Something valuable to give to others [ROM]

An alpaca watched him from the other side of the street, maybe curiously, but the expression of its herbivore face was indiscernible for Tooharan. He stuck out his tongue at it in disdain, and then looked away.

He heard a tingling sound and the office door opened. Eirlys came out from inside, storing some papers in her bag. Tooharan fought down the instinct of wagging his tail to her, because he was quite upset.

He didn't want to go to the city, but Eirlys insisted. Tooharan was having one of those days, and the last thing he wanted to do was being among such bustle and interacting with strangers. That's why he avoided going inside the office, awaiting his friend outside instead. But turns out he had to wait almost half an hour! During which he lost patience little by little.

-There, I'm done, Tob -Eirlys smiled as an apology once she stood by his side- Sorry for making you wait.

Tooharan just glared at her from the corner of the eye and turned around to start walking. Eirlys followed him.

They passed by many tokotas in the streets. Many youngsters, about the same age of Tooharan. But all of them headed in the opposite direction. Probably, to the very same office where Eirlys had been that morning. Of course, Tooharan didn't even think about it, as he was too busy ignoring everyone and keeping up a surly expression.

Luckily, it didn't take them much time to reach the town's end. The last house looked smaller and smaller and finally disappeared behind a knoll. The concrete path simply turned into a soil one, not really wide or plain, since it was usually walked by beasts or small carts. The sky had been getting cloudier until turning into a pale grey blanket altogether.

Tooharan held a fast pace, that sometimes forced Eirlys to trot in order to keep up with him. Despite being tired, Eirlys knew better than asking him to give her a ride. It was enough he wasn't running from her, she thought to herself.

The path descended, following the slight slope of the ground. Everything around was grasslands, eventually interrupted by a tree or knoll. However, at a given point the road took a turn to the right, following the hillside towards higher lands. And to the left (towards which direction the clouds were darker and heavier), past another considerable grassland extension, the blueish line of the sea was visible.

-There's another town to the south -Eirlys pointed to southeast- they're working on the ports today. I'd like to go, buy some stuff, you know?

Tooharan waved his tail slightly. It seems he wasn't that mad now.

-We can have fish for dinner, what do you think? A big one -she gestured the desired fish's size, exemplifying about a meter length. Appetite lighted up in them by imagining it; until then, Tooharan and Eirlys had only eaten small river fishes (the only thing they managed to fish themselves). The mental image of a big smoked fish closed the deal for both, abandoning the road and heading southeast cross-country.

-Sooo... -Eirlys started, hesitating about how to tell the news to her fellow- I was in the TCA's office this morning.

Tooharan puffed. He didn't know exactly which office the girl had been to, because he had reacted grumpy since just knowing about the trip to the town itself. But when he heard "TCA", he remembered the arguments they had a time ago due to some dumb formalities. Tooharan was not interested in anything coming from the association, he was perfectly fine on his own.

Eirlys, on the other hand, had her own ideas. In the last weeks she'd discuss the issue with her tokota; firstly making a casual comment, talking about the activities, and later arguing openly and pushing him to accept taking part. Eirlys wanted Tooharan to start getting involved with other tokotas, and humans. She seemed tired of always living outside a community, without knowing other friends; having to wrap themselves to spend the night in some abandoned cabin, or looking for eventual jobs to earn some coins to buy food. Not that Tooharan's company wasn't enough, actually she really enjoyed to roam the land with him. However, as they grow older, and the tokota's harshness towards others didn't fade away, Eirlys started to worry that they were missing some important thing on their lives.

Eirlys sighed and decided to tell everything to Tooharan without more preambles. She drew the papers out of the bag, and held them up to show to her friend:

-I signed you on for the Rites of Fertility.

Tooharan stopped short. He moved his face closer to the form, surprised, until reading the acronyms "R.O.F.1" and "T.C.A." in the header. Then, he growled deeply and started to walk with sharp and fast steps.

He could not believe it. He thought that issue was ditched already! Some days ago, his handler had urged Tooharan to get his Arms of Akna. In comparison with another more lucrative TCA’s activities, which would offer rewards, the Rites of Fertility seemed something useless, since Tooharan wasn’t planning to have offspring anytime soon. But Eirlys had pulled the "We live in a modern world, but the TCA only standardizes what in other time was a cultural rite for wild packs and tribes alike..." card. Tooharan grunted and showed his teeth, clearly answering that he was a lone wolf. "It is a coming-of-age for tokotas, you can't just leave a tokota’s tradition and identity apart...". The giant beast huffed and applied the ice law until Eirlys gave up. And Tooharan thought that had been enough to dissuade her.

