Zorroku and Peaches
Part 2
"Of course." Crowthu agreed.
"Thank you." You murmured softly.
You were quiet for what felt like a long while until you just couldn't take the silence between you and Crowthu anymore. Because his sons continued to talk amongst themselves in their own native tongue and you just could not make out what they were saying and it was driving you insane.
"May I ask, what are the great conquests of The Great Thunder Herd Clan?" You asked bravely, trying to stay on Crowthu's good side. I
If he could brag and boast about his clan's achievements, maybe you could work your way to their traditions and intricacies, so you wouldn't get blindsided by those when you got there. However far away it was. Because no one was sure where the Thunder Herd Clan's lands were exactly.
You could practically feel Crowthu's proud smile which made you smile softly to yourself. He took a deep breath and seemed to sit a little straighter and began to tell you all the great tales. Which sounded half- if not mostly- myth to you. But you listened closely for any telling details.
And while you did not turn to see his sons flanking him on the trail in the woods, you were aware of how close they were. Just by seeing the heads of their horses heads in your peripheral vision. Zorroku flanked his father on the right. And his youngest son flanked on the left. And with the rest following behind their father, you had no idea what they were doing. You could only imagine they were laying waste to those peaches. Which they seemed particularly keen on. And had taken the whole fucking crop from the trees. The whole crop filled giant bushel baskets full on the carts and on the ruck sacks on the horses.
You were hoping they would save the pits so you could plant them to make new trees. You had said as such and repeated that a few times. But you didn't think they were heeding your words at all, and for that you hoped they'd break their stupid teeth and tusks on the pits or eat the cyanide laced seed inside the stone of the peach themselves. You could vaguely hear them talking to each other in their own native dialect of the Thunder Herd Clan which was apparently Pregu, according to Crowthu. Which you would have to learn as soon as possible for your own sake.
Then Crowthu turned to telling you actual history of his family line and this you paid keen attention to. All clans seemed to be connected in one way or another to all others. And the more you could figure out the way the Thunder Herd Clan fit into the fabric of orc-dom, the better. But key details about his current wife and Clan Chieftess helped you to realize how small the world could be. It didn't seem like Crowthu seemed to realize who his wife really was, which wasn't surprising to you.
Most male orcs only cared about their paternal lineage. And only seemed to care if their orcish wives were fierce in battle, or gifted in something that supported battle. Or beautiful or gave them many sons, usually anyway. Otherwise a wife's lineage was never important unless she was a recognized daughter of a warchief. Which considering daughters were rarely recognized, if at all. And if they were, it was because they did something extraordinary. Like battle just as good if not better than their brothers. Or made such spectacular armor or weapons that it had saved their male counterparts point blank on several occasions. But even then, their accomplishments got downplayed by the male members of their family. It wasn't fair but it was just the way things were.
"So what are the great traditions of the Great Thunder Herd Clan?" You asked next, not sure why you kept putting 'great' in front of the clan name. But you were just trying to play flattery in order to glean actual viable information. Especially when he seemed to be done telling you of the conquests and history. And the answer to your latest question meant you listened extra closely to all of the traditions which would be the borders of your life from then on.
By mid day- and according to Crowthu- you were officially, more or less half way home. The nine of you stopped to hunt a couple of deer for a late lunch. Which you were of course expected to cook and prepare, which you figured as much.
But once you got the fire started as Crowthu and his sons were talking about what prey should be in the area based on the kind of terrain was all around you. You took the bow and the arrows that were gifted to you from Shuzug.
"Razor- scout." You commanded Razor before you did a series of whistles, chirps and trills which made Crowthu and his sons pause in talking as they watched and listened to you before Razor to the skies and began to fly around in an eve
told Razor to go scout for you. and you waited and listened as Razor flew and circled around, making a screaming cry whenever he found deer through the trees that were still budding.
"There's a herd of them that way." You pointed in the direction of the a few screams before Crowthu's sons left to go in that direction while Crowthu and Zorroku, the eldest son stayed behind with you.
"Where are you going?" Crowthu asked as you started going into the forest.
"Foraging." You answered before Zorroku offered to come with you and help you forage which made you nervous.
