Winter the 76th, 519 AV
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There was a smell about that Naiomi had to discover. It wasn’t so much that it was a new smell, because it wasn’t. This smell was a familiar one, one Naiomi had smelled many times before but one whose source had somehow always managed to elude her. That wasn’t so much what gave it such a draw. It had started out the way Naiomi had always known it. Faint and scattered, here and there, but never dominating over the scent of others. This season was different though. It had begun early in the winter, spotty the way it had always been, but with time, it grew. Bit by bit, more and more sources of this smell emerged until it overpowered all others. It was everywhere now. It seemed to be in everything. Even people were starting to notice, and people were dumb when it came to smells.
She didn’t look down on them for this. She understood that she was special. Master had told her so. Hers was an experience like few others. She was able to witness the world from two perspectives, one human and one animal, a dog to be specific. Even Naiomi’s nose as a human wasn’t as sharp as it was when she was a dog, though it was sharper than a regular person’s. While she had the curiosity of both a dog and a human, she had the nose the dog to track this strange scent down and the wiles of a human to guide her along the way.
Often times, people wanted her around, Master in particular to assure himself she wasn’t getting into trouble, so Naiomi had to figure out how to slip away. An idea came quickly to her, more quickly than she had expected. Everyone expected her to be close at hand at meal times, under foot and under table, so no one kept a close eye on her. There was no real sneaking to it. She just stood up, stripped off her long oversized shirt that covered her most days, wrapped it around her collar several times, changed into a hound, and walked out the door. Nakedness made most people feel uncomfortable, so most looked away. Several people saw her leave, but most expected her to be right back and didn’t stop her. Sometimes, the best way to be sneaky was not to sneak at all. In the space of a few ticks, she was free, free to do whatever she pleased, and what she pleased to do was to discover the source of this smell.
The first thing to do was find it which was both simple and easier said than done. It was everywhere and in everything, which meant all Naiomi had to do was sniff once and she had found it. That, though, was not truly finding it. She knew it was there, but what she wanted was something fresh, a recent trail she could track to the creature that actually created this scent. So, nose to the ground, Naiomi began to wander the halls, sniffing here and there, picking up fresher trails and following them until she found they’d gone cold, lost once again amidst the smell that permeated everything.
Deeper into the halls, she moved until she realized that every fresh but dead trail was leading her closer and closer to the Great Bizarre. She had never understood what was so strange about the marketplace. To her, it seemed to be a fine market, a grand example of one but very ordinary in all things but its scope.
Naiomi didn’t realize it, but her decision to leave around mealtime was a fortunate one. The Bizarre was mostly empty of people now, just the rare few Knights and squires passing through on patrol. It was this emptiness of people that drew out the things that made the smell, and as Naiomi grew closer, the fresher the smell became until she was completely surrounded by it. It was odd to Naiomi, to be caught in the midst of the smell, immersed and surrounded, and yet to be completely alone. Nothing moved.
That, though, was a familiar sensation, introduced to her in the hunts. Prey, her quarry, never wanted to be found, so following a trail was only half the work. Once the trail began to reach its end, the hunt slowed. Hounds no longer sprinted, and baying was forbidden. Slow silence became the rule of law. Nothing and no one operated beyond its bounds, not the hounds, not the hunters, not the prey. Whoever broke the rule first lost.
A failed hunt was always a disappointing turn of events, and Naiomi had been a part of too many. She was not about to fail this one. Her paws slowed, and though she continued to sniff, she kept the snuffling to a minimal and placed each paw deliberately. She was t silent by any means, but she upheld the spirit of the law. Her surroundings seemed to respect that.
The longer she waited and the more she stilled her breathing, the more the sounds that escaped human ears reached her long dog ears. There was the soft skittering of rodent paws across stone, but every so often, there was a faster skitter pursued by a heavier scamper that ended in a brief shriek or squeak followed by silence. Something was hunting the rodents. Now that Naiomi thought about it, she hadn’t noticed many rodents around the castle this season. If she was being honest, she missed the small creatures. Naiomi had spent many chimes and bells hunting them, never successful despite her longer legs and superior strength. They were agile, crafty beings that lived life evading capture. Whatever lay beyond Naiomi’s sight though seemed to be catching them with ease. Whatever it was was a fearsome predator, and Naiomi was beginning to second guess her decision to track it alone.
But she was here, and she wasn’t about to give up. So she placed her nose to the ground and let scent flood her. There seemed to be no end to them, and they entered as one, forcing the pup to sift through them, separate them out, and make sense of the many pieces. It wasn’t an easy task, but hers was a nose crafted exactly for that. She separated the wheat from the chaff. There were smells that had always existed in the marketplace- stalls, crates, straw, the many wares and foods that were sold, all important but not now, not for this. Then, there were the smells she was looking for, and one of them was fresh, strong, and close. Nose still to the ground, Naiomi began to follow it one direction for the smallest fraction of a tick until she realized it weakened in that direction and turned back the other way. Back and forth, her nose tracked the scent until she was headed in a straight line.
Something darted past the corner of her vision but disappeared before she could shift her gaze to it. For several ticks, Naiomi froze, waiting for something to happen.
And then it did. A creature emerged, a dead rat in its short jaws. Though the rat was large, the small predator holding it was not. The fur on its back probably would have barely tickled her belly if it walked beneath her. It’s jaws, as she had already noted, were not long, and Naiomi didn’t see how jaws so short could be effective.
Even as Naiomi took note of it, it took note of her and stopped. Setting its kill down, it considered her again. Excited to be acknowledged by this new creature, Naiomi dropped down on her front paws playfully, her hind end still high in the air with her tail wagging and her tongue lolling out of her head in her happiest grin. Naiomi whined in the unmanageable anticipation. The creature took one step over its kill, but the sound that erupted from the deepest part of its soul, from perhaps beyond where it might have been birthed in the pits of Hai, said it wasn’t pleased to see her. The sound was guttural, beginning so soft and low she almost missed it, but it grew quickly into an unhappy growl-yowl.
This wasn’t the response Naiomi had been expecting, especially with the friendly greeting she had offered. Trying something more formal, she demonstrated how well she could sit, cocked her head to one side to show her curious good will, and wooded a quiet questioning bark she gave to people when she didn’t want to startle them.
Naiomi didn’t know what happened. She didn’t know how. Suddenly, without warning, the creature doubled in size. Where previously there had been very little, the creature now occupied twice as much space. Though it’s ears flattened back against its head, the rest of it raised up. It’s back arched, making its height rival her own. Its tail, a moment ago so sleek and trim, now puffed out, becoming five times its usual size. It was vicious and frightening as it advanced toward her. Naiomi was scared, but she wasn’t a coward. She wouldn’t run. Instead, she craned her head up and away watching the beast out of a corner of one eye while keeping her face out of its reach.
Suddenly though, it stopped and was ordinary-sized again, almost making Naiomi think she had imagined it, that fear had made the unreal real. But the creature’s eyes were on something over Naiomi’s shoulder, and it still growled suspiciously.
Turning her head, Naiomi saw a woman, not imposing by any means but seeming to somehow hold sway over the creature, and Naiomi’s dog face lost all signs of fear. The wide eyes squinted as her face broke into a bright smile that showed her thanks.
boxcode credit : Ennisa