-Hey, don't leave me! -the girl trotted by his side, leaping trough the grasslands irregular terrain- Look, you don't even have to do anything! I just asked for the forms, when you pass the rite I'll fill it for you!

The tokota rolled his eyes. No, Eirlys, that's not the problem. The problem is that I didn't want anything to do with it.

-It'll make no difference! -she insisted- I mean, you don't even need it! You can always go have a little adventure with a wild toko outside the socie...

Tooharan ran away and the girl could not keep up with him. Tokotas did not blush, but he felt an unpleasant warmth on his ears. He could not believe what Eirlys had just hinted, and he shook his head wishing to forget it as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Eirlys cursed under her breath and contemplated the tokota's figure running away in the distance. Maybe she had crossed the line with that last comment. Well, she was nervous and wanted to convince him and spoke without thinking and... and finally touched his nerve.

Dumb dog, she thought. It was too quirky of him to distance from everything and everyone. Sure, they both had made their life alone during all that time, and the habit leaves a dent. Eirlys herself felt anxious making contact with people. But she was starting to feel tired. It had been years since she last played with another human kids. And Tooharan didn't know what friendly competition with other tokotas was. The life of a lonely nomadic rider was no longer enough for her.

Far away, the girl saw the wolf's silhouette climb up a cliff and sit there, contemplating the seashore below. Well, at least he was waiting for her now. Eirlys observed how big he was. The first time she saw him, he wasn't taller than her knees. A chubby clumsy puppy. She wished with all her heart that he had a happy life. And the truth is that, lately, Tooharan only knew how to be angry.

Tooharan had shortly lived with two siblings while newborn, but the three of them were taken to the adoption center, and Eirlys only got to keep him. The first human he knew was violent and tried to drown him. He didn't know any other tokota on his youth, and she could practically say he wouldn't know how to interact with one as of today. Eirlys was aware of his low status, and she thought that getting involved with the TCA and its activities could help him. But imagining Tooharan's point of view... well, What use would he see in being kind with the world that had rejected him since his birth?

When she reached the top of the cliff by him, she had meditated on what to tell him. First she stood by his side, watching the portuary town. She patted his leg.

-There's nothing you should be afraid of, you know? You're huge and clever, and we are a team. Anything we do from now on will be good for us -Eirlys didn't fully know what she was saying, she just wanted to boost his confidence. But she kept going- More so, you have something valuable to give others. You're loyal and brave and gentle. When you allow them to get close, you'll see they don't want to go away. And I think... you have material to achieve great things.

Deep down Eirlys' heart, almost without her noticing, she hoped both of them could achieve great things. On the surface, her mouth was about to blurt "I want you to be happy, Tob", but he started to cry before being able to.

She wiped the tears quickly and started to walk down hill, towards the port town that now was just a couple of hundred meters away. The tokota stood up, his dark blanket moving like a shadow, and went after her.

As she walked, Eirlys' turmoil wore off. She took some deep breaths and started to dig on her bag, pulling off the form papers. Under Tooharan's sight, whom followed her from only a dozen steps behind, she crumpled them and put them on her pocket. She felt somewhat liberated. They were already walking by the first houses and warehouses of the town, they could look for a quick job or buy nets to fish. They could even start planning a trip for the summer.

-What do you think, Toby, marlin or cod? -Eirlys asked in a playful tone, to change the mood.

Tooharan raised his bear snout and sniffed the air. He could smell both kinds of fish. Also shellfish. Sailors and worker's sweat. Salt, saltwater, obviously. But a fortuitous sea breeze brought him a subtle smell of fear.

The tawny tokota stopped short on his track. Something was happening. He oriented his ears to the beach, trying hard to hear something over the sound of the waves and port people on their activities. And suddenly, there it was: a cry for help.

Where?! Tooharan scouted almost franticly for some abnormal movement among the wooden gangways that headed to the sea, and then into the sea itself. He could only see waves, and the darkness of the now closer storm clouds made the water look like a homogeneous mass to the eyes. But a surge raised very far away, carrying a white and orange little dot over it.

Eirlys felt heavy steps behind her and next thing she knew, her tokota had thrown himself into the pier. She stared wide eyed. To say that such reactions were unusual for Tooharan would have been an understatement. With increasing fear, she watched the rigid position of his tail, parallel to the ground. Something was happening. She raced after him as fast as her legs would allow.