"Don't touch her." Crowthu practically snarled to his son as he resigned himself to hold down the fort so to speak as he gave himself time to think over the morning's events and make the spits himself.
"Wasn't gonna." Zorroku answered back calmly and you actually got the sense he was telling the truth which got you to relax a little before the two of you went off in search of what you could find in the forest.
"What are you looking for?" Zorroku asked you in the common tongue once the two of you were out of earshot from his father.
"Uh, well, it's spring, that means ramps, fiddle heads, green garlic, green onion, morel mushrooms if we can find any of the trees they like to grow next to, otherwise if we find any edible mushrooms period, that would be nice." You answered honestly as you looked around the forest floor for the mushrooms before you saw a huge cluster of black oyster mushrooms growing on several drying trees and you wanted to squeal but your sudden quick gasp with an excited smile and quickened pace before you began taking them off the tree and putting them into your huge food basket still got Zorroku's attention as he subtly tried to observe you, realizing that if it was your choice, it'd be easier on you if you had a good knowledge of who were choosing between and wanted to make the best impression he could, even though he was first born and would be the next warchief whenever his father died or simply retired from that mantle, something his own grandfather had done in his later years so he could enjoy his grand-kids and family. Zorroku was hoping that you'd actually grow to like him as a person, marriage was much more pleasant when the partners actually knew each other well and liked each other if not loved each other even though the latter was rare but he could hope.
"What are those?" Zorroku asked, not knowing what the hell you were picking, they had only ever eaten morels because they looked so different from any other mushroom and they were easy to identify and pick.
"Oyster mushrooms, they're amazing." You answered before you ate a raw one to show him they were edible before you ate a couple more because they were quite good before you located the kinds of trees you wanted and once you gathered all you could, you went over to them and found an over abundance of your beloved morels and you found dozens and dozens of them, Zorroku helping you pick those before looking for everything else and finding it with ease and abundance which was a nice change of pace for you. Then you heard Razor scream again and you called back, but a different sound, not the soft purr, but a kind of whistle before you found a pine tree nearby and climbed into it.
"What are you doing?" Zorroku asked as he tried to follow you but knew he couldn't actually climb this kind of tree, he'd snap the branches off.
"Gonna try to kill the bucks Razor is flushing my way, this pine will hopefully mask my scent." You answered as you quickly got the back of your skirt and pulled it through your legs to get it into your waistband so that the skirt kind of became pants so he wouldn't be able to look up your skirt and you'd be able to climb easier and started to climb the tree which because of your smaller size and nimble ways you could easily weave through the branches which bent slightly but didn't break under your weight as you paused a third of the way up to hang your satchels, out of Zorroku's reach so he wouldn't rifle through them while you had left the huge food basket on the ground with him before you got higher in the tree.
"You stay there and look out for the wild wolves, they're to the east." You directed as you climbed up.
"h..how did you...do you speak eagle?" Zorroku asked in astonishment, not realizing that there had been wolves nearby.
"The kind of screams Razor gave me told me, I raised and helped train Razor, I know his screams and calls, so yes, I do speak eagle." You answered back as you continued to climb the tree.
"Of course you do, because you're kickass and amazing," Zorroku whispered to himself under his breath as he watched you in awe a broad smile plastering itself to his face. "Do you just really love to climb trees?" Zorroku asked as he just watched, mesmerized by your ability to just climb a tree as easily a squirrel could which got you to laugh again.
"I do, now hush so we don't spook the bucks because I sent your brothers after a small herd of does and if I can take down a buck, I can impress your brothers enough that they just might be inclined to actually talk to me instead of thinking I'm so below them to even speak to." You admonished once you got to the best height you could before you whistled a different whistle with a small purr in it and Razor flew to the top of the tree with you with a dead squirrel in it's claws and Zorroku stared slack jawed and in horror, not realizing that his brothers' silence towards you was taken that way at all.
