The next day started with work as the place needed to be
cleaned. Richard decided to keep all the tables and seats,
so they were left as they were! All flower petals and the
decorative items were removed. The tents were erected
once again and slowly the normalcy returned to the
campsite.
Ro was excited about the farm as corn seeds that they had
brought from the Earth have sprouted and growing
stronger than what he had seen on Earth!
Zo and Fe had solved the problems of watering the plants
as they have arranged the drip irrigation system…
Zo wanted to have his bio-lab as soon as possible but
unless they fixed their city location, they couldn’t do it.
He had flown around far and near but he did not find the
place he liked.
He came and sat beside Richard, ‘Richard, we need to find
a suitable place very soon or we may become too
comfortable here and will remain here for another
thousand years’
He left as he was called by Ro for some reason…
Richard was thinKing the same thing… He called one of
the oldest trees that was standing at one place for a long
time when all the others were helping the Reans!
The tree slowly came near him and the branches almost
touched the ground...It sat with the grunt…
‘
Hail Imperial Emperor!’
Richard gave an involuntary start! He realised that the
tree was addressing him…
‘
Oh old tree why you address me so!’
The tree said, ‘you are superior to the King and queen .. so
your title is Imperial Emperor’
‘
But how do you know it? Unless you have been
genetically modified with some human memory?
I don’t know! But I am as old as the queen but I think my
‘
end is near…’
Richard, ‘But you must have produced many seeds and
saplings of your own! So you don’t have an end!’
The old tree did not speak for sometime then it said, ‘I
wish that was true… I never produced any flowers or
seeds and unlike the queen, I don’t have any roots that
could grow’
Richard looked at the tree, ‘did you try using your branch
to grow a new tree?’
The tree shook its branches and said, ‘none of the fallen
branches grew into a new tree… I waited to see them
grow’
Richard had some idea and he asked, ‘could I cut some of
your branches?’
The tree immediately agreed without even asKing any
questions!
Richard cut few thick and young branches and the tree
slowly dragged itself to reach its place where it was
standing.
Richard cut them and prepared them for vegetative
propagation. He had around fifteen cuttings and he took
them to the opposite side of the lake where the shore was
narrow. He prepared the narrow sandy shore with some
more soil and planted all the cuttings in a single file with
enough space between them! Finally covered the tip of the
cuttings with some mud taken from the lake and watered
them…He sent a sincere prayer for them to grow like the
beautiful parent…
Ro came and inspected them. he was pleased that Richard
was interested in farming., ‘Richard, you have selected the
best place for these trees… they are going to make this
shore strong…They may need some fertilizer once they
sprouted… I will look after them…’
Richard was very pleased to hear the complement from
the farming expert …
They both stopped talking when Buddyone came running
in top speed. The flippers were banging the floor like a
continuous ricochet…
Richard moved forward and received it and petted the
head but he could see it was agitated…
‘Please help… a boothi mother and her calf are stranded
on the shore.. So many rufs and other beings are cornering
them so that they wouldn’t reach the water!’
Richard understood he was talking about the whales that
he had seen the other day. Such a gentle giants and he
thought this would be his first hurdle to make the water
beings to accept his authority as others had done.
He took his gun and asked for Zo and few team members
to come with him in invisible form! He checked his gun
and took his cleaver and ran towards the beach…
He could hear the ruf following him!
When Richard came down near the beach where they had
used the bubble, nothing could be seen. He feared the
worst! But then the weird noise came from far and he ran
towards it…
He would have never imagined seeing the Earth’s wild
carnivores all gathered in one place… He could see tigers,
cheetahs, wolves… but all of them with flippers just like
rufs. The rufs were the one that were making the weird
noise!
The lions were conspicuously absent. The whale was at
the centre of all these creatures and he couldn’t see the calf
of the whale. Then he saw it under one of the pectoral fins
and it was wounded.
He raised his voice and almost shouted, ‘ stop it.. all of
you’ A tiger which was about to leap on the calf, stopped
midway and fell. It turned his attention towards him and
growled. He turned his cleaver and whacked it on its
head...
All the other beings took a menacing step towards him…
Re’s voice boomed over the crashing waves and howling
of the beings… Re was using the microphone and was
invisible… so the impact was one of the fear of unknown!
‘
He is your King Richard … If you touch him we will
annihilate you all’
The tiger growled, ‘who says?’
The lion appeared from behind and roared, ‘well ! It is
true! I came here to know about the new rules about
hunting!’
