A/N: it's been a hot minute since I posted on here lol. Thanks for baring with me. Years in the past, but not many...
Dedicated Staffbearer awoke with a start, with brilliant daylight spilling across her bed. She pinched the bridge of her nose, the remnants of her dream still fresh in her mind.
Her lady in waiting opened the great door, peeking in.
"Is something the matter, my lady?"
"Oh, no, not necessarily."
The attendant sat on the edge of the bed.
"Necessarily?"
DS smiled.
"Well, the beginning of the end of this era is upon us."
The clanging alerted him first. They had returned in the early morning from the baseball game. Bug had gone down to the barn to make sure everything was in order, since they'd been been gone for most of the day.
He was on the opposite side of the barn, across several stalls, when he heard a cowbell go off loudly.
He glanced across the stalls. They still seemed just fine. But... there was a pair of horns... in the wrong corner of the barn... Was the gate open?
He hurriedly wove through the barn to the cow pin. The tail of the first cow was leaving the barn when he stood in shock beside the cows.
He didn't lose a second in dashing across and attempting to force the door closed.
Unfortunately, the sound of metal on metal spooked the herd, who shoved forward, opening the door again.
Bug was shoved out of the way, landing in the gravel drainage ditch in front of the barn.
The cows, now confident that they were safe, separated, meandering around the yard.
Now, the property was laid out like this;
Closest to the road was the house, and from the back porch of the house extended a picket fence. To the right, perpendicular to the road was the shop barn and right next to that, verticle to the road was the dining hall. On the other side of the house, set pretty far back from the road, was the clinic. Outside the picket fence, and leading straight to the road, was a paved path large enough for a gurney. A good hundred or so yards back from the clinic, and more in the middle of the yard, was the animal barn. The picket fence connected all of these, forming a yard between them. Aufera farm didn't grow many crops, but what they did grow was in this yard. Pumpkins and squash and a few others, a little ornamental corn. To the right of the animal barn, on the side of the shop barn, was the cow field, a huge open field with a much sturdier fence around it. (On the other side of the animal barn was the beginning of the forest.)
The problem was, the cows had just gotten into the picket fence yard. Which they were never allowed into.
"NO COWS NO WRONG PLACE."
Bug jumped up again, trying to herd the cows, but they had dispersed, covering the whole yard. Several of them were eating out of the garden. He ran over to it, trying to shoo them away.
But thankfully, the others had taken notice and momentarily the rest of the family was outside.
Nairuu and Mkenzi, the ones who normally worked with the cows, were able to heard most of them back to the barn.
Three of them spooked at the sound of the barn door being hit by something's horn, ducking out of the herd. Meioxi attempted to herd them back together, but they shoved past him, knocking him over. He grabbed the last cow's hoof, who lowed, smacking the next one. It turned around warily and backed into the picket fence, knocking it over.
It trotted off into the woods.
For a couple minutes they had to ignore it to finish shutting up the herd and fixing the fence, but as soon as they were no longer needed, Bug and Nairuu hurried after the wayward cow, following its path of broken twigs through the woods until they reached the dry creek bed, which had, in recent months, become home to a pothole.
They peaked over the edge of the hole. Below, in the midmorning light, a cow lowed nervously.
"Hey, d'ja bring a rope?"
"Always."
Nai fished the rope out of her backpack and tossed it to him.
He unwound it, measuring.
"Think it's long enough to make a harness down there?"
"There ain't no sturdy trees close enough for there to still be enough."
"Hmm. What if you held the rope?"
"And then pulled you *and* the cow out?"
"Naw sis, you just hold it while I climb out then we both pull the cow out."
"Ahh. Yeah I could pull one or the other of you out but not both. Sounds like a plan."
Bug handed her one end of the rope, slinging the other end into the cistern. Nai planted herself firmly in the ground and Bug kicked off his boots before descending. The cow was on the shore beside the pool.
With great toil and much tying and retying, Bug fixed a decent harness for the cow, before attempting to lead her back into the water.
Nai holding the lead tightly, he ascended, and they both pulled the nervous cow up and out into the air again.
Flopping backwards and lying on the soft earth for a minute, the stupid laughter made it hard to catch their breath again.
Eventually they got up, and Bug undid the Cow's harness, replacing it with a simple loop they could lead her back with.
"And tomorrow we grease the barn door hinges!" He said jovially.
Nai didn't tell Bug that this had been the same cavern she'd fished him out of.
A/N: to address yet another hilarious discrepancy that I somehow let slip. This one I have realized can have a canon explanation.
Bug hummed to himself as he scrubbed the dishes. The melody was probably out of a commercial, he couldn't quite place it. He was washing and Nai was rinsing.
Without warning, Nai loudly set down the plastic cup she was washing, looking with exasperation out the window.
"What?" He said, smiling.
"I just realized something stupid."
"What?"
"Do you want to know, Bug? The stupid thing I realized?"
"Yes I do. What is it?"
"For ages. FLIPPING AGES. I have somehow forgotten that Gosmia exists."
"What in Gaia is Gosmia?"
"It's a country. Like Sunbruht. It's where the. The you know. The."
She snapped her fingers trying to remember.
"Y'know, like the juggalos and them. They live there."
"Uhh, oh."
"Oh sorry, you cool with them being brought up?"
"Yeah, no problem."
"Sweet. Heh. Like I remember it historically being a country a'course but just not that it existed right now, as a country."
Bug chuckled.
"Weird."