"Come play with us! Let's go pick up shrooms!"

Calla woke up and opened her eyes to see the faces of Zora and Fleur an inch away from her own. The two had jumped into her bed as they called out to her and were now shaking her to drag her out of her sleep.

The two girls were early today, the sun had not even rose above the treeline yet.

"Zora, aren't you too old to jump into my bed? You didn't even say good morning first." Calla complained sleepily.

Zora was almost nine, it was more than time for her to learn some basic manners. A girl that old shouldn't jump into the bed of someone else to wake them up. She needed a harsh punishment.

She brought her arms around the two girls and dragged them to her side in order to tickle them and spoil them.

"See what happens to naughty kids?"

"Waa, waa! Sorry! Good morning sis! Hii! Please stop! Haya! I'm dying, I'm dead!"

Calla stopped at their breathless demand but kept them prisoner of her arms with a satisfied smile.

"Did you ask mom first? What did she say?"

"Mama said to not wake you up yet but we really wanted to go to the orchard." Fleur answered pitifully.

"You even disobeyed mom? I see you need to be punished again!"

"Waa noooo!"

After making them squirm in her arms for a while and tickling them to her hearts content, she finally let them breathe. Zora didn't even take the time to recover and placed her hands on both of Calla's cheeks to squeeze them in her small hand.

"Come on, get up already. The mushrooms!"

"I got it, I'm coming. Let me dress up first." She said in laughter.

"Yaaay!" The two exclaimed before jumping off the bed and das.h.i.+ng out of the room.

Calla giggled again and sat on the side of her bed. She yawned and stretched herself before walking up to her drawer and getting a clean dress from it. She folded her nightgown and placed it down on her bed sheets for now, replacing them neatly on her bed while she was at it.

She then put on her simple clothes and tied them up tightly with a sash around her waist. She made a big bow with it, turned it to her back and left her room with her shoes in hand.

Sometimes, she failed to turn the bow enough but her mother always adjusted it to the right spot.

From time to time, she dreamed she was a princess, she'd have all the fancy clothes she wanted and an army of servants to help her put them on. She wouldn't have the need to worry about if the bow was right in the middle or not. Then, she would think of how embarra.s.sed she would be to have all those strangers play around with her clothes and felt rea.s.sured that this would never happen.

Her mom and sisters were fine but she could not picture herself gathering enough courage to talk to those imaginary servants. Even in her dreams, her words stuck in her throat and she wanted nothing more than to hide somewhere.

In the kitchen, she had her mother help her with her hair while she put on her shoes. She could do it herself but it took way more time than just having her mother do it.

"Quick quick! We want to go already!" The two small girls complained while running around her.

"Shouting at us won't make me go any faster." Said her mother while making another link in her braid. "I'm sorry they woke you up so early, I know you stayed up late again yesterday."

"It's fine, I'll find a good idea soon I think."

Everyday, after she went to bed, she would think about what sort of gift she should make. She understood why it couldn't be food but it made it so hard to find something. Food was what she was best in after all.

"No worry, you have all the time you need. As long as you pour your heart into it, it will be fine."

Calla smiled at her mom's encouragement while the other two got noisy again.

"An idea about what? Tell us, we can help too!"

Her mom laughed and denied them the answer right away.

"No, it's a surprise. If we tell you two, everyone will know about it in under a week. Even the outsiders and the huntresses will know."

"Waa, no fair. We're good at keeping secrets too!"

"Yeah, we haven't even told about big sis Iris and Quil's babies yet."

"They both gave birth more than a year ago, that's not a secret at all." Fiona laughed.

"No, we mean the new ones in their bellies!" Complained Fleur, eager to prove they could keep the secret.

"The new ones! You mean the twins are both pregnant again!" Calla's mom was speechless, she had a wide smile across her face.

"See, you told us a big secret again. There's no way I'm telling you two."

The two girls rolled on the floor in protest but Calla wouldn't change her mind.

