The City of Kings was truly something. The Browns had learned that the actual village name, when written in the Latin alphabet and for English readers, was "Village of Grass Fields," and that "City of Kings" was more a nickname that Horizon and Animalia had picked for the new Animalian colony. To a degree, what had been built there cut that image as Abby and Samson started off with a slight interview the town's mayor and they were able to get a better look at the architecture in the daylight. The buildings all looked like the palaces and temples seen in guidebooks on things from India's history, and particularly prior to European colonization. It wasn't true stonework, but it certainly looked the part and looked built to last with reliefs that showed figures engaged in various day to day things or even battles. One looked like it showed a multi-armed woman mounted on a tiger fighting a strange beast that seemed to be an almost mix of other animals.
"They've certainly done a lot to build up the village here," Abby commented as came up to what was marked as "City Hall" in both English and Sanskrit, "things within the town certainly do look like a "city of kings," if you know what I mean."
"Which is probably what Horizon wanted to go for," Samson agreed, "even if Amit said that the residents wished to keep to their own traditions and names."
They nodded and went in and found that a lot of the day-to-day city business really didn't change all that much, regardless of where one was. It was a bit of reminder on Josephine Brown's role on Animalia's City Council back home, which to Abby made things all the more interesting, particularly in how all the Animalians they saw were often foreign to what they often saw at home. Though the most imposing figure was actually waiting for them in the tall entryway and waiting area, that had two floors and they could see a second-floor balcony that was on the far side of the room. The Animalian was a massive tusked male Asian Elephant with largely brownish-gray skin and his smaller ears, at least when compared to the African Elephant Animalians that Abby and Samson knew, poking through his black hair. He wore a gray suit that looked like it was mad from fairly light-weight cloth, which made sense given the warm and muggy heat.
"You are Abigail and Samson Brown?" the Elephant Animalian asked as he then introduced himself as the mayor of the colony.
"Yes," Abby said politely, "Samson was uplifted... and I was converted... and well... we fell in love shortly thereafter. Probably because we were so close before the first outbreak in Animalia."
"A wonderful story, almost as good as my meeting my wife," the mayor answered chuckle and then waved over to a set of stairs nearby with his trunk, "come we can talk and have the formal interview in my office."
They followed along after the mayor and Samson carefully filmed a couple photographs that hung on the wall next to the staircase they were going up. They showed how the town looked before, with things that were much less grand than what they could see outside now. More wooden buildings with very modest windows, cracked paint or plaster, and largely dirt roads, which showed a lot of change from the past. They ultimately entered the mayor's office and were offered seats. It took Samson a little while to set the camera up on a tripod and to provide an intro, but from there they moved on to the main part of the questioning.
"So, to start off, Mr. Mayor," Abby began using the mayor's title, "what sparked the interest in converting and essentially rebuilding the entire town? Conversions have been fairly popular in America but rebuilding and changing existing things has often been difficult, and to my knowledge has so far only been done with Dino City. The rest of the colonies were largely constructing new structures."
"A lot of it related to the problems that came from Covid," the mayor said slowly, "our town was always fairly small and not all that wealthy and had survived with some simple farming and raising dairy cattle. Though expanding the village also became a non-factor as the national government has tried to do more to save India's native wildlife, so when Covid hit our country... we were hit hard. Many died and many of those that survived suffered all sorts of problems, thus conversion was improve our health and hopeful resistance. Rebuilding things was then an agreement with Horizon to then allow for both new forms to work and gain an opportunity to find ways to make things work. For, as I am now, I would much taller than the ceiling of my past home."
This earned a few chuckles as Samson and Abby nodded.
"And I'd assume this likely included a modern hospital," Samson chuckled, "and an image that looks... well... historic is the best word I can think of."
"The architectural design is more from Horizon's desire to make the colony look iconic," the mayor chuckled, "partially because of how much Animalian colonies ultimately depend on tourism. They figured that rebuilding the town to look like a cross of Mughal and Maratha forts and palaces. It's made things look nice, and I must compliment how much effort Horizon put into rebuilding the village. This was all done very quickly, and they put in things that we haven't had before with regard to things like running water and water cleaning services. It's also provided some means for new jobs as well to run some of the systems as well."
"I take it from that that the colony won't be geared for tourism?" Abby asked.
"We are happy to have visitors and we are not so far away from Ranthambhore that people cannot visit us on the way to visiting one of the Project Tiger reserves and touring it with guide protection and visits," the mayor answered, "but much of our community would be looking to retain what we have in terms of agriculture and finding what can work to balance with nature."
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While Samson and Abby had their interview with the mayor, Martin and Josephine simply enjoyed seeing some of the sights. Even if the village wasn't intended to be a major tourist hub, the architecture was interesting and at times just talking with people was pleasant enough, particularly as it sated some of their curiosity on things related to the new colony. As they came to one end of the main street that ran through the town, they came across the sound of cattle coming from one of the buildings that was set up as a rather ornate stable. A glance over fence saw a Gray Langur Monkey Animalian guiding a small number of cattle with largely short silver and black fur. The blacker fur was on the head, humped shoulders, forelegs, hips, and rear legs, while the silvery fur was on its midsection and in a narrow stripe above each eye. They had decent sized horns that curved up like parentheses, and almost looked like the mark exactly.
"They are Kankrej," the Langur Monkey Animalian said to the Browns, "we use them for milk and for labor."
"Milk and work?" Josephine commented, "was that the purpose for the hump?"
"We raised some Belgian Blue Cattle in Lyre before the Animalia Virus Outbreak first came... and they never had a build like that," Martin explained.
"Ah... Kankrej are an Indian cattle breed," the Langur Monkey Animalian explained, "the hump helps them survive periods of dry weather. Good for us when the monsoon season ends."
"Interesting," Josephine commented, "what do you use them for work with around here?"
"With these males, a lot of it would relate the foods that we grow here," the Langur Monkey Animalian answered, "ranging from plowing, providing fertilizer, and potentially pulling things like rocks out of the way. Some that are Christian, Muslim, or non-Hindu might eat beef, though, for Hindus..."
"Cattle are sacred," Martin nodded, "how do you protect them?"
"A lot of it is often to have pens and to stay on guard in case something might come for them," the Langur Monkey Animalian answered, "we are relatively close to Ranthambhore, but we've never actually had a Tiger from there come here. Occasionally we've had Leopard and Sloth Bear sightings, but they've always been at a distance... but a constant worry. And you? Before Animalia?"
"Before Animalia... a lot of it related to penning the animals at night or moving them between different areas," Martin commented, "though it should be noted that the biggest predator in our part of Nevada that was in decent numbers were Mountain Lions which likely saw adult cattle and horses as too big for them to kill and protect from other predators. There were some wolves... but their numbers were so sparse that they weren't a threat to livestock so long as they stayed together. And after Animalia... all of them BECAME Animalians, which for a year changed things... though we've also noted that the presence of so many Animalians, including more exotic animals from the Lyre Zoo that were uplifted has pushed many of the mundane predators further out."
The Langur Monkey Animalian smiled, "similar to what police and rangers here are trying. They became Tiger Animalians." He then pointed to the trees in the far distance, which Martin and Josephine noted. "And every day one is to go out and leave claw marks on the trees that go to the ground and often taking a bottle of urine to match territorial marking behavior in the hopes that mundane Leopards and Sloth Bears will then stay out of the area."
"How's worked so far?" Josephine asked.
"So far, pretty good," the Langur Monkey answered.