Chapter 85: Feast!
All of the women were working on various tasks, some of them washing furs in the stream, others sharpening some kind of bone into tools using stones, Addie even saw a couple of the women tending to a single pit of dirt where mushrooms were being cultivated. Addie avoided that spot since it smelled really bad.
“The Furrians work hard,” Squishy observed.
Just like before, the only male in this group was the mushroom Furrian, who seemed to be chatting with those gentle ‘whoops’ with some of the older, graying women.
When he spotted Addie, he smiled and waved. Addie waved back. He was getting it!
He gestured for Addie to come closer, so she ran forward a bit to reach him.
After she got there, he stood up and began to guide Addie to an area where some of the women Furrians were stacking a large pile of mushroom stems, some of them as thick as tree trunks.
He pointed to the pile, then to Addie, then back to the pile.
Addie couldn’t figure out what he wanted at first, so she just stared at him with confusion.
The mushroom Furrian flapped his arms up and down a bunch.
“Ember?” Addie guessed.
With a shrug, Addie had Ember come out.
The mushroom Furrian smiled and pointed to the log pile again.
“You want us to burn it?”
Flashes from two days ago swept through Addie’s mind, how hard it got to breathe last time she lit a fire in the cave.
Addie shook her head and frowned. “We’ll choke!”
The Furrian frowned.
Addie put her hands at her throat and made gagging sounds, mimicking choking.
He nodded in understanding, then pointed to the log pile again.
Addie looked at him suspiciously. “I’m not going to poison the air.” She crossed her arms.
Just at that moment, someone tapped Addie’s shoulder.
With a jolt of surprise, Addie turned around, coming face to face with one of the older women Furrians. She pointed behind Addie, at a giant mushroom cap getting carried by a group of Furrians.
Addie watched as the group of women marched over and put the giant concave mushroom cap over the log pile.
Leading her by the hand, the woman brought her over and put Addie’s hand on the mushroom cap. It was cold, hard, and smooth like stone— totally petrified.
The women lifted the cap off the lumber pile. Grabbing Addie’s attention with a whoop, the old mushroom Furrian pointed at Ember, then to the log pile, and then finally to the giant mushroom cap still held in the air by the women.
“You want me to set it on fire and then you’ll smother it? I don’t really get the point of that but ok.” Even if they couldn’t understand her, it helped to talk aloud like that.
Addie started pushing the older woman and the mushroom Furrian away from the area to get them out of the blast zone. They seemed a bit confused but didn’t resist her.
Once everyone was further back, Addie held her arm out for Ember, who flew over and perched on Addie’s left forearm. Tugging on their magic, Addie stepped forward and lit a fireball of purple ghostly flames in her right hand. She concentrated, and with an effort of will, she and Ember turned the flames white-hot. She condensed the fireball down in her hand. Once it felt hot and close to bursting, Addie threw the fireball at the log pile.
Several things happened at once.
With a crack and then a boom, the pile of logs burst into flames, blinding Addie for a moment as the white flames took a moment to turn a more normal orange.
The mushroom Furrian started whooping loudly and with slight panic.
The women Furrians carrying the big mushroom cap ran forward.
Another group of women Furrians that Addie hadn’t noticed ran right next to the flames and placed down a bunch of wet-looking mushroom bowls and cups.
With a clatter, the women Furrians dropped the giant mushroom cap over the entire pile of burning logs on one side and wet uncured cups and bowls on the other side. Addie still didn’t get how the fire would be able to keep going smothered like that.
After all that, things settled down a bit. People still worked to get more stuff done, but the rest of it was way less hurried.
Addie must have stumbled upon an entire village event.
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Women carrying woven baskets filled with slabs of meat worked together to place it on top of the mushroom slab. The meat started the sizzle right away as it met the surface. The tantalizing smell of roasting meat immediately reached Addie, making her particularly excited for a meal other than mushroom.
Some of the women even threw pieces at Squishy, who chomped it out of the air, enjoying it a lot.
A younger Furrian, quite a bit shorter than the adults and also Addie, walked up carrying a basket. She tugged on the sleeve of Addie’s poncho and pointed down at the meat in the basket.
Very cutely, the girls showed Addie how to put the meat on the mushroom top.
Addie smiled awkwardly, since she didn’t want to touch the raw meat. “No thanks,” she shook her head.
The girl shrugged and then continued working with the rest of the women.
Some of the especially thin slices of meat finished quickly, the women harvesting it and putting some in mushroom bowls. The serving women brought the first batch of meat to the old male mushroom Furrian, the three elder women, and also to her surprise, Addie herself.
Gratefully, Addie started eating the meat. She had to pick it up with her hands, but it wasn’t too hot. The grease got all over her hands though and it was sort of hard to eat since she had to bite through it in chunks. Some of it uncomfortably got stuck in her teeth, but she didn’t care since it was delicious and somehow properly salty. She gobbled it down.