She felt great joy knowing her sisters would have a new pair of babies but at the same time, she couldn't help but be disappointed at the two blabbermouth.

"Why didn't they tells us though?"

"They said they wanted to say it to everyone at once as a surprise." Zora admired.

"Poor girls." Her mom lamented. "They got their big surprise revealed again. I'm very happy to be grandma again though! You too Calla, I want to see yours too before I get too old."

"Mom!"

"What, I'm not gonna get any from your brothers for a while. Karp is smitten with that road girl that come's once a year, Freddy isn't close to finding a wife either, Gilbert is an idiot and Jerold is too young still. That means it's all on you and Azalea and that one want's to move to a big city with her man. Seriously, what will I do with you all? Why is it only the twins that were lucky?"

Calla was pretty sure it was because the twins went for the same man but she was too embarra.s.sed to say it out loud. She would never be able to share her own lover with her sisters. She'd never be able to look at them with a straight face after that.

As for her mother, she just wanted to get a large amount of grandchildren, it didn't matter which one of her kids provided them. She really liked small children, as many as possible was the best amount for her. She spent most of her free time talking about them and making some new clothes or dolls for them.

Calla was a lot like her mother, she too liked kids a lot and it was true she wanted a bunch of her own but there was no way she'd ever say that out loud, even to her mom.

"You were the one telling me I had all the time I needed earlier. What are you saying now?"

"You do have all the time you need, I'm just a bit impatient. I just don't want you all to be like your big brother Karp and wait until your twenties to find someone. I'd like to know you'll all be fine before I'm too old to do anything about it. You need to go for it, trust in yourself, I'll be behind you to support you through the whole thing. You could be wed already if you just spoke a bit more."

Calla felt her face turn red as she pictured herself at a wedding. She hid her face behind her hands to escape the comments of the two small devils running around.

"Don't be embarra.s.sed just from that! I haven't even said anything scandalous."

Her mom sighed and put the finis.h.i.+ng touch to her braid before tying it up.

"Here, done. Don't forget to wash your face before going out."

Calla escaped her mother, drenched a piece of cloth with water to wash her face with and then left the house with the two excited girls in tow. She knew her mother was right but she was way too blunt, she couldn't stand her words without feeling burning shame.

Why were everyone else in her family so bold? How come it was so easy for everyone else to say how they felt? All she needed to do was open her mouth and tell Emp she liked him. Why was it so hard!

She met him almost two years ago and felt affection for him ever since but to this day, she still had not managed to tell him anything at all.

The way he saved them on the day he showed up was still burnt in her memory. He came out of nowhere and helped her and the others as they ran away. He took the monsters out so easily. Ever since then, she always felt the safest around him.

He wasn't jumpy or boisterous like the other boys, he was calm and peaceful most of the time. Someone she could just stand with and share her silence with. That was how she viewed him at first. A serious and reliable person with whom she could be at peace.

Then, he had given everyone a silver coin as if it was nothing for him. He was so generous he gave her a coin too even though she had done nothing to earn it. She couldn't help but wonder if this was a way to express his affection to her. She still remembered how fl.u.s.tered she had been asking her mother what to do. She still had it, the coin. Her mother had taken back the one he had given to Gilbert but she had left that one to her because she trusted she'd be able to use it responsibly, unlike her brother. She had never used it for anything, a silver was a lot after all and back then, she thought it meant something special.

After, he bought the whole armor of Vale when Dean disappeared. It was then she understood that he had a lot more money then what it seemed. The story had made a whole lot of noise in town at the time. This meant that not only was he generous and stoic, he could also easily take care of a family by himself, and a work at the forge meant he wouldn't just disappear one day.

Wasn't that mysterious newcomer with an exotic hair color a dream-like person worthy of fairy tales? Knowing how she felt about him, her mother urged her to put a claim on him before the other girls took a liking to him as well. After all, her mother knew, if Calla wasn't first, she'd never work out the courage to say anything, ever. She had wanted to tell him everything but she simply couldn't do it. It was too bold for her, how would she even say it?

