Utterly Mad

Dumbfounded. Chaosvolt looked to Saltmummy, to the "zoo" before her, and then back at Saltmummy.

"Saltmummy." She said, "Salt, this is not a zoo." Saltmummy shrugged it off. "Maybe, maybe. It safer than zoo. See? Animals not harm you." Saltmummy reached through the bars of one of the 390 stone cages and stroked the stone lion inside. "This better than zoo. Safer, and educational for kobold children." Chaosvolt was shaking her head now "You said you were capturing animals." Saltmummy shrugged that off too, "Aya, I capture likeness of animals." There was so much more Chaosvolt wanted to say, but the words would not come. For Apathetics part, she seemed nonplussed, but inside she was a bit jealous of Saltmummy's cleverness. The "zoo" was a major feat of coordination and patience. She had no doubt that part of the idea for this had come from seeing her army of duplicates.

Inside each stone cage was a statue or statues of an animal. Each individual having it's own cage all to itself. Some of the animals were easy to recognize, while others were completely unknown. "Saltmummy, you've never even seen a dragon" said Chaosvolt, peering into one cage and seeing just that, "How did you..." That glint of pride seemed to have returned, "No, I not see dragon, but Wilson see dragon when he young bold. Wilson steal gem from dragon once." It occured to chaosvolt and apathetic exactly why the shaman had needed all those rangers, animal trainers, and soldiers then. They had all seen animals in their wide wanderings. Of all the peoples of the world, none were so well traveled as the kobolds. A small race seen as little more than vermin and yet with eyes and minds that would see and experience more than any other race. Saltmummy had taken descriptions of various creatures,  and had the masons carve the statues from those descriptions. They also had to admit, each statue was fairly detailed. In one cage, a school of trout swam around a central column within their cage, in another was a flock of birds in flight hanging from spider silk threads carefully looped through tiny hooks on their backs. In one cage Apathetic spied a Hydra, scaled down so as to be less frightening to the kobolds, and choasvolt noticed that each statue bore a legend beneath the cage stating the creatures name, and a single line of information about it imparted by the kobold who had seen it. A zoo? No. An unusual example of just how grand kobolds can be when they set their minds to it? Without a doubt.

Later, after Saltmummy had finished showing off the "zoo" to them, Apathetic and Chaosvolt sat quietly together drinking their spoiled milk. It was Chaosvolt who broke the silence between them first. "I'm not sure what to think about that." She said. Apathetic nodded. "Been a hell of a year Chaos, a hell of a fuckin year."