Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 11 – The Rodhocetus Trainer

The Rodhocetus placed one front paw against the Shield Dome, wondering why that Dragon offspring was eating leaves that were equal to the ones on the fences around the other animals.

The Farmworker couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Before the dumbfounded looks of Byia’s classmates, the worker asked, “Little girl, did you just send a mental message to the Rodhocetus? Because he never did that! What did you say to him?”

Byia shrugged while munching another leaf and kept staring at the puzzled Rodhocetus. “I told him he was pretty and asked if he wanted to eat some of my leaves, but I used a language that I invented when I was very little. I call it ‘english’. He is still looking at me. Does he want some leaves or what? I really can’t tell.”

The worker touched a couple of buttons near the Dome, and a small window appeared. The Rodhocetus put his head through it and kept staring at Byia while l*****g his lips. The worker pointed at him and said, “I think he wants to try. What are those leaves, anyway?”

Byia approached with a couple of leaves in her hand that she showed to the worker. “Nothing unusual, just a couple of leaves I took from my dinner table in my home. I always liked to eat these, ever since I was little. Do you think he can eat them?”

The worker made a frown and answered, “I don’t know how you can like those things! Give some to him; let’s see if he likes it or not.”

Byia approached the window and threw two leaves in the Rodhocetus’ direction. He opened his mouth and began to munch. He frowned a little, and he then opened his eyes wide and munched even faster. He swallowed and opened his mouth, asking for more.

Byia smiled and threw more leaves while sending a mental message in her presumably invented language, “…||… Here, I have a lot. There are many like these all over this Farm in the buildings and fences. You have one big container behind you, made with the plant that makes these leaves. …||…”

The big Rodhocetus was munching the leaves, and even without completely understanding the language in his head, he looked to where Byia was pointing, and he could easily recognize the same leaves all over that container with his food. He swallowed and nodded at Byia, turning back and going straight to the container. He took a big chunk of it and munched with a big smile all over his face. He then took another chunk and went to the window. He threw the piece of the container to Byia and nodded.

She happily grabbed it and took a bite, sending a mental message to him. “…||… Thanks! This is so good! …|…”

The Farmworker couldn’t believe his own eyes. There he was, the wild and angry Rodhocetus, peacefully eating a piece of the container made with those horribly sweet plants, with a little female rubbing his big snout.

He approached them, only to receive an angry growl from the Rodhocetus. He stopped and backed away a little. “Little girl, have you ever considered becoming a ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’? You seem to have a natural talent for dealing with them! This one sees you already as his owner, judging by the way he is growling at me! If you choose that profession, you can train these guys to do all sorts of work, and it’s a job very well paid because there are not many ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’ around here!”

Byia shrugged while taking another bite of the piece the Rodhocetus gave her and giving him some of her leaves from her bag. “I never thought about that because I only saw a Rodhocetus today, pulling the convoy that brought us here. This is the first time I am so close to one.”

The Farmworker smiled and touched a couple of buttons on the console. The Shield Dome was deactivated, and he announced, “Congratulations! You are now a ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’! Don’t you look at me like that; it was your fault for making a Mental Link with him. He will never accept another owner, and as soon as you leave, he will stop at nothing to escape from here and follow you. He will forever protect you, and he will always obey you. You can train him to hunt some animals or fish, use him as transport, all sorts of things. I hope you find a place for him to sleep at least, or he will have to sleep in your room.”

Byia stuttered while staring at the tail waving Rodhocetus in front of her. “I… I have a small Farm at the back of my house… I have space in there for him… My mother will kill me, for sure…”

The Farmworker smiled and reassured her, “Nonsense! I bet she will be very proud! It’s a profession that has a very high demand and is very well paid. Judging by your small size, he will be a good transport for you and an excellent bodyguard. He is strong, and those sharp teeth of his can easily take out a chunk of meat from the hardest Water-Dragon. But please don’t use him for that; you must be responsible with him and train him very well. Rodhocetus are very smart, and they can be taught to do many things, if you put some effort into his training.”

Byia asked, with her eyes glowing in white, “Are you sure I can have him? Really? This is so cool! Look, Guyi! I have a big and pretty Rodhocetus!”

Guyi took a few swims back when he noticed the glow in Byia’s eyes and warned her, “Byia, calm down this instant! You are about to blow up and make a mess around here!”

She blinked a few times and took a glance at her glowing paws. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The Rodhocetus tilted his head because he thought the Dragon offspring was acting weird, with all that Magic coming from her.

