[Job Thread] First Impressions

[Akilah Windsong]

Winter 1st, 512AV

She wasn't nervous.

Well, maybe she was a little. Just enough that she repetitively squeezed her hands into a ball before releasing them. Her strider wasn't with her, as dearly as Akilah wanted her company on this long walk across the city. Should she have brought Adámas? What about her dog?

After leaving The Raised Sun, Akilah had made a beeline to her employer. Ignoring the greetings and waves of her friends, she walked like a girl possessed, determinedly cutting across the city. Her first job, her first job outside of her pavilion, outside of the disciplines of her family. It was exciting and frightening at the same time.

This man, Grothous as the young man called him, was strict but fair. Old too, so maybe wise? An image formed in her head, unbidden, and she could only see her grandma in men's clothing, her muscles bulging out.

Chuckling, she tried to erase the memory. It wouldn't do to meet the man with that in her head. She'd burst out laughing the second she saw him.

What else had Sunshadow said? Strict but fair, and he'd work her to the bone.

The image of her grandma was growing more permanent with each word.

She would be taking care of goats. They were more dangerous than sheep, she knew, because of their horns, but they couldn't be that different. Sheep wandered around wild and were hard to gather. Maybe she should have brought a dog to help herd them. Or Adámas to ride around the herd. Or...

She paused in her steps, ignoring the hustle and bustle around her. What exactly did goat-tending entail? It was winter, so there shouldn't be any births at the very least. They probably were left to fend for themselves, so maybe she had to run around to catch them all before nightfall?

Looking up, she glanced at the pavilions nearby to garner her bearings. It wasn't too late to turn back--no, she was already approaching the outskirts of the city, the sun warm on her back.

It was too late and the only thing to do was to march forward. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the blue leather strap Sunshadow gave her. Just what it was for, she didn't know, but she gripped it in her sweaty palms before continuing.

The land was rocky outside the city. With few trees and bushes and plenty of short grasses, it was a good location for livestock. No one could disappear here. In the distance she could see a herd of horses grazing.

The goats, oddly, were harder to find. Trudging on, it must have been at least half an hour before she came across the first goat. Short wiry hair grew on its body, grey and wild from the goat's travels. After she spotted the first one, the second, third, and soon the whole herd appeared.

A strained expression crossed her face. That was a lot of goat.

[Akilah Windsong]

She almost didn't spot him. In the spotted landscape, all she could see was the white, black, brown of the goats, the hides in all mixtures of those colours. Bleating rose around her, the goats closest to her edging away slightly before realizing she was human.

And the smell. While she was used to the stench of horses, the strong odours of the hunting beasts, this was something different. She had never been near so many animals before and the smell almost overwhelmed her. Strong and pungent, she breathed in through her mouth in an unsuccessful bid to avoid the scent.

At the very least it was winter. In the summer the smell would be worse, the heat and sweat mixing together.

Now wasn't the time to think of that, and she started to push her way through the crowd that dotted grassy lands around her. Where could the--a shape unbent itself, tan clothing covering his body, and she changed directions immediately.

"Hello?" she called, the goats around her ignoring her voice. His grey hair was tangled and messy, despite being tied back so none of the goats mistook it for food. Keeping in mind the hungry mouths surrounding her, she pulled her own braids up a little, adjusting the wrap so they'd stay up.

"Hello!" she called out again and he finally turned, his face worn and lined with age. He reminded her of a rock, the elements weathering his skin as the seasons passed. "I'm Akilah, of the Windsong pavilion. I'm here for the job..." What had that man said? Oh yes, the leather strap. Once she reached him--and he was only slightly taller than her.

If she stood on her tiptoes, she would be just as tall. "Here," she thrust her hand out, palms up and the blue strap laid out to see. Just what it meant, she didn't know, and she looked eagerly at his face for any reaction.

Any, but to her disappointment, he merely picked the strap and turned. Striding confidentially through the mass, he headed out of the throng and to the open space around the herd.

Picking her way after him, her own steps were halting and slow in comparison. If this was a test, she feared she was failing as he stood patiently at the fringes, waiting for her.

[Akilah Windsong]

"Sunshadow sent me here." Akilah gave a nervous smile. Straightening her back and trying to look a little more put together, she introduced herself. "I'm Akilah Windsong. I'm going to be a goatherdess? Shepherdess?"

The silence was unnerving. The old man still didn't talk to her, staring out at the sea of goats instead. After a few minutes, he shifted positions, shielding his eyes from the sun as he scanned the area.

"Are you looking for something?" Akilah wasn't used to silence outside from hunts, and even then it was loud. Her breathing, the soft shifting of her clothes, the cracking of a twig--it always sounded far too loud during a hunt. Nothing was as silent as it should be and if she could hear it, the prey could too.

This was a different silence. The only sound was the breeze and the muted bleating of the goats. Grothous still didn't speak. His head turned left and right and Akilah wanted to shout.

"Your first job is to count the goats." His voice was lighter than she thought, and if he looked like a rock, he sounded like a stream. Calm, steady, flowing.