-Toby! What is happening?! -she shouted. The answer was a short bellow, similar to a warning bark. Men, tokotas, and even some seagulls moved away of Tooharan's trajectory, alarmed, turning around to see him. Finally, the pier came to an end. And nowhere near stopping, Tooharan sped up his pace and jumped into the sea.

Eirlys let out a surprised gasp. She also reached the end of the gangway, but stopped right there. She couldn't fully understand, until she heard a bell sounding in the sea and she could also see the white sailboat floating on an odd way. A gust hit her face.

-What is happening? What is he doing? -voices of mariners came from behind.

-A ship! -the girl was so shocked she couldn't quite connect the words- I think... a shipwreck...!

But as soon as she managed to reaction, she raced back to the gangway in search of a ship, a raft, anything to jump into the sea as well.

-East, a bit to the north side! It looks like a sailship! -she explained brusquely at the passerbys as she jumped into an empty motorboat. Luckily, they didn't need more explanations: another two tokotas jumped to the water in the same direction, and a ship sailed from the pier. Eirlys turned on the engine of the boat.

-Hey! What do you think you are doing? -the owner had just appeared.

-I'm sorry, it's an emergency! -Eirlys piloted the boat, very clumsily as she had no experience with them, and she almost threw herself under the pier's platform, but she was able to maneuver and sail into the sea- I'll bring it back!

Meanwhile, Tooharan swam. It was his second time swimming in the open sea, but the first one in such furious waters, and the storm hadn’t even arrived yet. A drop of cold rain hit his snout. At least he wasn't smelling blood. The ship was now two hundred meters far from him, it's hull half sunken on the bow side. A yellow shape made itself visible over the deck: a life raft. The closer he got, the more audible the screams were. At last he arrived to the railing, where two tokotas were already trying to abandon the deck with their handlers. A third one was hanging of its front legs, about to slip off on a sharp black reef rock that was trapping the broken hull.

It looked like the sailship had crashed against it, having enough bad luck for the waves to strengthen the impact and the hull split almost perfectly into two. The front part was mostly sunk, but its remainders made enough of a foothold. Tooharan placed his hind legs on the submerged wood, the fronts on the rock, and pushed with his loin and neck. The tokota in danger, of a pale grey coat, climbed over him and could get back into the platform. They howled in gratitude.

Tooharan answered with a bark and threw himself into the sea again. He had just spotted a survivor who had stranded from the group, and was fighting alone among the waves. The boy plunged and came out again, crying desperately. Tooharan bit his clothes and forced him to take hold of his broad neck, carrying him to the boat, but the young man shouted:

-It's my tokota! She...! She sunk! -he spat out a bit of saltwater as he talked- Find her, please!

Tooharan understood then. He roared to the other tokotas to get closer, passing the boy to them, as he swam into the sea again.

He had never dived into the sea. He hoped it wasn't so different from a lake. He took a deep breath and plunged in.

Oh, hell, this was very different. His ears froze seconds after the immersion. His eyes got irritated. He couldn't see a thing, only darkness. He struggled for a bit before swimming to the surface again. A large storm cloud, round, dense and obscure, floated over his head.

His mind formed the image of Eirlys waiting for him in the pier.

He didn't know how, but he was diving down. He forced his nostrils shut. The first meters seemed easy, but soon enough a current destabilized his legs, turning him on his side. He could see the surface over his head, lightening up with a thunder, but the sound was muffled and distant in the silence underwater.

Then he saw her. The lightning made her clear coat stand out. A tokota floated in the black water, fifteen or twenty meters under him. He stabilized his position and kept swimming.

He could hear the bubbles and powerful currents around him. But mostly, Eirlys voice resonating on his mind. "You have something valuable to give others".

He kicked with his hind legs strongly. He was pretty close. The tokota floated sideways, dragged by the currents, and if Tooharan didn't hurry they would drive her apart.

A burst of bubbles passed by him, as if it was a kind of warning, and a second later a current hit him so hard it sent him corkscrew spinning. Water invaded his left ear and he heard a pitchy whistle. He let out some breath in surprise. Stunned, he noticed he had deviated and sunken many meters. He also observed the surface, which looked much more violent and far than before.

"I think... you have material to achieve great things".

The unconscious tokota floated like a phantom, now on his same depth level. She had a half mane, and stains of warm colors on her skin, like she was under sun rays, or she had played with dirt.

