Chapter 53: Rainy Days Part One
The next few days were filled with constant rain. Iris couldn't go out without worrying her mates that she might get sick. Thus, she could only hold up in their home and entertain herself with indoor activities.
Ember went out to hunt once or twice every day. When he did so, he would always be sure to fly over to the fields for Iris. He had stayed in many other tribes before, including those who farmed, and he had picked up a thing or two. He might not know how to do the actual farm work, but he could easily check for flooding and animal tracks.
Luckily, neither appeared to be an issue. The rain was constant but it was not terribly heavy. The trenches were easily able to funnel excess water into the river and prevent the crops from becoming flooded. The fences and territory marking seemed to be working, but Ember made sure to remark the territory every few days in case the rain washed the scent away.
Caspian and Basil occasionally took turns hunting. As males often only got to eat their fill while out on the hunt, it would be difficult to never go hunting. Besides, they felt it was only fair to share all household duties rather than letting any one person do everything.
Iris was excited because today was finally time for the weekly banquet. After the cold season passed, much fewer people showed up as they'd feel guilty making Iris's family prepare so much food for them. However, Holly always turned up and often brought a few other females and their families with her.
Due to the rain, Iris hadn't had the chance to go out to find forageables. However, both Caspian and Ember were currently out hunting to gather enough food for tonight. Ember would never let his mate go hungry and Caspian was as doting as ever to Iris.
Iris brought Basil to the kitchen as they discussed what to make for the feast.
"Sadly, I only really have acorn flour and cattail roots in the house. I don't know what they'll bring back from the hunt, but that'll cover the meat side of things. I usually like to prepare soup in the extra large soup pot in the banquet room as well as one or two other things.
I've made desserts before when I had fruits and honey available, but that's impossible currently. I have plenty of sweet root and honey now so I could try making something else.
Besides that, I usually make either a savory pie from flour, animal fat, water, and a thickened soup like filling or a roast of some sort. It'll be hard to plan a savory dish without knowing what they'll bring back, though."
Basil wrapped his tail around Iris's waist as he pulled her into his arms. Basil felt disappointed that he couldn't fix the lack of food variety for Iris. However, he was sure that something could be sorted out. He hesitantly suggested
"Well, what about those Jujui berries? Maybe you could make whatever a dessert is with those? You also said you wanted to experiment with the umai leaves before, right?"
Iris nodded as she pursed her lips. It was true that she did have the strange sour berries that Basil found. If it was lemons, Iris could imagine a few different uses from lemonade to lemon bars to lemon meringue. The last two were impossible due to a lack of eggs among other ingredients, but perhaps a shortbread cookie with a slight citrusy addition could be doable.
A shortbread of sorts could be formed using flour, honey, animal fat, and salt. Then Iris could make the jujui berries into a sort of jam by cooking them down with water and honey before mashing them into a fine paste. This jam could then be placed in the middle of the shortbread cookies to make thumbprint style cookies.
If Iris also mixed some of the jam mixture with water and strained it through a grass mat then she could serve a sort of lemonade like drink with the cookies. Yes, Iris nodded satisfied with her plan. She then carefully got to work on making a few dozen cookies alongside Basil.
Basil found Iris's method of combining ingredients to be quite interesting. He was unsure if it would work out, but was unworried. Basil could easily go gather more berries and honey at any time.
Basil knew Iris mentioned the flour was made from acorns, but he was not sure what they were. He was also unsure what the difference in the honey versus sweet root was in it's application was. Thus he asked
"The sweet roots are easier to obtain than honey, wouldn't it be better to use it if you're cooking for others?"
Iris shook her head as she explained
"If I had a dried powdered form of sugar, I would prefer to use that over honey. However, the sweet roots have a lot of watery like liquid in them. This makes the honey more suitable than the sweet roots.
I know sugarcane has a lot of liquid too and can be processed into sugar. The sugarcane is pressed and the juice is collected then it is strained to remove impurities and cooked down until it is a concentrated liquid. After that, the mixture has to be left to dry and form sugar crystals. These sugar crystals are then crushed into a powder like form and can be stored for a long time until used."
Basil was thoughtful as he listened to Iris speak. Perhaps it would be worth experimenting with such a thing. Even if that didn't work, perhaps the method Iris described using for carrots would work. Basil could easily thinly sliced the sweet roots and then dry them before trying to crush them into a powdered form with a mortar and pestle.
Since the shortbread and jam only took a short while to prepare, there was still plenty of time before dinner time. Caspian and Ember would still be out for a while so Iris and Basil were left with plenty of free time.
Iris decided to work on sewing beast skins into clothes while she watched Basil experimenting with the sweet roots. Basil's thoughtful and curious expression as he worked was quite handsome in Iris's opinion. Basil always seemed so diligent as he worked and he had quite the knack for discovering new ways to work herbs. Iris was quite excited to see the results of his hard work.
By the time Caspian and Ember came back, Basil had finished his preparations and was onto the waiting stage. He had already washed up the mess from cooking and fetched water to make soup in the banquet room. This made the preparations for the feast go much smoother than usual.
Caspian came back carrying a dozen rabbits worth of meat and their furs. It seems he had dug a family of them out of their burrow. Meanwhile, Ember had brought back a few large bears that he had killed in their caves and drug back home. Iris blinked as she took in just how brutal the beast world was.
Iris gave Caspian a hug and kiss to greet him as she accepted the meat from him, praising
"Good work, these will be good for the soup alongside some cattail roots and seasonings."
Iris then turned to Ember who appeared to have his hands full. She offered a grateful smile as he bent down so she could kiss him too.
"I'll carry these in, just let me know where you want them, love."
Ember was quick to offer. Iris led Ember into the banquet room where Basil was already working on starting a fire. Ember set the large chunks of meat wrapped in hide on the counters and went to the door to keep watch.
When he did so, he saw a short half orc with a red tail. He made a strange face as he continued to stare at her unsure of what to do or who she was. Scaring off females was generally frowned upon, but he did want to protect Iris and he was unsure if this female was a friend or foe.
Thankfully, Caspian was familiar with Holly's scent and walked out to greet her.
"Come on in Holly. Iris will be happy to see you. Don't mind this one, he's a bit scary but he won't do anything to upset Iris."
Holly happily entered their home alongside her mates. Ember gave a weary look towards them as he watched them enter. He was all too uncomfortable having others in his home. However, Caspian turned to him as he explained
"I know you are uncomfortable with it, but Iris likes the guests. That's Holly and she is the female Iris is closest to. Since you're standing out here anyhow, please invite all others who show up in. Well, unless it's Ivy, she isn't welcome."
Ember remembered this female's name well. Ivy had not treated their mate well on numerous occasions now. Ember half hoped she would show up so he could teach her a lesson.....
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AutumnPlunkett
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