Jukzuk stepped to the bathroom door. Sure enough, he heard Xa'Gun and Hellie inside,

"Hellie, I-"

"Shhhh, shhh, shhhhhhh... Yous don't have ta say none-shing. Mama knowsh dat ya want dish...."

"W-Well, Yes... If you don't mind-"

[I don't want to be that father, but Hellie wouldn't want to be loved while Xa'Gun hasn't become champion yet...!] as he quickly opened the door. Thankfully it wasn't locked.

"Hey, son! You still alive in here- Oh?" Jukzuk sounded shocked to see Hellie's thighs around Xa'gun's hips, as she was on top, both still in clothes though. Jukzuk couldn't help but notice that his son had two large handfuls of Hellie's bottom, as she was seated on him. If nothing else, his son had good taste.

"Ummm, this is exactly as it looks like..." Xa'Gun hid nothing, as he reluctantly removed his hands.

"Wah? Uncle ish ruining my fun. I'm shleepy any way," Hellie leaned forward on top of Xa'Gun's large stomach, as she let out a loud snore with the rising and falling of his fat belly.

"Now, that's funny, haha!" Jukzuk laughed loud, but it didn't seem to cause Hellie to stir.

"A little help here... Father?" Xa'Gun asked, while now he didn't know where to put his hands now. Where he wanted to- He shouldn't, and where he was supposed to- He didn't know.

"Let's just move her to a bed." Jukzuk nodded.

Xa'Gun rose, with Hellie still on him, as he scooped her up.

"And what help did you need?" Jukzuk stopped his approach to help lift Hellie. Hellie wasn't a small Orcess with all her muscles. She weighed a lot more than she looked, but Xa'Gun lifted her easily.

Xa'Gun grunted, as he sidestepped Jukzuk and walked out of the bathroom to his room.

He laid Hellie down softly on his bed... One more time of this, he thought, and this will become her bed, huh? Something he heard the fieldhands talk about.

Jukzuk watched and waited for Xa'Gun to come back out of his room.

"Let's go eat something. Midka and Demze should be done by now. We'll save some for Hellie... Okay, We'll save a lot for Hellie."

*******

At the kitchen island table, a large platter of different foods was mounted and heaped surrounded by five plates.

Midka looked up to see Jukzuk and Xa'Gun enter the large area Kitchen come dining room.

"I was just about to call everyone... Xa'Gun, if you could lure Hellie in here with some mead, that'd be great." Midka sounded sweet but tired.

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"I just laid Hellie down for the night... Seems she got too deep in her tankard." Jukzuk spoke before Xa'Gun could.

"I was afraid of that when she brought those two barrels... Any left for the rest of us?"

"There is still three-quarters of a barrel of the Peon's Finest Mead," Xa'Gun commented.

"Damn it, Hellie! I wanted Grak's mead... Ugh!" Demze stamped her foot.

"Well, I'm a bit guilty as well, but the Peon's Finest Mead is pretty good," Jukzuk spoke, as he took his place to the left of Xa'Gun who had just picked his spot.

Demze sighed, as she spoke, "Yeah, but I didn't want to drink Sharog's personal mead..."

Midka looked over to Demze, as she reached and grabbed a number of items from the mound of food upon the stoneware platter for serving, "I heard you sent Hellie to smash up her bar... So that's not just hear-say, huh?"

"Oh, dearest sister, you know that our sister Hellie loves her mead... It isn't my fault if she gets a bit wild." Demze spoke, as Jukzuk handed her a tankard of the mead she questioned.

"You know, that I know-" Midka started in on Demze, before being cut off by Jukzuk, "Alls fair in love, war, and mead, Midka... Let's just dig in." As the Demze and Jukzuk followed the lead of Midka to fill their plates.

Xa'Gun had been quiet during this exchange, as he continued to eye the mountain of food that lay layered upon the stoneware platter. He had no idea what half of the items were, but it looked and smelled fantastic!

Large amounts of sausages, hog shanks, ribs of some beats that were arranged around the platter, various different types of green planets stewed in fatty greases to be spooned next to the platter, and a Jar of pickled eggs with a two-pronged for to fish them out.

He continued to sit there looking at the large amounts of food, that the three had taken and began to eat. Jukzuk cracked a joke about a human merchant, that Demze snickered and even Midka snorted at, as she failed to remain passive.

"Son, you didn't fill up on Hard Mash, did ya?" Jukzuk with his ruddy face turned to see why Xa'Gun hadn't dug into the pile of food.

"N-No... It's... Just-" Xa'Gun looked with his reddened eyes at the three faces that looked back at him, Jukzuk, Midka, and Demze.

"Oh, I see," Jukzuk spoke with a weak sigh, as he reached over and got a large amount of food to move to Xa'Gun's plate. After toweling off his hands, he patted his adopted son on the back.

"It's alright, son. We're family now... nothing can change that, and even if we were all to die tomorrow, we'll still be family in the grave. This is to celebrate you as my son and me as your father!"

Xa'Gun thought of his sister... She was gone, but she was still his sister... Still his family... Just like his father here, that adopted him.

A rare emotion of happiness budded within Xa'Gun, as he produced his wretched smile, and gave a grunt of understanding and cheerfulness. He had watched the others eat, and so grabbed up the hog shank by the bone, and bit into it with a massive bite, as he rendered the flesh from bone.

"There you go! Even without tusks, that's a damn good bite! Remember son, always protect your teeth... If you don't have teeth, you can't eat... Then you die. Hahahaha" Jukzuk laughed loudly with inebriation, as he sat back down to continue eating.

Xa'Gun nodded, as he continued to eat. He had never eaten meat in such amounts! In fact, the last time he had meat was when his sister was still alive! It was good! It was too good! He closed his eyes as tears spilled, as he continued to eat and savor the tastes of the spices that he didn't know the names. The fat of the meat that melted in his mouth, and the various greens that were fresh and hearty.

Late into the night, after the last barrel of mead was empty, bones were strung on the table of the kitchen, and pleasant conversation had dwindled down to snoring, Xa'Gun sat on the steps that led to the back area of his burrow, watching the stars.

"Mind if I sit here?" A sweet, but firm voice issued from behind Xa'Gun, as he turned his head to see Midka standing there with her hood down.

He grunted in affirmation, as Midka sat next to him, but with the space of an Orc between the two, as she took gazed at the stars. After he had a moment to look at her profile, he went back to looking at the stars that shined in the night.

After a long period of time watching the stars, Midka broke the silence, "Xa'Gun... What do you believe in?"