Her Beasts

Unanswered Questions Part One

Today was the day of the weekly banquet once more. Since it was a sunny day, Basil had left, as promised, to gather herbs and more honey. He promised to be back to help with the final cooking for the banquet, but Iris would have to start the dessert early if she wanted it done on time.

Ember was in charge of catching prey and tending to the fields today. Iris was beginning to feel quite sweet towards Ember. He was quiet, but dependable. Iris felt that she might feel lonely if Ember was her only mate, but that this sort of relationship wasn't too bad either.

Caspian was finishing the last of the dress sewing and embroidery while keeping Iris company. The lotion, soaps, combs, and game boards had already been finished and prepared for market by Basil. Since these products were done in smaller batches, they were finished faster than the tailoring, even despite the complexity of carving.

Iris was eager to use the eggs she obtained from Holly and the market last week. Iris separated all of the yolks from the whites and added in salt and the powdered sweet root. Iris used several thin sticks tied together to whisk the egg white mixture together. Unfortunately, this primitive version of a whisk required even more work than usual and Iris found herself easily exhausted.

Caspian was unsure of what Iris was doing but came over to take over for her as he said

"Just tell me when it's done. I'll do it for you."

Caspian was unsure what this strange sweet smelling mixture was, but was more than happy to help Iris. When Iris noticed the mixture was thick and held the lines of the whisk easily, she took the mixture from Caspian.

"Thank you, this should suffice. Could you actually help me with one other thing real quick? I need some flat stones that are as thin as possible without breaking and can fit in our oven to bake these on. Two should suffice so I can use both ovens at once."

Caspian nodded and quickly got to work. Caspian made the cookie sheets very thin and small enough to easily slide in and out of the oven. Iris was extremely pleased. Caspian smiled at Iris's excited expression and got back to his sewing.

Iris took a clean but shabby animal hide and cut a small square off. She then sewed the sides up to form a funnel. Iris filled this rough piping bag with the meringue mixture and piped little dollops onto the cookie sheets she had greased with animal fat.

Once both sheets were covered, Iris put them into the stone ovens and carefully watched them, turning them as necessary. The edges of the meringues became browned more than they would in a modern oven, but Iris was satisfied with the end results.

The egg whites of four large eggs would be enough for eighty one inch by one inch meringues. However, Iris only had small eggs so she could only make sixty meringues per four eggs. Thankfully, Iris had five dozen eggs and could easily make 900 meringues. This would be more than enough for tonight's banquet and Iris would be able to send 600 meringues with Caspian to market.

If Caspian sold the meringues the way he sold the shortbread cookies, they'd be able to make a large profit at 60 crystals for the lot. This made Iris quite happy as she knew that she'd be able to make back her investment even if she had to give a few away as samples.

After several batches of meringues we're baked up, Basil returned to their home alongside Ember. Ember had brought home two large Aurochs. Since those who attended last week had also gifted meat to Iris's family, there was plenty of food. Of course, Caspian had to refrigerate the meat from last time since any meat gifted would be fresh.

Basil got to work making a large pot of soup from the meat from last week while Ember helped Iris break down the Aurochs. While Ember's claws weren't suited to carving or digging, he was quite adept with a bone knife. In fact, Ember's claws are quite sharp, but thin making them more suited to combat than day to day tasks. Flesh could be more easily torn away than stone carved into, after all.

Iris quite liked steak and roasts with garlic and rosemary. However, Iris wished she could ground the meat and make things like hamburgers or spaghetti. Sadly Iris barely had any veggies at present, much less dairy. Of course, breads were nearly impossible. Iris could not make a real loaf of bread without yeast. While wild yeast was a thing, it was too undependable.

Iris sighed as she got to work seasoning the roasts. Ember tended to the stone oven campfires while Iris worked, ensuring they wouldn't go out. Ember was sure why his mate was unhappy as he knew she enjoyed this meat previously.

Perhaps Iris was just sad because she did not have any plants to eat. Ember knew many of the plants were getting taller, but there were two weeks until they'd be ready according to Iris.

After Iris was finished with the meat, Ember finished preparing the sinew, fat, and bones for use later. Any leftover scraps of meat were pushed over to Basil for soup.

After that, Ember headed out to Caspian. Ember hesitated as he stood before him, knowing he wasn't really in a position to ask him for favors. Still, Ember was concerned for Iris so he decided to go through with it.

"Iris seems sad lately. I think she misses having plants to eat. I was never taught about plants and I don't know what she likes. Could you teach me later this week?"

Caspian stared at Ember, blinking in surprise at how humbled he looked. Caspian had no reason not to help Ember since it would benefit the family. Even if Ember had snapped at him and beat him black and blue once or twice, nothing was important as Iris to Caspian. Thus, he gave a nod in confirmation.

Ember walked to the house entrance and waited to welcome their guests. Ember gave a small smile when he saw Holly. Ember remembered this little female very well as Iris was always quite happy to see her.

Ember immediately lifted the skin covering the house entrance and allowed Holly and her mates to enter. Basil accepted the package one of Holly's mates handed him while Iris happily greeted Holly.

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