The gods knew he was nearly pissing himself in fear and anxiety just trying to work up the courage to talk with you this much because you were so gorgeous, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, human, orc or whatever alike and he and his brothers were just plain shy in talking to pretty girls, facing off a horde of other battle wary orcs was easier than talking to a pretty girl, which is why being warchief's sons meant girls talked to them first but you, you were fear inspiring in your own way, the way you masterfully took on your whole village for their sake so that they never needed to raise their axes at all, the way you basically just oozed wisdom beyond your years, the way a huge ass fucking golden eagle respected you and communicated with you as if you spoke it's native language and was at your beck and call with the sexiest purrs he had ever heard being uttered. The way you just fucking charmed the living daylights out of his father in just a couple of short hours so he was telling you all the family secrets and ways already had him impressed beyond words could ever express. How everything was working out period because of you. He wasn't surprised in the least when the whole Black Wolf White Rock Clan Village seemed to recoil and almost revolt at the very idea of you leaving which he understood. Like prying a gem from a crown and he was sure if you had reacted in any other way, they all would have been dead by now. It was like you had said exactly what you needed to say in just the right way, more convincingly than he thought you would, to the point he almost believed it himself until he heard your reply to his father's thanks, he had strained his ears extra hard but he knew that voice that you used then was the real you coming through and he felt so awful that you were so, understandably, scared and he just wanted to blurt out how there was nothing to fear. How he at least would never hurt you and that the oath his father had made for him, he would make for himself and he'd actually fight off his own brothers if it meant protecting you. That's why he stayed behind to help you, trying to get over himself and see if he could try charming you first before his brothers worked up their own courage to do the same, in fact that's what they had been discussing among-st themselves, how to woo you and how they thought was the best way to charm you in turn. He and his brothers usually were good at working together to solve a problem but he feared that this competition for you would probably cause a bit of a rift between himself and his brothers who were used to just taking what they wanted, but now they were expected to work for what they wanted, work for your approval and work for your affection and he didn't know how they were going to handle that. And staying behind to try to talk with you privately was the best answer he could come up with so far, just try to get to know you and let you get to know him. He was prepared to answer any and all questions you would ask him but so far you hadn't asked any.
"Good boy," You cooed in a whisper to Razor as you pet him and let him devour the squirrel in peace as you put an arrow into the notch on the bow and slowed your breathing so it wouldn't be loud as you caught your breath and kept very still on your perch in the tree top, still mostly covered by the foliage of the pine while still getting great vantage points as you watched Zorroku sit down at the base of the tree, hidden by it's boughs as he faced east to try to be on alert for the wolves and sat down very quietly and very still himself. You looked down at your companion, realizing he was probably the most handsome out of all the brothers, himself a true blue orc, same blueberry hue as his father he probably already had at least three or four wives, probably closer to six. He had to be 18, 19 by now, middle aged for an orc and you sensed he was the most mature out of all of them. There was a quiet gentleness to him that his father had that he seemed to inherit that you sensed that you really liked though. When he said he wasn't going to touch you, you actually believed him. You were sure a couple of his brothers would have started to molest you the moment their father's back was turned, and from those you would do your best to never be alone with them for that reason. You were hoping to be just a nice, normal human's first and only beloved wife. That's all you really wanted but there was no fucking way of that ever having that now. So you just had to pick one of them, in a month, you doubted Zorroku was really on the menu so to speak, he was first born male, if you really wanted to be his, you'd be under however many wives he had already and if you were honest, none of the wives of the orcs would take kindly to you. They would think this trade deal for you was preposterous, they could kidnap any cook they wanted, what made you so special that they actually traded for you? Not unless word had gotten out about you, and if that was the case you feared for the life of the one who told it and if it had been in order to save their own lives, you could forgive it. But the Thunder Herd Clan would probably work you to an early death until you were pregnant then it would be worse, you didn't want to think of the abuse they'd subject you to, reminding you that you weren't worthy of having their orcs spill their seed into, let alone bear fruit and you'd die giving birth and who knows what would happen to that baby, maybe, by a miracle, it would find a way back to your parents if it favored your side and was a girl and if it favored the orc side and was a boy, you doubted it would grow up ever knowing you were it's mother, let alone your name and it would probably disown you entirely for it's own survival which was something you could forgive if it meant it got to live on. This next month would be the best month of your life because after the celebration and after you returned, all bets were off and then everyone would show their true colors and you'd have a miserable life until you died of a hopefully premature death within a year after that and only your own family and Khagra's family would mourn you if they ever found out you passed on.
