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Chapter 2: "Sleep-in Saturday."
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Shae woke the next day to what was best described as a hangover. The sun was already halfway to its zenith, but she still felt tired. Her whole body was sore and the sharp edge of a headache was clouding her mind. She must have slept through most of it, usually the headache was worse.
Her thirst had been the thing to really get her up. Dry lips and a throat packed with something that felt like phlegm, but tasted of blood and bile, did nothing to make the morning bearable. She quickly stumbled over to the water barrel while trying to shade her eyes. The barrel was one of the few convenient amenities around the camp. An odd looking mesh funnel that drained into a few gallon barrel setup on a bench with a few drawers.
Usually the small barrel didn't empty, but on days like today, Shae knew she could drain the whole thing eventually. Possibly just from drinking it down and washing out her mouth. The nasty blood and phlegm slime that stuck to her throat and mouth took a third of the barrel to get out, then she drank it down to half to satisfy her thirst.
Shae drank more water than she thirsted for, knowing that it would return stronger once she had her appetite back. Looking back at the campfire and planning for food, she groaned in annoyance as the fire had gone out.
"Old bastard, always forgets to keep the fire going!" She grumbled, then yelled the rest, and massaged her temples to calm her flaring headache.
He had, at least, not left meat out overnight. That could attract unpleasant wildlife. Her cooking experiment still remained, mostly untouched. It was mainly vegetables, with a light coating of egg and rice flour. She was trying to make something like tempura, but didn't have any oil to fry it in.
Looking at the untouched portion of the meal. It appeared almost identical to when she cooked it. With a sigh, she ate the leftovers. Any other day she wouldn't have. It would have been tossed into the refuse pile, or into the fire to be burnt off.
Today, Shae knew that the hunger from the tempering would set in soon. A tribulation which she tried her best to avoid, if left to build it would be stronger hunger than a couple days without food, and could result in her eating nearly anything around her, just to get the pain to subside. So she gladly risked the half day old tempura batter.
It was unpleasant. The rice flour hadn't cooked enough, and the veggies had cooked too much, and it was cold. Yet, it was still food, technically. She had grown to be more flexible about food since she had left home, sometimes you just had to eat something.
The veggies wouldn't be enough, some meat and fruit would be much better. She grabbed a small basket that was struggling to stay together, and began her usual rounds. Checking the nearby rabbit snares, resetting the few that were empty as she went. None were filled, but she found a few ripe berries on the trip, and grabbed a few more that she would normally leave to ripen.
Her foraging area wasn't particularly large. Less than an hour's hike across, the mountainous forest terrain made for a tough hike if you wanted to cross it quickly. Beyond that distance, and something the old monster had set up would cause her to pass out, a qi pressure similar to the tempering he inflicted on her. Luckily it wasn't as sudden, so wandering the edge wasn't particularly risky.
The forest on the lower side of the mountain also got much denser at the edge. The tree branches and plants not having been cleared to make the area more passable. Higher up the mountain, and the vegetation spread out more. Becoming rocky and lacking in regular rain. Higher up it got a fair bit colder, especially at night, but the snow from the peak was out of reach. Shae found the quick transition between dense forest and taiga a bit suspicious, but she hadn't ever lived on a proper mountain before, so who was she to judge?
Returning to camp, she caught sight of the only other tenant. One she was about as fond of as ashes in her food. A particularly grumpy hen. Shae thought it was about half again too large to be a simple chicken, but she didn't have another to compare it to, so maybe it was her imagination. The old monster had claimed it was a normal chicken, and he didn't bother with lies. It was getting on in years so only laid an egg every other day at most, but they were very good eggs.
Shae observed the hen from a safe distance. "How many days since..?" she mumbled to herself. She could check for an egg. The hen was probably sitting on an egg. Even with the fire out, it wouldn't be the first time she ate one raw.
She shook off her nerves and grabbed the branch. Not her fire stick, this was the branch for getting eggs from under the hen. It was sturdy and spread out into a nice web of prongs to keep distance and shield her from the cranky bird. It never liked having its eggs stolen, who would, and Shae never liked being pecked for it, who would.
The task was as stressful as ever. Possibly more so as Shae's hunger was really starting to impact her. Carefully maneuvering the branch to push the hen slightly out of her nest. Too far and the hen would turn and assault her, not enough and she would be in easy pecking range. If asked Shae would compare reaching under the hen to plunging your hand into a fire to grab the one cold piece of coal, and hoping you didn't brush the other coals or logs in the process.
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Shae's hand did brush something else in the process. "A second egg, jackpot!" she gasped. It must have been just laid, or she miscounted the days since she checked last. Either way it was a pleasant turn to the day. Her attention distracted, the hen took its toll by pecking at her wrist. "Ah!" Shae kept hold of the second egg, quickly retracting her hand. She swung the branch in frustration, but the hen dodged the awkward attack. "Stupid dinosaur. One day I'll have vengeance, you'll be dinner!" She pledged in her most dramatic tone.
With a cautious retreat, she returned to the water barrel and bench. As the only piece of furniture in the scenic area, it stuck out like a bent nail, more so with the bizarre water collector atop it. Reaching into the back of the bottom drawer, which acted like a small icebox, she stashed the eggs. Shae thought they looked a bit lonely being the only things in there.
