Sweetest Treat

“And don't come back until you've found dinner!” Dozer's parting words rang in the three juveniles' ears as they trudged into the forest away from the Pachy village they lived in.

“Who does he think he is?” Raspberry grumbled, kicking a rock and making it skitter across the forest floor.

“An adult who's stronger than us?” Alkonost suggested.

“Stronger than you, maybe,” Raspberry scoffed, puffing out her chest in a truly unimpressive display of false bravado. Alkonost looked to Tony to defend her but he was already scanning the treeline for where to head next.

“Are we supposed to get food for just us or for the whole herd?” he pondered, nudging a leafy fern and taking a bite from it. He winced at the bitter taste and tried to discreetly spit it out before the girls noticed. Raspberry watched him with passive disgust before returning to her rock kicking.

“Just us, if the point is putting food on the table then surely it's feeding ourselves. Otherwise, what, are we supposed to drag a whole bush back to the village?” she sighed and overturned another rock, finding nothing underneath. Belatedly, Alkonost realised her friend was checking for bugs, a quick high-energy snack that always accompanied a serving of shrubbery well. As omnivores, Pachys had the pick of food to choose from, but Alkonost often imagined it made it harder to pick something. Raspberry appeared to have adopted a form of omnivory herself. Dozer always made a point of saying that everyone’s strictly herbivorous until the hunger sets in. Having the adults provide meals was simple, just eat what was put in front of you and then relax for the rest of the evening. Alkonost didn't like to admit how passive she was, but she was fervently hoping that either Raspberry or Tony would come up with an idea.

“Have you two ever heard of cacao?” Tony asked suddenly, still looking at the treetops.

“That some kind of city thing?” Raspberry asked, wrinkling her nose.

“Nah, nothing good grows there, that's why my mom and pop told me that it grows out somewhere in the forests on the islands,” Tony said, “they said it tastes bitter but you mix it with something and it makes the sweetest smoothest drink you've ever had in your life.”

“What do they look like?” Alkonost asked, her eyes wide.

“They look like beans on the inside but they're in these pods high up on trees, I've never seen them in real life but I've seen pictures, I'd recognise them if I saw them,” Tony said confidently. He looked to Raspberry and Alkonost did the same. It seemed to be an unspoken agreement that Alkonost would go along with anything, so only the biggest juvenile was left to agree.

“It’s not gonna be... dangerous, right?”

“Depends on how dangerous climbing is, I suppose,” Tony said, mostly to himself, “It’s less dangerous here than in the city, softer landing.” Raspberry snorted at the image of Tony landing headfirst onto the forest and leaving the rest of his body sticking out of the dirt.

“Let’s do it, I’m getting hungry,” she said decisively, moving to take the lead before realising it would probably be smarter to let Tony lead the way.

The thought of proving herself to the rest of the herd had put a spring in Raspberry's step as she hurried over roots and ducked under branches to move deeper into the woods. As a result, she had to slam on the brakes when Tony called out.

“There! Up there!” His voice was high with excitement and he almost seemed embarrassed at how worked up he was getting. 

“The pod up there? The yellow one?” Alkonost asked curiously, trying to catch her breath from following her far-faster friends.

“That’s them, do you think you could reach?” Tony asked the tallest among them. The Theri frowned minutely and reached her long claws up to the treetops. She wasn’t fully grown, but even at the height of an adult Theri she doubted if she would’ve been able to reach where the yellow-ish fruit was growing out of the trunk. 

“Clearly not,” Raspberry noted, “We’ll have to stack.”

“Stack?” Tony asked nervously.

“Exactly,” the Para replied, not elaborating any further, “Now, what order should we do it? Tony at the top, obviously, but would I make a better base than Alkonost?” She hummed to herself as she thought out loud, leaving her friends to watch her pace back and forth. While she deliberated, Tony looked upwards.

The tree itself was bent, like years of producing fruit had caused it to stoop over with exhaustion. It might have been tall but it wasn’t entirely vertical, there was plenty of footholds on the way up. Alkonost wanted to stop him, he could tell from her hesitant raise of her clawed hands but she couldn’t intervene quick enough; the gravity-bound Pachy was now scrambling upward.

“Alright, fine, I guess we’re not working together,” Raspberry grumbled as she watched Tony shimmy his way up the tree. It was bizarre, watching a creature with such a big head and small arms try to climb into the realm of squirrels and nimble songbirds. The Para was about to compliment his efforts as he swiped at the cacao pod when he lunged just an inch too far and both Tony and the cacao went plummeting to the forest floor. Raspberry inhaled sharply, running forward to try and cushion the fall but she only succeeded in having the pod bounce off her flank, not reaching Tony in time as he hit the ground.

“Tony!” Alkonost yelped, hurrying over to look down at him. The Pachy was wheezing but clearly alive, small eyes blinking back tears as his body struggled to recover the air that had been knocked out of him.

“Did I get it?” he rasped, trying to move his head to look for the cacao.

“You did, now stop moving, you could’ve broken something!” Raspberry snapped tersely, rolling the pod under her foot to show the flattened Pachy. Tony reached out despite the Para's protests and bit into the pod, peeling back the skin and letting the damp beans spill out from within.

“Cacao,” he said triumphantly before letting his head drop back down into the leaf litter.