Razor chirped at you then looked directly at the bucks that were coming your way. You silently wiped your tears away and oh so slowly and quietly got into position before you saw that it was a trio of bucks, all of them spectacular so you pulled two more arrows from your quiver and put all three onto the bow using your fingers to adjust the aim of each buck, pulling your bow sideways and pulling back the bow string above your head, you used the natural wind to use your legs to slowly and gently move the branches out of your way, practically doing the splits doing so before you aimed and fired, hitting them in the hearts and just as they crashed, then you heard the wolves howl and sound off as they started to circle you.
"Go find all the wolves," you urged Razor as the wolf howling got Zorroku to his feet and Razor leaped up and took flight.
"Stay up there!" Zorroku ordered you and you could sense his own fear. You listened for Razor's screams and then you counted them, your stomach dropping with every scream.
"We got 17 wolves, they're circling us, two are right in front of you, about a hundred paces, they're the closest to you." You informed Zorroku as you got into the opposite position on the other side of the tree and spotted the other three that were coming in from the other side before you looked to the south to see one more then to the north where the rest of them were coming in from since that was the higher ground before they all did a sound off again and suddenly Zorroku didn't know which direction to start going off on before you heard Crowthu's yelling for you and Zorroku and knew he was coming so you left him the wolf that was to the south since camp was south of you as you focused on the three to the west and you waited for them to get within range and then loosed your arrows, putting down them all before you heard the yelping cry of a wolf getting killed from the south just as the other two charged Zorroku who burst out from the boughs of the pine tree as he swung his battle ax at them but a third joined them from the north and they were baiting him to try to get at him and you knew he would get overpowered by three so you shot two of them for him so he could focus on the third.
"I got your back." You called out as you shot the two that were trying to circle to his back.
"Thank you!" He called up when he watched the two other wolves get put down before really focusing and killed the third.
"You're welcome, the rest are north, coming in hot, but I only have one more arrow, I'll try to get Razor to retrieve my other ones if at all possible." You called back before you made the prettiest but elaborate call to Razor as you climbed just a little higher to get a better vantage point as you got your last arrow knocked and ready before you heard Razor swoop in and steal Crowthu's arrows out of his own quiver and then Crowthu's startled cry and cursing as Razor flew away with his arrows which made you snicker a laugh and you loosed your last arrow before Razor came and dropped them into your hands before one slipped out of your hands and fell but landed on the branches under you but you were too busy just trying to put down the rest of the wolf pack, the alphas and those immediately under them in the wolf hierarchy being all there was left before the remaining wolves did a sound off and found their numbers were almost depleted before the remaining ones retreated, Razor's cries confirming that before you blew a breath of relief and started to climb down again.
"What are you doing?! Stay up there!" Zorroku repeated, thinking the wolves were regrouping to try again.
"Why? Razor says that the wolves are retreating back to their den, it's safe now." You countered as you continued to climb down before you caught sight of the fallen arrow and tried to reach for it but instead it just rolled off the branch onto the next one down.
"Oh," Zorroku blinked as he allowed himself to relax and turn to watch you descend the tree to make sure you didn't fall.
"Damn it." You cursed under your breath as you tried to climb down a little further to get that one but it alluded you again. "Oh come on!" You exclaimed as you tried again which got Zorroku to chuckle, watching you. You go from badass mother fucker to just another girl trying to get something out of reach from one second to the next, this was a show he felt very privileged to witness. When it rolled off the bough and onto the next one down you growled in frustration before climbing out even further onto the branch you were on to try get it and you got it, but then the branch snapped and you yelped again and plummeted and you instinctualy curled into a ball before you were caught in Zorroku's arms.
"Oof, I gotcha," Zorroku huffed as he caught you before you peeked an eye open before you relaxed in his arms.
"Oh. Thank you." You thanked him graciously, relieved he caught you.
