(Gitana)

We trained like this for many more weeks. Doing the same tricks over and over again until they were quote 'as perfect as could be'. we did get some beating, yes. Tyke nearly lost her eye because Bocelli had swung the bullhook at her head. Luckily he missed, but it did leave a permanent mark on her face. I was punished too. When Bocelli had bad days he would hit us for no reason and make a reason up on the spot.

"Her tail wasn't high enough." Said Bocelli when he hit one of the cows in our line. No human dared to say anything, Like they were terrified.

Now we just came back from our third training session of the day. Some of us were resting others were comforting each other or just eating. Like usual I was with Tyke. We became inseparable. We are always eating and sleeping together. As the night fell we finally relaxed but were scared for the next day. Some of us had a feeling Bocelli was up to something and that made us all nervous. And nervous elephants are never good.

The sun started to rise early in the morning as Bocelli and little Rick entered the stall. Like always Naledi stepped forward and stood between us and Bocelli. When she did this we knew we had some safety. She reminded me of my aunt. Whenever she sensed danger she would stand in between us and whatever she saw. We saw Bocelli's posture slightly drop as Naledi walked forward. I still wonder what happened between those two.

Keeping one eye on the big female right in front of him, he turned to Rick and said. "Prepare them for tonight. The show will be perfect i know it!" Rick just answered with a 'yes sir'.

Bocelli eyed all of us and landed on Tyke. As he walked over to her Naledi took one step in his direction, just to make sure he knows she's still watching him. Bocelli commanded Tyke to put her head down and she did. He ran his hand over her scar and silently mumbled something to himself. After a few minutes he turned back and without a word to Rick he left the stall. Rick was left alone to "prepare" us. As we knew Rick wouldn't dare to punish us even if he tried we complied. He washed some of us to get the dirt off. He brushed just me to get some dust off. He finished with Naledi and he seemed so relaxed with her. I have never seen any human so happy and relaxed with her. If anything everyone feared her. But we saw him whisper to her and even sing to her. She enjoyed every minute of it. I bet they have some history together. Could he be the reason Bocelli is so afraid of her?

Lastly once Rick was finished he called in some other men to help him put some fancy draping over our large bodies. Well mine was less big so Rick could do it by himself. We were all done and ready to start the show. By now it was one in the afternoon. Rick and the other lead us through the dark hall and as we approached the arena we heard loud music. I've never heard it since we never trained with music but Tyke was with me and made sure I didn't panic or anything. We were waiting right in front of the door. Through the slit of said door we saw some bright lights moving around and loud cheering from lots of humans. I had never preformed for an audience before. I started to sway my body from side to side, a habit a developed when I got nervous.

Then we heard Bocelli's voice loud and clear through the door. "Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. People of all ages. Come see these magnificent creatures. They are large, they are powerful. Please put your hands together for the elephants!" Bocelli shouted and the whole audience went wild.

Finally the door opened and we were lead inside in a fast pace. People were clapping their hands, young humans were cheering and laughing. We ran two circles around the arena and then came to a halt at the back of the ring facing the audience. In the middle was Bocelli. Shouting and cheering to the crowd but i couldn't hear what he said. I was to focused on all of the people in front of me. that proved to be a mistake as i fell the hook being pinched into my elbow. Apparently Bocelli had been calling my name several times and i hadn't noticed. His assistant made sure i did this time.

Just now i heard Bocelli say: "Ladies and gentlemen. May i present to you our newest and youngest member of our herd. Indu!"

I stepped forward and Bocelli commanded me to greet so i did as best as i could. The people didn't notice but he had his hook placed right in my armpit. So if i were to do something wrong he could punish me without people noticing. After that he made me stand back in line and then the show began. We were doing all sorts of tricks. Sometimes we all had to do them and other times some of us had to do it. one of the most difficult ones that we had to do was leaning onto each other. Naledi had to stand on a round platform with only her front feet. After that another female had to put her front feet on Naledi and then another elephant had to do the same for the previous elephant. Since i was so small i was stood on the end of the line. I had to lean on Tyke, even though she was much smaller than the other females she was still much taller than me. that meant that i kept sliding off of her. This made Bocelli very angry and i knew i was in for it later. I tried my best to stay in position. Soon Bocelli told us to stand again and after a few more tricks the show was over. The audience said goodbye to us and we were brought back to our stable where hay would wait for us.

All the draping was removed from our aching bodies we went to relax. But soon Bocelli would storm inside and walk right toward me. i knew why, he had his bullhook tightly in his hand. As he was closing in a didn't dare to move, afraid i'd make my punishment worse. But as Bocelli was about to swing i heard an aggressive and loud rumble from behind me. it even made Bocelli stop in his track. But unlike me he knew who made that noise and took a step back. Naledi and to my surprise Tyke went to step in front of me to protect me. Naledi stood very close to Bocelli. She swayed her large body from side to side and had her ears spread wide open. Showing he could not mess with her. She was angry. Still making some rumbling sound she looked at him. Tyke touched my lower lip to show some affection. I was focused on her, however i did hear some loud talking and i assumed it was Bocelli telling Naledi off. Soon everything went quiet and even Naledi came to check on me. only when the light went out in the stall i knew i was safe.