This Corsus sprout field looks way smaller than it is.

"The fight is in your brain, Lori," Adel says. "Your muscles can still move, your brain is what's not getting them to contract,"

"So, what's the fix?"

"You have to find that in yourself," Adel mutters. "Don't think either of us feel any different."

"What kills me is not the strain itself. It's the boredom."

"Yeah? Look at me, I spent years lifting weights, but I can't do endurance. All this mass," she slaps her swollen biceps, "is not doing me any good right now. This is definitely an endurance thing. It's' just like a workout. If you give yourself time to recover between intervals, they won't care; they just want the field plowed. If anything, you'll be better at this than I am."

This is objectively far less energy than fighting Jackals, yet feels like otherwise.

"Don't forget, I'm suffering too," she continues, "right here with you."

Misery loves company, huh? I roll my eyes.

"If anyone, I think your fan over there is still quietly cheering you on," she points her chin towards Corvus, behind me.

He looks away as I turn back at him.

~~

Fuck, I really miss the food from the base already. Not that food specifically, but really, any food at this point. Anything.

I'm just as bored as I was back in Cauldron, but now hungry too. Really oversold it to myself.

I miss Beth. I miss the tiny mattress I slept in every night. I even miss Adel's wake-up harassment every morning. All that stupidity, part of me wants to go back. But I know I made this decision knowing all that, and decided it was worse to not leave.

This is what you wanted, Lori. No more, no less. I'm no stranger to "life not going as planned"; mine certainly never did for a moment.

"Don't they have some kind of tractor or mule or something?" Corvus moans.

"I think it's part of their welcome ritual," Adel says. "Even if Lori didn't get in that fight with Philip, they might've made us 'earn' our stay anyway."

"Any reason not to look for another village?" I ask, wiping some sweat off my brow.

"Why would the next one be any different?" Adel puts her plow down and turns to me, looking sternly. "Who's just gonna let us leech off of them?"

"What would it cost us to ask if they have a machine or animal to let us work faster?" Corvus stops as well, to catch breath.

Adel puts a finger on her chin. "Hold on."

~~

Corvus and I stand on the plow's base as the rope shakes us along, almost like that "wakeboarding" thing that I saw people do in movies.

"Let me know when you're tired, so we can take turns," Adel screams from the truck as she pulls us along.

I don't reply.

"Better than you expected, huh?" Corvus teeters in excitement, barely keeping balance. "Hey, gotta have fun somehow."

"Yeah, I guess," I mutter while trying to stay on the right handle.

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Normally I'm the one to take on recklessness like this and laugh first, but I'm just not feeling it today.

"Oh, shit!" Corvus yelps as we hit a lump of hard soil or something, rocking us both out of our little boat-plow. His body smacks into mine as we land in the soft dirt, hand on my right thigh, head in inside the other. Right before I could thrash out in frustration, Corvus frantically lifts himself up. We both pause.

Chill out. He didn't cause the plow to capsize.

"Shit, sorry, I'm sorry," he nervously apologizes. "Would you like a hand up?"

Don't make enemies with who you just abducted.

"No problem, don't worry," I take his hand to get back up, feeling the adrenaline come back down.

"You two alright?" Adel stops the truck.

"Yes. Resume on our go," I hold a signal fist up.

We stare at each other in a couple seconds of awkward silence before agreeing to push the plow back up and keep riding. I throw my index finger forward to signal Adel to go.

It felt so strange, to have a warm, moving object strike me there.

~~

Adel knocks on the rickety shack door. "Oh, my," Malithe and the others come outside to admire our accomplishment. An entire field, plowed.

"Ugh, If only I thought of this sooner," Adel sighs, in a mixture of contentment and frustration.

"It's good enough," I weakly murmur, as Adel pats me on the back, following up with a hug.

"Come in, we could use a hand to cook dinner," Malithe says. "Sorry we didn't have any goodies right away, but we'll promise a more worthwhile meal if you help us whip it up. Come look at our ingredients we have a-ready."

I stumble at the steps before the entrance. Adel and Corvus pick me up by the armpits before I could hit the ground.

"Poor gal needs a bite," Mailthe sighs. "Philip already ate the last batch of bread, that's why we need to bake more," she groans, in a whisper.

"A fresh loaf is better anyway," Adel remarks.

"Aren't you famished too, ye? All that muscle must be a-starvin'."

"I'm feeling better than her," Adel probably points to me. "Let's get cooking."

They place me next to the burner to stay warm. Inside, they throw Corsus plant husks, and who-knows-what inside to keep hot air coming through a set of channels, one to an oven of sorts, with a pan on top of it.

"Where did you get this baking powder stuff?" Adel asks, as something boils on top of the stove.

"Oh, this?" Sanna hesitates while trying to lift a can the size of her chest. Malithe and another come to help her.

"This.. we found-"

"...in a UWWA convoy that abandoned their vehicles," Malithe finishes her sentence. "It was a supply caravan, but I had no idea where it came from, and where it was going, as all the computers and gizmos were taken out, they cleaned it spotless of any deets before Philip found it,"

Adel glances to me and raises an eyebrow. I just stare at her, barely awake.

The smell of fresh bread begins to rise, which is pleasant, but still not appetizing. My stomach remains in knots.

"They left behind some spices as well," she pours something into a bowl and stirs frantically with a spoon. "Try this," she hands it to Adel.

Corvus and Adel play with the dough as the ladies teach them how to knead.

"Sanna, bring the dried veg and fruit from the greenhouse," Malithe orders.

"Excellent idea. That'll accompany the Jackal roast well," Sanna cheers.

The smell of burning meat, let alone Jackal meat, isn't helping my appetite either, but Adel and Corvus watch in awe as it roasts in the oven.

"Doesn't soil need, like, nitrogen balance or something?" Corvus asks.

"Phil handles that, and I don't really ask, I probably don't want to know anyways," Sanna says. "Just enjoy the food, you need that first. It won't always be there."

"Phil?" the women call at the dinner table, but he does not answer. Corvus and Adel help me into my seat.

"Oh well, if he isn't grateful, we'll say our gratitudes by ourselves," Malithe sits at the table, and everyone is quiet.

"Thank you, mother Earth, as wrathful as you may be, for this meal, and for allowing us to thrive yet another day."

"Thank you," one by one, the other women repeat.

"Thank you," Adel mutters.

"Thank you," Corvus follows.

Adel elbows me gently in the side.

"...thank you," I mutter, through a lump in my throat.

Everyone calmly reaches to the central arrangement of fire-charred Jackal flesh, steaming Corsus bread, some pancake-looking things, an assortment of unidentifiable, wrinkled, dried vegetables, and some of what I think are berries.

"You... gonna have some?" Adel looks at me, chewing on a Jackal hip.

I just stare at the food, my brain almost completely off.

"Here," she dumps a portion of vegetables, a piece of bread, and then some kind of porridge. "You earned it this time, dig in," she grins.

With a shaking hand, I put one spoonful in my mouth. It's bland, how I usually like it. No, mildly sweet. Vaguely sweet. Not that bad, actually. Another spoon. I scoop some dried berries into the emulsion. Another small spoon. Then, the whole plate is gone.

"Uh... Lori?" Corvus timidly peeps, or so I think he did.

Right as I knock over the pan of bread, Adel grabs my wrist again, and the other women are giggling.

"Easy," Adel says.

"It's alright, she can eat this time, we can afford plenty more now you three have plowed so much," Sanna smiles warmly, handing me another bun.

"Thank... you...." I mumble.