What if he said that he didn't know her enough to share her feelings? What if her just rejected her? That would be terrible, she was better off keeping her mouth shut.

It was at that point that a golden opportunity presented itself. He complained about his food, a lot.

"If you can't got straight for his heart, steal his stomach first! That's what I did with your dad. Once he's hooked on what you're cooking there's no way he'll be able to say no to you. Plus, you'll be able to spend a lot more time with him."

That had been very true. After she started making food for him and Marcy, she was able to see him everyday, and he liked her meals very much! She was so excited! She had always liked cooking, she was good at conveying her feelings with her food, she worked hard to please them with her cooking. She was certain her mother's plan would work out fine.

She still couldn't say it out loud though. That was why she made the wish to be bolder, braver. She needed enough courage to confess to him how she felt. With him helping her make the wish, it was like the G.o.ds themselves wanted her to succeed.

But the new year had changed everything. She went from joy to sadness and confusion in just a few days. She didn't like to think back to that time. Two of her friends died and Emp just barely managed to bring the others back. Then, he told her about Vesa's feeling for her.

She tried to keep him out of her head most of the time, mostly because what happened to him depressed her. She felt so sorry for him, sorry she had not understood his feelings, sorry that he died to protect her, sorry that she never saw more in him than a friend. Even if he had survived, she didn't think she would ever have seen more in him than a good friend.

Would things have been different If Emp never came to the village? Maybe, who could say? They could all have died that day in the forest if Emp had not been there but maybe they would have been fine. Maybe one day she would have married him to spare his heart or maybe she would never have worked out the courage to do such a thing and would have ended alone?

This was scary and sad to think about. Poor Vesa, and even after such a revelation, her shock wasn't over yet, Emp told her about his own wish. She then discovered that the boy she fancied wasn't stoic at all, he was empty instead. He didn't know what family and love really meant he said. To her, this was a very strange and foreign idea. Her family was large, her siblings numerous and caring, she could not picture a life where she knew none of them.

To think that Emp had been so lonely that he didn't even understand such a simple and important thing. The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was pitiful and the more she wanted to help him feel that thing that fueled her whole world. Maybe she could fill his heart with her love just like how she filled his stomach, that was her new goal.

At the same time, she felt more and more nervous, how was she to reach something that was so deeply buried in him? Even if she worked out the courage to tell him she liked him, he might not react in kind. He might just try to work out what it was she loved instead of answering the feelings themselves.

No, he would surely react that way, she knew him too well. He would ask what it was she liked about him, she wouldn't be able to answer correctly because of her nervous state and then he'd try to study the whole situation to understand it. Obviously, there was no way he would get it that way, they would just lose a lot of time and she wasn't sure how it would all end.

Words weren't the right way to go for her. That was why she decided to jump straight to the offering of Holia, that and a small push from her mother. That, was the reason why she spent a lot of time each night trying to figure out what was the best thing to make and that was also why she was a bit sleepy.

A smelly mushroom suddenly bounced on her head.

"Sis, stop daydreaming and get the basket closer!"

"Look how much we found!"

She shook her head free from her thoughts and got closer to her sisters.

"Wow, that's a lot. We'll be able to make many good recipes with them."

"Right?"

"I like it when you help mom make the meals, you're the best!"

The shout of the small Fleur made her laugh a lot and they happily continued their gathering.

Her father and brothers were working in the orchard but it was so vast they didn't cross any of them as they completely filled a basket of mushrooms.

They went back to the house with their basket of mushrooms and ate a big breakfast with the whole family. Finally, her day was ready to start for real.

The first thing she had to do was bring breakfast to Marcy and Emp as well. She emptied the basket of mushrooms and filled it with the breakfast instead. She took what was left of their breakfast but also had to make prepare some more, the two smiths were quite the gluttons after all.

She waved her mom goodbye and started her trip to Marcy's house. Annoyingly, her house was a bit far, it wasn't even on the same side of the river. Calla was such a klutz, every time. she was afraid she would trip and drop the baskets of food she carried.

