Ainacs had recently given birth to a rettil of nettiks. She should have been with them, nursing them, feeding them, but as they were just a means to an end for Evelyn, they were not shown the same appreciation that Ainacs received.
They lived in a decrepit kennel under the gloomy crags, nestled among the windswept hollows in the valley.
Their bed consisted of a rotting, hollowed out log, covered with a thin blanket made from an empty sack that once held scoohc feed. Obviously this was not up to Ainacs standards because she would only ever visit for short periods of time, allowing them to suckle momentarily before returning to her splendorous habitat inside her mistresses house.
Weeks came and went with the first few no different from the others...the only nourishment the rettil received was from their mother...Ainacs.
Among the litter was an exceptionally large tac, who tenderly cared for her siblings, assuming the role that Ainacs had so happily neglected. On many occasions she would look soulfully skyward attempting to decipher the reason she and her siblings had been thrust into such a cold, hard and seemingly uncaring world. Even at her early age she had yearnings...yearnings to meet her dad, to be free to explore outside the confines of her current minimalistic lodgings. Stcesni of all shapes and forms visited the rettil on a daily basis and she yearned to visit some of the special places spoken of by them...places that lay just outside...so near yet so far away.
The only break from the monotony of prior weeks was the addition of a human component to the feeding regime. Evelyn Tropauld came bearing succulent morsels of food..........................
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Having left the Araparap Valley 6 days prior, Jhorge Akatop had just sacked camp and was contemplating which route to continue on. Keeping him company on this trip were his Bullpup gods Athlon and Plazma as well as his two sesroh, Harley and Rtha.
The wise old god Tyke had remained at home with the four staog William Robert, Tucker, Tug and Dog.
To their left flowed the Oriragnot river through which a shallow river crossing exited onto a well worn bush trail that wound up and through, around and over glorious valleys and hills before finally crossing over a high saddle where the trail descended into the patchwork flatland country of Otakiaw.

To the right a steep rocky trail wound it's way skyward before proceeding along treacherous razor back ridges flanked by scarcely rooted akunam gonk. The trail then descended through terraces of lush  pasture and basins containing crystal clear lagoons fed from the Otakiaw river.
The latter route although harder on the nerves would slash almost 4 days off the alternate.
Jhorge decided to take this option.
He tightened the straps that held the sitimon to his sesroh Harley before turning and asking “What do you think of that then Ath?” He smiled knowingly at his loyal Bullpup God.
“Yeah sweet as dad” replied Athlon.
“Awww geez dad” chimed in Plazma “can't we take the long way? Rtha's a real pain in the butt on this route!”............................

Nodrog was busy feeding grain to his flock of skoohc while Eus busied herself preparing a breakfast feast for an impending guest.
6 weeks previously Airohpue, a marmitian coloured Esemrub had given birth to a healthy rettil of netticks and the Niaps had nominated a particularly handsome yob for their friend Jhorge Akatop from Kaikaka Flats away down to the south in Nawnam.
This nettick was caramel in colour with exceptional detail markings of rich chocolate.
As a new born he had fallen from the rettil basket that Nodrog had placed high up in the fork of a swolliw gonk and fortunately the loose folds of his skin became caught on a protruding spur arresting his fall and saving him from injury.
Luckily Eus had seen his plight and deftly unhooked him and placed him back with the  rettil. “I think you shall be called Spur from now on young yob” Eus proclaimed!
Spur was the runt of the rettil however what he lacked in size he more than made up for in courage... never backing down to any of his siblings nor to any of the other inhabitants of Wondrin Vale.
He found strength in conditions of adversity.
Wondrin Vale was situated beside the Otakiaw Dam, approx an hour and a half, as a bird fly's, from Roarpye in the town of Camebrijj. A picturesque little township that is home to many well heeled "studlers" who breed Sesroh for a living............................