Chapter Twenty-Nine - Hash

  -Summer-

  With the second kiln Kaion had made that morning filled with wood that would eventually be charcoal, the smell of fire filled the camp and made the heat even more unbearable now that the sky was cloudless and sunny. Belbet groaned as she helped Mermel and Olleb slap mud on the sides of Deenat’s hut, while Dahnei pulled leaves and hay together to make a temporary roof for the hut too.

  Belbet was rather proud of the fact that it was taking them less time than the first hut to finish up. Hours spent toiling sweatily in the searing air were worth it when the roof was tied on properly and the adobe covered all of the walls. The fireplace had been fired and all that was left as the sun went down was to put the thatch roof on, until they could finish firing enough tiles to make a tile roof too.

  “Alright, Olleb, Mermel, do you think the two of you can do this-” She pointed to the hut’s walls, “Over there,” She showed the stilted-storage she’d been working on for days now. The floor was finished, and the poles holding up the walls were ready to have sticks woven between them.

  Mermel nodded enthusiastically, and Belbet looked to Olleb, who looked more unsure, but nodded as well. She left the two of them to it, and headed for the campfire that chased away the shadows at the edges of camp. Dusk was settling over the land around them, and Belbet had a meal to prepare. Dahnei was instantly at her side, as the girl realized what it was her mother was going to be doing.

  But instead of letting Dahnei learn a new recipe, she set the girl to carving a hole out of the middle of a plate-shaped rock. Belbet had a plan to make flour making a little easier. Once the hole was bored into the middle of that rock, she’d put a stick through it, so that they could have a rolling mortar-and-pestle to use. A little hand-mill, almost.

  “But Mamaaaaaa-” The girl whined, her normally sweet temper soured by the heat just like everyone else’s.

  “No, you focus on that.” Belbet said, as she chopped snake meat and then crushed it with a rock. She hated this, as she could almost taste the grit that’s going to be in it, but without proper technology, this was the best she could do. When the meat was as ground up as she was patient enough to get it, she formed it into little patties with pinches of what little flour they had left, before pressing those onto a flat stone over the top of the camp fire.

  Then, she began shredding some of the sweet potatoes they had left as well, making a little hash they could eat raw. That, plus some spring onions that Deenat had brought back a few days ago. She could not wait for those to go to seed so that she could get some of them in their garden.

  Soon there was enough snake-meat patties and sweet potato mash for everyone. Belbet added some more boiled water to their berry-honey drink, and spooned a cup for everyone. With a careful eye, she took stock of how much food they had currently. About half of the snake-woman-meat had been eaten and smoked, leaving one half left to be dealt with. The flies it was attracting were quite the annoyance. They also had a few peppers, some carrots left, and their spinach would last maybe two more meals.

  They had lots of small, hard apples and almonds they couldn’t do anything with yet, so she cut up some of the small sour apples and threw those in the punch too. They’d add a nice sour flavor to it that they could enjoy tomorrow.

  When everyone sat down to eat, she sighed, “We’ll need to go foraging tomorrow. Deenat can’t bring back enough to feed everyone each day, plus enough for us to store, so for now, we’ll take advantage of the summer and gather more. Olleb, do you think you can stay behind and keep loading the smokers with snake-meat if I show you how tonight?”

  Olleb blinked, his pale-yellow eyes wide. He cast a glance to Mermel before nodding.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Perfect. Mermel, will you go with Deenat and Eefim tomorrow? Deenat, we need more sweet potatoes, so take as many baskets as you can to collect them. Don’t dig up the whole patch, though. We want to make sure they re-seed themselves.”

  Deenat nodded, “I can do that. On the way back, I’ll hit some of the herb-places too, and grab some more to dry.”

  “Good, thank you.” Belbet smiled warmly. “Kaion, Dahnei and I will go see if we can find some more berries, and new types of plants. We’ll take Mohniit with us, so no worries there.” She patted Mohniit’s head when he looked up with a questioning sound, cheeks full of snake meat. “Nothing, Baby. Just talking about tomorrow.”

  “Mn.” The little bunny mumbled, before turning his attention back to the food.

  “I think we’ll also take the sled,” Belbet knew that it was really a travoi, but honestly she didn’t want to confuse herself or them by bringing french words into the mix, “and pick up some of the marsh water. I think I can make it into better salt than the mud, which we can use to preserve some other things along with the snake meat.”

  “Speaking of the snake meat…” Olleb looked a tiny bit uncomfortable, probably because he was snake-spirited himself, “What…. Happened there?”

