The Walled Cities

Chapter 49

"If you are satisfied with your observations, can we please cook this thing now!"

The catfish had put up a decent fight, nearly tipping the canoe multiple times. Once I had finally dragged it into the craft and killed it, Lucia had done nothing but examine it. This hadn't stopped even when we had found a safe place to go ashore for the night. Lucia had offered to do her part, but we could tell she wanted to examine the giant fish. Now that everything was setup, I was ready to cook it and see if all the effort of catching it, was worth it.

Mumbled words in her native language followed my question. Unsure what she meant, and with Adaire looking for fresh fruit, I waited patiently. While I waited, my thoughts drifted back, to when I had first been uncomfortable with a woman. It had been that first night with Kaelyn, when I had been fighting to keep us alive during the blizzard. She had been just as stubborn as Lucia, and no stranger to telling me her opinion. Even after that encounter Kaelyn always told me what she was thinking, especially if she disagreed with me.

Reflecting, my life before her seemed so different than how the last year or so had been. I did not do it constantly, but I felt myself comparing Lucia to Kaelyn. I knew better than to ask, but I had a feeling that Lucia was in her mid twenties. Her complexion was exotic compared to Kaelyn, being used to a warmer climate, and having spent awhile aboard a ship. Kaelyn's skin had become a little darker over the time we had been together, but mine was darker than hers and Lucia's was darker than mine. It was alluring in a warm, as she radiated warmth even as she ignored me while examining the catfish.

I was not romantic, and knew that I had feeling for Kaelyn. Yet Lucia called to me in a way that Kaelyn did not.

"Z, earth to Z."

Caught off guard, I whipped my head around, looking for the speaker. My eyes settled on Lucia staring at me, a look of concern on her face.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I am done with my examinations. So it is all yours to cook now."

Walking over to it, I noted how Lucia had expertly gutted and prepared the catfish. My preferred method for cooking fish of this size was to bake them in a pit or sear them over the fire. Since it was late in the day I decided that searing them would be the better course of action. Using quick movements I sliced the fish into two nice long chunks. At this point the fire was down to coals which it what I needed, as I laid the fish one long leaves on top of the fire.

While the fish cooked, I asked, "So did you learn anything from your examinations?"

"Yes, he was  a fairly healthy adult male. I am not a fish expert, but this specimen is not the largest that they can get, I would guess. Still, it is a nice sized specimen at 1 meter and 12 kilograms. I enjoy how easy it is to find everything with fish, since it is so easy to open them up, compared to other animals." She answered.

I was still trying to learn how to convert meters and kilograms to feet and pounds. But I was more interested in how she talked about the easiness to open up fish. Despite the fact I spent more time trapping and hunting, I did enjoy how easy it was to process fish.

Before I could say anything Adaire called out from nearby, "We were fortunate my friends. From the smell of it, the fish is coming along nicely as well."

At that, I noted the smell of searing fish, and from experience knew it was close to ready. I did not know what type of fruit Adaire had found, but I liked fruit with fish. Later if I remembered i wanted to ask Adaire how fruit did over the year hear. It was so hot and humid, like the swamps to the far south of my home.

Getting back to the task on hand, I grabbed the sides of fish on their singed leaves one at a time. Despite the warmth of the air, I threw some wood on the fire. There was something soothing about a campfire as darkness fell. Settling myself onto the ground, I waited while the others got comfortable.

Once we were all settled, I grabbed myself a chunk of fish and a palm sized fruit from the pile Adaire had made. Since I knew what the fish would taste like, I bit into the fruit. The outside was fleshy like a pear or apple, and tart. But the inside was sweet and exploded in my mouth under the pressure. Pleased, I took my time eating it, listening to the sounds of the night as the creatures of the night woke up. Soon we would prepare for the next day and begin rotating who was on watch. Beautiful as this land was, there were too many things that could and would kill us. Such thoughts reminded me of Cassie, and how she was doing while I was here.