Harvest Festival - Tokotas

A cool breeze swept through the village and the sky was filled with puffy clouds, their outlines contrasting against the pale blue sky. A young woman named Aylen and her cream tundra Tokota named Keeonah walked through the small town. Between the wooden homes and stores hung colourful handmade flags and the gardens were decorated with various items like pumpkins, handcrafted wooden totems shaped like Tokotas and baskets full of nuts and leaves. The young woman smiled to herself, there was a slight bounce in her step as she tried to make big strides with her fairly short legs. She carried a large pumpkin in her arms, yet to be carved into something beautiful. Suddenly she stopped in her steps, sighed and turned on her heel. She whistled at her Tokota who was nosing around in one of the gardens, sniffing around for a snack. "Keeonah!" She called when her whistle made no impression on the cream Tokota. The girl huffed, took a few big strides in the direction of her companion and called again. "Kee, you noisy piece of...-" The Tokota looked up from the garden, eyes wide as she knew she got 'caught'. A few large leaves were stuck in the fur of her half-long mane. She tilted her head in anticipation and waited for her handler's sign. The girl sighed again, she was unable to motion at the Tokota to come to her as she had her hands full with the large orange pumpkin. "Come back here at once! That's trespassing, and on top of that you're ruing the Harvest Festival decorations!" The girl shrieked. The Tokota was clearly unimpressed but reluctantly returned to her handler. "Good girl." 

The pair continued their way to the town square where there were a lot of people. For a Tokota like Keeonah it was sure hard to keep her in line during these kinds of situations. Whenever they went hunting together in the forest, the Inuit girl had no problem handling her Tokota, but Kee was strong willed and easily distracted. All these people, smells of various brews and snacks, other Tokotas and the shiny decorations made Keeonah's synapses run wild. Aylen kept and eye on Keeonah from the corner of her eye. Sometimes she wished Tokotas could be kept on a leash, but with such a large animal it was simply impossible. Keeonah stopped at a stall where there were two townsmen preparing elk meat. The girl could almost see drool pooling at the sides of Kee's jaws. "No." She simply stated and knew Kee could hear her. The cream tundra Tokota took another step near the stall and the tasty smell filled her nose as it drew closer and closer to the meat hanging in the stall. "I said....no!" Aylen looked at Keeonah with a disapproving look and lightly shook her head. "When will you ever learn." She quietly whispered under her breath, though the Tokota did follow her handler again. 

Finally the pair reached the town square middle where a lot of pumpkins were already present and townspeople and children were already busy carving their pumpkins. Aylen smiled at them, looking for a good place to start carving hers. There was a competition for best carved pumpkin, there was only one rule though; your Tokota had to help you carve it. Aylen knew Keeonah was a restless soul and probably a bit too eager at times, but mom had encouraged the pair to try it. It would be a good opportunity to test their teamwork, mom had said. At first Aylen had eye-rolled at her mom but with a bit of encouragement she had agreed. Who was she to pass up a challenge anyway? The brown haired Inuit girl set down the pumpkin and sat down next to it. Perhaps she'd been too fast to accept the challenge because she really had no idea how to start this. The big cream Tokota sat down next to Aylen and tilted her head at the pumpkin. Keeonah leaned in and pressed her pink and black coloured nose against the orange pumpkin. Carefully she stuck out her tongue and gave it a lick. Disgusting. Kee wrinkled her nose and looked at Aylen with a puzzling look. "Don't look at me, I'm as lost as you are." Cluelessly the pair looked around at the other people, kids and Tokotas carving their pumpkins and were able to learn a few tricks by observing. 

Aylen took out her hunting knife and started cutting holes in the top. "Here, try to carve out this bit with your teeth." Keeonah looked at her handler with a 'really now?' face and reluctantly and carefully stared carving her teeth into the top of the pumpkin. Her face wrinkled into a disgusted expression again and Aylen couldn't help but snicker at her silly Tokota. "That's good!" She encouraged the big animal and carefully started cutting away holes for the eyes, mouth and nose of the pumpkin while Keeonah kept scraping at the top with her long canines. 

After a half an hour of tedious scraping, cutting and carving the pair had finished their pumpkin. It turned out to be a rather wonky looking Tokota pumpkin, but still it was a fine piece of teamwork! Aylen snickered at the result and Keeonah was looking at it with her tongue lolling out of her maw. Her tongue was covered with tiny pieces of orange pumpkin residue and Kee helplessly looked from the pumpkin back to Aylen. "Ewww..." The girl said while letting out a quiet giggle. "That's disgusting." "Come on, let's get you something nice." She said and stood up, wiping off some chunks of pumpkin from her upper legs as she did. She picked up the carved pumpkin and sat it down next to the other finished pumpkins and lit the candle. "That doesn't look half bad now does it?" The Inuit girl stated, hands in her sides as she admired her and Kee's crafty-work. However, she didn't sense Kee's presence behind her no more and she quickly turned around. "Kee?" The human called, her eyes scanning the town square filled with people and Tokotas. She sighed and started walking, calling the Tokota every few seconds. She started getting impatient when a thought hit her. "Ohh no... the elk meat stall...." She groaned to herself and broke into a trot, not bothering with calling Keeonah anymore. She knew exactly where she had went...