  “Oh! Oh! I can tell it!” Dahnei crowed, turning away from where she was carefully grinding down a hole in the stone. “We were all in the water, right, for bathtime! And then this hand grabbed me, and the snake lady snatched me up! I screamed and then mama and Eefim came out of nowhere, and Eefim stabbed the lady over and over again!”

  The little girl mimed the stabbing with the rock she was using to grind, and Belbet chuckled, shaking her head. Dahnei’s tail lashed back and forth, excited and wild, “And then, And then! Once the snake lady was dead! Mama gave the beast core to Eefim, who ate it. And then, we started cutting up and eating the snake lady meat, but not the lady part, just the snake part, because we don’t eat things that are like us! It’ll make us sick!”

  “Well, you’re mostly right. A good retelling, Dahnei.” Belbet praised, even as Deenat snorted to hide her own laughter. The last calls of the birds out in the wilderness faded as the sun finally set all the way, and the night closed in around their little Farm.

  “Mama! MamaaAAAAaaaa~a!” Mohniit whined, tugging heavily on his mother’s arm, causing her to grumble and gently remove those little hands from her.

  “Baby, what? What do you need, hm? We don’t pull on people like this, okay?” She patted his little hand as he settled next to her and glowered up at her, obviously incensed that she couldn’t just read his toddler mind.

  “SOUnds!” He shrieked, making her and the other adults wince at how loud he was.

  “Okay, okay, we’ll make songs, baby. Can you clap, like I showed you? Hm?” As Olleb and Mermel watched on with wide eyes, she showed Mohniit (and eventually Dahnei, who begged to be included) how to clap on beat again.

  Then, Belbet launched into one of the songs Victoria remembered, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!”

  It was a hit with even the adults, who clapped along and soon everyone was laughing. After several rounds, Mermel too joined the musical number, with a song from the Beaver tribe. Victoria wasn’t a fan of such… discordant music, honestly, but she wasn’t an expert enough to be able to tell if it was a cultural thing or if Mermel was just a bad singer. She clapped along with everyone else, either way.

  Then Kaion joined in, a deep-voiced song from the Elk tribe reverberating through camp. This one didn’t require clapping, so Belbet let her fingers focus on tying knots and weaving the net. She was quite happy with it, honestly, it was turning out much larger than she thought it would be. The holes in between the knots were roughly the same size as an acorn, so as not to miss the smaller fish. But the guppies would definitely get through, letting the next generation of fish continue breeding.

  After Belbet and her clan had gone to sleep, Mermel nudged Olleb, who had been facing away from him in their lean to. “Hey…” He whispered. “Olleb, are you asleep?”

  The other man sighed, and turned over, their faces very close to each other. “What?”

  “...Do you wanna stay here?”

  “...We said we were going to go to the winter gathering, and then pick a tribe.” Olleb mumbled, frowning.

  “Yeah, but that was because we wanted to pick a good one.” Mermel said, “Isn’t this a good one?”

  “We don’t know that.” Olleb answered back, and somewhere in the dark around the camp, something called out a warbling cry. The dying embers of the day’s heat were leaving quickly, and Olleb’s hands and feet were getting cold. He curled closer, and Mermel didn’t fail to wrap his arms around him, warm as the sun itself.

  “They treat the children fairly… and we’ve eaten really well here.” Mermel reminded, as if Olleb needed a reminder.

  “But we might find better at the gathering.” Olleb retorted.

  “Mn… yeah, I guess.” Mermel didn’t sound convinced, however, and Olleb wondered why. “We’ll do as you say, Olleb.”

  The serpent nodded, and closed his eyes. Sleep took way too long to come.

  Mini Character List

  Victoria/Belbet - Our Main Character, 21 yr old pregnant Mom. - If I feed them well and let them bathe, they'll definitely stay around, right? ...right?

  Dahnei - 5 year old paleolithic child. Daughter of Belbet. Jerboa Mouse-Spirited. - If I'm helpful, mama will notice me more than the new people.

  Mohniit - 2 year old paleolithic child. Son of Belbet. Rabbit Spirited. - ugh, hairwashing is awful. BUT! I get to play in the water.

  Unborn Baby - I'm fine, just tired.

  Deenat - 25 year old paleolithic gatherer - Ermine Spirited. - If this woman is a danger to my tribe, I'll end her.

  Eefim - 11 year old paleolithic hunter-in-training - Why wouldn't the woman come into the camp?

  Kaion - 26 year old man. Ram Spirited. - Well, at least she trusts me with the kids more than them.

  Wolf - .If the big lady doesn't see me get up, then she can't yell at me. These rocks taste good again.