Chapter Text
Wind had no idea where he was, but something felt off. He couldn’t smell the ocean, for one thing. The only smells here were the earthy kind, grass, leaves, dirt, some type of animal shit, things like that. Then again, was he supposed to smell the ocean? An odd tingling in the back of his mind thought that sounded right, but something else told him that maybe this ranch was familiar and that he belonged here.
Without any further ideas, he wandered up to the first building he found:
Mamamu Yan’s Doggy Racetrack.
6 am to 8 pm.
Wind tilted his head, confused.
“The fuck’s a doggy?” he said aloud.
Well, there was one way to find out. It wasn’t too late in the day, so it was probably open, right? He knocked, curious.
“Come in! Come in!” a voice called.
Wind stepped inside, immediately hit with an odd musky smell. He scrunched his nose. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t pleasant, either. High pitched yipping sounds reached his ears from somewhere past the entryway. He was surprised to find it wasn’t a building, per se, but an enclosed area with a small entrance and desk.
“Hello?” he asked. “I wanted to ask about the doggies?”
“Oh ho ho!” a friendly voice, the same as before, said. Wind spotted her almost immediately.
A heavyset woman with a simple striped dress and large hair grinned at him.
“Are you here to bet on my doggies?” she asked.
That piqued Wind’s curiosity. “Bet?”
The woman chuckled heartily. “Yes, my dear boy, bet. It’s minimum ten rupees to play. If your dog takes first place, you get triple your bet. Second gets double. If it places third through fifth, you break even and get your rupees back. Any worse than that and you lose.”
Excitement made Wind’s ears quiver.
“How do I pick a doggy?” he asked, practically vibrating in place.
“Why, you just go and pick one up over there. Bring it to me and tell me your bet, and we’ll start the race,” she said, pointing at a nearby pen with small, furry creatures of various colors and pointed ears.
I’m going to make so many rupees, Wind thought, rushing over to the little doggies, enthusiasm granting him speed.