The area around the colony in the outback area of Australia for Animalians near Alice Springs, while "close" to aboriginal lands, was not actually on them. For Animalia, like many of the others that came to Australia after the continent was discovered by Europeans, was new to the region. Even if there was local support or respect for them, that didn't grant them easy access to every part of the country or areas that were regarded as important to a culture that predated the European arrival. But Marla and Khan found themselves adapting well had managed to get a small gym running. It wasn't much, but it did work and some of the local residents, Human and Animalian did come into it when they had time. That was something that Marla was pleased with.
It let her and Khan integrate into things and make friends with more than those that were local resident Animalians, which was the thing that Marla really liked. Kangaroos were fairly social and that applied to the Eastern Grey Kangaroo as well. Meeting and talking with people worked out well for Marla, even if they weren't double-muscled Eastern Grey Kangaroo Animalians like she and Khan were. They all talked and some times worked out, and even caught some bits of the local scenery that came along with the town they lived in. Marla liked feeling welcome, though some of the conversations lately had been asking questions on why she and Khan weren't in the IAC and in the body building events. One even told Marla and Khan that they would likely win given how big and strong both of them were for Animalians, and might gain extra points with the judges since Kangaroos, like Humans, were already bipedal. Khan and Marla had to explain that they were uplifted too late to register for the IAC for this year, but they said they did like watching the events on the internet.
But some of the gym's events included exercise routines that went beyond just lifting weights, largely on the basis that more than just lifting weights was needed for good fitness. This included what amounted to cross country runs on certain days as part of a regimen so that those coming in would be in great shape, and Khan and Marla took turns making sure that those that came in for these memberships had them and could be kept in shape. It wasn't always perfect, but it did work and gave everyone some means to exercise and covered a fair amount of ground, and which covered a fair amount of ground around the town. They went up and down and at times the path varied. On some days they took only a few laps around the block and on others they'd go to and by other parts of town. On this day, the exercise came by the front of one of the ranches and other areas on the edge of the town. The group was moving fairly well and at a pace that no one was falling behind, and Marla kept with it.
That was all good, and Marla was pleased with it, though, it also came to a point where they had to cross a street, and while looking over to make sure that everyone participating in the "workout" that came along with the gym membership was safe and not holding up traffic, she wasn't paying super close attention to where she was going. One toe hit the raised concrete on the curb and actually tripped her as she came onto the curb. Her knees hit the concrete on the sidewalk while her hands managed to catch herself on the dirt and prevented her from bruising her chest. It brought a few of those that were part of the group she was leading came running toward Marla as she recovered from the trip.
"Are ya okay, Marla?" one woman asked as she came forward, she was a bit on the round side and came in more on the days when they did aerobic exercises but did come in on some days when they worked with weights, but limited herself to very light weights that she could use one hand for.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Marla answered, "just bruised my pride more than anything else."
Marla carefully got herself up and brushed her knees off. Thankfully her fur was thick enough to avoid skinning her knees on the concrete. Though as she got up and brushed herself off, a flash of something on the ground on the other side of the barbed wire fence that was there more to keep cattle or sheep from wandering off the ranch. There were patches of grass and bush-like plants that Marla was told were fairly common throughout the region. It wasn't like the manicured lawns closer to the center of town or on the homes around Lyre where she and Khan had been uplifted. These areas had steady access to water, either from underground aquifers or irrigation from rivers or snowmelt. Many of these ranch areas didn't get that and had to rely on what rainfall they got and needed hardy plants that would survive dry conditions. And many of the sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and other animals brought from Europe for ranching had hard hooves that could grind up dirt and grass in Australia and thus killed a lot of the plants in areas like this and limited what plants were there. It was really only the camels that had softer feet that didn't have the destructive effect that others did.
The immediate area wasn't horrible, often because of efforts to better manage the animals on the ranch, but it didn't remove the main pressures that came from ranching and meant that there was a fair amount of dirt and ground that were open. And it was in the open areas of dirt that Marla spotted something that had a rather bright and shiny luster to it. In fact it was almost rather golden in color.
“What is that?” Marla found herself asking and drawing a couple of people to her, one was a Wedge Tailed Eagle.
“It looks like a gold nugget,” the Wedge Tailed Eagle Animalian spoke with some surprise, “but I did some minin’ work before I became an Animalian. This isn’t the sorta ground where gold will be found. We might wanna talk with the owner of the ranch. See if he or she knows somethin’.”
One of the Humans in the group looked at the corner they were at and said, “I think Archibald Walter owns this ranch. The house ain’t far. Though… I’m not sure he’d take to a crowd of blokes droppin’ in on him unannounced.”
Marla nodded and accepted that, "Then... I'd guess this session might be best to be concluded. Khan should be back at the gym. Please be safe on your way back."
Some of the others nodded while Marla turned to both the Wedge Tailed Eagle Animalian and the Human that said he'd worked as a miner, "in the meantime we can visit Archibald Walter and let him know what we found..."
The other two nodded, and were soon on their way to Archibald Walter's home. As they arrived they found a middle aged man, with his hair already seeming to go gray in color unloading some bags from the back of his truck. The man looked to his three guests and raised an eyebrow.
"Hello, would you be Archibald Walters?" Marla asked.
"Yah, mate," Archibald Walters spoke, "what brings you to me? I'm a bit busy for a gym membership."
"I wasn't here to invite you... that's all up to you," Marla answered, "it's more that we found something you might have lost on the edge of your ranch here."
"I lost something?" Archibald Walters asked, sounding puzzled.
"Marla here found it by accident," the Wedge Tailed Eagle Animalian answered, "today was an aerobics day for the gym and we were doing some running. When crossing the street that is by the edge of your ranch she tripped and noticed this in the dirt just inside the fence."
The Wedge Tailed Eagle Animalian then tossed the gold nugget to Archibald Walters. The man caught it with some surprise and then looked at it. The nugget wasn't perfect, but it was remarkably smooth.
"Given that it's smooth and the area around here doesn't quite have the conditions for gold to just be found in the open," the Human that was with them spoke, "I figured it had to have been in your possession and it fell out of a pocket or something like that. As while there are active mines in the territory, neither are anywhere near us."
"And you say you found this just lying in the dirt?" Archibald Walters asked as he continued to look at the nugget.
"Yah," Marla nodded.
"I'm afraid this isn't mine... as much as I'd like it to be," Archbald Walters commented, "as your friend said... this part of the Northern Territory doesn't have the conditions for gold deposits, and if it did... and had the deposits so close to the surface layer that you could just see it... my ranch wouldn't exist. Someone would have put a mine down here years ago."
"But it was on your land," Marla spoke.
"Yes... I believe you," Archibald Walters spoke, "reports indicate you Animalians are very honest folks. Not ones to lie or deceive people without good reason. But... if I'd picked up a nugget like this somewhere, I wouldn't be takin' it around my ranch and risk dropping it. It'd go straight to a bank vault."
"So... where did it come from?" the former miner asked, "I mean... I suppose it could have been in someone's pocket and there was a whole... but your fence isn't close enough to the sidewalk that someone could have just brushed one of the barbs on the wire and opened a hole in the process. Which means, if it ain't yours..."
"Someone planted it there," Archibald Walters spoke, "strange. Might just have to set up a camera at the spot and see if anyone's been snoopin' around... and also provide a report to the police. In case all of this was an accident of sorts."
"You can't just keep it?" Marla asked, puzzled.
"Not when it's not mine," Archibald Walters replied.