Lorah

The Plains, usually notable only for how cold and empty they are, are today bustling with animals of all shapes and sizes. Cows, crocodiles, pigeons, dogs, an elephant, all of them have gathered together in a huddle to hear where you're shouting from a raised platform that has been built for this very purpose.

Behind them, there is a formidable gauntlet of environmental obstacles. A trench has been dug and half-filled with sand, coarse and rough and irritating as that is. Some way behind it, a river rushes past and away, the waters cold and clear. Beyond that, some crates lie ready to be stacked into piles. It seems like they've seen a lot of use over the years.

You glance nervously at the sky, but it's clear. Still, it never hurts to be careful.

“Alright everyone, here's how this is going to work! Behind me are a series of obstacles meant to represent various terrain types you might encounter when out and about on Cow business! The point of this exercise isn't for me to tell you what to do, or how to cross them, or for any of you to compete with one another. Boy's Cows work as a team when on missions, and we use each others skills to the benefit of the people we rescue!”

“That said, do have fun!”

The assembled animals all give solemn nods and ready themselves. The countdown begins and they're all off.

Of course just because you're supervising doesn't mean you intend to be left out. You scamper alongside them as they run through the sand, across the water and stack and ascend the piles of crates. It's not graceful, but it's effective. They all have a great time too.

It does leave you with a lingering anxiety. This is dangerous work, more dangerous than any obstacle course you could ever assemble. Some of them will get hurt doing it. Some of them will die.

You shake it off as you reconvene with all the animals at the end. They've done good work here today. They'll continue to do good work going forward, you know it. And it's more than that. However much the Cows might be your responsibility, you trust in all of them. They can handle themselves. The display you saw today proves that.

And especially that crocodile… they have the makings of something very promising. You need to pay more attention to them in the future.

There's a lot of excited chatter as you hang out with the recruits. But you can't hang around for long. You've places to go and people to see, and besides, you said you'd meet Ida soon. With a goodbye to the others, you make your way up your platform again and shoot off into the air, away from the Plains and towards the City.

“The cow signal!”

Lorah jerks up, away from the pile of berries they were in the course of devouring. Overhead, the pigeons have formed into the Cow signal, the outline of a cow wearing a hat and chewing on a piece of straw. They'd always admired how accurately they were able to capture that image only in outline.

No time for appreciation of artistry now, though. The signal is hanging right over the Shore. Without a moment's hesitation Lorah leaps from the tree in which they'd nested and glide away on a strong wind towards the signal. A slightly startled, if also amused, Ida, waves them off as they disappear over the treetops, and wonders if they'd notice them taking some of their berries while they're gone.

Before they knew it, they're at the Shore. Lorah instinctively slows, trepidation marking their step. But the days of the Shore being a place of terror is behind them.

A crocodile breaches the surface of the water and runs to Lorah's side.

“Monty! What's happening?”

“There's a boar who's been pushed too far from the Shore. The seagulls say they're hanging in there, but don't have long.”

They nod, and without another word they're off over the water, Lorah standing on Monty's back until the shape of the boar comes into view. Monty swims until they're level with them, and Lorah waves their paws in the air.

“Here! Grab on!”

And like that, as if it's the simplest process in the world, the boar grabs on and Monty swims to Shore. The assembled penguins and Shore animals part to let you through.

The Cows have come a long way since that snail. That almost feels like a lifetime ago.

Acknowledgements by Ida

Throughout the course of my journalistic career I owe a lot to many animals, but I feel like now is an appropriate time to acknowledge my friend and close companion, the leader of the Boy's Cows, Lorah.

In their time as leader of the Cows they've taken and expanded on the legacy left by Boy, leading the Cows to have a greater reach, success and diversity than ever before. But that one I've reported many times before, and there's not much need to go over it again. Not right now, anyway.

Instead, since this is my acknowledgements, I'd like to acknowledge them not as the leader of the Boys Cows, but as my long-time companion. They're one of the bravest animals I know, willing to put everything on the line for others before themselves. When they came into conflict with the Empress, whatever their feelings on the situation they apologized for the sake of the Shore (which should be her job, frankly). When put in terrain that they're unfamiliar or uncomfortable with, they persevered. And whenever I needed them, they've been there for me.

Thank you Lorah, and here's to many more.

Adelie, with a hat atop their head, standing on a stream that seems to be flowing backwards.

For some reason, you feel like you've seen this before, but you can't quite place when? Still, you're glad you found them. They're not the easiest penguin to find.

“Hey Adelie! How're the metaphors?”

“Non-linear.”

“Non-linear huh? How do you mean?”

Adelie adjusts their hat. “Well after I went down to go up, I wondered what other directions were like that. So I decided to try wandering backwards enough, and now I have this hat.”

“What does that have to do with being linear?”

“I didn't get this hat in the future.”

This makes a strange sense to you, though the whole situation is making your head spin. Or maybe that's the fact that you're not certain in what order you're breathing in and out.

“Do you want to try it?”

“The non linear thing?”

“Mhm.”

“Sure, I've always wanted to try flying in different directions.”

“Alright, so you just take a jump to the left…”

You follow their directions, through an odd series of steps. Everything becomes very bizarre, and then suddenly your vision clears and you see-