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“Let's start a fire,” I tell Kian, who helps me by breaking off entire tree branches and bringing it over to the shallow pit I dug in the soil.
Then I quickly skin each lion and cut off some meat and fat for our dinner. I inspect the eyes, fur, and innards, and they all seem to be disease free.
Then, while Kian goes out into the surrounding forest to forage for vegetables, I boil the meat.
This is only the first step in making our dinner, and I decide then that we’ll need some light because the night is falling and it will be dark soon.
I create makeshift torches with tree branches and sink each branch into the ground. Then I pack rocks around the base of each branch.
Next, I light the leaves of the branch on fire, until we have a circle of torches around the little clearing.
The wolves are huddled in a pile for warmth, and as the meat boils, I inspect them to make sure they aren’t wounded from the hunt.
They allow me to do this, albeit begrudgingly, and I smile when they growl at me with annoyance.
My heart is full and my body is warm when Kian returns.
Is this my life now?
13
KIAN
Inever would have thought that so much effort went into cooking a meal.
It is in moments like these, while I am foraging in the forest, that I wish, more than ever, that I could remember my life before I woke up in Amara’s house.
While I may not remember specific details about my life before I woke up with her staring at me, I do know what orc traditions are like.
The traditions of my people must be so deeply ingrained in me that it is one thing I cannot forget.
And I am quite sure that one of those traditions is that the female orcs do the cooking and cleaning, and the male orcs protect the clan and do the hunting.
But now, in this new, bizarre life I am living, those traditions have been flung out the proverbial window.
Today I watched as Amara hunted, and now I am foraging for root vegetables for the meal.
As I return to the clearing, I see that Amara has lit torches around the camp, and I cannot help but marvel at her creativity and obvious intelligence.
She has another fire going, and the wolves are huddled around it. They look as though they’re asleep, though their ears flicker and they open their eyes halfway when I approach.
Amara has a makeshift grill going over the fire. She has utilized a thin, long rock, and is cooking the boiled meat on the rock.
“Thank you,” she tells me with a smile as she takes the vegetables. “Now I need you to clean and cut up these vegetables while I clean out the pot. I’ll cook them in the pot with some of the fat and salt I brought along.”
“Do you bring these things along with you every time you hunt?” I ask her curiously and she laughs in response, shaking her head animatedly.
“No! I just keep some supplies in almost every clearing in this part of the forest, so that if I can’t make it home after a day of hunting, I have a place to sleep and eat.”
I nod in understanding, and I cannot help but wonder if my clan, whoever they are, has adopted practices like these.
I doubt it. I think humans like Amara are probably much smarter than orcs. I may not remember anything, but I know that orcs see themselves as warriors first and do not place much stock in intelligence.
My thoughts are steady and calm as I wash and cut up the vegetables. My stomach rumbles at the fragrance of the salty, hot meat as Amara turns it on the rock.
Then I throw the vegetables into the pot, where a blob of fat is sizzling away.
I realize then that I have never been more content in my life.
