"Look at her belly. She must have eaten an entire bush," Baron's voice brought me out of my sleep. I blinked my eyes open, seeing him hover above me.
I touched my belly, feeling it a bit more round than usual. Like a mountain of berries was about to pop out of it. I never ate that many berries at once, so my stomach might be a bit confused.
Berries go bad fast, and I never gathered so many because I never had the opportunity. Wandering the forest was not something I could have done before.
"Sleep." Moyu's hand covered my eyes, making me close them again. It felt nice to have a hand on my eyes, blocking the light.
"Let me take a picture of her like this and send it to the boys," Baron complained, "She looks so cute. Look at her little round belly."
Picture? As in helping other owners picture it in their minds? Why would they be interested in picturing my bloated belly?
"I sent them a video of her watering the bushes with a piss bottle," Moyu chuckled softly, "She looked so serious about it too. Like the bushes would give her more berries if she marked them."
Video?
"Wait, let me check," Baron then burst in laughter, "I can't...I can't...this is too good for my heart. I'm dying. I'm dying."
"Quiet," Moyu' voice came, "Let her sleep. She's going to need the energy. Today's lesson is going to be tough on her."
Another lesson? Their confidence in my ability to learn things made me a bit worried. I remember how the circus owner looked at me as if I were a lost cause whenever I made a bad trick during the show routine.
Staying still when he threw a knife at me was much easier. All I had to do was not move. Compared to jumping through fire rings and not falling from a tightrope, being stabbed was easy.
What would they make me do today? The sooner I was done, the sooner I would be allowed to play. I was looking forward to berry hunting again. The forest was full of berries.
Nobody would yell at me for eating more than usual. It was like a dream come true. Unlimited berries.
"Ready," I yawned, "Ready to learn."
Moyu let go of me and showed me how to stretch before training. There wasn't enough space in the storage tent, so we had to go outside.
The sky was bright, and the sun was shining down on us.
Moyu was wearing a sleeveless tunic, exposing his muscled arms and the scars on them. His hood was down, and his braid was on his shoulder today. The feather earring was swishing in the wind, brushing his cheek.
He raised his hands above his head, and I mimicked him. He then lowered his body down, and I did the same. We then rotated our hands and shoulders, loosening them up. He then jumped up and down, making me bounce along.
He then did a flip in the air, landing on his feet.
"..."
He did it a couple of times, and I just stared at him, not sure what he expected of me.
"..."
"Try it," he said, motioning with his hand.
"...?"
He grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me into the air, turning me upside down and then right side up. He did it a few more times, making my world spin around me.
Baron had to step in to stop him from doing anything more, "She's going to throw up the berries she ate, you stupid eagle. She's not used to acrobatics."
"I thought she was in the circus?" Moyu replied, not understanding why I couldn't do the simplest of moves.
"..." Baron looked at me, as if trying to figure out what I did at the circus, "What did you do there?"
"Um..." I looked down, fumbling with my fingers. I tried to learn many things, but I wasn't good at them. "I stood...I stood still. Didn't move."
"Where did you learn the twirling from?" he asked.
"Um..." I tried to recall, but I couldn't remember. "I don't remember."
"Then how do you know how to twirl?" Moyu asked.
"I don't know," I answered honestly, "I don't know how. It's what I do when...when I get nervous."
"What else makes you nervous?" Moyu asked, trying to understand me better.
I fumbled with my fingers, looking around, "When I am not...not wanted. I have to make myself entertaining. Twirling... twirling makes me entertaining."
Baron slapped his forehead, "It always happens when Michael chases everyone away so he can sleep, and we all thought you couldn't wait to get away from him. You looked so happy, twirling away."
"I would get squashed if I wasn't fast enough," I said. That's what Michael said he was going to do to us if we didn't get away from him fast enough. "I was happy, I didn't get squashed," I explained.
Moyu and Baron exchanged looks, as if trying to decide what to say next. I think I said something strange again, but I didn't know what.
"Let's return to our training," Moyu said, returning to my training, concluding I need more stretching before trying anything more. "Let's focus on increasing your strength afterwards."
The strength training consisted of Moyu picking a rock from a riverbed and placing it in front of me. "Move it over to this point. Go," he said, drawing a line in the dirt, "You can roll, push, or carry it. Whichever you prefer."
The rock was the size of my head and just as round. I tried to lift it up, but it didn't even budge. I tried pushing it, but it wouldn't roll. It didn't move.
Moyu sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Let's get you lighter ones. Smaller."
"..." I could only watch as he went to find a smaller rock. The new one was a quarter of the original size, and I could lift it with both hands, but he suddenly grabbed it from my arms and threw it into the river.
"Something tells me you will drop it on your feet and hurt yourself," he said and shook his head, "Let's try something else."
He walked to the tent and got a rope, giving me one end, "I will pull, and you will resist. Try to pull me towards you. Use all your strength," he said. He was very patient, trying his best to make me learn.
I held the rope with both hands, putting my whole body weight on the other end, trying to pull him towards me.
He was standing in one place, not moving at all, and just looking at me, "Technique and form matter. Your posture is wrong, you are not using your muscles right, and you are not using your strength to the fullest potential."
He showed me the correct posture and the correct way to do it, then pulled, and I flew for the first time in my life.
I even saw Madam setting up a fire camp from the air.
"..." She looked like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. I couldn't believe it either. A flying sheep. Not a flying squirrel, but a sheep. I was a flying sheep.
I flew above the trees as Moyu's arms changed to wings and he flew after me, catching me before I fell to the ground.
"..." he stared at me, "I didn't even pull that hard, what are you doing?"
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Someone, please take Little Sheep away from Moyu 😭🙏
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