The Search for Shiny Things: Part 18

Perhaps the water buffalo had entirely forgotten about the horn, or was just thinking about other things like tasty grass and fun play tents, or possibly it wore it as a necklace and didn't know what it was supposed to do, but either way, the noise made the water buffalo jump to the side, and the bird overbalanced and fell down in a swishy cloud of bright white wings, saber and silly hat and paper and all.

Shaking its head, the bird got back on its feet. “Dear lord,” it said.

“Sorry,” said the water buffalo. “What did you do that for?”

“I thought if anyone else is out here, they will for sure come to check what strange noise that was,” the teddy bear said, poking its ear because it was quite possible it had gone half deaf from that. It turned the other ear to the strangers to check.

Apparently it did hear still, because it heard the bird say, “There's no one out here, other than us. It's always just us, see. We're building a play tent to sit in while we tell stories to each other because the plains are so boring.”

The teddy wondered how they could know there was no one. Considering all the strange things and people the teddy had met, there might be invisible mechanical birds, or mythical creatures like monkeys, or, god forbid, dolphin-otters tunneling underground. The teddy looked down at the ground under its plushy paws and wished it hadn't imagined that.

“Yes, isn't it boring, the ground,” the bird said. “You should... hm, it strikes me that we haven't introduced ourselves, I am terribly sorry, where are my manners. I am the heron commander, and this is my trusty friend and proud steed, the water buffalo.”

The water buffalo looked neither proud nor amused. “I'm not a steed,” it said, “and you're not a commander. You can't be a commander without something to command. And besides,” it added, looking slightly sorry, “you're on the ground again.”

“Whose fault is that,” the heron muttered.

“Why?” the teddy asked, worried. “Can't you just fly back up?”

“I'm afraid,” said the heron, “that I can't fly with this saber. But a commander never lets go of his sword. So I suppose, water buffalo friend, we shall have to go back to the river so you can swim so I can climb onto your back again.”

The water buffalo simply sighed again, as if this happened quite frequently and it had stopped complaining long ago. With a sweep of the big pointy horns it turned towards the river.

And that was when the teddy bear, the water buffalo and the heron realized that quite a crowd was heading their way, the first ones were more or less standing on them.

Heading the charge was the largest animal the teddy bear had ever seen. And with a happy noise, the elephant gently grabbed the heron and lifted it up onto the water buffalo's back.

“Then,” said the elephant, nodding at the horn around the water buffalo's back, “you are the one who blew the horn? The one who will be commanding the League of Extraordinary Animals?”

The water buffalo froze up.

“It was me! I am,” the heron immediately declared.

The water buffalo let out a relieved breath.

“We are building a play tent!”

“You heard,” said the elephant, nodding at the colorful bunch following it. “Let's build a tent!”

While the other animals, flesh and plush and wood and metal, cheered and got to work, the teddy bear nodded to himself. “I did help!”