Chapter 17

Julie

Watching Orsu leave for the second day in a row wasn't any easier than the first. In fact, it was harder this time because I knew exactly how much my heart would ache for my bear shifter the entire time he was gone. It would be different if he only had to hunt once a week like the dekes did before, but knowing he would have to leave day after day felt like too much to bear.

Now that I'd given Orsu my whole heart, it felt like he carried it with him whenever he left, leaving me feeling hollow inside.

I didn't want to sit around and wallow in my misery though. I needed a distraction. I went to the storage room and looked over all the common ingredients the dekes had. Grain, meat, berries…Surely I could use some of these things to make something that would help the food go farther.

Traditionally, the dekes used flatbread as a plate to carry their food on and to be eaten as either an open faced sandwich or a taco, but what if I could cook the meat into the bread? That would use considerably less meat. And if we paired that with some simple vegetable stews, that would make our meat last twice as long.

I got to work on my idea and made some bread dough and laid it out on my counter. I topped it with some meat and vegetables as filler. Then I pinched the edges shut until it looked like a rustic hand pie.

By the time the bread had browned on both sides I took it away from the fire to let it cool.

"Sozu, Jax, come over here. I need you to taste something." I called the two youngest Sirrets over. "I made this meat and vegetable filled bread. I think it'll help our food go further this winter."

The two young males nodded their heads with somber expressions. Everyone felt the weight of gathering enough food for the winter. I think it irritated Sozu that he couldn't go out and hunt, but I also understood Tarak's reasoning for him staying behind. He was young, and Sozu looked underweight compared to Jax, who was a year younger than him and already half a head taller. Jax wasn't allowed to hunt yet either, but I had overheard Tarak speaking to his father about letting his son do his first solo hunt soon. His father, who was such a sweetheart it was easy to tell where Jax got it from, had agreed with Tarak that Jax was ready to go out on his own.

"Mmmm," Jax let out an enthusiastic hum of approval.

"This is pretty good," Sozu agreed. "And you think foods like this will help our stores last longer?"

"I do." I nodded my head and glanced at the half empty grain barrel. "I think we'll need to gather more grain, though."

"We can go out tomorrow morning," he said with determination.

"Tomorrow," I repeated with a sense of relief that washed over me. Making these hand pies will essentially double the bread content that they were using, meaning we would use up bread faster instead of meat. I could make some rudimentary noodles to add to the vegetable stew as well.

The dekes really hadn't tapped into the full potential of the grains they have as a food source. There were other things we could use as well. We could combine animal fat, crushed dried meat and spices or berries to make pemmican bars.

I started to feel hope well up in my chest for the future. We could do this. We could survive the winter, we just needed to gather more grain.

Julie

That evening when Orsu returned I told him of my plans for gathering more grain to make more bread. He spoke to Tarak, and it was decided that most of the hunters would get to stay near the mountain tomorrow to help forage.

Excitement spread throughout the dekes. We had a plan outside of just hunting as much as possible. The more options we had, the better.

"You did it, my mate. You have saved us." Orsu beamed at me with pride. "I have a storage shed outside of the mountain we can use. The animals aren't attracted to the scent of grain, so the food will be safe."

The group of hunters and humans that gathered at the entrance the next morning were buzzing with excitement. Sarah, Talia, Jax, and Sozu waited as Orsu pushed the boulder out of the way.

We all worked together in the lower grain field farther away from the base of the mountain. Sarah and Talia giggled and whispered while making quick glances at the young males. Jax blushed as he made eye contact with Sarah and quickly looked away. Sozu was more confident though. He strolled up to the girls and offered Talia a bright pink flower that she happily tucked behind her ear.

Sozu wasn't the only one flirting this morning, however. Drovo was desperately trying to impress Kayla by offering her shade everywhere she went. Without fail, the tree branches that hovered above her would always form the perfect shape needed to block out the sun.

Kayla was grateful but she couldn't hide her annoyance. If only he would finish the mobility device he'd been bragging about for the past two weeks, she might be more apt to return his flirtations. He hadn't even produced the simple chair section of the device. He was starting to look more and more like just another asshole who had promised her the moon only to deliver a fake gemstone.

We hadn't been outside long and Kayla was already starting to look winded. Drovo observed this and went into the forest and returned with a small bench that had a basket attached to one end of it.

"Here my sweet luna moth, this should help." He set the bench next to her. "You can sit here while you gather grains and I can carry whatever you gather back to the mountain so you don't have to."

Kayla eyed the bench dubiously but after a moment chose to sit down. "It's interesting that you can produce a bench so quickly, but a simple chair seems to be giving you so much trouble," she quipped.

"I…uh," Drovo raked his hand through his hair. "I want it to be perfect, is all." He flashed Kayla a sheepish smile and backed away slowly as if he were facing down a pack of jagwas.

"He's crazy if he thinks I'm not onto his shenanigans." Kayla shook her head. "I don't know why he's taking this long, but I do know that he doesn't need to be taking this long."

She huffed and continued her work harvesting the tall lavender grass that resembled short wheat stalks back on Earth.

Gabby and I exchanged a glance before getting back to work ourselves.

We gathered grain up until lunch, at which time Orsu led us to the large outdoor storage shed that was perfect for storing our grain.

"If we can fill up this entire building that will be enough to feed the entire dekes meat-filled bread for the winter." Orsu surmised and I agreed with him. It was a large storage shed and we already had it a quarter of the way filled.

"I bet we can have it filled before the next full moon," Drovo observed.

The idea that we could save up all the grain we would need for the winter in just a few weeks filled my heart with joy. No one wanted these guys to give up their religious tradition of giving an offering to their goddess, but we didn't want to starve, either. I was proud of us; we were going to make this happen. We were going to have our cake and eat it too.