"Zorroku!" Crowthu yelled angrily which got you both to jump before he lost his hold on you and you flailed and shrieked as Zorroku's hold on you faltered and he tried to catch you again but you slipped through his arms and landed on the ground, which considering the five feet from his arms to the ground, knocked the wind out of you but once you managed to roll away and was able to get breathing you started laughing again as you could only imagine how funny that must have looked as Crowthu started yelling at Zorroku as Zorroku tried to explain the situation.
"Warchief Crowthu, it's ok, I was falling out of the tree and he caught me, so it's ok, I'm ok." You tried to reassure him as you half laughed and half coughed tried to get on your hands and knees and assess how hurt you were, if at all.
"Are you hurt at all?" Zorroku and Crowthu asked worriedly and you can't help but laugh again.
"That was an impossible term to agree to, I'm clutsy as hell and quite accident prone, I'm surprised I haven't gotten kicked by the horses yet." You answered as you just shook your head as they helped you to your feet before you got back into the tree to get your satchels again.
"But hey, on the plus side, I got all three bucks, morels, and none of us died so yay!" You cheered weakly trying to be funny as Crowthu and Zorroku just started laughing themselves at your sarcasm and sense of humor, happy and relieved you had one.
"Wait, you shot down those bucks?" Crowthu asked as Zorroku nodded adamantly and beamed.
"She shot down everything except one wolf, I had three on me and she shot down two of them for me, look at the way the arrows are sticking up like they came from the sky, she shot them all down from the tree top! She's an archer, the best one I've ever seen!" Zorroku crooned as Crowthu blinked in surprise and looked around at all the dead animals, noting how the arrows were sticking out of them.
"How did one arrow take them down?" Crowthu asked and you grinned wickedly and Crowthu and Zorroku suddenly grew fearful of such a grin.
"Poison tipped arrows." You answered as if that was pretty obvious as you took the arrows out of the now dead animals.
"Which poison?" Zorroku asked carefully.
"The pits of those peaches you love so much, in the middle of the pit is a seed, plant the seed, a peach tree grows, crush the seed and cyanide comes out- a poison potent enough that if you dip the tips of your arrows into it several times to get a thick enough coating, anything goes down, or you feed the seeds themselves, coated in honey to mask the bitterness of the cyanide to your enemies and they die only an hour or so, maybe two after they leave the table because you don't want them to actually die at the table because getting a dead body out of the house is a pain in the ass because what travels through the stomach takes much longer than what travels through the blood." You answer. "Just don't eat the meat around the arrow strike and don't drink the blood of the animal and you'll be fine." You waived off as you collected all your arrows before you gave Crowthu's arrows back to him.
"Sorry if Razor scared you getting these for me." You apologized as you handed his own arrows back.
"Oh yeah, she speaks golden eagle, because the eagle told her how many wolves we had and were they were and she did this really amazing call that told Razor to go get her arrows, it was epic." Zorroku explained, exceptionally giddy about it all.
"Would you do that to my arrows?" Crowthu requested.
"Sure, just give me a few days, cause it's a lengthy process." You nodded in agreement before Crowthu and Zorroku heaved back the dead deer and the dead wolves just as Crowthu's other sons were returning with their two does.
"Holy shit, excellent hunting father!" They cheered their father in Pregu.
"I didn't kill these, I only killed one wolf, this wolf." Crowthu corrected in Pregu back before his sons looked at their eldest brother with pride and excitement before they congratulated Zorroku on killing everything else before he laughed and shook his head no.
"I only killed this one wolf, she killed the rest." Zorroku boasted in Pregu as he gestured over to you as you struggled to put down the smallest wolf without falling yourself which was still huge and still a burden to carry but Crowthu and Zorroku had been so proud that you could carry it all by yourself.
"No way!" The other brothers argued in Pregu, not believing that for a second.
"She uses poison tipped arrows and that eagle of hers is her scout, they talk to each other through whistles and purrs and it's outstanding, I wouldn't have believed it if had not seen her do it with my own eyes, are you calling me a liar?!" Zorroku argued, still keeping to Pregu, getting insulted that his brothers weren't believing him.
"She doesn't look strong enough to pull back a bow." Silug, one of the other brothers argued and you just rolled your eyes. You may not have known exactly what was being said but you knew they were arguing the fact that you did indeed get lucky and strike down everything you were aiming at.
