Morning light streams its way in through the open barn windows. Looking up from my work on the jeans in front of me I peer up at the sky and see it covered in clouds.
Well, it was nice while it lasted. Looks like we’re back to cloudy weather…
Throwing some more wood onto the fire, I finish up my work on the jeans and then get them put away.
Digging out some bear meat, I cut off a few strips and set them up to cook. It doesn’t take too long for the smell of cooking meat to fill the barn.
Over in her nest, Sky starts to stir, probably roused be the smell of breakfast cooking. “Hmm, makes me wish I had eggs and bacon. She would love that.” I say as I watch her slowly extract herself from beneath the blanket.
Sky, looking very groggy with sleep still in her eyes, starts stretching her limbs, especially working on her sore shoulders. Picking some loose pieces of straw out of her fur and clothes, she gets up and walks over to give me a hug.
Giggling a bit and giving her a squeeze back, she soon waddles off to her basket to grab a bottle of water. Plopping back down in her nest, she drinks some and then watches the meat cook.
Slowly the sleep drains from her system and is replaced with hunger. Her body and mind waking up bit by bit as I flip the pieces of sizzling meat. By the time I am handing her the first couple of pieces she is fully awake and excited, accepting her breakfast and happily tearing into it like a starved wolf. I smile as I watch her eat, slowly biting into my own meal.
Sky quickly finishes off the pieces I gave her, so I reach to grab some more from the fire. Grabbing a couple more pieces, I try to move them over to her, but one of them falls into the fire. Sky lets out a pained cry and looks like she wants to jump into the fire to save the lost meat. Forcibly stopping her, I hand her the other pieces and placate her.
Munching on another piece for myself, I watch the dropped meat cook and burn inside of the fire; slowly turning black and charred.
Hmm, wasn’t there something I want to do? What was it?
I sit there and watch as the fire crackles and burns away as Sky happily munches away on her food beside me.
Fire? Something to do with fire? Ah, curse this freaking headache, it’s making it hard to think…
Fire, fire, fire, what was it…?
“Oh ya! I wanted to test if I was fireproof or not.” I exclaim. I wince as my fading migraine flares up a bit.
Beside me, Sky looks at me curiously due to my outburst and is soon dropping the meat from her mouth as she watches me stick my hand into the open flames, her mouth wide open in shock. Flailing about, she gets up and rushes over to try and pull on my arm, to try and save me from myself. But I just keep my hand in the fire. It’s hot, but I’m not burning.
I sit and watch in fascination as the fire flows and rolls over my hand. It doesn’t have any physical weight to it, so all I feel is a vague sense of heat moving around my hand. I want to continue watching in fascination but soon I am snapped out of my revelry as I smell something burning.
Yanking my hand out of the fire I start to freak out a bit as I realize that the end of my sweater’s sleeve is now on fire! Waving it around and panicking, I try to put it out, but it refuses to die. My eyes lock on to Sky’s water bottle, that she left next her nest, and I lunge for it as Sky dances around behind me in a panic.
Grabbing the bottle, I upend it over my arm, but nothing comes out but a couple of drops. She drank it! Not good, fire spreading!
I go for the water pump, but before I can even reach it the fire is already spreading all over my sweater. Panicking, I do the only thing I can think of and rip off the sweater, throwing it onto the barn’s hard concrete floor.
Laying on the floor, my poor sweater continues to burn away until it is shrinking in on itself and turning black. Behind me Sky is squeaking at the top of her lungs and running in circles. I drop my now bare shoulders in defeat. Looking at my hands with dead eyes, I ask myself, “Why am I such an idiot sometimes?”
My nice sweater continues to burn until it nothing but a pile of ash.
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Standing outside of the barn with Sky staring at me like she’s looking at a child that just crammed crayons up their nose, I look back at the barn and contemplate arson. After all, the bad memories can’t be real if the building never existed…
Don’t go down that road Lain; you can’t solve all of your problems with fire.
“Hahhhh, come on Sky, let’s get going…” I turn around to leave, waving for her to follow.
After my little incident got resolved and we both stopped freaking out, we broke down camp and got everything ready to go. We made sure to refill our water at the pump, and I made a point of avoiding looking at the burnt remains of my poor sweater.
Now equipped with a new shirt with a meme on it about a time stopping vampire, Sky and I return to the road and examine what is left of the bear.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Sections of the carcass look like they have been burrowed into, especially in the areas where I had already taken hide and meat. Its stomach cavity has been practically hollowed out except for a spare few sections of what I think is its lower intestines.
Crawling on the furry hide of the creature is a plethora of fly larva, ants and other insects that were attracted by the feast of a lifetime. In the case of some of them, that is probably quite literal. All around the area are vultures and crows, come to get their part of the feast. Many are simply milling about up in the trees or on the road as they wait to digest their meal before going for seconds and thirds.
Looking at all of this and the giant carcass sort of reminds me of whale falls, whole little ecosystems developing around the body of a fallen giant.
Sky, seeing all of these birds on the road, excitedly runs through them and startles them all into flying off in every direction. The birds cursing her out angrily as she run around and laughs. I leave her to her fun as I just stare at the rotting corpse of a once mighty creature. Something that I apparently killed.
