Chapter 29: Savory Or Sweet?
In order to make up for their loss of food, Iris had to cut back on their next banquet. She only made soup so that their food could be used as efficiently as possible. She had to address her guests as they all looked disappointed and some of the females who had recently joined were grumbling about wanting to just go home.
There were now two more females besides Holly and Fawn who had joined their weekly feasts. With several more single males joining in, there were now over 100 beastmen in attendance each week. Even with the extra food they had gathered, Iris could not feed so many people without the donations she received each week.
However, to make it up to them, Iris promised to make an extra special treat the next week. This made everyone excited as they gossipped all week about what food Iris could possibly be planning to make that week. The pressure was certainly high for Iris to deliver, but she was up for the challenge.
"Are you sure you are up for tomorrow? It seems everyone's expectations for tomorrow are quite high."
Caspian knew his mate hated to disappoint the others, but he felt that it was far more important that she take care of herself. If he had to, Caspian would happily take on any burden just so his mate could live a carefree life. However, Iris wasn't nearly as worried as she replied
"No, I'm okay, but I am going to need your help with something tonight."
Iris had Caspian prepare all of the meat donated to them at the previous banquet. She wanted all of the meat meticulously removed from the bones. She then would take all the bones and put them to boil in their extra large soup pot over night. Once the pot reduced to a mere 1/4 of its original amount, she would need Caspian to cool the liquid and remove the bones. This would serve as the base for a new dessert.
After Iris awoke the next morning, she could see that Caspian was still not in bed. She headed to the banquet room to check on the progress he had made.
"How is it?"
Caspian had gotten very little sleep the previous night as he had needed to tend to the fire and ensure it did not go out. Thus, he was startled by Iris's sudden presence behind him. Recollecting himself, he groggily replied
"It's nearly done reducing but it still needs a few hours. It's gotten quite thick already, which is quite strange considering it's only bones and water."
Iris felt concerned for her mate as she took in the state he was in. Sure, even she could go over twenty four hours without sleep if absolutely necessary, but it wouldn't feel very good. Thus she shooed him off to bed, opting to take over the whole process herself.
While the bones continued to cook down, Iris decided to also cook the rest of the bearberries she had for the season. This time she would not use honey as Caspian would certainly not be happy with her if she did so. After the last time, he had made her promise not to share anymore honey with anyone else until he could find more for her.
Luckily, bearberries had a natural sweetness to them once they were cooked down. Iris could then mash a large portion of the berries further with a mortar and pestle to turn it into a sort of paste before using a grass mat to gently squeeze the juice out. This juice would then be added alongside some whole cooked bearberries into the thickened bone broth after the bones were removed.
After a few hours of sleep, Caspian felt a lot better. His head still hurts but he is more easily able to function and feels more alert. Caspian soon makes his way into the banquet room to see Iris still hard at work.
"Hey, you're looking a lot better now. Do you think you could help me out here? I need to get all of the bones removed and then mix this berry mixture in before getting it all transfered into some pie pans and chilled."
Caspian was almost certain Iris had lost her mind from stress, but he did as she asked. He had only seen Iris create gravies and soups using bone broth previously. Caspian could not for the life of him figure out why Iris would want to mix sweet berries into a savory food.
Still, he carefully scooped the bones out and set them aside before pouring a large pot of berries and berry juice in. He then carefully stirred the mixture.
As adding the juice would mean the mixture needed to reduce further, Iris decided to just cook it until the fire naturally went out and the liquid cooled. Caspian could then transfer the liquid into twenty pies pans and chill it in an ice box until it was time for the banquet. The extra large soup pot would also require washing before being filled with snow for making soup before the banquet as well.
In order to especially be able to make a nice meal, Iris decided to also prepare a few roasts with cattail roots and some mashed potatoes. There was, of course, no milk or butter to make the mashed potatoes with. However, a bit of animal fat and salt would certainly accomplish a similar result.