While she was eating, Addie noticed one of the women walk off with two bowls of meat in the direction of Nettal’s building. One bowl for Nettal and the other bowl for the head warrior, Addie guessed.
Soon, the meat got passed all around. The chattering in the cave grew a lot as everyone socialized while they ate in groups. Around this time, the warrior men also started coming into the village center and joining everyone for the social atmosphere and meal.
As if it were perfectly natural, the mushroom Furrian and the old women surrounded Addie and ate together with her, prompting her to sit down. She had to readjust a few times to get comfortable on the rocky cave floor.
They were all chattering about something or another, but since it just sounded like noises to Addie, she had no idea what they were saying. Something she noticed was that they used a lot of hand gestures and body language. Much more than Addie ever saw from anyone else. No wonder they were so good at communicating with Addie: they were masters at body language.
Squishy crawled up into Addie’s lap, and she could feel his slightly protruding stomach as he huffed in satisfaction.
For the most part, Addie just kept moving her head from person to person as they all spoke around her. She had no idea what they were actually saying, but the tone was relaxed and friendly. It felt like a family dinner to Addie. Every so often, different Furrians would bring over more meat, refilling people’s bowls. After the third time, Addie had to wave them away from her. She couldn’t possibly stuff herself anymore. Right after that, someone came by with a cloth for Addie’s greasy hands. More cloths were passed around to the elders surrounding Addie, too.
The glowing moss and mushrooms slowly began to dim, and Addie yawned.
Perhaps after an hour or so, Addie really couldn’t tell for sure, Nettal walked into the clearing followed by the warrior Furrian. They were both carrying bowls of meat, so Addie’s earlier guess must have been right. She also saw Lotty following behind them, his hooves clacking slightly on the ground.
Addie waved to them, and Nettal smiled.
They all sat down in the same spot as Addie and the other elders: seven people in total. The mushroom Furrian and the warrior Furrian who were both men, the three older women Furrians, plus Addie and Nettal.
The group of Furrians were still chattering with each other, but they all went dead silent the moment Addie spoke up, “Did you finish healing everyone?”
Addie glanced around at the suddenly quiet Furrians. After a moment, they picked their chattering back up even as Nettal responded.
“Yeah. I’m exhausted, even after taking breaks, and with them bringing me food all day. Me and Lotty need to go to bed! I’m tired. He’s tired. Magic’s tired, too.” Nettal slumped slightly.
While she was talking, the elders occasionally glanced at Nettal but they didn’t completely quiet down again like before.
Addie noticed most of the other Furrians slowly started to disperse into the night, but the elders surrounding her and Nettal didn’t get up or leave, they just kept chattering away in that unique language Addie couldn’t understand.
“Looks like everyone’s starting to go to bed,” Addie said aloud. “So maybe we can rest soon, too.”
“Yeah. We should. At least, if we still want to go exploring tomorrow.” Nettal said.
Addie nodded, “Definitely.”
Nettal stood up, and Addie stood up, too. Squishy made a small grunt as he slid off her lap in the process. That must have been the signal the elders were waiting for since they also stood up right after.
Addie looked— the glowing flora lit up the cave ceiling in small sparkles and lines, reminding her of the starry night sky. Except, she could still tell they weren’t real stars, the root-like lines across the ceiling looked pretty, but Addie knew they weren’t stars.
“Let’s go,” Addie said while still looking up.
From behind her, Nettal walked up and grabbed Addie’s hand.
They started walking back to their building, but Nettal kept glancing behind Addie. That made Addie curious, so she used her spatial sense to take a sneak peek behind them and see what Nettal kept looking at.
Without making a single sound, the elders were following Addie and Nettal back to the building, just ten paces behind the girls or so.
Addie turned to face the elders behind her and waved.
The mushroom Furrian really understood the gesture, since this time he didn’t hesitate to smile and wave back immediately. The other elders looked at him with upturned brows. Addie could see him turn his head with his lips moving, telling the other elders something.
“Wonder why they’re following us,” Nettal’s voice drew Addie’s attention.
“Probably doesn’t matter,” Addie said. She liked the Furrians. They were nice and shared lots of stuff with her. Like her new poncho! She loved the poncho.
“They are smart to watch us.” Squishy began. “You have proven yourselves very powerful, surely they would want to keep a close eye on us, no? Especially the head warrior. If he did not take us seriously, he would not be a vigilant protector.”
“Maybe they just want to be friends,” Addie said, both in response to Squishy’s thoughts and Nettal’s earlier question.
“Do not trust them so implicitly, my lady. I believe there is more to them than meets the eye.” Squishy huffed.
“Don’t be a silly cat.” Addie replied through the bond, “The Furrians have been super duper helpful so far! I’ll tell Christena all about them.”
Addie’s mood worsened for a moment at the reminder that she was far away from home. Looking to her right, Addie was glad Nettal was here with her.