Guyi explained while Byia was calming down. “She often loses control of her Magic when she gets overly excited. Don’t forget, if you see her eyes turning white, tell her to calm down or swim away as fast as you can. Her Magic explosions are terrible! She once destroyed the back garden of my house, and I had a lot of trouble fixing the enormous crater she made when she exploded!”

The Teacher gave a big smile. “Cool! She explodes, and now she has a dangerous and sharp-toothed Rodhocetus! Do you hear it? We found an outstanding student! She will be a very good acquisition for our crazy class!”

Everyone laughed, and Byia looked up at the smiling Rodhocetus. She reached for his snout and rubbed it, and then looked at the Farmworker and asked, “Now what? Do I just need to send a mental message for him to follow me? Or is there a special trick?”

“Try to teach him something. You can demonstrate what he must do and send a mental message with the command word. You will probably need to do it a couple of times until he understands what you want.”

“Okay… Let me try something… ||… Sit! … Get up! … Sit! …||…”

While sending the mental message, Byia sat on the ground, got up, and sat again. She frowned at the Rodhocetus, who had his head tilted sideways and repeated her movements and the mental messages.

At the second demonstration, the Rodhocetus imitated her. The Farmworker blinked a few times and said, “No way! Did you teach him how to do those movements in a sequence? Try telling him to sit again!”

Byia sent the mental message, and the Rodhocetus sat on the floor, staring at her with a big smile.

The Farmworker rubbed his eyes because he was still not believing. “No way… Tell him to get up! Amazing, he immediately obeys you… You will be an amazing ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’, I am sure of it!”

Biya picked up a small rock from the floor and gave it to Guyi. “Here, throw this in that direction, and I will go get it.”

She then looked at the Rodhocetus and while signaling Guyi to throw the rock, she sent the message ‘Fetch!’ and she swam to get the rock and brought it to Guyi.

The Rodhocetus smiled and nodded his head. Byia threw the rock and sent the same mental message. The Rodhocetus swam at high speed, caught the rock in mid-water with his mouth, and quickly brought it to Byia. She rubbed the Rodhocetus snout while messaging him, “…||…Good boy! You are very smart, yes you are! …||…”

The Farmworker had a big smile on his face and looked around at the other students. “I wonder who else will also find out today what they want to do when they grow up! Shall we continue the visit?”

The Teacher called out Byia, who was still throwing the rock, and the Rodhocetus kept bringing it, and she happily rushed to follow her class, with a smiling Guyi next to her and a tail waving Rodhocetus swimming around them.

During the visit, one student found out that he had a knack for working the land, while another found out that he was a very good tamer of those weird animals that laid the eggs the big dark green female liked so much.

Byia elbowed her and whispered, “If you get him as your boyfriend, I bet you will have all the eggs you can eat for the rest of your life! What about it? It sounds like a good plan, right?”

The dark green female turned bright red and whispered back, “Shut up, don’t tease me! I just like the eggs; I don’t like that guy! I have another target on my mind, but he is rather difficult. I could never show him that I was interested in him!”

Byia noticed that she was glancing at the Teacher and nodded in silence. After a couple of minutes and while they were continuing the visit, Byia spoke, “I never asked your name. This entire day has been one surprise after the other, and I totally forgot!”

“I understand; there were a lot of things happening until now. I am Sveta Roolyi. Nice to meet you, Byia Calla.”

Byia taped the female claws with hers in the traditional Water-Dragon way and smiled. Sveta Roolyi pointed with her right thumb claw to the growling Rodhocetus that was next to Byia and said, “You may need to teach that guy not to growl at everyone that approaches you. Not every Water-Dragon is after you, right?”

Sveta faced the Rodhocetus, and she made such a powerful and loud growl that the current caused by the sound wave of her growl made the Rodhocetus stick his paws on the floor, not to roll back. He shook his head a little and growled again, standing between Byia and that big and menacing Dragon.

Sveta looked at Byia and smiled. “He is very courageous, and even with someone as big as me in front of him, he doesn’t stand down. You got yourself a very good Rodhocetus, little one. I hope you take good care of him.”

“I will do my best, Sveta! Calm down, boy, she is friendly!”

The Rodhocetus didn’t budge, and Byia sent a message for him to sit. He did but kept growling without averting his gaze from Sveta.

The Teacher called them to the front because they were getting behind. Sveta Roolyi smiled at Byia and pulled Guyi to swim next to her, leaving behind a growling Rodhocetus and Byia, who was still trying to calm him down.