When an Aloof Fox Surrendered Its Heart (Part 3)

A shadow flashed passed by out of the blue! Kuro was trying to squeeze in front of its mommy with the lower half of the spiritual herb in its mouth. It was not happy to be overtaken by the sly fox! It thought that the fox had eaten its share of the Primordial Spiritual Herb! Kuro felt anger brimming inside it when it saw how happy the duo was. Both of them were excluding him!

Grrrr...for once, the fox had beaten it in currying favor with their mistress.

[This won't do! What if mommy loves the sly fox more than me again?!] Kuro was starting to panic. It nearly started to hyperventilate in worry.

"Easy! Easy! Don't push yourself!" Noticing something wrong with her pet snake, Hana quickly scooped it up with one hand to check on it. The greenish thing in its mouth was bigger. Hmm..is it a fad to give a present every time they went out or something?

The simplistic snake was finally happy from its mommy's attention. It gave the spirit herb to Hana before jumping down again. After that, it faced Hana with its award-winning starry eyes saying "See… see… my present is bigger and better" while swaying comically as usual.

Not knowing what to say, Hana knelt on the ground and petted Kuro's head again. "Thank you for the lovely present dear."

She looked at both green things. One was cone-like and smaller, while the other was larger and cylindrical. [Just like the top part of a radish.] She whispered in her heart.

Hana got an epiphany!

She placed the cone-shaped one on top of the cylindrical greenish thing vertically.

"I knew it! It's a fresh bamboo shoot! Yay!" Hana's delight was infectious; it was genuine, unpretentious. Her simplistic happiness radiated in her soul, as it was sensed by her two pets. It made both Kuro and Shiro happy. Finally, our mommy understood the value of the Primordial Spiritual Herb. Although it seemed like the spirit herb were not that valuable, maybe about two hundred years plus, it was good enough for their mommy's weak constitution.

If she ate it all, it would strengthen their mommy's basic strength and spirit to a higher level. Then, they won't feel so worried all the time.

"Hmmm… this seems to be a good opportunity! What shall I make? Bamboo shoot acar? Or masak lemak bamboo shoot? Or bamboo shoot curry? (1)" Hana already started pondering on recipes to try out. However, a lot of things were not present, she needed to ask whether the kids can find some supplementary ingredients before she could select the right recipe. It could doubly served as a reward for them.

"First, no matter what, I need to clean and boil the shoot first before doing anything. If not it will get spoiled after five hours." Hana talked to herself while using her index finger and thumb to fiddle with her chin absentmindedly. She had already forgotten the task at hand; namely pertaining the numerous amount of bamboo poles at her feet.

She kissed both pets before keeping the prized bamboo shoot in their cave dwelling carefully. Hana could perceive that the shoot must be something precious to both of her pets, just like when a kid treasured their one and only cola-yogurt flavored lolipop (2). She vowed to make it the most delicious dish ever to show her appreciation to the kids. If she got the right ingredients that is.

...

It was already dark outside by the time they settled everything. The two 'brothers' were watching Hana arranging the bamboos together and measuring them. They knew what she was making but couldn't fathom its usefulness with all the trouble they had gone through.

Previously, Hana absent mindedly went on to laze on her favorite spot while typing something on her smartphone after she kept the bamboo shoot inside of their 'home'. The forgetful aunty had totally forgotten about the bamboos the 'brothers' had painstakingly transported when she was distracted by the notification on her smartphone. Kuro had to nudge her and remind her about the unattended bamboo poles outside.

After face-palming herself, she smiled apologetically to the kids and resumed her work outside. Together, the three of them pushed the bamboo poles towards the outer wall of the cave. At the same time, Hana checked the bamboos and selected some of them to be brought into the cave itself.

...

"Srakkkk..Srakkk..Srakk.." The faint sound of bamboo poles being scored by the feeble aunty reverberated faintly in the dimly lit cave. The aunty was sweating profusely while she was diligently performing a scoring motion, just like when one used the conventional manual saw powered by one's own muscle. The snake and fox were lazing nearby, following the aunty's clumsy hand movements with their eyes, to and fro, to and fro, to and fro.

Hana was still on her first bamboo pole. She had selected the bamboo that was the most similar in diameter and thickness with the five ones she already had. Another one, then the main skeleton of the rack will be good to go!

Suddenly, the tip of her loyal but short-lived chisel cracked slightly! Hana stopped for a second to observe the overused homemade working tool worriedly. Ah! Please be good and don't crumble yet! Hana prayed hard. If the chisel broke, she needed to make a new chisel from scratch first. It would take so much time!

Hana took a deep breath.

She resumed her scoring movement, albeit a little gentler this time. However, it was useless to not exert energy when performing such task. The bamboo couldn't be cut if like this. So, she increased her hand strength a bit.

"Prak!"

The chisel crumbled in her hand. Tears gathered in the corner of Hana's eyes, threatening to spill again. She didn't say anything and pulled up her knees to her face. She buried her face while hugging her knees sorrowfully, trying to calm herself to no avail.

[It is so sickening! I hate thisssssss!] She screamed loudly in her heart. She cursed and cursed and cursed savagely inside, careful not to spill any out. It was unhealthy to let kids listened to too much cursing. They could pick them up easily.

Unknown to Hana, the 'brothers' heard everything loud and clear. They could feel how depressed their mistress was. The choices of words were very creative and colorful. Some were so abstruse until they couldn't comprehend the meanings. Truthfully, they didn't actually understand Hana's language. They understood the meaning radiated from her spirit regardless of what language she spoke to them as a medium outside. While saying the words, she actually conveyed the meaning in spirit form to them in real time through their established connection.

...

Shiro saw the snake went forward to try comforting mommy. It slithered from her back and climbed to her shoulder. It stayed close and rested its body to her cheek in its effort to give her some body contact.

Shiro looked at its own prized claw for a short moment and sighed deeply. Its claw was large, translucent white, hard, yet flexible; perfect for the chisel's substitute. These claws were what made it survived from the prolonged attacks from its pursuers. Once broken, it could take up to a hundred years to heal itself; unless it ate a natural treasure. Shiro took a glance at the Primordial Spiritual Herb it gifted to Hana previously. It was lying carelessly in one of the shopping bags, together with other fresh food ingredients. Natural treasures such as that could shorten the time for it to regenerate its claw.

Shiro took a deep breath.

It brought one claw to its mouth, the one on the index 'finger' paw. This was the strongest one. It flexed its claw, bit hard and pulled!

The claw came off with splashes of purple blood coming out from the injured wound after it exerted an enormous amount of strength. Even Shiro couldn't break its own claw. It could only pull it off from the roots. It endured the pain silently and limped to Hana's side with a trail of blood following its movement.

After sniffing its precious mistress' head, it lightly nudged her.

Its claw was more precious to it than the spirit herb. It knew she needed the herb herself, so it won't ask for it. There will be other opportunities to recover its claw in the future.

It couldn't take it anymore. Hana's emotion was flowing into her like an ocean and overwhelmed it tremendously. It was the aftereffect of the direct spiritual connection formed between it and its mistress. It was sure the snake felt it too.

As long as it can stop her from feeling so sad.

Nothing else mattered.

...

Author's Note:

(1) "Bamboo shoot acar? Or masak lemak bamboo shoot? Or bamboo shoot curry?" = these are bamboo shoot dishes. Bamboo shoot is known as 'rebung' in Malay language.

(2) cola-yogurt flavored lolipop = there's this duo flavored spherical lolipops by Chupachups which is insanely popular by (older) kids due to their interesting combi flavors