Ara had finally reached Hana's favorite spot beside the stream where the fish trap was located. Peering in, she was delighted to see it being filled up again so soon. The temptation was oh so great. After a bout of inner struggling, Ara finally managed to stop herself from jumping in to clear up the morsels. She needed to pay off her debt first!
She then realized the geography of the embankment was a little different; there was a weird rectangular-shaped region which was not there before. She immediately conjured up a big bubble before jumping in. Gently, she navigated herself within the bubble around the area with her catch in tow behind her; one bubble filled with live prawns and another filled with the meat of the dead crawfish.
Ara floated over the enclosure with curiosity, believing that Hana might be inside. However, no signs of the aunty or her two pets could be seen anywhere. Only a row of random vegetation could be found at the edge of the enclosure.
[Where could they be?]
After waiting for the trio for some time, she shrugged and continued deeper. Although her great grandpa advises had stopped her from venturing in before, she had been acquainted with the owner himself, surely the advice should be considered void.
After aimlessly floating around for a while, she finally detected the snake's aura not too far ahead. Ara increased her speed to catch up to the snake. She knew wherever the snake was, his 'mother' would've been nearby.
...
In the middle of the cave with a man-made looking rectangular 'door', an aunty was cheerily humming yet another kiddie song under her breath while typing rapidly on her smartphone. This time it was about a unicorn named Snowbell (1). She can't help it as she was doing it unconsciously. Shiro, who was the unfortunate aunty's personal makeshift sofa, was suffering silently from the brainwashing procedure, desperately trying his best to block it out but to no avail.
Gone were all the 90s songs she used to hear during her teens, or the top chart pop and ballad singles her hubby used to serenade for her to woo her over. What was left was the remnants of her little ones' favorites back home. Part of it was due to a deep longing she felt towards her children. Although she had pushed all her negative feelings deep, Shiro knew how hurt and sorrowful she felt under all that cheerful facade. As such, he kept mum and let his mistress do as she likes as long as it won't endanger herself.
Currently, our main protagonist was acting like a tyrant (or a spoiled child) by using the unfortunate fox as a pillow for supporting the upper half of her body. She placed her left leg on her propped up right knee and rhythmically twirled her dangling toes absentmindedly. She had finally gotten all needed information from Ma'am Shaza (2). At least, just enough for making the dish tonight, if little Ara was able to catch a few prawns.
Hana was still feeling slightly guilty for sweet-talking the gullible fish. But hey, at least she had spared her life, right? Anyhow, since she's the descendant of the stream's taukeh (3), it's like asking for a slightly expensive meal from an heiress to a multi-million-dollar company. In her heart, she questioned about the little fish's upbringing; the little one had not been educated adequately about the evils of the world. Her elders must have kept her inside a greenhouse. She shook her head disapprovingly while purposely forgetting that the shameless aunty herself was the one who was leading the fish by her nose. All for the sake of some pearls.
A loud sound from outside had broken Hana's thoughts as she lifted up her sight towards the cave's naturally opened door. Lo and behold, her darling little Kuro was moving forward towards her while dragging two big coconut bunches in his mouth. Through their connection, she could feel how happy the snake was when he lay his eyes on her.
She could see more than ten brown coconuts dangling on one bunch while the other bunch housed around four green coconuts. As usual, the sweet little snake had gone above and beyond to please his mistress; since he had forgone the plan to give the brown bird as a gift, he had doubled back and ripped another small bunch containing green colored coconuts. He remembered the little bird said the water inside the green colored coconut was delicious.
Surprisingly, behind Kuro was Ara, with two large bubbles in tow. Hana was shocked with the sight! This little fish is a bit too productive (and suspiciously too eager)! It had only been a couple of hours!
She greeted her with a friendly smile as she stood up from her cozy plush 'sofa', "Welcome, little Ara, to our humble abode. Thank you for delivering your part of the deal in such a short notice. I'm impressed! You're absolutely amazing!" Hana didn't skimp on showing the fish with lots of praise. She knew, kids loved to be praised the most, and it didn't cost her a dime, except a few drops of saliva.
Hana took her time to walk over to the cave entrance to greet these hardworking little ones. On her way towards her new guest, she held her hands towards Kuro and beckoned him to climb over. Kuro left the coconut bunches on the cave floor as he expertly jumped and slithered up towards her face. He then twined his body loosely on Hana's neck like a necklace. Hana gave her a kiss on his cheek which delighted him immensely. [Excellent job, sweetie. Thank you for the extra green coconuts!] She relayed telepathically to her pet. He deserved a good genuine praise.
Hana then noticed in a separate bubble, a cut up humongous prawn-like thing. It was even bigger then the largest lobster she had seen in the market of her hometown. "Woah! Is this for me too? So big!"
Kuro quietly interpreted Ara's bubbly conversation directly into Hana's mind, [She said it is part of the deal. She's asking if it is equivalent to seven prawns. She had caught eleven only.]
[Hah? Eighteen?! I said six before.] She stopped from face-palming herself. [Ohh no..what will happen to my precious pearls] TT____TT
The fish needed to be taught a little bit of basic math after this. Hana resolutely planned to get the pearls by hook or by crook.
