My return was met with fanfare from Marin and Marten, who were working on organizing the storage shed when I emerged from the forest with my trophy in tow. I asked the pair for help butchering the animal and was amused by their responses: Marin refused the task outright, stating that the process would make her queasy, and Marten ran inside without explanation. He returned a few seconds later with Hana, who carried a small fold of leather under her arm as she followed behind him excitedly. While she looked over my quarry, Marten gave me a satisfied nod and left the two of us alone. After the brief inspection, Hana opened the folded leather to reveal an impressive array of knives and set to work guiding me through the butchering process.
As I learned over the next few hours, Hana’s father had been a butcher in the Kaldanic town of Myca, and despite his insistence that butchering was “men’s work,” she had learned everything he knew by helping him in the back room of his shop as she grew up. She quickly surpassed the skills of her two older brothers and was set to inherit the shop when her father grew too old to run it himself, but the persistent advances of a young trader named Marten eventually convinced her to move away to Tolamar and start a family. Between her skills in butchery and my ability to move the half ton carcass around with ease, we had the bihorn hung, drained, skinned, and ready to be portioned in just a few hours.
I brought a large tenderloin cut inside to Lia once the portioning had begun and helped her get dinner preparations underway. The remainder of my afternoon was spent bouncing from task to task whenever I was needed, be it in more butchering work with Hana, helping Marten with heavy crates, fetching water for Lia’s cooking, or assisting Marin in whatever tedious duties she had remaining on her list. While everyone else happily worked on their own projects, Marin paced through the house nervously, always finding a small corner to sweep or a picture to straighten. Despite my reassurances that the house looked lovely, she always waved me off with a huff and found another job to occupy her mind out of my sightline.
The sound of a wagon rattling up the dirt road alerted us to Elise’s arrival as the sun began to set over the forest. We gathered outside as the carriage entered the clearing, drawn by two large black horses and driven by a familiar blonde-haired young woman in a Three Barrels uniform. Elise stepped out of the carriage wearing a full-length blue overcoat and carrying an enormous bottle of wine. “That’ll be all for tonight, Bella,” she said as she passed her driver. “You can retrieve me at sunrise tomorrow.” Bella nodded, waiting for Elise to cross the yard before she reined the horses in a circle and drove back down the road.
“Hi, Ellie!” Marin shouted, dashing forward to wrap her in a tight hug.
“Hello, dear,” Elise answered with a smile, returning the embrace with her free hand. “It’s good to see you!” She looked past Marin to where the rest of us stood in front of the house, then up to the house itself. “So, this is the place!” She kept her arm around Marin’s shoulders as she walked across the lawn. “It’s a beautiful home.”
“Thank you, Ellie,” Hana answered. “I’m glad we’re finally able to have you over to visit.”
Elise offered the bottle of wine to Marten. “It’s long overdue! Things at work have been inordinately taxing the past few weeks, to say the least. Tonight’s getaway is exactly what I needed.”
“Well then, come in!” Marten said, gesturing to the front door. “Dinner should be ready any minute, and you still need the grand tour of the place!”
“Oh, I can show you around, Ellie!” Marin volunteered, beaming beneath Elise’s arm.
“Thank you, dear,” Elise responded, “I think I’ll take you up on that.” Before going inside, she looked in my direction. “Lux, Marly, it’s been too long! How’ve you been?” She looked around the clearing for a moment. “I see that your ‘extra supplies’ have disappeared.”
“We’ve certainly been busy,” I grinned. “Thank you again for your help with that.”
“No need for thanks. You paid me to do it, after all,” she laughed. “Maybe someday I’ll see what all of those Imperials paid for.”
“Maybe,” Lia chimed in. “It might be a while, though; we’re leaving tomorrow on a bit of a vacation.”
“So I’ve heard,” Elise said, giving Marin a small shake, then nodded her head towards the door. “Let’s talk about it over dinner. I’m starving!”
When we all filed into the house, Marin immediately led Elise away into the living room to begin the tour, excitedly pointing out various aspects of the house that she found particularly impressive. The rest of us moved to the kitchen to set the table and put the finish touches on dinner. We plated up six servings of braised bihorn over roasted vegetables and topped with crispy leeks, as well as extra-full glasses of wine courtesy of Elise’s offering. The pair finished their tour just as the last plate was set out, and we all sat down to eat.
The first minute of our meal was filled entirely with the sounds of clattering utensils and voracious chewing as we all dug into the fork-tender bihorn, too engrossed in the food to speak. Elise pounded the table with her fist after a particularly large bite and let out a loud, satisfied grunt. “This is delicious! Where did you find bihorn this fresh? Was it Harren’s shop? I swear that man is always hiding his best stock whenever I go in there.”
“Lux brought it in this morning, fresh from the forest,” Marten answered through a mouthful of food.
“Oh, he’s a hunter, too?” she asked coyly, raising her eyebrows at Lia for a moment before turning