She had tried making ice once, but the small formation the old monster had applied wasn't strong enough to freeze water. He had said it could be done, but would build up yin qi and spoil the food placed in it. Whatever yin qi was. Shae had thought of a few physical work-arounds, but it was clear he didn't actually want to redo the formations just so Shae could have ice. So she decided to be happy having a small fridge instead. She could have left her water skin in the drawer, but it rarely got warm enough on the mountain to justify it, and maybe the old man had a point, the water would taste odd if left too long.
Checking over the selection of herbs, they were low on copperfur leaf, as she expected. The plant was similar to sage with a more blue color, a soft verdigris fuzz proving its name. Shae had found it went well with eggs, even raw. She chewed on a few of the remaining leaves while drinking more water and tried to recall where she had seen copperfur growing last.
Uphill and into the rocky terrain to the west, she searched. It had been a while since she last checked this area, and so she assumed it might have more full grown plants, instead of the poor few in other areas that she had picked over already.
Even though it was close to the campfire, she kept away from this area because the rocks were large, uneven, and sharp. Plus the usual chill wind blowing down from higher up the mountain made it uncomfortable. So, finding new plants and herbs was expected. Yet, Shae still felt a bit surprised by what she found. A blood red creeper vine that had spread between most of the rocks in the area. She had learned within the first week here not to just touch and grab any plants, so she steered clear as much as she could.
Sticking to the tops of the rocks was tricky, she had to be more careful than usual to avoid the red creeper infestation. She found it to be an interesting challenge. Like traversing a jungle gym or bizarre natural playground structure. She was glad she hadn't done her daily exercise routine yet, as she might not have the energy for it.
Nearly an hour later, her stomach rumbled and she remembered why she was out here. The blood red creeper seemed to have prevented anything else from growing nearby, so she found some high ground to stand on and looked for the nearest greenery. A small shrubbery caught her eye and she set off.
Shae made it back to the campsite late afternoon with an armful of various herbs. Some of which she had been snacking on to stave off hunger.
She quickly mashed some of the copperfur and salt in a mortar and pestle. Then cracked one of the eggs into it and mixed it together. She resisted eating it right away, it needed time for the salt to work its magic and the flavors to blend. So she returned it to the cold drawer, the raw egg usually tasted better cold anyway.
To distract herself, Shae cleaned out the fire pit, and set it up for another fire. While she had asked the old monster multiple times to teach her anything about qi and cultivation, the only thing he did teach her was a single small formation. It was a single symbol with a circle around it, meant to start a fire. It wasn't quite what he had first tried to teach her, but a more simplified version, because she had trouble getting the basic version to work.
According to the old man, the symbol was just 'fire' and caused natural qi to be converted to fire qi. The circle around it contained the fire qi, causing the whole symbol to slowly heat up and eventually combust. Shae found it worked about a third of the time when she made it. Even when scored deep into a dry log, the symbol and circle filled with charcoal, and topped with dry kindling, it would take hours to ignite, and only about one in three times. The other times it would char the wood until the symbol broke, stopping the qi conversion or releasing it.
Shae was planning on eating the egg raw, she wasn't going to wait and hope the fire would start. Even if she didn't need the fire today, trying to get it going was still worth the effort since there was only a small chance of it working anyway. There was only a light breeze today, and the fire needed a good flow of air to get going, so Shae gave it below average odds of igniting.
The whipped egg and herb was quite tasty, though she found the texture left a lot to be desired. Even using the salt to break down the egg was not enough to remove the slimy texture. Yet, her hunger had grown throughout the day and so it made a satisfying meal. So much so she was tempted to have the other egg right away. "Why not, I deserve it." She mumbled before resisting the urge. She knew the eggs were actually quite filling, and it was just her tempering hunger driving her to want another.
She knocked back a few more glasses of water, once again surprised at just how thirsty the tempering process made her. Then she washed out the pestle bowl.
With the afternoon turning to evening, Shae began another one of her daily routines, exercise. She skipped cardio, and squats, since traveling over the rocky terrain had done most of that work for her. She had a few other body weight exercises she liked, and a few she did only once or twice a week.
As the sun touched the horizon, she started her favorite part of the routine, a slow flowing exercise not unlike Tai Chi that they called Tao Yan. Shae had been taught it by her family in the small village she grew up in. She knew she wasn't doing it exactly correctly. She had forgotten most of the details, and the old monster had told her just how much her form was off, somehow without giving her any instruction on improving it. Every time she asked, he just said she should be doing Qigong, but also refused to teach her that, saying that he would give her bad habits.
Even if she was awful at it, it still reminded her of her family, so it was the highlight of her day.
In the darkness under the stars, the campfire had not started from the formation rune. Shae scraped the ladle along the bottom of the water barrel, getting the last cupful out. She couldn't tip it to really get the last scoops out, but she wasn't that desperately thirsty anyway. The old monster had stayed in his cave this night, as he did most nights. So, she watched the stars alone. Just before she slept, she wondered if her family was also watching the stars tonight.
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