Book One – Chapter 19

Of course, no one took him seriously. Well, Jerakill and Bawal actually nodded politely, while Harrow, Fallem and Branwen did not really care. But Kal, Nion and Ondahr seized upon the moment like fish spotting the first morning insects. They made an entire performance of theatrical grief, from mock-protests to guilt-tripping Yu:

“You are starving us, Yu?”

“Has that little flicker of authority already gone to your head?”

“Woe the fina that forgets his friends!”

“And who won’t feed his friends!”

“Did we not, for weeks, share our rations with you, friend?”

“Yeah, well…,” Yu fumbled, put on the spot. He was caught in the centre of their play like a bug on the lake, with wet wings and fish all around. “I mean, I believe you got that all back. Tonight. With how much you ate, I mean.”

A cheer broke from the group, delighted, rolling, entirely too loud. All but Fallem, Branwen, and the two brannok were in high spirits. It was Sulfa Spirit that buoyed them, to be precise. It was painfully obvious that food was not the only thing they had taken in excess. Painful for Yu.

“Really?” challenged Nion.

“Really????” echoed Kal, pitching his voice into farce.

“Yes,” Yu said. He was past the point of retreat; they all hungered for more. “And that is just speaking mass,” he added. “Not quality.” He meant it. He could not believe they compared that shit press-paste with the stew.

“What, Yu!” Ondahr clutched at his chest. “Don’t say you didn’t like our rations!”

“I thought that was obvious,” Yu said. It had been obvious. He had said so. Many times. Aloud. To their faces.

“No, no,” Nion protested, “You took far too many seconds and thirds to come out with that now!”

“Yeah, well, I mean — so what?” Really, what had they expected? What should he have done, given the choice between eating shit or starving to death. He had not had the dignity for the latter.

“So what, he says!” Nion exclaimed.

“I’ll have you know …,” Kal declared, but stopped to take another drink.

“Yes, he’ll have you know …,” Ondahr filled the pause.

“He will indeed have you know …,” Nion underlined.

Encouraged by their echoing eagerness for entertainment, Kal puffed with performative offence: “I’ll have you know that those were prime corpensolas, prepared with the best fats and bits one may find south of the Albweiss, dusted with precisely the right measure of herbs, and splashed to perfection with stamina potion.”

“Right, sure,” said Yu, exhausted beyond the reach of their humour. “I need to do work now. If you like the rations so much, you can just eat that. Until tomorrow, I mean. If you’re still hungry. Or you do like Harrow, and get yourself a rock.”

That left them reeling long enough for Yu to slip back into the kitchen.