They thought about following the ATV trail, but decided there was no point and headed straight back to the Jeep. Along the way they started finding thickets of wild blackberries, and stopped to eat some. At the third or fourth stop, Cern said, "Maybe we should vary the diet a little."
"What do you have in mind? Got some trail mix in your pack?"
"No, I was thinking of maybe a squirrel or something."
Dema wrinkled her nose at him. "I'm not that hungry. The berries are plenty."
"But there's plenty of small game here. It is no less natural to eat a squirrel than to eat berries."
Dema recalled the nights when she was a flock of bats, feasting on flying insects, and realized what he said was right, as far as the forest was concerned. She also recalled the forest spirit who occupied the body of Peter Olafsson and cooked a rabbit for her as a gesture of hospitality. But she and Cern would do fine without this meal. She decided maybe it was a guy thing.
Cern knelt by the trail and Dema did too, watching him. Dema was in the forest dream, and knew that he was too, although he didn't seem to think of it quite that way. He looked around, and presently a squirrel from a nearby tree approached.
Cern held out his hands, laying them palms up on the ground in front of him, and the squirrel walked into them. He stroked it for a while, and as Dema watched it got very still. Dema realized that the squirrel's little spirit had left its body, and the little heart was no longer beating.
Cern picked up the little body and bit through the soft skin at the base of the throat. He slid a finger into the hole and opened the tear all the way down, then deftly peeled the skin off of everything but the head. He twisted off the head and laid it gently on the ground with the skin still attached. Then he removed the viscera and laid it on the skin. It took less than a minute. He separated the body in two along the spine, and it came apart for him without visible effort. He gave half to Dema.
"No cooking?" She asked.
"Sorry, I usually don't bother."
"Never mind then." After all, she thought as she took a bite and started to chew, in snake form I'd swallow it whole.
When they were done, Cern wrapped the bones in the skin and carefully laid the little bundle under a bush.
"You don't want to bury it?"
"The forest will take care of it now," he said.