All the beings started talking loudly and the whale came
forward, ‘Thank you dear King for saving our life… There
is an unspoken rules here if any being is wounded it could
be hunted… deliberately these beings wound us and then
hunt us down with permission… No one ask how the
wound was inflicted! Richard called Buddyone and it
came slowly, apprehension written all over its face.
Richard, ‘This ruf was wounded when we found him… we
cured him now he may live for a long time! If all the sick
and wounded must die we can make you all sick in no
time! But that is not our way… our policy is live and let
live!’
‘
I am not going to ask you the existing rules but the new
rules must be followed from now!’
The noise level again raised and Re’s voice came loud and
clear!, ‘silence! Listen quietly …we don’t ask your
suggestions …the King commands and you obey!’
Richard continued, ‘The beings that hunt are given
permission to hunt only the beings whose numbers
exceeded a million… if any one happen to kill another
beings like this Boothi ,you will be considered as a
murderer and we will hunt you down and kill you!’
He could see few orbs landing…
Few Aatians came forward and greeted Richard.
Re’s voice boomed again, ‘The rule for hunting is
applicable for everyone! You are allowed to hunt the
beings whose population is more than a million in a
particular area! If anyone breaks the rule of law, the
consequence will be severe punishment!’
The lion roared, ‘But we are hunted by the Aatians for
sport and we live in fear… This fear makes us attack
them! so do you give permission to the Aatians?’
Richard, ‘ the rule is for all the beings in Arda near and
far… The Aatians will have to abide by the rules of law, or
punishments will be inflicted on them too!’
One of the Aatians came forward, ‘we need to check with
our Cynig !’
The beings growled and moved forward menacingly…
Richard, ‘That is enough! Your Cynig has already agreed
to abide by my rule! I , the King of Arda command you to
go back Aatians! Inform all the Aatians about the new
rule. NOW!’
They backed off and took off in a breakneck speed…
‘
I appoint this boothi and this lion as the leaders of the
water beings!
The lion said, ‘ I am not lion.. I am a zion and thank you
for acknowledging my leadership! I will see they don’t
break the rules and appoint many leaders across the
aquatic realm’
The whale came out of the water completely and it was
really gigantic! The calf too came forward and sniffed
Richard’s hand . It was already taller than Richard and it
bent and licked his face and brushed against affectionately.
Buddyone butted him and it licked him too and ruf’s
flippers started wagging. They are friends forever…
The whale, ‘ Dear King, Empathy makes you a great
leader. You came to help me and we will remember it for
generations to come… we will take care of all the
beings… All the boothis give you our total loyalty and
support!’
Buddyone slowly edged towards his group of rufs… they
looked at him with such an admiration and
affection…They called him to go with him but he
refused… ‘The King saved me and I will be with him
only… But you can come with me if you want…’
Another orb came over and they waited… Victon greeted
Richard, ‘ Hail King, our Cynig wanted you to know that
all the rules would be implemented and the Aatians will
abide by the rules of law of Arda! We will oversee that the
aqua realm is safe and prosperous!’
A great cheer went up as all were happy to hear it…
The lion roared and asked them to disperse and all
dispersed… The whale made an eye contact with Richard,
‘hail King… I will be with you for always’ It turned
slowly and went in and the calf reluctantly followed the
mother after nudging Buddyone affectionately!
Finally Only Richard and Buddyone were left and the
Reans were still invisible. Re took the form of an eagle
and perched on his shoulder.
‘Congratulations King Richard … this is the first success
…
’
Richard smiled but he did not respond as he was thinKing
that it was a perfect plan to have the lion and the whale as
the leaders for the aqua realm but on land he needed to
have few!
‘Re, I don’t think of this as success, it was an added
responsibility…only when we have a proper system of
implementing the rules of law, we will taste the success!’
Re nodded his head wisely, ‘you are destined to be the
King …so naturally you will have some ideas… come let
us go now’He flew away!
Richard and Buddyone slowly walked and the ruf was
happy to play in the sea after many days!
Richard called him and started walking towards the
campsite and to his amusement a small ruf was following
them.
He asked Buddyone about it and he made a strange noise,
‘
she is my friend and could I have her with me?’Richard
smiled, ‘ sure …more the merrier!’
He called the small pup and it ran towards him and he sat
down to pet her for some time, ‘do you want to come with
us?’
She looked at him with her beautiful eyes , ‘ yes please!
Can I come?’
‘
yes you can… you will be called as Buddytwo…come let
us go!’
The three of them came back to the campsite and
Buddytwo was petted and fussed by all the Reans and
even few plants!
Both the rufs were happy to find a loving home!
****
*