arboreal mammals, and the leaves of the trees they lived in. If they did manage to tame one, they would have to keep a consistent supply of leaves in their sleeping niche somehow, without the Charon sucking them up every night.
   But fate, it seemed, decided that he would have to try. While he was studying the ferredillo, having given up on taming the little scouts, a liala swiped at a khagulo in the tree nearest it. Both were young, perhaps yearlings, so the liala didn't do enough damage in the first swing--which was crucial to their hunting tactics--and the khagulo didn't get out of the way in time.
   It fell, nearly into Firmen's lap. He had to lunge forward to catch the little creature before it cracked its skull on a basketnut.
   He hadn't noticed how small they were, as high in the trees as they'd stayed. They weren't as small as chameleons, but neither were they as large as wolverines. If he had to guess, they were roughly the size of a housecat--or they were at this age. He didn't quite know how large they grew to be.
   The liala, by comparison, were terrifying ambush predators. Clumsy though this one was, Firmen bolted for the waiting dragon in the open field. He just hoped he was faster than a liala. This was his first encounter with one, and nobody had taken the time to clock their speed.
   He dared look back when he was within sight of Pannu, and the liala had only gained three trees to his ten. This was, perhaps, why they were ambush predators in the trees. They were lucky that it hadn't tried to jump down and run after them on the ground. Even a young liala might've overtaken him, and his small passenger.
   Firmen leapt onto Pannu's back, though no one else had returned yet. He couldn't be sure the liala would leave them alone, unless he was safely aboard something much larger than it was. He cradled the wounded creature to his chest, staunching the bleeding as best he could with his shirt.