mary ate a little lamb

Tyrian snorted and shot back, "I'm afraid so." He fell quiet as Lachlan commanded the lamb to behave and watched to see if it listened. A playful poke on the nose caused the baby to back up in surprise, but if Tyrian had his guess it wouldn't be put off for long. Lachlan had been right about the persistent thing. No more than a handful of seconds passed before Tyrian saw its eyes go to Lachlan's ear again. He was on the verge of intervening when one of the barn doors clattered open. Tashi stepped through and then heaved in a pail from outside. The primate let the pail sway pendulously from his hands as he staggered across the open ground. Clearly it was heavy. The lamb knew what was up and abandoned the wolves with a bleat and a clatter. "Ey," Tashi scolded it as its antics threatened the pail's contents. "You dump it you're gonna have to lick it off the floor or go hungry."

"Excellent timing," Tyrian said as he got up and shooed the lamb away. "He was about to eat Lachlan's ear."

"Oh, there's a surprise," the wizened old langur said with a chuckle. The lamb ran to Lachlan and nosed around him for a second before the draw of a meal was too great and he boomerang'd back to Tashi. "Hm," Tashi observed as he crossed the barn. "He likes more than your ear. You ever want to work with sheep that would serve you well."

Tyrian wandered back to Lachlan as soon as it was clear the lamb could handle the walk without spilling the pail. He waited until Tashi and the lamb were past them before turning to Lachlan with a smirk. "So that's lambs for you."