Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sanele looked out over the wet muddy fields and pens with a disgusted sigh. While she loved the rain… working in it was a pain! Especially when you had to go tromping through deep mud to get to the barn to clean it and make sure the Xaraan were fine and the mud would seep into your shoes and soak your pants and socks. Wet socks were disgusting. She would be inbare feet, except the cold made it unwise to do so. The smell also was rather distressing. Wet Xaraan mixed with mud was not a fragrant smell at all! But she would do it; it was her job and the Xaraan her charges. Muttering to herself, she trotted out into the cold rain. Cold rain! In Oba… If it’d been slightly colder maybe we could get snow for once; she thought with a thrill. Except it’d have to be colder, much colder. And the cold was not kind to people of her status. No shoes, ragged clothes, and usually manual labor that put them out in the cold; the poor were hit the hardest and often suffered from illnesses, frostbite, or various other issues during winter if it got too cold.

It hadn’t snowed for many years, last time she’d seen something like snow she’d been only a toddler. Nowadays she, due to her sister’s marriage and the new job, didn’t have to worry about things like that. Lan had provided her with thicker pants and shoes, stating that any master was required to support his apprentices with at least two sets of clothing a year in addition to a half day off every week. He had also done the same to the others… though not all needed it. Sayibb had actually given hers to Sanele, stating she had plenty of clothing already and that Sanele needed it more. Sanele in turn had taken it home for her family to change so it fit her father who needed the extra warmth for his job and for her sisters.

These thoughts carried her to the first barn where a surprise awaited her. Impas. There were impas sitting on the Xaraan! The small reptiles looked up and hissed at her when she entered. She sighed. They’d come seeking warmth, with no sun and the cold rain the cold blooded reptiles needed some source of heat! But how had they gotten in? Sanele wondered as she began checking the barn walls. If there was a hole it needed patching up! Otherwise vermin could get in… including more impas who would steal food from the Xaraan. And could potentially bite and hurt one. Any Impa who bite a Xaraan would get killed… but the bite was dangerous and could get infected or cause the Xaraan pain. All things they wanted to avoid.

She sighed when she spotted the hole in the wall. It was behind the hay stack... a perfect place for rodents to sneak in and out. Growling under her breath, she fetched some wood and tools to fix it. Then she grabbed gloves and a large canvas bag; time to catch the Impas and get them out of here! She would have to find a different place to put them… She smirked as she caught the last one and shoved it hissing and wriggling into her bag. Lan’s daughter’s room would serve nicely!

She crept back to the manor, walking around the walls until she got to the window. Peeking in, a darkened room greeted her. Good; that haughty little perzi wasn’t in! She opened the window, feeling the warm air on her face and grinned; boy was that girl going to get a surprise! She opened the bag and let the Impas scurry out into the warm room. Then she closed the window and carried on her way back to the barn to clean; safe in the knowledge that the rain would wash away her tracks.
With her prank done, she went to clean the barn and her chores. And to check all the other barns for holes in the walls. A pity that I won’t be there to hear her scream when she sees them! Sanele thought with a grin, humming under her breath as she went about her chores. Her mood was much improved and she was smiling despite the wet and cold; annoying that b***h always made her feel better! Snotty little rodent that Lans daughter was. How can such a hardworking nice guy give father something like that? Her mother must have spoiled her beyond repair!