[Don't worry, Mommy. She said she had to pay the debt of eating another people's property first.] Kuro was trying his hardest to stop himself from laughing at the naive little fish. If she didn't tell the truth, nobody would've known how much she had eaten. She could've gotten away scot-free. His magnanimous mistress wouldn't even care to do anything.
[This little one is very proper! Excellent! Good job, parents!] A naive parent could only produce naive children. Their future won't be too bright if nobody 'enlighten' them. The shameless aunty cleared her throat slightly while smiling bashfully to herself, [I'm such a good person.]
"Little Ara, you're saying this is the quota from your last snacking session? So, are you still planning to eat the fish in our fish trap in the future?"
[Yes. I'll prepay you with the shiny balls when I get the chance. Once the amount is insufficient, just leave a message at the fish trap. I'll bring them some more.] Ara quickly explained her favored condition to Kuro as he translated in real-time. She hated doing odd jobs. Giving out pearls will be the easiest. Only, she needed to figure out how to get them quietly and return here without being caught by her great grandpa. The activation of the Lifeguard Scale must have prompted her great grandpa to exit his meditation forcefully earlier. She had purposely suppressed her presence to the lowest level and had even gone on land, hoping that her great grandpa wouldn't be able to find her.
The 'kind and helpful' aunty explained in detail this time so that the little fish won't get confused again. "I'll explained again, six prawns for one batch of fish. One prawn equals to ten shiny balls. Hence you need to give sixty shiny balls for every batch of fish you consume. Right now, as per our previous agreement, the amount of prawns had already exceeded what we need, which is six. We don't need anymore prawns for the time being. Do you have enough shiny balls to pay after this? You can replace with something else if you don't have enough shiny balls."
[Don't worry, she has thousands and thousands of it. She is just too pure!] Shiro chuckled in their heads.
After a short pause, Ara conversed with the snake for a moment as he hissed back a couple of time in response. The amount was extremely large if she started snacking without control. She hoped to find other alternatives which could reduce the amount somewhat.
[Mommy, she was asking if she could replace the pearls with low tier spirit crystals! Say yes! It's very very valuable! Even the fox and I can use that to get stronger!] Kuro hastily relayed the new information. Spirit Crystal! It was a premium spiritual item only given access to the descendant of the Crystal-veined stream Lord. The Spirit Crystal lode was where the nest of the Crystal-veined stream Lord was situated. No beast had ever emerged after they tried to breach into the Lord's grounds.
[How precious is it?] Hana asked telepathically in order to judge the appropriate pricing.
[A thousand times more precious than the pearl!] Kuro excitedly exclaimed inside their heads. Outwardly, nothing seemed to budge the snake's stoic expression. He even portrayed a bored look. Hana lamented on Kuro's talent in acting. Definitely five stars, Oscar material.
Hana nodded graciously and turned to Ara with an honest smile, "Yes, we would like some crystals. I just love sparkly things although I don't have any need of them. As you see, my dwelling really needed a little face-lift. I plan to decorate my dwelling with the promised items. Friendship price for you! Three batch of fishes will equal to one crystal, alright? No need to drag hundreds of pearls for them."
Ara made a contemplative look while the trio were on tenterhooks. If the deal could go through, they'll definitely will strike it rich! They're just like loan sharks as they smile sweetly at their victim!
"Sure. I got a couple of it. It's a deal." She bubbled out her words while being translated by Kuro in delight.
"That's good. Come, come, little Ara. Stay for dinner. I'll prepare something special for everyone today." Hana was in an extremely good mood. For once, she had won a one sided million-dollar deal. Although she didn't know how it could benefited the kids, looking at how excited the both were, she was sure it was something very precious for them. She planned to give the crystals to the boys when she received them in the future.
...
Ara wasn't sure how much training crystal worth. From how her great grandpa explained last time, they seemed quite precious, but she still had a few left.
She shrugged off the unpleasant feelings she was currently experiencing. She still has more than half from last year's birthday gift. So, it won't hurt to spend a little if she ate too much later. Carrying too much pearls at one time will expose her to her clan members easily. It looked at her new friend, the creature known as Hana. She knew Hana preferred the shiny balls more from how she acted. She wondered, why she would easily accepted her new terms of exchange if she like the pretty balls so much? Did she like sparkly crystal as well? That must be the reason.
Naive little Ara didn't know, there was practically no Spirit Crystal outside of the walls of her clan grounds.
Even a single crystal emerged, it will be highly sought after and had sparked bloodbaths after bloodbaths due to its ability to assist spirit beasts in their cultivation.
Little that she knew that the unpleasant feelings she was currently experiencing stemmed from her subconsciousness alerting her of the possibility of being taken advantage on.
...
"Oh yes, can I stay here for a while? I have some trouble at home and need to be a way for a few days." Ara asked shyly after mustering up her courage.
Hana smiled 'sweetly' after she listened to Ara's request from Kuro, "No problem, dearie. You are always welcome here. Feel free to stay as long as you like. For you, it will be only one crystal per day to cover for food and lodging. "
...
Author's Note:
(1) unicorn named Snowbell (by Blippi) = a fun unicorn themed song sang by a dude with a cap. Our kittens love it so much wahaha (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCgcaTk3CdA)
(2) Ma'am Shaza = as a reminder, Hana's mother
(3) taukeh = big boss or owner