She pa.s.sed a lot of people on her way but didn't talk to many of them... None at all in fact. Not that she didn't want to talk to them but... She liked to listen better than to talk herself, that was it. It was not at all because she was too timid to say a word. What if she said something dumb? That would be terrible, she was better off not saying anything at all.

On the way, she noticed many faces she had never seen before. There had been a bunch of gruff men invading the town recently. All of them where miners. Emp said they were here for the crystal cave he found with the huntresses. They would stay for a while and then leave after they were done hauling all the crystal.

Calla was fine with meeting a single new person but there were just too many. It was scary to walk around with all these strangers about. She hurried her steps every time she saw one.

She hoped they were all good people but she was too nervous to find out the answer by herself.

The huntresses were still there too. Marcy said they wouldn't be camping at the gate for much longer but Calla didn't mind their presence as much as the miners. At least they were all girls, that was less scary.

They had been there for months already, Calla was used to them being there. At first they had wanted to leave immediately and she had wished for the same but Emp convinced them to stay for a bit longer. He said it wasn't safe to move the girls that had some crystal growing out of them, plus, Marcy wanted to replace the weapons they broke on the monster and Emp said he had some valuable treasure to give them before they left. Calla didn't know what was that treasure but from what she heard, the huntresses had decided it was well worth the wait.

After a while, Calla had just gotten used to them, Tacey was a bit scary but aside from that, they were just ordinary girls with a good ability to fight and hunt. Calla didn't like that sort of thing but she could respect it, she understood that for the safety of everyone, some needed to brave the dangers of the woods.

She wouldn't be very sad of seeing them leave but she would not have been upset either if they stayed.

Walking down the street, she pa.s.sed by the house of Willow. She had not come out at all recently. Her mother said she was sick in the beginning but this was obviously not the case. She had vomited a few times in the beginning Calla heard. Then, she came back out to hang out with them for a few more weeks and suddenly locked herself inside again.

No one was allowed to see her and Winnie seemed very worried about her sickness but the rest of them weren't idiots. Even Calla knew what was happening, every girl were talking about it. Willow was carrying Chase's child. The reason no one was allowed to see her was because her belly was round like a barrel, Winter saw it through a window one time she felt too curious to resist.

Calla was worried for her. Raising a child alone didn't seem easy at all. She wanted to help her but she didn't know how. If only Chase hadn't died back then. He was a great guy, fun and resourceful.

Calla didn't like how the world kept behaving unexpectedly around them, always pulling off tricks on them. She didn't like uncertainty. Just like that, Chase had been removed from their lives and Willow was now facing the hardest times of her life.

She was pretty sure that the other girls were very happy to not be in her shoes. She had not waited like their parents always told them to and now she was stuck. They pitied her but there was nothing they could do, it was way too late for that.

Calla felt uncomfortable thinking about it, all she could do was make her a filling meal with fishes as a main ingredient. She'd ask her brother or Manley to catch a few in the river and she would prepare it with a thick sauce made with eggs. She heard fish and eggs were good for pregnant women. It was Jenna the shoemaker who told her one day.

She would bring her that filling supper and express her friends.h.i.+p and support with it. Calla didn't have the power to fix Willow's problems but she did have the heart to support her whatever she chose to do after the baby was born.

Of course, to do that, she needed to find an egg, more than one if at all possible. There weren't a lot of livestock in the village. They got all their meat from the forest, wasting some of their hard obtained vegetables to feed an animal was not something the villagers had the habit of doing.

Luckily for her, merchants pa.s.sed through the village regularly as it was the safest path between Bêtéclair and Red-water. Surely one of them would have some chickens, he might be willing to sell her a few eggs.

Gilbert told her that one of them came in yesterday after she left to cook. Maybe he would have some? She would go there take a look after she was done with breakfast.

She escaped the main street full of strangers and reached Marcy's house without troubles.

