Shattered Bonds (continued)

She had not thought that she would actually be successful getting inside their village without being detected.

Shanta crouched within the shadows, staring wide-eyed at the inside of the Human village. Although she had glimpsed parts of it through the openings in the fence that surrounded it, she did not understand the purpose of each of the strangely angular buildings. She knew that all of them could not be homes. Nearly all of them had the same shape and, except for the nearly colorless one in which she had seen Wendy many of her days inside of, the colors of each did not seem to have any particular meaning. If there was, Shanta could not fathom it.

Thinking of all of the times that Wendy had left her at the gate, Shanta tried to recall if there was a building to which Wendy most often went. That one was probably her home. Many times, she went to the colorless place, but others she went to very large one where many Humans gathered for meals and their rituals. Shanta guessed that was probably not her home. What other one was it then?

She remembered seeing Wendy walk through the center of the Human village, toward a group of houses not quite visible from the gate.

She might be there.

Once close enough, Shanta was certain that she would detect Wendy’s scent. If she remained on the ground, though, she would almost certainly be seen. Shanta looked upward, toward the flat roofs of the buildings. She had almost never seen the Humans on top of their homes, except in rare cases where it looked as if they were making repairs to them. Shanta could understand that, for there were times when moisture had dripped through holes in their roof during heavy fog storms and one of her older siblings had climbed up to patch it.

Although nearly all of the buildings in the Human village were larger than those in her village, they were not that much taller. Still, they rose higher than she could easily leap. Her eyes spied a trio of large trees which overhung two of the buildings, providing a natural awning. They also, Shanta decided with a smile, might give her a way to reach Wendy’s house without being easily seen.

Making certain that no Humans were nearby, Shanta sprinted for the nearest of the three trees, and was several heights up its trunk before she took two breaths. This brought her nearly to level of the roof of a darkly colored building. She completed her climb more slowly, stopping when she could look down on the top surface of the building. After making certain once more that she had not been seen, Shanta leapt onto the roof.