Stew is in fact not delicious. Ozlo pondered over his thoughts as he ate through yet another helping of the same meal. "Huh. I've grown spoiled." Not too long ago Ozlo would be ecstatic to have stew, let alone stew with a generous portion of meat and bread included. But repetition is the mother of learning, and Ozlo had learned that he didn't love stew.
"Boyd, I was wondering. What if I made something? You know, something besides stew?" Ozlo finally mustered up the courage to express, albeit weakly, his displeasure with their meals. Expecting to hear Boyd refuse or to look put out, he was surprised to find an even bigger grin than usual filling his captains face. "Why that's an EXCELLENT idea!"
Boyd dug through is pack eventually finding a small weathered book and depositing it in Ozlo's lap. "There you go boy, my very own copy of the adventurers cookbook. Feel free to peruse it to your hearts content." Ozlo did exactly that. "Boiled stew, baked meat, soup, stew, soup, stew, another stew..." Ozlo quickly flipped through the pages hoping to find something that could be made with their limited ingredients and his enthusiasm slowly tapered away.
Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Boyd asked Ozlo. "Well, what do you think? I'm partial to the baked jerky myself but it is hard to beat stew!" Ozlo slowly started putting it together in his head. "It's all stew. Well, it's all just meat and bread and vegetables, the only real difference here is whether I put them all in the same pot or cook them separately!" Boyd, sensing the realization in his young charges mind, gently removed the book from his hands and placed it back into his pack.
"You know boy, usually after a few weeks, provided we're out here that long, fresh food is brought in or merchants set up shop nearby. I know that stew doesn't exactly fill the heart, but at least it fills your stomach." Nodding sagely Boyd walked away while Ozlo prepared to head out for the day.
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"And done, place the knives next to that other pile and hand me some of that better steel. Some noble such and such wants a nice belt buckle to commemorate his victory." Moving to comply, Ozlo slid off of his trusty stool and placed a few pieces of the shinier metal into the forge. After working with Manny for a short while, Ozlo soon grasped what his role here was. Stand here and grab things. Sometimes, on exciting days, Ozlo got to hold things. "Alright lad, you're not needed for today. Oh, but here. Take some shards." Manny handed Ozlo a few shards and shooed him away.
Knowing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and with a pouch full of shards, Ozlo walked back to the camp where Boyd was making more stew. "Lad, what are you up to?" Boyd gestured for Ozlo to come near and stand near the small fire while he prepped the ingredients. "You boys are in luck, first of the outside merchants slid into camp today and that means I was able to stock up on some ingredients." Gesturing to a small sack Ozlo's eyes widened appreciably. "That's right, salt, onions, garlic, all the things to take my cooking up another level. Not to mention fresh flour that isn't already in the shape of tack."
Visions of fried food, baked food, really any food that wasn't boiled and under-seasoned filled Ozlo's mind and filled his stomach with hunger. "Course, if you want I can just stick to ste-" "NO!" Ozlo gripped the captains shoulder and gave him a firm shake. "No. I've been handling the all stew diet relatively well but if things keep up much longer Andrew might start eating grass."
Boyd gently removed the boys hand from his shoulder and gave him a firm look. "I know lad, it was just a joke. Relax, relax..." Placated, Boyd went back to his stew, making sure to season it well and taste as he went along.