“The book is available for a ten day loan for one token.”
“That’s cheap,” Moe whispers in a low voice. “And we have some left.”
“That’s for food,” I say with a shake of my head.
“Don’t worry about food. I told you I can make what we bought today last us two days.”
I glance at her skeptically. Before I can say anything, though, she takes out a token from her pocket.
She places it on the table in front of the wraith librarian.
“We’ll take it.”
“Where is that from?” I ask in a shushed voice.
She shrugs. “I might have taken it from the pile of rubbish left by that male at the arena.”
I blink. Somehow, I never even thought of that.
“That’s…brilliant.”
“It was only two tokens,” she whispers. “I think that was his first match, too and the tokens were his food allowance.”
“Nevertheless, this is great. We should be on the lookout for tokens in the future fights. I doubt we can take the points of an opponent since they’re not…physical items. But tokens is another matter,” I muse aloud. “By the Seven, Moe!” I shake my head in awe, smiling continuously.
The wraith prepares the contract and upon signing it and paying, we get the book.
“Do not be late on your return,” the wraith warns just before we leave.
We head back to our accommodation, but I am still a little torn about renting the book. On one hand, this knowledge wouldcome in handy. On the other, we’ve seen just how important even one token is. And I don’t want Moe to go hungry just to get me books.
We barely reach our room when Moe goes in search of the pots and pans left behind by the terminated individuals.
“What are you planning to do?” I ask with a raised brow.
“You’ll see. Come. And grab some water.”
Armed with the pots and pans in one hand and the food we’d bough in the other, Moe strides determinately out of the room and into the wilderness behind our accommodation. Although people are still roaming about, with battles still being fought even now, there isn’t a lot of people around this part of the realm.
She continues walking, and at this point I’ve already given up trying to understand what she wants to do. I just trust that it will be a marvelous idea as usual. It strikes me that she might have been the brain behind her family’s restaurant, too; because at every turn, she’s had some idea to turn any tide around.
She finds an area that is a bit more secluded. The shadows provide some shade, and there’s some odd plants growing on the ground here and there—a first for this realm that’s usually as dry as a desert.
“Gather some roots. Wooden ones if you find.”
I immediately do as she says. While I hunt for various twigs and wooden roots, she chops some of the items we bought: half of the meat, and half of the vegetables.
Once I’ve gathered plenty of wood, I light up a fire and she places over it, filling it with water, meat and half of the grains.
After that boils, she adds the vegetables, as well as some specks of dust that I learn are rock minerals—or in this case, seasonings.
The end result is a hearty, delicious stew made of onlyhalfof the ingredients we bought.
We sit together around the fire as we slowly eat and plan for the next day.
“Brains and brawn,” I murmur as I look at her. “You’re the brains, I’m the brawn.” I wink at her.
“Perfect team. We’ll make it out of here, Nyk. Iknowwe will.”