***

After everybody had their breakfast, she made her way towards the village's center to look for the merchants. She also needed to think about what she would do for dinner.

She would probably do something light and quick to make. Marcy wasn't that likely to come out of her workshop anyway because she didn't like to be interrupted. She would most likely keep Emp in there with her so she wasn't even certain they would eat dinner at all. It happened often that they went to work and forgot about everything else for hours and hours.

As for herself, she didn't have a big appet.i.te. She absolutely loved to cook things but she ate almost nothing herself. It just wouldn't fit in her belly even if she knew it was delicious.

Instead of thinking about dinner, it was best to think about supper. When they'd come out in the evening, they'd be starved like every time. What would be good? Maybe she should check the garden in the afternoon to see if there was anything worthwhile to pick up. Even if not, there would still be the scareants mushrooms she had picked up.

It was while she was thinking about this that she happened upon Sophus. The village mage was going to see Marcy again. Since she was arriving from there, it was normal to encounter him. She would have preferred otherwise though. The guy was kinda scary.

It wasn't that his appearance was off-putting, it was the air around him that was a bit dark. He was always complaining about anything and everything, considered everyone else to be beneath him, treated them like servants and scarcely spared a look at anyone but Marcy and Bor. He acted as if he was the supreme ruler of this place.

It was kinda true that with his status of magician, he was far above the rest of the villagers. He was the closest thing to a n.o.ble living here aside from Bor but since he was staying in dark-glint, could he not be a bit more amicable?

His stern look made her s.h.i.+ver every time she saw it. She hurriedly stepped out of his way hoping he would not glance at her. It usually worked but not today. He caught her with the corner of his eyes and stopped to face her.

What was happening! Why was he looking her way?

She shrunk behind her empty basket hoping he would just give up on whatever he wanted.

"..."

It was not working at all, he was still staring at her! Could she just leave? She would but her legs refused to budge.

"You, I feel like I've seen a lot recently." He finally said, squinting an eye to examine her better. "Who are you again?"

Calla opened her mouth to answer but no sound came out of it. She had not even understood the question properly. There was only a giant "Why?" spinning in her head right now.

Sophus frowned because of her lack of answer but soon it turned into a smile.

"Are you scared of me? You know I'm one of the protectors of this village right? Why would anyone be scared of me?"

Because your att.i.tude is terrible! Please go away!

"It doesn't matter if you do not answer me, It's easy to find out who you are, watch."

He leaned in closer to her and wrinkled his nose to take in a deep breath. What was he doing? Was he sniffing her?

"Apple." He said. "You work in the orchard, are you a Champom?"

She tensed up hearing her name.

"Oh, you are, that was easy." The mage straightened back up again. "I don't like the apples from here, they are way too acid for my taste. I guess they kept all the sweetness for themselves. The girls they raise in the orchard are surprisingly better than their apples apparently, that's were all the sweetness went. I had never noticed before. At least they know how to keep quiet."

What did he want? Why was he still here? What was she supposed to do? While she was racking her brain to find an answer, she saw Izzy, Galina and Sylvia further on the road, happily chatting with each other. Please help! She yelled in her head.

The three girls saw her distress and came running to steal her away from Sophus. They surrounded Calla, took her by the arms and dragged her away while pretending to have something amazing to talk about.

"Calla, you'll never believe what we just heard! Come quick!" Sylvia said.

"Hi Sophus, bye Sophus." Galina waved to the mage as she pushed Calla's back to make her move faster.

The man just watched them move away without protesting or saluting them in any way and turned back towards the forge.

Calla released a heavy sigh and took many breaths to calm her beating heart. She was so thankful to the three.

"What was that about?" Asked Izzy.

"He finally noticed you went to the smithy awfully often?" Galina supposed.

Calla nodded. Now that she wasn't in such a stressful situation anymore, her head started working better again and as she saw it, it was the only thing that could possibly make sense. That was why he had stopped there wasn't it? He said "I feel like I've seen a lot recently."

