29th of Summer 514 AV
Lugging and refilling the heavy bucket of water to all the watering bowls was tiring and difficult work. With so many there were many times she would lug the bucket to a watering dish she thought was empty only to find she had already filled it and had to waddle elsewhere. Even more frustratingly was when she filled a watering dish and on her way to fill the bucket again found one she had recently filled dirty from a particular filthy birds bath, or tipped over from squabbling birds or a rambunctious child playing too rough unattended.
"Good thing they have so many..." She grumped as she lugged the final bucket to the final watering dish wedged between two weeping willows. The Zoo Keeper she had been introduced to on her second day had told her to meet her in the work room as soon as she was done and Jaye imagined that after having to refill so many of the water dishes she was probably already late.
Green tunic marred by dirt smudges and patches of darker green where she had spilled water Jaye jogged toward the word room, not that jogging will make up for much time...she bemoaned as she opened the only light door in the place. Several large bolts had been crafted into the other side, a quality that made Jaye both nervous and comfortable. With all the dangerous creatures and remarkably shabby craftsmanship of the cages a bolted room was hardly a bad idea.
"S-sorry I'm late...the birds were ridiculously dirty today..." She explained halfheartedly, excuses wouldn't matter to the woman before her. Surrounded by animals Jaye struggled to understand why everyone who worked here always seemed to be in such a fowl mood but everyday she trudged across the road here they were with the same firm flat lines.
As usual all she received was a grunt of acknowledgement as she took her seat on the long bench. The one room was used for both mixing seed, making and fixing nests, and eating lunch. Having only just been introduced to her flock a few days earlier Jaye had been assigned to clean up, watering and coincidentally watching. While physically demanding it left her mind free to wonder and watch the flighty creatures.
Heart was the only bird who dared enter the building with her, obviously delighted and excited by all the activity and plentiful food and daring the carnivorous sniggers of some of the less palatable clientele of the building Jaye had seen. She had seen less and less of them since entering the city and wondered if they fled back to the Sea of Grass while she was away or wandered the city. With abundant orchards and gardens they were more than content to feed themselves and relied less and less on the Drykas woman.
The thought made her vaguely anxious as she took a seat, Will they eventually treat me like the birds here do? As an outsider? Struggling to draw herself out of the dark thoughts Jaye gazed at the Myrian before her. Dura had hardly bothered to introduce herself upon meeting Jaye, proclaiming that hired help never stuck around for long and introducing herself to wandering waifs was a waste of her time.
Dura never explained anything to the Drykas. She would merely begin her work and expect Jaye to observe closely and copy. This was relatively sufficient when it came to filling the bird baths, or more importantly finding them, but the bird seed always seemed to be shuffled around each day and without labels it made it very difficult to distinguish between each type.
Today they were making nests for the Cliff Swallows. The heat from the sun had dried out many of their own causing dangerous cracks in most and several had already fallen apart dashing baby chicks across the pathway. A gruesome and heart wrenching mess to clean up and obscure from any curious onlookers.
Several cracked and damaged nests lay before them having been pried from the wall for repairing. Leaning over the Myrian Jaye watched curiously as the woman took a long thin flat stick about the length of her hand and carefully picked up a dabble of brown mud from the bucket between them. The mud was quite dense and supported itself in a small round lump along the fissure where she had applied it.
"Fix the fissures. If the opening has broken open then close that up tighter. Shouldn't be able to fit your fist in." Was as much explanation as she gave before resuming her work. Picking up one of the many slender sticks Jaye fumbled with it awkwardly. Having never been taught to write, as the culture in Endrykas oriented around oral tales, she didn't have natural control over the long utensil. Carefully taking a piece the size of the Myrians Jaye picked up her own nest.
It was relatively large and sat awkwardly in her outstretched hand, flat on on end where it had obviously been attached to the wall the nest stretched out like an oval and tapered on the opposite side of the wall attachment forming what was supposed to be a small hole. The edge of the hole was damaged from both the sun and the birds talons and had slowly crumbled away. Instead of a three finger sized hole like the ones she had seen on her first day the Drykas could almost fit her entire hand inside the structure.
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