[Trade] Helpful Souls

The sun was just rising above the horizon, slowly, without the slightest hurry, illuminating the islands. The orange glow, growing by the minute, cast long, dark shadows. Had one been watching this spectacle in the open, it would surely have been hard to ignore its beauty. In the very heart of this forest, however, when one was unfamiliar with the terrain, the phenomenon evoked quite different feelings – the elongated shadows and the bright patches of light squeezing through the branches resembled a nightmare.

5247, her back feathers ruffled with anxiety, treaded carefully across the forest floor. Instinctively, she tried not to make a sound, carefully watching her step. She had the feeling that even a single snap of a twig, a faint rustle of trampled leaves, would be enough to bring some misfortune upon her. The female crouched down, trying to take up as little space as possible. She hoped that this would make her hard to spot, at least from a distance.

Once again, she found herself in a place that was unfamiliar to her, and frankly quite terrifying. The young female always let herself be carried away by her unbridled curiosity, exploring every area that interested her with excitement. Later, when she had sobered up a little and shaken off those positive emotions, she would realise what a bad situation she had got herself into. She always regretted it. And this time, during one of her impromptu, solitary excursions, she had wandered too far. She had lost all sense of time and space, so she had little idea how to return to her own territory, under the loving care of her guardians. She was in quite a predicament.

The mixed forest in which she now found herself would probably not have looked in any way hostile from a distance. After all, it was a picturesque creation of nature, covered with thousands of impressive, beautiful trees, with many intriguing formations within its grounds – clusters of boulders, hills, slopes, waterfalls and forest streams. This visually pleasing place should have filled its visitors with optimism rather than anxiety. However, it all looked quite different from the perspective of a small, young, lost acrocanthosaurus. What would be the relaxing song of birds to others was, to 5247, ominous music, growing louder every time she drew closer to these peculiar singers – and thus betraying her position. The mixture of generally pleasant scents, such as moss, forest litter and resin, was like a smokescreen to the lost youngster, masking all the vital odours that signalled danger. The densely growing, multicoloured trees, normally a testament to nature’s diversity and resilience, were now nothing but one vast trap that might conceal some predator lying in wait for her life, impossible to spot in this overwhelming place. The young female had the impression that some enormous carnivore, completely unnoticed by her, might now be hiding just a dozen or so metres away, keeping a close watch on her.

Her suspicions were, almost comically, spot on.

From a short distance, from behind the cover provided by dense, tangled vegetation, Her was watching the young dinosaur. The crested female had spotted this unusual intruder in her territory some time ago, but she did not want to reveal herself prematurely – acrocanthosaurus of this age rarely ventured into such places alone. There was therefore too great a risk that the youngster was being followed by an overprotective, potentially aggressive parent. An encounter with such a parent would almost certainly result in a completely unnecessary, potentially dangerous fight – so the adult female had to be on her guard. After a long period of careful observation (and thorough, alert sniffing whenever possible), however, Her abandoned this theory. The lost youngster was, without a doubt, alone here.

The same could not be said of Her. On the other side of the path that 5247 was traversing, in a clump of vegetation that was almost a mirror image of the one in which Her was hiding, there was another watchful observer – a second female, almost identical, differing only in the absence of red markings. Moon. She, too, had been keeping a close eye on the young intruder for some time, moving almost in sync with her, not allowing the distance between them to increase even for a moment.

The whole undertaking—this quiet, persistent tracking of a young stranger—looked like an elaborate hunt. Though Her and Moon were skilled hunters, an ambush was not their intention this time. Normally, the females would fiercely defend their territory, not allowing any random intruder to run rampant within it. Here, however, the situation was different – even with one’s eyes closed, it was clear that the young, frightened 5247 posed no threat whatsoever. Neither of the females could therefore bring herself to attack – both considered this option senseless and brutal. The small, brown-feathered dinosaur was merely a lost, helpless creature who deserved to be helped back home. The females wanted to take on this task.

Though the females would not admit it, there was a second, far more prosaic reason for their desire to help – the fact that 5247 was now alone did not mean she would remain so for long. If they did not escort her back to her parents quickly, they risked her parents starting to search for and claim their offspring themselves…

Moon, missing the menacing red markings and so looking at least a little bit friendlier, decided to be the first to emerge from hiding. The female, without any hurry and making no effort whatsoever to be quiet, left her hiding place, taking a wide arc as she made her way towards the young acrocanthosaurus.

It soon became clear that for the terrified 5247, the colour of her feathers mattered little. Completely taken aback by this unexpected encounter, fearing for her life, the young creature fled blindly.

Her, despite her reluctance to do so, had to intervene. She left her hiding place far more abruptly than her predecessor, practically springing up from the ground in front of the fleeing youngster. 5247, too young to have properly developed agility and motor coordination, failed to stop in time – she crashed into the black female’s legs with force, bouncing off them and landing on the ground.

“Get up, little one. We’re not going to hurt you,” Her said, alarmed at how quickly the chick’s sides were heaving. The young acrocanthosaurus was breathing in a near-panicked manner.

The dark, pin-shaped pupils of 5247 were fixed on the muzzle of the adult female, who was leaning over her. It was hard to believe that the stranger meant no harm as she held her muzzle, bristling with sharp teeth, just a few inches from her potential, helpless prey.

Moon took advantage of this moment of concentration and inattention. The female approached 5247 from behind, then with a single, deft movement pushed the hatchling up so that the frightened little creature had no choice but to stand up, if only for a moment. Despite another moment of surprise caused by this movement, 5247 remained on her feet, though her stance was somewhat unsteady and a bit wobbly. A moment of fully alert, mutual staring passed before the chick finally dared to speak.

“Will you help me get back to my home?” An uncertain, trembling voice escaped from the tiny throat, expressing this pleading request.

These words made both adult females immediately regain faith in a successful outcome to this encounter – after all, only cooperation between them and the lost hatchling offered any hope of success. These first words spoken by 5247 in their presence were a good sign.

Now came the time for the more difficult part of the task…

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