"Calla, you're so hopeless. Why do you freeze like that in front of everyone you don't know much? Sophus isn't that scary, he's just annoying. The others are even less worthy of freezing over. I still can't believe you did the same in front of your sister's husband." Sylvia lamented.

Everyone always told her things like that but she couldn't help it. She really didn't like talking to people in the first place. She got anxious whenever someone talked to her. That they knew her for a long time only made it "less" worse rather than better. Even her close friends could only extract a few sentences at a time out of her.

"You're not like that at all in front of Emp." Galina pointed out.

"I feel at ease when he's close by. He's too calm it spreads to me as well." She explained.

"He may be rea.s.suring to you but he's also really dense." Mocked Izzy. "You were so depressed the other day when he didn't get your message."

She answered with a pout. It was true she had felt saddened when she made the ultimate "I like you" meal but he didn't say anything about it at all. She cooked him a literal heart and spoon-fed it to him herself! How was it not an obvious message! He truly didn't get love at all. That was when she had set her mind on an Holia's offering, or rather, that was when her mom snapped and told her to do it.

She shook her head to bring back her head into the current conversation.

"Have you seen the merchants?"

"Yeah, they have a lot this time around. Were you going there? Do you want us to come along in case you're too timid to shop by yourself?"

"Please."

"Alright then, lets go buy some good things!"

The three younger girls brought her to the center of the village and showed her around the different merchants stalls. They had all set up shop here by using their wagons as counters and storage. A few of the escorting death seekers and private guards stood close around while the rest wandered in the village to see some people they knew or just to explore the place.

In the wagons of the caravan, they had a great amount of things rarely seen in the village. One of them carried chickens like she had hoped and sold the eggs to the villagers. That wagon was always popular because chicken eggs were often larger than the wild bird eggs the hunters sometimes found. Luckily for her, the merchant still had some left and the girls helped her buy a few for some coppers. She added some b.u.t.ter with it too even if it was way more expensive. She couldn't replace it if she wanted to make a sauce after all.

Now that this was done, the only thing she still needed to do was to wander around looking for something that might inspire her. She took a look at all the things they carried, but like most of the villagers, she gravitated towards the things she could actually afford and use.

Looking at jewelry and precious stones was pointless. It would only sadden her knowing she couldn't afford any of it.

Thread however was entirely different. With treads, you could make a lot of different things. The merchants were proud to show off the good cotton and silk harvested in Grandbois and Greenpeaks. Calla was disappointed to see that the price of cotton had grown again. Izzy asked the merchant about it and he gave some excuses about how Greenpeaks fields weren't in good conditions anymore and most of the cotton came from there.

Buying some cotton was out of the question for her, it was too expensive for her now. Paying that price she was better off buying silk instead. She still wanted some thread though. With it, she could probably make something good for her offering.

Pieces of clothing were often a good choice with that kind of thing. Most girls gave some clothes when unable to make anything more special. Calla was one of those. Since food wasn't acceptable and she had no fancy practical skill like shoe making, sowing was probably her best bet.

Looking at her choices, with her budget of only a few coppers over a silver, she could either buy some fur, some flax linen or a smaller amount of silk. (1)

In the end, she settled for a length of silk and some soft looking grey fur. She didn't know what she would make with them all yet but at least now she had something to make her offering. She had to sacrifice the silver coin Emp gave her but with all the courage her new year wish gave her, she convinced herself it was well worth it.

She might not have been the best with a loom but she was far from the worse, she could make clothes too. It might take a long time to weave all of this into fabric but she wasn't scared of the work.

She waved goodbye to her friends who seemed just as excited as her about her purchases and went back home with it all in her basket.

Once there, she sent her brother on a quest for some fish and sat in the kitchen to think about what she would do. Her two smaller sister went with him as well so she would be left in peace for a while.

She would make a good sauce using the eggs and the b.u.t.ter. b.u.t.ter was not something she usually had access too so it was a bit painful to use it right away for a sauce but it was for Willow after all. She usually replaced b.u.t.ter with applesauce but she wasn't convinced the taste would be right with the eggs.

