*Chapter 7: Dawn*


The next day dawned brightly. Considering that not an hour before sunrise there had been pouring rain, it was quite an improvement. All around there was the smell of drying rain, that fresh feeling you only get after a storm has passed. The sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky, the whole world seemed refreshed, like it had emerged from a brisk shower. All in all, things were looking to be pretty good.

Schrock slurped lazily at his breakfast. It was his own time saving invention, pond scum and coffee, although the way these rabbits made coffe it was hard to tell the difference. He'd become hooked on the stuff as a kid and now he was no good without a cup [or bowlful] of the stuff inside him. [And there's nothing worse than a slow turtle.] The fact that he was using a straw usually didn't strike people so much as efficient as just plain weird. As usual Erst was up and ready; he didn't so much sleep as lie down and shut his eyes. On the other hand, the closest he got to excited was slight eagerness.

He sat in the early morning sun, warming his shell. Despite all the rumours and the fact that it was 'common knowledge' on carrotus; turtles weren't actually cold blooded. While they didn't produce their own heat very efficiently, metabolism produced waste warmth, and the turtles were large enough that they could keep any warmth they produced. Of course, cold is cold is cold, and it helped to get a little assist in the mornings. There was a slurp as he finnished the last of his breakfast and became aware of someone standing next to him.

She was another shellian, no surprise in this district. [The rabbits had an amusing tendency to not be able to distinguish male from female shell markings; it was almost comical that the rabbits blithely seemed to think that all turtles that emiigrated were male, unless wearing clothing stating otherwise.] Interestingly her shell had a large crack down the front that had knitted together; not many turtles survived something capable of doing that. 'Hey, you're new in town right? You arrived with the rabbit right? The weird guy?' she gestured toward Erst who was engrossed with several others in some kind of card game across the street. This seemed to rattle the newcomer, as expected. 'Brother? A rabbit He looks nothing like you!' 'Oh yes, adopted of course. 'Yes, yes, he's my brother. And I'd appreciate it if you stayed away from the rabbit comments; he tries to be a normal turtle, but he's just not all there OK?' Schrock watched her walk off, muttering and reflected how ironic it was that the rabbits had been no troubble at all, whereas his own species was probbably going to be their biggest obstacle toward settling in.

You had to face it, life was a b(-); and one with PMS at that. There was a shelian curse for things like this 'Why do I live in such interesting times?' It was becomming ever more appropriate.


* * *

Jazz stared dumbly into his cereal He was never his best before his third cup of coffee [Rabits have to get their speed from somewhere Groggily he ate a spoonful. Carrot flavoured. It figured. You could never get a decent non-orange snack around here, for once it'd be nice not to have a diet intractibly linked to root vegetables. It was about that time Spaz bounded in, full of his usual energy and entusiasm; he went straight from asleep to running on all cylinders. [Just out of curiousity him and Lori had kept him awake for four days straight. There wasn't any change per se; but he did start claiming to be a hummingbird, which put an end to things pretty quickly.] Spaz had interesting breakfasts, quite apart from the fact that to him meals were more a restraint than proper eating habits, he had yet to master the concepts of 'diet' and 'appropriate foods' Currently he was dining on half a roast ham, a bowl of strawberry icecream, and a jar of pickles. Mixed together. It thus took Jazz some time, especially in his early morning state to notice anything amiss.

He watched Spaz for some time before bothering to mention anything; with Spaz you could never tell. 'Hey bro? Err, new pet?' Spaz looked up from the difficult task of attempting to swallow without chewing and looked blank for a moment. Jazz subtly motioned toward the large red bird on his shoulder, which was currently attempting to see if Spaz's ear and a rasher of bacon were simalar. Spaz looked at it, then went back to eating. 'Yea! Her name's Kira! She's a present from the queen for me doing err... stuff!' Jazz thought this over stuff? What on earth would Spaz possibly be doing that he got a...a... Jazz thought this over as well; he was sure he'd seen or read something about these birds before. 'Hey! Is that a Goshawk?' Lori bounded in, looking remarkably worse for wear, no wonder considering what had happend. She ran over and petted the bird. 'Lori, I don't think thats such a good id-'

'Aaagh!'

Jazz ran what he knew through his head. The Carrotus Goshawk, close relative to the Carrotus Wowhawk, bred by the royalty especially for falconing, and indeed bred so sucessfully that they were for all intents and purposes about as kind and gentle as a rottweiler with PMS No wonder Spaz had been given one, the queen was evidently trying to remove one annoyance from the castle, the question was, which one? The bird itself was roughly a third Spaz's size, it was a wonder he could support it without falling over; as it was its claws were dug in so hard there were blood spatters, not that you'd notice more red on red fur. It was rather eagle shaped, with a cruel hooked beak and eyes that stared at the world with two things in mind, food or pain, possibly both. It was female from what he could tell and probbably quite old, at least a decade. Apparently they got more obtuse and evilminded as they aged. Bleaurgh. He gently pushed Lori, still staring at her bloodied hand, out the door. 'You really want to see the medics about that, its gonna need stitches for sure. There was a flutter as yet another small bid banged against one of the castles many windows. It was always gross when they knocked themselves out, especially if they landed on your food. There was a shark shriek, the sound of wings and Kira perched once again on Spaz, a few ruffled feathers falling from her beak.

Jazz sighed, on second thought given Lori's needle phobia, perhaps it was better if he accompanied her to surgery. Hopefully the rest of the day wouldn't be so... interesting.


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