"It is wise to criticize the unbelievable report, but the foolish will always call the prophet a hoax in the face of a miracle they didn't see with their own eyes and if anyone wise argues with the fool, those looking on would not be able to tell the difference between them." You quoted from one of the more revered holy books which got them all to stop arguing and look at you in surprise. "So please stop arguing and get to skinning these, I don't care if you believe them or me or not, the sooner you all work together to skin these, the sooner we can eat." You said as you gestured to the deer, your own irritation and exhaustion taking over your sense of propriety in bossing them around like that.
"You heard her, get to work, but if you don't believe that she killed these then you will not be eating from them. Zorroku, gut these then get the hearts, the livers and the inner loins out so that she can cook that herself, however she wants, she deserves to eat the best of her kills while it's fresh and we'll turn the rest of it to jerky for her once back home." Crowthu ordered as he gestured to the three bucks as you just stood in shocked surprise that you weren't getting hit for that.
"A feast I'll gladly share with you Warchief Crowthu and to you as well Zorroku." You beamed proudly before you called Razor back who came and scooped in to get the dead squirrel from the tree before he flew by to a nearby tree, it's branch directly above you to watch over you to finish eating it as you got your pan and a preserved node of beef fat to cook the mushrooms, fiddle heads and ramps.
"Do you get sick with mushrooms?" You asked Crowthu as you passed him as he built other fires for the does to cook on.
"No, I love them." Crowthu answered.
"Good, we found morels and black oyster mushrooms." You informed him as you took the cover of your food basket off to show him what you were able to forage.
"Wow." Crowthu smiled. "Save all of that for just us three though." He suggested and you nodded in agreement and when Zorroku returned he sat right beside you while Crowthu sat on the other as you continued to cook, as both of them started teaching you Pregu.
But what was still odd, is neither of them called you by your name, they both simply called you 'Peaches' which you found you didn't mind too much, you could be called much worse you supposed and Crowthu's other sons still didn't talk to you and at that point you gave up trying to get them to talk to you. There was no working with them. The youngest though seemed to copy what you were doing and did the same to his elder brothers' deer as well so at least he was trying without getting on his elder brother's bad side and that you could sympathize with. Being the youngest son was a constant battle for respect and you had to constantly prove your place among them.
"Would Nar get in trouble with his brothers if I invited him over to join us? Because he's trying to copy me in cooking his brother's deer like I'm cooking my food but I think he's just fearful of his brother's retaliation by agreeing that those kills were really mine." You murmured to Crowthu quietly as he looked over at his youngest son who quickly looked away guiltily.
"Who killed those does?" Crowthu asked his other sons who were on the other side of the little clearing next to the main path and Silug and Yalak raised their hands.
"Then you should take pride in cooking your own kills, Nar, come here." Crowthu ordered and Nar immediately found his feet and came over.
"Come on and sit down." You offered as Nar looked to his father who nodded before he sat down.
"It's tough being the youngest isn't?" You offered a bit rhetorically as he sat down in front his father facing you and the look he gave you told you that you hit the nail on the head with that observation.
"Shuzug, Warchief Khagra's youngest son and my good friend, feels the same way, his older brothers boss him around something awful and he's always been in their shadow, even on the cloudy days. That's why he works hard to be better than them, he's only ten but already bigger and stronger than his brothers were at his age, I know because I was there when his brothers were that age because he practices lifting great big weights, usually logs or whole livestock and why he studies harder than his brothers ever did, he reads better and writes better than his brothers do and every time they go to raid or battle, he takes and hordes every book he can get his hands on while his brothers just go for all the gold they can or he'll purposefully raid every kitchen he can just to get spices for me, that's how good of friends we are. And that's why I let him talk me into climbing that mountain over there two years ago to a golden eagle's nest in a high tree and got three golden eagle eggs, because he wanted to be a falconer but he didn't have the money to buy one already trained so we did it ourselves, I helped him hatch the eggs and helped raise them, we had to build three nests in his yard to keep them from killing each other growing up, we worked together to build all the calls and teach them all to each of the eagles to train them, all three of those eagles were his greatest and most precious possessions and he gave me my favorite one, that's Razor, his brother is Claw and his sister is Fang. Razor is the nicest out of all of them. Claw will literally claw your face off for the slightest infraction, like if you tried to feed him anything smaller than a rabbit because he is picky as hell and Fang will bite your fingers off if you try to pet her head. But with Razor, he's the tamest, I can nuzzle my face next to his and he'll nuzzle right back and I can pet him anywhere I want, I can put him on his back and pet his belly like he's a pretty little parakeet, but instead he's this giant murder floof with talons bigger than my hands who thinks he's a parakeet." You explained, all of them chuckling at the 'murder floof' term.