How did I do it…?
After some time of staring, I decide that I won’t learn anything from just staring at a corpse. Turning on the spot, I start walking south and call for Sky to follow. She runs over to me screaming as a bunch of pissed off crows chase after her. Shewing away the birds, I take Sky’s hand and we resume are long walk south.
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-Sky-
Lain can be quite the weird person sometimes, going and setting herself on fire. Hahhh, oh well, at least one of us has to be the normal one in this relationship, and it might as well be me.
...
But even if she is a big weirdo, she’s my big weirdo.
Thinking about Lain, I happily walk by her side as I munch on one of the giant blocks of bear meat she gave me. So much meat! When she gave me that whole pile of wrapped meat, I thought my heart was going to give out on me.
Even in the entirety of my life, I have never had so much meat! Every cut of wrapped meat that she gave me is so big that I have to use both hands to hold them while eating; they’re huge! Nothing like the small strips of meat that we used to eat back in the village.
And even now, in my basket is enough meat for my entire old village to throw a feast, and It. Is. All. For. Me!
Every night when I go to sleep, I worry that I will wake up back in the village, all of this being nothing more than a wonderful dream. But then I wake up in the morning and Lain is still there, still as real as the day we first met.
Could have gone without the bear attack though, but then we wouldn’t have all of this meat! It’s so conflicting, but then I settle the matter with another tasty bite of raw bear meat. The stuff that Lain put on it, she called it ‘salt’ and ‘spices.’ Oh, they add so much flavor, I love it! I honestly can’t decide if I prefer it raw or cooked, but honestly it is delicious either way.
Lain seemed a bit worried though when I first ate the meat raw. At first, I thought she was jealous of me eating it, but then I remembered that she has a bunch of her own packed away, so it couldn’t be that. It took some time to figure out, but apparently, she only eats her food cooked. She said something about raw food making my stomach hurt?
Honestly, I don’t know what she is going on about, if my stomach is hurting from anything, it’s from eating too much. Which is a new feeling for me.
I am very familiar with the pain of an empty stomach, but a full one? That is a whole new experience for me. To eat to the point of being full, to the point of not being able to eat another bite and still having tons of food left over!
When I was younger, I would have laughed if someone had suggested such a thing to me, I would have called them mad. But now? Now I have so much food in my basket that I am actually worried that it will rot away before I can eat it all. That I might actually have to throw away food!
It’s madness, and I love it!
At the very least, I have definitely developed an appetite. I keep eating this meat and my body keeps demanding more, which I am more than happy to provide. I’ve already finished off three blocks of the stuff, but I still have so much left! It’s wonderful!
Just wish that the discomfort in my bones would go away already.
Eh, not important. I’m probably still just sore from the bear attack. Sort of reminds me of the growing pains from when I was a pup, but if I ignore it, it should go away eventually. Maybe I just need to eat more meat? I take another bite. So goooood!
Speaking of Lain, that beautiful weirdo; I wish she would eat some more. She usually only eats once a day and might snack a bit while we walk. I’m really worried that she isn’t eating enough, although she doesn't seem to be suffering from undereating, but I can’t help but worry for her.
Another thing I noticed is that she doesn’t seem to sleep? I found it weird how I always go to sleep first and yet she is always awake before me. One of the nights I tried to stay up late with her to see if she would sleep, preferably with me, but she just stayed up all night working on her clothes. I ended up waking up in her lap the next morning, having fallen asleep at some point.
I tried to ask her why it is that she doesn’t seem to sleep, and after some difficulties and learning some new words, I figured out that she just doesn’t. How is that possible? Everyone sleeps, don’t they? At the very least she seems healthy, so I won’t let it bother me. A bit embarrassing though that that means she spends every night watching me sleep….
Ahhh, focus on your meat! Don’t let her see me be embarrassed!
I take another big bite of the delicious block of meat and happiness flood through me.
Now if only I could solve a serious problem of mine.
Lain has given me so, so much. So much that the others would be willing to kill just for a chance to have what I have now. And I don’t just mean the meat and the items she has gifted me, but Lain herself. To be with such an amazing mate. She fought that bear just to protect me, when she could have simply run away. She risked her life for me!
But despite this, I haven’t been able to really give anything back to her. I can give her all the hugs in the world, I would even give her my body happily. But that just wouldn’t be enough. I need to give her a present. A gift that will show my love for her and will help keep her safe. I need to gift my mate with a weapon worthy of her power!
It was foolish of me to think that the knife would be a suitable gift, especially now that I have seen her fight the bear. What use would be a knife? She already has one of her own besides.
Not to look down on the weapon itself of course. How could I when she gave it back to me with a kiss and I was even able to use it to blind the bear! An achievement that would make even the Village Chief bow his head to me!
It is a mighty weapon, yes!
However! It is not the weapon that suits her! I must find something that speaks of her power. Something that only she can wield to crush her enemies and to help keep her safe! Something that will carry my love for her and help me repay all the kindness that she has shown me!
I shall not rest until I find her the perfect weapon!
I take another bite out of my meat. Ahhhh! So Delicious!