It was also easy to make a nice gravy using some bone broth Iris had saved before adding the berry mixture in. All Iris would need from there was to prepare a roux to thicken the gravy and water to thin the rather thick bone broth.
As breakfast had been missed already and lunch would quickly pass by while she cooked, Iris made one of the roasts early. After eating, Caspian seemed to perk up even more. Iris took note that she should try to avoid making Caspian overexert himself for her sake in the future.
When guests began to show up, Holly was among the first batch to show up. Iris was happy to see her still enjoying the dress she had made her as she wore it almost every time she visited. Holly was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she hopped over to Iris and gave her a hug.
"I'm so excited to find out what the special treat you made for us today is. It seems like it's all anyone can talk about this week. Of course, since you always cook such unique food, no one has a clue how to even begin guessing what it will be."
Iris was happy to see Holly. The cute female with her red panda tail was always good company and Iris looked forward to her visits all week. However, even for her best friend, Iris didn't want to give away the surprise.
"It's a secret, but the good news is you won't have to wait much longer to find out."
Holly was slightly disappointed that she didn't get to know early as she complained
"What happened to being friends? Ahh, whatever, keep your secrets. I had Daniel bring our contribution this time. With the cold season nearly halfway through we don't have much variety left at home, sorry."
Daniel handed Iris a small bag of potatoes and carrots embarrassedly. Iris was all too happy to accept the vegetables, though, as she often used them for soup.
"You worry too much, Holly. I told you I don't mind sharing food with you since we are friends. Besides this stuff is plenty useful."
Once over fifty people had filtered into the house, Iris was ready for the big reveal. After getting Quentin's help with scooping out bowls of soup, she had Caspian carry out the roasts while she grabbed the dessert.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. This week we have soup, roasted meat with cattail roots, mashed potatoes with gravy, and for dessert we have bearberry gelatin!"
Iris acted like a gameshow announcer as she announced the end for the night and many of the beast politely cheered. Iris had Caspian slice the meat and put veggies on plates while Iris scooped gelatin into bowls.
After serving up all the food, Iris and Caspian took their usual seat with Holly's group in the main room. Holly seemed very happy as she ate and her tail swayed gently back and forth. As she began to slow down on eating she decided to ask
"So, Iris, why don't you have more mates? Ivy wouldn't be able to bully you so easily if you had more mates at home."
Iris gave an awkward smile as she cast a glance at Caspian. Only, Caspian was looking at Iris too, as if he was also eager to hear the answer. Iris gave a small cough in embarrassment as she looked away.
"I don't know, it's not that I haven't considered taking more mates. I just don't want to rush things. I'd rather find a good male before accepting anymore mates. Since it's the cold season there hasn't been much opportunity to do so."
Holly seemed thoughtful at this answer. It was certainly true that the pool of males to choose from was smallest during the cold season when they were stuck inside. However, there were still many artic wolf males who were single beasts and many of them liked Iris.
"What kind of male are you wanting? I mean there is always Quentin, he is a one starred celestial beast and he seems interested in you."
Iris knew that having multiple mates from the same tribe was quite common. Hell, even having mates from the same family wasn't strange in the beast world. However, there was just something too strange about having mates who looked so similarly that made Iris feel uneasy.
"Quentin is okay, I guess, but he looks too similar to Caspian. I also don't know if accepting a mate much weaker than Caspian would be helpful.
I mostly want a mate who is intelligent and a fast learner as well as good looking and strong. If there is too much power imbalance, it'd be difficult for them to all get along, wouldn't it? Besides that, you've seen how things are in my house. Caspian had quite the learning curve for cooking but he is quite gifted at crafting items. If I took in a mate, they'd have to match up to Caspian's level, at least."
Holly looked at her mates as she heard Iris's answer. None of them were even awakened beasts. They also could not cook at the level that Iris could. Holly could not help but feel that Iris's standards were quite high.
Taking another look at Iris, Holly felt that perhaps that was alright, though. Iris was the most beautiful whole female Holly had ever seen. Iris was also quite smart and full of ideas. It would only be right if she had mates befitting of her.
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