"Why does he take all the books?" Nar asked curiously.
"Because he wants to be smarter and more clever than his brothers and reading books is the best way to learn that besides experience, about three years ago we found a book of riddles and we both really loved that book so now we often talk to each other in nothing but riddles and it drives everyone crazy because no one else in his family does that, especially his brothers who think that we're talking about them, which, well, we do actually, that's really fun- that and because we do it so fast, no one else can keep up." You answered with a grin.
"Can you teach me?" Nar asked hopefully.
"Sure," You nodded before you took a moment to think. "Ok, so his favorite riddle to tell me is that I am, 'never resting, never still, yet travels from hill to hill, does not walk, run or trot and all is cold where I am not.' What am I?" You put to Nar who thought about that for a little while.
"I don't know." Nar finally gave up and shrugged and you looked to Crowthu and Zorroku to see if they knew the answer but they were equally stumped.
"Ok so think about this, what's warm that travels over the landscape because it's moving in the sky?" You asked Nar.
"OH! The sun! Sunshine! He was calling you sunshine!" Nar realized and Zorroku and Crowthu groaned when they got that because they hadn't figured it out before Nar had.
"Yeah! You got it! See and I didn't tell you the answer, I just gave you a hint, you still figured it out on your own." You reminded him to try to build up confidence in him which worked because he seemed to beam at that.
"Please, can you tell me more?" He pleaded eagerly before you went ahead and told him more, each time only giving him one clue to help him figure it out as you continued to cook your late lunch and you may have fanned the scent of your mushrooms and other foraged items over to Nar and Zorroku's other brothers who quietly groaned and almost whimpered because they loved mushrooms and things too and the smell of the beef fat that you were sauteing them in smelled heavenly too and once the mushrooms and things were done you got the roasting livers, hearts and loins and coated them in the excess mushroom flavored fat in the pan before you presented two livers and a heart and a loin to Crowthu first, then two hearts and a loin to Zorroku and then a liver and a loin to Nar as well before you kept three of the tenderloins to yourself because you didn't particularly like the taste of heart or liver and the way all three of them groaned and moaned when they started eating made you smile wider.
"This is wonderful. What kind of fat did you use?" Zorroku asked curiously as he sliced his two hearts up which he took as a very good omen and sign that you were metaphorically going to be giving your heart to him and then ate a few pieces of delicious mushroom, ramp and fiddle head with each slice and was unbelievably happy about that.
"Beef fat, when you slaughter them, they have these huge nodes of fat around their kidneys that's the best fat on the whole cow in my opinion, now if you ever get a chance to eat one, their loins are outstanding and you can slice them up into steaks and personally I like the loins cooked until it's still a bright warm red inside and the marrow of beef bones is quite delicious too." You answered.
"I will get a herd of cows for her if she chooses me." Zorroku told his father in Pregu.
"Not if I get them for her first, she'll choose me if I get them for her before she has to choose." Nar challenged with a smug grin to his oldest brother who narrowed his eyes at his little brother.
Well you supposed two of them fighting over you was much better than none of them wanting you at all which was fine by you. Maybe if Nar didn't have a wife yet, you'd get to have him to yourself for at least a little while before he married again, he was still young and mold-able and hopefully you'd influence him enough that he'd be decent to you for however long you had him for so honestly he'd be your best bet at this point. When you were done you poured off the fat into a small leather pouch and didn't yelp when Crowthu lifted you onto his horse, instead jumped to help him lift you and once on the saddle you called Razor back to you putting a special hood onto his head so he could get some rest and he rested his head on your shoulder and let you pet him to sleep as you finally got going again.