The Feast part 1

Kaiwi rolled over as he woke up, almost flailing at the amount of room he had to reach out. That’s right, he had been given a proper room instead of a cell overnight after finishing up his gardening work the previous day. He sat up to look through the small window, an improvement on his windowless cell but still seemed bleak and claustrophobic. He was really missing his apartment at this point, but according to the guards he could go home after this whole banquet charade. He rose to his feet and began to stretch, getting himself ready for the day when he heard a soft knock on his door. That was a novelty too, having a door for privacy. It swung open gently and a large dark Iguanodon head peeked in.

“Mornin’ inmate,” Guerilla greeted, an unusually warm tone to his voice.

“Ah, I thought I had seen the last of your gorgeous mug yesterday!” Kaiwi exclaimed, walking over and placing his hand over Guerilla’s as a greeting in turn. 

“Not quite,” he rumbled, “I have to escort you to the banquet after all.” The raptor tried not to roll his eyes. 

“An escort? For little old me?” he asked, batting his eyes at the guard.

“Not just you,” Guerilla admitted, “We’ll be picking up two others on the way. An Oviraptor and an Atopodentatus.” At the second species, Kaiwi thought of Pancake, the Atopo that had nearly swept him clean off the dock with her fish herding skills. 

“One of your kind and one of mine,” he hummed instead. Guerilla looked a little taken aback by that but gathered himself quickly.

“I suppose you could look at it that way,” he said agreeably. “Shall we?” He gestured to the hallway and Kaiwi shrugged before following, not feeling like he had much of a choice.

Today was a big day for Brunhilda, this was the day she was going to earn the right to her war paint. She had thought long and hard about what she would want, and after having spent time on the surface, finding friends and even love, she had made up her mind. Purple. To match her theri girlfriend's gorgeous, long claws.

She was deep in thought when a loud noise caught her attention. It was Agnus, clearing her throat to catch the attention of the much smaller ovi. Brunhilda straightened her back and faced the gray Iguanodon, who had a less than impressed look on her face. 

“Distracted, are we?” she asked with a stern voice. She wasn't necessarily mad at Brunhilda, but had to show authority, after all. 

“My apologies, I am just very excited for today. I hope you can forgive me.” she replied. 

Before Agnus could speak again Celena, the Atopodentatus that Brunhilda had adopted from the surface, was crawling out of her box and attempted to barge out to slither around the Iguanodon’s legs, but Brunhilda just barely managed to catch her and hold her back with one of her feet. 

“I'm sorry..” she whispered nervously. 

Agnus snorted. She was amused by the odd duo, but didn't comment on the ordeal,instead she nodded to the hallway. 

“Follow me. It's about time.”

Brunhilda nodded eagerly and followed as Agnus started to walk. Celena wanted to run ahead but after a stern look from Brunhilda she huffed and obediently waddled beside her instead, taking overly wide steps in protest, hoping to accidentally make Brunhilda trip on her. But Brunhilda knew her shenanigans by now and had learned to avoid her little webbed feet. 

“As you know, Brunhilda.” Agnus said and glanced back at her before looking forward again. “Today your task is to keep an eye on a captive of ours and make sure he behaves throughout the whole banquet.”

“I promise I will not disappoint.” Brunhilda ensured the Iguanodon. 

“We're counting on you.” Agnus said as they entered a lounge, and she gestured towards a couch. “Wait here for Guerilla and the raptor. He will let you know what to expect.”

Brunhilda stood by the couch, ready to be of service, and Celena plopped down on the floor with her front legs straight forward and back legs straight backwards, a perfect stretched out pose for maximum relaxation. Brunhilda couldn't help but smile at her silly little pose. 

Guerilla squeezed through the narrow human hallways with an ease that indicated years of practice of navigating them. They were slightly too small, too narrow for an Iguanodon to comfortably fit through and Kaiwi wondered why they were so dedicated to maintaining this old place instead of building one of their own to suit them better. When the hallway opened up into a lounge type of room, he was able to stand up straight and seemed to appreciate the extra head room. 

“Good morning, Brunhilda,” he called to a slight, featherless Oviraptor that was standing with a tan Atopo near a faded couch. She stood up straight at being addressed, while the Atopo continued to sprawl out on the floor, wiggling her dark front legs in front of her. 

“Good morning, Guerilla! I hope he didn't cause you any trouble on the way here.” Brunhilda answered as she glanced over at the utah behind him. 

“So far, so good.” the Iguanodon replied. “He is all yours now, make sure he doesn't disturb anyone. Let us head to the banquet.”

Brunhilda nodded and lightly poked Celena so she would stop chewing on her own tail and get up. 

“Keep walking behind Guerilla to the banquet. I shall keep an eye on you from behind for now.” Brunhilda ordered the utah as Guerilla was starting to lead the way. She wasn't used to commanding others, but she had to be in charge to earn her place in the ranks. 

“You better behave today, raptor, or you will cause trouble for the both of us.” Brunhilda said as they walked through the door to the large banquet hall. “I'm not looking to be enemies, we're on the same side, you and I.” she stated as she gestured for the utah to take place by a small table near the corner of the room.

Celena looked up at the raptor as he took his place, she stared him into the eyes before sneezing and curling up into a ball between Brunhilda's feet to sleep.

Kaiwi raised a brow at the Oviraptor’s attitude. For someone who claimed to be on his side she was certainly lording it over him. He looked down at the small table in front of them and back over at the long table that the majority of guests were sitting at. He definitely recognised a few faces, it was hard to miss the glowing Pachy from a few days ago. He wondered if his chaperone would allow him to socialise later but his train of thought was interrupted by a large Iguanodon coming through the arched doorway. It was the same one that had been supervising the Pachys in the mines, Agnus, he recalled.

“Attention, guests!” she boomed over the assembled crowd, “The banquet is about to begin!”