"Count the goats?" Akilah looked back at the herd and then at the man.

He turned to look at her. "All of them."

Grothous was clearly a man of little words. With that, he moved away from her and toward a goat. Sitting down beside it, he picked it up and started to examine its body. "You don't have much time."

"Ah, yes!" Akilah started out of her reverie and turned back to the herd.

There was a lot of goat. And if she looked a little further, to where the rock jutted out of the earth, she could see even more just disappearing out of her sight.

[Akilah Windsong]

46.

47.

48.

As it wasn't spring yet, none of the goats were really 'young'. Or kids, as the proper term went. Almost all of them were adults and even then quite a few of them were still smaller than sheep and other livestock.

49.

It seemed easy at first. Just walk through the goats, counting them as she went, and then report back. They were all eating, which was a plus--no one would move and she'd be done in a snap.

Goats, she discovered, were not like other livestock. If anything, they were like kittens. Active, lively kittens. They liked to run amok on the rocky terrain. Groups of them would chase each other up and down the jagged stones, leaping down steep slopes like it was nothing.

"Please stop moving. Please stop moving," Akilah muttered under her breath as she followed a herd across a shallow ditch. "Please--"

Stopping, she looked around her. There was absolutely no way to tell just where she had started and which, if any, goats she had counted.

For all she knew, she counted the same three goats over and over again.

"Semele, grant me strength," she whispered to the consort of Zulrav. The earth was patient. The earth was steady.

The earth would--

A goat head butted her legs, knocking her over in surprise. Giving up, she swore loudly.

[Akilah Windsong]

There were a few things she started to notice now, two hours after her start and nowhere closer to the finish line. After three more attempts, Akilah gave up on counting and decided to observe instead.

There were two main different breeds of goat. One had long hair, the other short, and she imagined the former was similar to a sheep. As for the later--meat? She did eat goat meat occasionally. Maybe that was it?

Turning her head in the breeze, Akilah breathed in deeply. Fresh air was good--even if some parts weren't as smelly as others, there were still a lot of animals in this area and they collectively produced a stink. Looking back at them, she frowned at the groups in front of her.

It wasn't just one herd. It was more like...several mini-herds. With loners wandering between them. And a lot of biting and fighting within herds. She couldn't tell which attacks were friendly and which weren't. There were more than a few sheep wandering through the herd, but where the main sheep flock was, she couldn't say.


Above her, the sky was darkening. Akilah frowned at the time. She'd have to ask for help if she wanted to get this done. Getting up, she dusted her pants and looked around.

The old man was nowhere to be seen.

[Akilah Windsong]

"Grothous," she called out as she traversed the boundaries of the mini-herds. That was another thing she noticed--each smaller group tended to keep within well defined areas while they ate. Occasionally they would fight over a patch of grass, but mostly they kept to their own sections.

There was no answer from the man. Bumping into something, she apologized before she realized it was a sheep. Maybe Grothous was crouching on the ground again. His clothes were darker colours, covered in the long hairs of the goats, and he had almost looked like one himself when he was bent over.

Looking around, she watched the herds again, paying attention to their movements. Most of the goats were moving together in their small packs, but there was one group that was staying still. They were a bit far, but one goat looked a bit larger than the other.

That had to be him. Making her way to older man, she called his name again. "Grothous!"

Still no response. "Zulrav, I know you carried my voice to him, so why is he ignoring me?" Akilah muttered, annoyed. She was not used to being ignored.

Approaching him, she could see the curly mop of his hair. It was definitely Grothous, then. Biting back her anger, she reached out to shake him when he deftly moved out of her reach.

"Done?" He continued to tend to the goats as he spoke.

"I...I don't know how to count them. Do you..." Her voice faltered as he shifted to inspect a goat. Why wasn't he looking at her? "Do you have any hints?"

"If you can't count them, you might as well go home," he replied as he lifted a hind leg, touching the hoof carefully. "I need hard workers."

Akilah flushed red, angry. She hadn't loafed around the past two hours, if that's what he was insinuating. At least he should have the decency to look at her when he's firing her. "There...there are 17 mini-herds!"

He stared at her now and she averted her eyes in embarrassment. Why had she said that? What did it prove?

Nothing.

"18, actually," he responded, getting up now. Surprised, she jerked her head up. "Do you have a dog?"

Fumbling for her words, Akilah nodded. "Uh, yeah...but he's a bit young and energetic."

He ignored her words, wiping his hands off on his pants. "Come back in two days. Bring him."

"O...okay," she hesitantly smiled at Grothus, but he had already turned away and started walking. What a strange man. She looked down at the goat at her feet, and sighed. No, this was not a job she wanted.

But it was the job she got. She would make the best of it.

[Praetorian]

Your Diligence Has Been Rewarded! Player 1 Observation +3 XP Socialization +1 XP Animal Husbandry: Goat +2 XP Grothous: Strict but Fair Smell of Goat Counting She-... I mean Goats. A New Job: Goatherd Notes : Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to message me.