[Trade] Trim

"Last day, inmate!" a deep but cheerful voice woke Kaiwi from his slumber. As he stretched and yawned, he was surprised to see the call had come from Mantell, looking more friendly than he had ever seen him before. Even Guerilla had shifted out of his perma-scowl and was humming some song under his breath.

"You two are in a good mood, do I dare ask why?" he asked as he joined them outside of his cell.

"It's your last day," Guerilla informed him, like he didn't already know, "We're as happy as you are to not have to follow you around."

"It's been pretty boring," Mantell admitted, "You haven't exactly given us any trouble."

"Aw, I could cause a little trouble today if you want? Just a little, for old times' sake," Kaiwi teased. The two guards chuckled but didn't respond, no trouble it was. The hallway to the outside was familiar at this point, but the way the guards were bringing him beyond that was brand new. They were heading towards a large fenced-off area, ploughed soil and a stack of tools at its gate marking it as a place of agriculture. As they got closer, Kaiwi could see a brown Iguanodon standing over two Tapejaras at the gate. Heavy metal chains were latched to each of their legs, keeping the fliers attached to their guard. More prisoners, not volunteers, the raptor thought to himself.

"Well met, Sela," Guerilla said as they approached.

"You're in a good mood this morning," the Iggy noted suspiciously.

"Final day of prisoner duty," Mantell explained with a grin. 

"Ah, I'm happy for you," Sela returned the smile but Kaiwi noticed it didn't reach her eyes. "We have a lot to do in the fields today so let's not waste any time, shall we?" The two male guards didn't argue and gestured for Kaiwi to follow Sela and her prisoners into the field. They crossed the entire field with the Tapes struggling to keep airborne with their limited range and the heavy chains.

"Hey, fliers," Kaiwi said quietly when he was within earshot. "Take turns on my back, I can carry at least one of you." The Tapes exchanged glances and the darker coloured one decided to perch on the raptor's back, sighing gratefully. "Name's Kaiwi, by the way," he introduced himself.

"Bassoon," his passenger replied, "and that's Oboe." The white-striped Tape nodded at him.

"What're you in for, cellmate?" Kaiwi asked, keeping his tone light but hoping to sate his curiosity anyway.

"Asking too many questions," Bassoon said with a wry quirk to his beak. Kaiwi liked this guy, but perhaps it was just the relief of having a non-hostile workmate. They kept travelling across the soft soil and Bassoon eventually stretched from his limp position on Kaiwi's back.

"Oboe, dear, would you like to take a rest now?" he asked the flying Tape sweetly.

"I'm fine, I can keep going, you keep resting," she replied shortly, even though her wingbeats were beginning to falter.

"Dear, please spare your ego this once," Bassoon sighed, "We have work to do after this, save your strength."

"I'll try carrying both of you," Kaiwi piped up, "I can barely feel Bassoon back there."

"Fine," Oboe relented, landing delicately on the raptor's back. It was a substantial difference and Kaiwi now felt the combined weight of the Tapes slowing him down.

"Welcome aboard," he said cheerfully, perhaps a touch too loud as Sela looked back to scowl at him.

"Save your breath, prisoner," she hissed, "You'll regret all this talking once we put you to work." The sudden mood shift left the three prisoners in stunned silence, resigned to companionable silence with one another instead. Kaiwi chanced a look at his guards, hanging further back since they weren't literally chained to him. Mantell shrugged and Guerilla elbowed him sharply. The green striped Iggy feigned mortal injury and waited until Guerilla was looking out over the field before returning Kaiwi's gaze again. He looked pointedly at Sela, at them and then raised one of his front legs to his mouth. Message received, Kaiwi thought as he nodded back, don't piss Sela off. 

Their destination seemed to be the far fence as their path never wavered from the straight line across the field. As the fence came into view, it was impossible to avoid seeing their objective. It was the same dark wooden plants as the entrance, but barely visible, wrapped tightly in encroaching vines that grew from the jungle and ensnared the fence in its grip. 

"Here," Sela gestured to the fenceline, "You need to do some gardening." 

"We're supposed to get rid of all that?" Oboe squawked.

"Don't you plant all of these? Why are you cutting them back," Bassoon interjected. A brief flicker of rage passed over Sela's face before she schooled it back into a smile.

"We are the caretakers of these plants, we keep them healthy by maintaining them," she said in a faux saccharine tone. "And now it's your job to trim them back, get to work." Her voice dropped on the last word, sending a chill through the incarcerated workers. Kaiwi looked back to Mantell and Guerilla who shrugged helplessly at him and handed him a sharp tool with a long handle. 

"Do you two think you could use one of these?" Mantell asked the fliers.

"We could if we weren't chained together," Oboe piped up. 

"Absolutely not, use your beaks," Sela snapped.

"C'mon Sela," Guerilla rumbled, "Don't make it more difficult for them, they can barely fly in a straight line." Bassoon and Oboe stared at him in shock, surprised an Iguanodon was standing up for them.

"Fine," the female Iggy said in her high pitched pretend nice voice, "I'll unlock them, but only when they're working as hard as they can." She leveled the two fliers with a menacing look, made all the more intimidating with her unusual horizontal pupils. Oboe looked like she wanted to reply with something smart but Bassoon cut her off.

"We appreciate it, we'll work much better like this," he promised. When the cuffs were unlocked, both Tapes took off from Kaiwi's back and swooped over to the male Iggys to grab their tools.

"Do we just hack n' slash at these or do we have to do it a certain way?" Oboe asked, eager to take her frustrations out on the vines.

"Hack n' slash, go nuts," Mantell said, laying on the soft earth to observe their gardening exertions. Oboe nodded and her beak split in an open grin. Despite her open fatigue she dove towards the vines with the scythe in her claws, trying to cut it in half in one fell swoop. She managed to do so, but Bassoon following at a slightly slower pace got caught halfway through the thick stem and was yanked backwards by his momentum grinding to a halt. Kaiwi caught him before he hit the ground and the darker Tape shook himself before taking off again. He perched on the vine and set to work freeing the scythe from where it was stuck. Kaiwi returned to his work too, contemplating whether or not his claws would be useful for this. Deciding to not risk chipping his valuable weapons, he took the long tool and began to slash and prod at the vines gripping the fence. The vines were tougher than they looked, their verdant green appearance belying thick woody stems at their centre that took forever to cut through. The more Kaiwi worked away at this one vine the more impressed he became with the way Oboe was dispatching them so efficiently. Bassoon had switched tracks to drag the cut vines into a pile when Oboe was finished with them, leaving the raptor alone with his thoughts.

Kaiwi looked over to where Mantell, Guerilla and Sela were standing. Would the Iggys really let him go after this? He'd been here for so long, building a rapport with the guards, what if this banquet was a grand scheme to kill off the surface dwellers. He shook his head, the isolation was clearly making him paranoid. He just had to knuckle down and finish this last job, then he would go to their silly party and go home.