With all those eggs, and b.u.t.ter, she would have plenty of that rich sauce, she should use it on the others' meal too. If her brother brought back enough fishes, she might just make enough for everyone. If not, she needed some other plan to fall back to. The garden might help with that.

She walked to the back of the house and looked at what was growing. There was some scallions ready, maybe the carrots were too, she might take one or two but maybe not today, what else? Some asparagus might have been good but none of them seemed ready to be harvested. Ginger didn't fit like most of the other things growing in the garden so she settled with only some herbs.

She then made her way to the cellar and chose a piece of meat she would use to replace the fish if her brother failed. If he didn't, she'd just make a side dish with it and share it around.

She placed everything in the kitchen and then went to find her mother to talk about her purchases. They brainstormed for a good part of the day but in the end didn't manage to decide on anything until Gilbert came back with a few fishes.

She spent the rest of the afternoon busying herself with the meal. Her brother did a decent job and caught enough for everyone. With the help of her mother, she sliced them in large sections to get rid of all those small fish bones and sent someone to get Emp and Marcy. She didn't want to reheat the sauce after all.

She cooked the fish with some herbs, scallions and scareants mushrooms. While it was on the fire, she made the preparation from the eggs and slowly added the b.u.t.ter, some more herbs and some finely chopped scallions and mushrooms. They needed to be fine enough to not break the texture of the whole preparation so it was hard to cut properly. The sauce became yellowish and thick, perfect, she even had two eggs left.

She decided to scramble them and make a side dish with the meat and them. She didn't have that much vegetables to place in the meal though, maybe she should have taken the carrots or a celery after all. The taste might have been ruined though.

Instead, she got a few apples, big ones, cut them in half, removed the core, cut them in slices instead of quarters and carved out all the "meat" from the middle. Now only apple strips remained.

She let all the apple centers in a bowl and gave them to her mom to mash it all in tiny piece, as if to make some applesauce, except harder since they weren't cooked yet.

She prepared two more pans, in one she started cooking the scrambled eggs while in the other, she placed the apple strips and some thin meat slices together. She then asked her mom to pour down the apple juice she had made from mas.h.i.+ng all of that in it and poured some ale as well, not too much! She almost dropped the mug into it, that scared her.

What remained in the bowl, she mixed with the scrambled eggs, added small bits of scallions and scareants mushrooms cut in cubes. She mixed it all together carefully and placed it back in the pan. The mushroom should absorb the excess flavor from the apples and mellow everything to a sufficiently sweet level while keeping the rest of the tastes present.

When the meat and the fish were well cooked, she removed them from the fire and placed them on two different huge plates. One housed the fishes and was ready to accept the sauce she was about to heat. She took care of keeping a some of both to present to Willow and her mom later.

On the other plate, she placed the meat strips together with the apple strips and emptied what was left of the juices into the egg pan. She finished cooking the scrambled eggs and the sauce as everyone else showed up. Finally, she carefully emptied the contents of the two pan onto the earlier two dishes and she was done.

Salted meat strips with apples and mushrooms served with sweet scrambled eggs in one plate. Fish cooked over the fire with herbs and scallions with the rich egg sauce to cover it on the main plate.

She took a few bites of both to fill herself and brought what she had set aside to her pregnant friend.

Willow was quite happy for the meal and even cried a bit as she hugged her in thanks. Her mom was a bit distraught by the fact that all the girls knew about Willow's pregnancy but there was nothing she could do at this point. It wouldn't be long before the rest of the village knew too. At least, Willow could count on Calla.

***

(1) Silk should be surprisingly cheap in steelwood because there is a lot of trees for the silk worms to feed on. However, it may still be very complicated to keep the worms alive, stop them from propagating to the surrounding orchards and harvest the silk high up in the trees. I hear they are usually farmed on small plants so that the silk is easier to pick up. Steelwood doesn't have the s.p.a.ce for that.