Page 105 of Riv's Sanctuary

The faint patter of a person walking caught his ears.

“La-rehn.”

The thought of her pushed the memories away.

She was up already.

Rolling his shoulders, he rose from the sleeping cushion and stretched.

Donning his work garments, he set his face into a scowl, intent on letting her see that she didn't affect him in the least bit.

But when he entered the main room, it was empty.

Checking the cook room, he didn't find the human there, either.

Grot was missing too but the tevsi usually left through the back hatch early in the mornings to go hunt small game in the fields.

Phek it. He’d asked for this.

He'd told her to stay out of his way; maybe she was listening.

What he needed to do was follow his own advice.

As he left the building and headed toward the umu enclosure, he frowned.

The tilgran that usually stuck its long neck out to greet him wasn't there today.

It only took him a second to realize he'd gotten used to the animal's greeting.

The other thing that hit him was the soft melodious note his ears picked up in the air.

It was low, but the more he walked toward the sound, the clearer it became.

The human. He’d found her.

Even when there was no one to speak to, words still came from her mouth.

What was she speaking about now?

He wasn’t sure.

It was some melody about “mull-berry” bushes and chasing “wee-zehls”.

When he finally spotted her, she was ankle deep in purple tilgran dung as she used his shovel to move the poop into a bucket.

He opened his mouth to ask what she was doing but his mouth slammed shut instead.

Grot was beside her, pushing the bucket along with his nose and that only made his frown deepen.

Around her, the tilgrans all dipped their necks at varying intervals, bumping her slightly with their snouts as if they were thanking her for her hard work.

They never thanked him.

Watching the human, her new boots getting filthy in the dung, an eyebrow rose.

She was wearing the new clothes she'd bought.

The fact was a surprising one. He'd never met a female that didn't treasure her new clothes, much less one that willfully shoveled excrement.