Sarah had no trouble understanding why someone would wish a cassowary away to the goblins, but she did have to wonder about the circumstances of someone having one of the beasts as a pet and if they were entirely sane. While she couldn’t do anything about its previous accommodations and, as it was in fine health, its previous owner was off limits, she did have to find somewhere suitable for it to live Underground.
There were more than enough locations throughout the Kingdom that would fit the bill, but she had the added complication of the castle horde, who were enamoured with the giant, pretty chicken. The goblins' love of chickens was common knowledge, but their concept of play could never be mistaken for gentle and a cassowary was not a bird that would squawk and flutter away once it had reached its limits, as the numerous injuries that had been treated by the castle’s infirmary could attest.
Goblins were a robust species, but sooner or later one of them would push their luck too far in an attempt to win the affections of something best left alone and Sarah suspected that disembowelment might be a bit much for even a goblin’s hardy constitution to recover from.
There was much heated discussion with Jareth, the guardians and various castle advisors, but it ended up being Sarah’s initial Labyrinth run that offered them a viable solution. There was a small wooded region that would provide a suitable environment for a cassowary and the presence of the neighbouring firies would be more than enough to keep the castle horde at bay. Fortunately, the cassowary had managed to habituate itself to life outside of a cage and quickly became adept at foraging for local fruits that suited its diet. It then became a question of whether the two territorial species could tolerate each other's presence.
The few clashes that had occurred were happily less dramatic than the goblin related ones had been. It took the firies a little while to figure out that cassowaries were not terribly fond of attempts to remove their heads. They were also extremely skilled in disarticulating firies and flinging their body parts across a vast distance. Once both parties had sized each other up, they had come to an civil arrangement to share the territory using the favoured solution of pet cats and just ignored each other’s presence.
Sarah had hoped that the truce that had been brokered between the two parties would hold up once the breeding season arrived and that her childhood nemeses could preserve the amicable living arrangement with the murder chicken. In that regard they were lucky that their unexpected arrival had been male, as it took its brooding duties seriously and became a surprisingly good babysitter for the young firies.
When she’d moved Underground Sarah had not foreseen that she would be in the position of stopping things from killing goblins and firies, but life had a way of throwing you the unexpected.
Territory
Sarah had no trouble understanding why someone would wish a cassowary away to the goblins, but she did have to wonder about the circumstances of someone having one of the beasts as a pet and if they were entirely sane. While she couldn’t do anything about its previous accommodations and, as it was in fine health, its previous owner was off limits, she did have to find somewhere suitable for it to live Underground.
There were more than enough locations throughout the Kingdom that would fit the bill, but she had the added complication of the castle horde, who were enamoured with the giant, pretty chicken. The goblins' love of chickens was common knowledge, but their concept of play could never be mistaken for gentle and a cassowary was not a bird that would squawk and flutter away once it had reached its limits, as the numerous injuries that had been treated by the castle’s infirmary could attest.
Goblins were a robust species, but sooner or later one of them would push their luck too far in an attempt to win the affections of something best left alone and Sarah suspected that disembowelment might be a bit much for even a goblin’s hardy constitution to recover from.
There was much heated discussion with Jareth, the guardians and various castle advisors, but it ended up being Sarah’s initial Labyrinth run that offered them a viable solution. There was a small wooded region that would provide a suitable environment for a cassowary and the presence of the neighbouring firies would be more than enough to keep the castle horde at bay. Fortunately, the cassowary had managed to habituate itself to life outside of a cage and quickly became adept at foraging for local fruits that suited its diet. It then became a question of whether the two territorial species could tolerate each other's presence.
The few clashes that had occurred were happily less dramatic than the goblin related ones had been. It took the firies a little while to figure out that cassowaries were not terribly fond of attempts to remove their heads. They were also extremely skilled in disarticulating firies and flinging their body parts across a vast distance. Once both parties had sized each other up, they had come to an civil arrangement to share the territory using the favoured solution of pet cats and just ignored each other’s presence.
Sarah had hoped that the truce that had been brokered between the two parties would hold up once the breeding season arrived and that her childhood nemeses could preserve the amicable living arrangement with the murder chicken. In that regard they were lucky that their unexpected arrival had been male, as it took its brooding duties seriously and became a surprisingly good babysitter for the young firies.
When she’d moved Underground Sarah had not foreseen that she would be in the position of stopping things from killing goblins and firies, but life had a way of throwing you the unexpected.