"Away to me, Twist!" Sival shouted to the herding canine swerved around the herdbeasts, yapping at their heals. The blue-gray hide of the dog shimmered with care and grooming, and Sival was proud to say that he'd done all of that. "Come by!" Twist turned sharply, and headed the opposite direction to herd a younger beast back towards the main herd, Sival watching proudly, much like a proud parent whenever their child begins to walk and talk without stumbling too often.
He jogged foreward, flipping up the metal latch and opening up the board fence. "Twist, get'em in!" He commanded, and the dog crouched into the long grass, his tail laying silent on the ground. Without warning, he bolted around the herdbeasts, and in one quick swoop, all of them were inside the wooden pen. "That was the easy part, boy," Sival said, jumping over the fence easily. "Now we get to go and seperate the babies from the adults. You gotta be here, because we both know that all of the females are going to put up a fight."
Twist, scarred from several Turns of working with herdbeasts, seemed to understand and whined softly at Sival. "Oh, you're being a good boy, don't worry about it," Sival chuckled, rubbing behind Twist's ears. The dog panted slightly, and Sival poured a bit of water from his flask into the palm of his hand, watching while Twist's pink tounge lashed out, lapping up all of the liquid.
"I guess you're about as tired and thirsty as I am," Sival said, taking a deep swig of the ice-cold water himself. He'd made the flask himself, and was rather proud of it, because it kept anything either piping hot or almost freezing cold for several candlemarks, much to his joy.
He'd taken a metal container that his parents used to hold water, then lined the outside of it with baking clay, then baked the entire thing for about a half of a candlemark. Then he'd covered the outside of it with two layers of wher-hide, and used a cork for a good pop-off lid.
Pretty much everyone had laughed at Sival whenever he'd made the jug, all of them saying that it wouldn't work, but he'd happily proved them wrong, and had actually sold some for several marks. With the money, he'd helped pay for Twist, who was a "family" dog, helping anyone who needed it.
Sitting on the top rail of the fence and seeing many of the herbeasts jostle against each other in confusion, Sival knew that if he didn't do this fast, he might loose a few to the heat.
"Okay, Twist, we're really going to work on it this time," Sival said to the canine, taking one last gulp of water before sliding down into the pen, Twist creeping underneath the bottom rail to help him.
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