Suria blinked her eyes in wonder, not understanding what was happening. It was just a simple request, but the Mistress seemed very pleased after that. Did she just hit the jackpot?
"Thank goodness it worked well…"
Hana mused over the increasing list of tasks she had in her mind and tried to find which one she could strike off with the help of the birds.
[Ahh! I know!]
"Let's go now. I need you and a couple of your large friends to help me gather some coconut blossom sap from the nearest coconut trees! Time is of the essence! Come on!" Hana signaled to Ara to tell the rest to get ready to move immediately.
To make tasty kuihs, she needed sugar. Previously, she planned to make Shiro freeze some honey and ground it as a substitute. However, with the presence of these many coconuts, there must be quite a number of trees somewhere! She could try extracting some 'gula melaka'. It's a type of sugar extracted from non-blooming coconut blossoms, also known as palm sugar. Ma'am Shaza showed her how it's done before for educational purposes when she was in her teens. There's nothing wrong to try!
"Hah? Now? Coconut blossom sap?" Suria blinked her eyes and tilted her head to the side, unable to comprehend just what the being in front of her was talking about while feeling speechless. Even the little pink fish who served as the translator looked clueless.
"Yes, now. Got a problem with that?" The aunty narrowed her eyes dangerously as her mood started to turn for the worst. Both kuihs made from tapioca and sweet potatoes needed the added sugar factor. Although she had asked her trusty Elemental Fiend to bring some honey over to complete the soon-to-be kuih, she found that trying to make palm sugar from the coconut sap quite enticing. The process itself will be quite simple. She could make the palm sugar hand-in-hand with coconut oil! The finished coconut sugar can be used for other cooking projects in the long run.
"Sorry, sorry. Got it! Let's go!" Suria immediately acquiesced and screeched for her closest subordinates for help…
…
"Great job Suria and friends!" Hana clapped her hands in satisfaction at the birds' cooperation. In front of her, five large birds the size of about single-storey houses lined up meekly. Suria was the largest compared to the rest, as she stood in the middle, towering them all by double the size. She too, looked resigned; the strong desire to learn the new skill had made her put in more efforts to rein in her ego.
They just returned from visiting the tall 'weeds' where they collected the green and brown 'seeds'. The Mistress called these weeds as coconut trees. They saw that the Mistress tied something to each weed and slowly bent some parts of the tree, cut them, and attached a homemade bamboo canister to it. Each weed had around three to five two-feet long bamboo canisters dangling over them. The birds looked at each other inquisitively, though none of them knew what it was all about. She took about an hour to perform the tasks and asked them to bring her back without foraging anything! Where was the 'sugar' the Mistress kept on yapping about? None of them knew.
Surprisingly, through the whole ordeal, the Mistress was actually nice to them. Her orders were only to locate the place they took the seeds, flew there, helped to stay airborne so that she could do whatever she was doing to the tall weeds from Lord Suria's back, flew back home. The other four were essentially bystanders! It turned out they were there just to make up the numbers.
However, droves of purple Elemental Fiends did follow them on land, most probably for added protection. Up above, looking at the delicious spiritual insects had made the birds quite hungry. But they stopped themselves in time since these insects were the Mistress' property. They knew the Mistress was in a good mood, just like when she drank the coconut water. It was because she was humming under her breath. They should try their best to keep her that way, no? It wouldn't do to eat someone else's properties unless with consent. Looking at each other knowingly, not one dared to open their beaks to ask for permission. Who knows what else the scary Mistress could do to them before the Lord could earn the rights to learn the sophisticated 'Blender-no-jutsu' skill?
"Alright. Student Suria! I'm happy with your assertiveness today. Listen up well and jot down my lecture into memory!" The aunty clapped her hands jovially, ready to spill what she thought she knew to the eager hornbill. They did a good job following instructions to the T before. Now, only time could tell whether the coconut blossoms sap could come out. It's time to fulfill her end of the deal.
The five birds from the Sanctuary cheered with elation! They have steeled their hearts for more tasks. Who knows, the Lord can already start receiving one-on-one guidance from the Mistress just with a simple task given!
"Ara, my dear, help Mistress translate, alright. Let's not disturb your Bro Shi. He's so adorable when he's hardworking."
"Yes, Mistress." Ara answered cutely.
The discussion started as little Ara acted as the intermediary between a petty aunty who spouted random nonsense with a self-entitled not-so-bright hornbill…
…
[Why did it turn out to be this way?]
Suria shed unwilling tears while wailing in her heart as she sat across a big lump of wet mud-like soil. After an hour-long lecture from the Mistress, now she had to go through some 'tutorial sessions', arranged by the strict Mistress to help her understand better with hands-on practice. It turned out her instructor was none other than the vengeful fox. Truthfully, that one-hour lecture wasn't enough for her; she could only understand the tip of the iceberg.
She desperately injected a large amount of internal energy upon the soil in an attempt to shape it. The soil was splashed everywhere as if it was being bombed by a high-intensity sprayer!
"Stupid bird! How many times do I have to tell you to practice meshing the spiritual energy threads first, then test it out! You don't throw in a big blob down there! It won't work! Look at the fellow beside you! Be ashamed of yourself!"
From afar, the wretched fox barked unpleasant words upon her glorious self. She couldn't rebuke, lest she could make the Mistress unhappy. She could see that the Mistress was looking her way while doing something over there. If one's gaze could kill, the Mistress' stare could be considered as sharp as an awl, making her feel so conscious with her performance!
Suria turned to her left to see a small crab patiently lacing five fine thread-like energy in front of it from two directions. It took a glance at her and gave something akin to a merry chuckle.
On her right, an eel sniggered at her blown-up soil 'kuih'.
She felt like being slapped across the face!
These lowly creatures were looking down on her!
"!!!"
Her dignity was challenged!
Suria's fighting spirit was renewed as she was given a wake-up call. Suria realized that she was the only creature who still didn't manage to lace any spiritual energy thread. She was too busy feeling sorry for herself. She whined too much until she forgot to concentrate with the instructor's demonstration.
It can't go on this way anymore, lest the Mistress will truly look down on her and her people!
With a renewed determination, Suria spread her four wings and attempted to generate thread-like spirit energy from every wing-tip!
…
Hana turned away her gaze from the pompous bird as she chuckled softly. She didn't know how, but finally. she could feel that the bird being serious. Her suggestion for placing the ones who performed the best around her was the right one.
[Let's instill a bit of healthy competition among the kids huhu...] She needed to make sure Suria achieved something. If the bird didn't and easily gave up, won't she lost a really good flying-type sla.. ehem, helper? After all, the second part of sap harvesting will commence a few hours later. The bird still needed to work off her tuition fees.
Hana turned back to her own work. It was time to start making some coconut oil…