While Shuixing lead her sisters toward where the caricature artist had his booth set up, her mind floated back to Nate who had managed to be able to come for the Spring Carnival. It was something of a minor miracle that his college had its Spring Break at the same time as the carnival, but Shuixing wasn't really going to complain. As much as she couldn't leave her sisters and remembered how she'd been treated while they'd been in captivity, at the same time she also couldn't help but like Nate. He'd been kind and respectful to her. He listened with regards to some of the martial arts lessons offered, and seemed to want to pick up on HER style because she was "kind enough to talk to him" as it were. They were of different cultures, and thanks to her conversion, different species, but a part of her found herself really coming to love him, and thus she enjoyed being able to see him...
Of course meeting Blueberry and some of the older cows from his family's farm was a bit awkward, but it wasn't too bad. Shuixing chuckled a bit at the memory...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So your farm isn't under water?" Shuixing asked as she walked with Nate from his hotel after he'd checked in.
Meeting him at the airport was great and she was a bit surprised that he'd gotten permission to come, but she wasn't going to question the pleasant surprise of seeing Nate again. After he'd checked in, they then began to make their way out from the hotel in Lyre toward Animalia. Much of this was that Nate had asked on how Blueberry and the others were doing and Shuixing then offered to let him meet with the now uplifted cattle that had once lived on his family's farm. Nate readily accepted the offer, and as they walked along, some of the conversation turned to some reports of things that Shuixing had seen on the news.
"Ours isn't," Nate said slowly, "most of the worst of that is further south... in Iowa, Nebraska, and so on. Though, I wouldn't say that Wisconsin avoided everything."
"Well... I'm glad that you avoided the worst of it all," Shuixing commented, "Some of the news reports with all the flooding... it must be hurting people..."
"It'll hurt the farmers," Nate agreed, "as the fields will be too flooded to plant anything, which will hurt with planting season coming up for many of them... and if livestock are drowned, the farmer either can't sell them for meat or sell what they produce... milk with cattle or goats and eggs with chickens. Dad's farm avoided the worst of it, but even he's a bit worried by all the chaos this has thrown into the market."
"Is there a way to fix it?" Shuixing wondered.
"I really don't know," Nate sighed as he looked down, "though right now... I'm not focused on that. I have a break from college and am here to see a very good friend, and see how Blueberry and the others have been doing."
Shuixing couldn't help but smile in response to that, as Nate gave her a small smile and they walked along toward one of the outdoor parks that were in Animalia. Things were moderately warm, which was a step up from the previous year where winter just seemed to hang on and on. This let them walk comfortably along until they came up to a park where Nate could see there was group of Cow Animalians seated on the benches and quietly eating from some picnic baskets. There were some small differences between them, but they all did seem to be doing well.
"Is that them?" Nate wondered, though he was fairly sure they were the cattle that had been sent for uplifting. Shuixing slowly nodded and rested a hand on Nate's shoulder to lead him onto the lawn and toward them. Nate was quick to notice and then spoke, "I don't want to bother them while they're eating!"
"It'll be fine," Shuixing assured him, "it'd be like talking with friends of yours at college."
Nate nervously nodded as they walked along. Animalians were easily on par with Humans in how they interacted with the world, despite what some people insisted on, and in this, it was very much like talking with friends of his at the University of Wisconsin. However, his friends at college were not uplifted animals that he had grown up with, and that some of his chores around the farm had included milking some of them so that his family had some fresh milk of their own. Given how intelligent Animalians were, and some of the news reports indicated that many uplifted Animalians could be quite intelligent, Nate had also figured that Blueberry and the others would probably remember him. There was the fear that some of that memory could lead to somethings that could be "uncomfortable" around Shuixing.
Nate was unable to bring that up as one of the uplifted cattle looked up from one bench and waved to Shuixing as they approached. This in turn brought the attention of one of the females that was seated to turn around. She gave a warm smile to Shuixing, and waved her forward. Shuixing returned the smile and urged Nate forward.
"Hello, Shuixing," the female spoke, "have you come to join our picnic?"
"Hello, Blueberry," Shuixing returned the greeting, "and while the weather is good enough for one... I've already had lunch. I've brought someone who wished to know how you were doing."
With that attention was brought to Nate, who stood beside Shuixing quietly. Blueberry looked good and was dressed dark blue colored dress that covered everything and carried some sense of strength and vigor that over the previous few years had seemed to drain as she got older on the farm. He was glad that they seemed to be doing well in Animalia and hoped that things wouldn't go too bad with the reintroduction.
"Hello, Nate," Blueberry spoke, identifying the son of her former owner, "you've come to see Shuixing?"
"Yeah... my college has spring break right now... some of it goes good in that it coincides with March Madness," Nate began, "but seeing Shuixing... that's special."
Blueberry noted Nate's weak smile and remembered from when Shuixing had visited his family's farm over the previous Christmas. He'd introduced Shuixing to all the cattle that his father owned by name and seemed to be very close to Shuixing as well. At the time, Blueberry didn't quite understand it, though now as an Animalian as she thought back on it, she began to get the sense that it was mostly a romantic attraction on Nate's part to Shuixing. And noting the small smile on Shuixing's muzzle at present, some of that attraction was returned.
"She has been very nice and helpful to us while we've gone through our acclimation classes," Blueberry answered, "we've been able to see why you've taken such a liking to her."
Nate's only response was to blush as some of the other uplifted cows nodded in agreement. Shuixing actually found herself having to suppress a giggle at the whole situation. It took a little while for Nate to recover from the comment.
"That's good," Nate managed, "you're all doing well, right?"
"Yes," one of the others, Strawberry, added, "Animalia is nice and everyone has been friendly."
"How is your family?" Blueberry asked to Nate.
"Doing well... the flooding missed our farm, which is good," Nate answered, "Everyone wants to know on how you're all doing..."
"You were always friendly," Blueberry commented.
Nate slowly nodded, "and I'm glad you made friends with Shuixing."
"She gave us some of her milk to uplift us," Strawberry answered, "the chance for living on has been great..."
"She..." Nate began.
"Like all other adult female Animalians, I'm always lactating," Shuixing commented, "and as a Water Buffalo... I will produce more milk than my sisters and need to be milked more frequently. It wasn't too much to have the vaccine countered to allow me to help give Blueberry and the others their doses. From there I was revaccinated..."
"It didn't hurt you, did it?" Nate asked to Shuixing.
"Not really... though... I wouldn't say that the milking machine was super comfortable either," Shuixing admitted, noting a sound of concern in his voice.
"And when you become bond-mates, she won't need the machine," Blueberry quipped with a smile, "though you will need to keep your hands warm."
Nate, once again, could only blush. This time he noted that Shuixing also looked away for moment or so...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some of the quip on Nate's hands was a bit embarrassing, and even Shuixing remembered blushing, but it seemed that Blueberry was not antagonistic to either of them. In fact Blueberry even seemed to approve of them being together and held no ill will toward Nate or his family for holding Blueberry or the others that were uplifted as livestock. In some ways it seemed to represent many Animalians recognizing nature's balance and the needs that all life had. That had helped things smooth out and allowed Shuixing and Nate some time to have fun with the Spring Carnival together on their own. It even allowed for Nate to even have some fun at the carnival with some of the former cattle from his farm, particularly as they were interested in some of the carnival games. It allowed for some fun for them while Shuixing lead her sisters through the carnival, which she hoped wouldn't go too bad... so that she could hang out with Nate some more.