Eirlys had saved him, and he saved her. Wasn’t that their legacy?

"There's nothing you should be afraid of, you know?"

The words were still sounding in his ears when he grabbed the female's pelt in his teeth and began swimming up. Still sounding in his ears when the current twisted him again, but this time prepared, he absorbed the movement by holding the survivor between his legs. It still sounded in his ears when his lungs burned and he felt saltwater filtering into his throat. For the time he finally breaked the surface and pushed the stained tokota up, his teammate was waiting for him on a motorboat.

-God damn it, Toby!! I would pretty much appreciate if you were a little more communicative! Don't just run away without telling me a thing! -Eirlys vociferated, as she fought to command the rebel engine in the storm.

Tooharan huffed, but in an amused tone. He watched the tokota under his care: upon getting air again, she had opened her eyes and pawed at the waters confusedly. Tooharan took a better look... wow, her eyes were the same as his. The exact same blue spot.

He howled at her to catch her attention, and started pushing her to what remained of the sailship. The tokota cooperated, although she was too tired.

Eirlys came closer with the boat and threw a heavy marine rope. The lasso trapped the survivor by the neck, and Tooharan helped to pass the rope under her legs to take hold of her chest. Then, he swam by her side to keep her afloat. Eirlys towed her to the other ships and then the shore.

The boat ran aground on the gray sand. The storm had not fully reached the shore, only some wild rain drops were falling. The motor gurgled and went off. Tooharan started carrying the fatigued tokota into the sand, while Eirlys removed the rope. Soon enough, two other tokotas who had helped in the shipwreck arrived, and a large congregation formed around as all the survivors made it back and the settlers came to help.

Eirlys found the owner of the boat and approached him to ask forgiveness.

-I'm so sorry, sir... It was an emergency, my tokota jumped off, and I...

The owner simply shook his head and patted her back. Eirlys guessed he was happy to see the rescue had been successful.

-Oh my god, you got her out! You made it out! -the boy arrived running through the shore with a towel on his shoulders, and kneeled by the piebald tokota laying in the sand.

Thooharan blinked slowly, satisfied. The rescued tokota reacted to seeing her friend, licking his face.

Another two of the surviving tokotas barked and whined, shaking their tails.

-He helped us all -a survivor declared, and her companions nodded.

-He was the first one to notice the shipwreck, wasn't he? -another sailor added. Eirlys recognized one of the men from the pier.

-He is, no doubt, a brave tokota -one person voiced aloud.

Many of the presents nodded respectfully or thanked him with happy sounds. Tooharan simply turned his neck and held Eirlys against his chest.

-Hahah, you're all wet -she laughed nervously. She was grateful for Tooharan's hug, because despite being dripping, his neck was still exceptionally warm.

The healers and nurses of the town made themselves seen. As the survivors narrated what happened and got medical attention, Tooharan let Eirlys go. Before them, the boy and his tokota were standing.

-Thank you, friend, I mean it -the survivor patted Tooharan's neck softly. Eirlys coughed, nervously, but her grumpy companion did not react badly this time. The stained-coat tokota also approached and sniffed his nose, and he received them affably.

Well, that was a novelty, Eirlys thought, somewhat surprised. To distract herself, she began wringing her clothes and bag, which were now soaking wet. Suddenly, probing in the pockets of her jacket, her fingers found a ball of paper. She picked it out and showed it to Tooharan, who glanced back at her meditatively. Then, both looked at the strangers before them.

-I wouldn't want to ask you a favor just after you got out of a shipwreck, but -Eirlys uncrumpled the wet paper, careful not to break it, and showed it to the tokota and her handler- would you mind being our witnesses for the Rite of Merit?

Some days later, a TCA inspector was ordering his desk when a R.o.F.1 form was handed to him among the papers he should approve. The form in question was hardly recognizable; the ink was smeared in almost all the document, it was wrinkled and stained. And it smelled like salt and wet tokota. He raised his eyebrows and looked up to the girl who had just given it to him. She was as pale as the paper and also looked dirty with damp hair- it had been raining lately. But she had a hopeful smile on her face. The inspector turned his eyes to the paper again and found, in the witness page, eight human signatories and three tokota’s pawprints, besides a Mayor's seal from a nearby coast town.

Well, tokotas would always be tokotas. He went back to the first page of the form, reviewed the application for the Fellowship honor, and raised the red approval seal to stamp it on the front.