Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 25 - Chapter 1.3

3

“All right, that should do it.”

Roughly two hours had passed since our arrival at the main Sauti house, and we had finally completed a sample dish meant for the northerners. We had naturally used the ingredients from the castle town to prepare it, since we would have to make the real thing with the same stuff. We would just have to purchase fitting replacements for whatever we had used from the post town tomorrow.

Including Mil Fei Sauti, I’d had five chefs in total assisting me. We had arranged things that way so we could provide one-on-one instructions to the five Mahyudra women. My other assistants came from the Sauti branch houses and the Vela, all women I had worked with before in the kitchen before during the incident with the lord of the forest.

The four visitors from the Ruu clan silently watched us work, and once the sample was done, Rimee Ruu, clinging to me like a puppy wagging its tail, exclaimed, as if she’d been holding it in for a long time, “Amazing! It even smells totally different! So, is that stew? It is, isn’t it? It looks really tasty!”

“Yeah. Under these conditions, I couldn’t come up with anything else to make.”

Like Rimee Ruu had said, I had gone with a stew. Because of the large amount of karon milk we’d had to work with, I’d decided to make something akin to a fresh cream stew. I could make a more ideal version of the dish with full access to the ingredients available in Genos, but I still felt that I’d done a decent job with what was on offer here.

We’d all worked hard to stir the karon milk and separate the fat from the skim milk. This karon milk had been brought here yesterday, so fortunately it had already been starting to separate a bit from the get-go. By cooking fuwano together with that milk fat, we were able to prepare roux to serve as a base.

Thanks to the wide variety of ingredients on offer, we’d had no issue whatsoever with creating stock. In particular, I was grateful for the salted karon ribs and kimyuus legs, which still had bones inside. By boiling them together with a variety of vegetables, we could easily make a high-quality soup stock.

What was most important there was the order in which we had added those ingredients and the level of heat used. Since the slave cooks had just been throwing everything in together and boiling it over a high heat like the people of the forest’s edge used to do in the past, it had ended up as a mushy mess. And because they’d been using meat and vegetable scraps to begin with, the resulting dish had been little more than a paste.

My first step had been to get a decent stock from the bones and the chunks of meat clinging to them. Then I had added the vegetables in a particular order so that they wouldn’t fall apart. That meant getting the tino, chatchi, and nenon in early, and not adding the chan and nanaar till near the end. Unfortunately, chefs in the castle town viewed aria as an ingredient for the poor because they were cheap, so there wasn’t much of that to be had here.

There were also a number of rather large chunks of vegetables in the mix. The chefs of the castle town had no qualms whatsoever when it came to wasting ingredients. The outer surfaces and cores of the tino—in other words, the harder bits—had all been discarded. And for the nenon and chamcham, a lot of them seemed to have had just their centers removed while the rest had been discarded. Chefs such as Varkas and Timalo took the stance that any unnecessary bits were to be treated as trash, which ended up helping us out in this unexpected manner.

The way that only the mushroom caps were used while the stalks were all discarded feels like Varkas’s way of doing things. There’s definitely a good chance that his scraps are a part of this pile.

Of course, there were also some ingredients that weren’t a good fit for a cream stew. Those included the arugula-like ro’hyoi, garlic-chive-like pepe, and daikon-like sheema. The bamboo-shoot-like chamcham and zucchini-esque chan harmonized surprisingly well, so I had gone ahead and used them in the stew. But since ro’hyoi and pepe could be used as herbs, they packed too strong of an aroma, and I wasn’t foolhardy enough to try to add sheema, which was just like daikon, to a cream stew. Still, they were important sources of nutrition for the northerners, and the guards surely wouldn’t allow them to be left out. I could easily imagine them giving the order to simply throw whatever wasn’t being used into the pot anyway. That meant we’d need to have another dish that did include them.

My solution had been to finely mince up all the ingredients that weren’t well suited to being part of a stew and use them to make steamed fuwano manju. And since I had been on my way back from business in the post town before this, we’d already had the steaming baskets meant for the giba manju on hand.

Those steaming baskets were designed to be placed above a heated pot, so as to utilize the steam the pot produced. In other words, the fuwano could be steamed at the same time the stew was boiling. That meant no additional firewood would need to be used, so the guards couldn’t complain about that.

I had chopped up the ro’hyoi, pepe, sheema, and sheel skin I hadn’t been able to find a use for, as well as the sour arow berries. Then I mixed them together with minced karon and kimyuus meat to create a filling for the manju. I felt kind of bad about how this had ended up as something of a mishmash of a dish only meant to preserve the quality of the cream stew.

However, the ingredients that were brought here varied in amount and type on a day-by-day basis. We couldn’t afford to supervise the cooking daily, so this was the only real way to handle things. The strong flavor of the garlic-chive-like pepe formed the core, and I just had to pray that there didn’t end up being too much arow, as it didn’t really play nicely with such a taste. In that case, we would have to add as much meat as we could to try to cover things up with some saltiness.

At any rate, our improvised cream stew and meat and vegetable manju were complete. And to be honest, I actually thought that at least in terms of appearance, the manju hadn’t turned out too bad, even compared to the giba manju we sold.

“What do you think? Figuring out the manju felt like a pretty steep challenge,” I remarked.

“We won’t know till we try it! Let’s give it a taste test!” Rimee Ruu earnestly exclaimed, causing the Sauti and Vela woman to giggle.

She was right. It was time to evaluate our work. As we had only made a very small portion of the stew, we once again ended up eating from the same plate.

“Ooh, this is good! It’s not as tasty as Reina’s stew, but it’s about as good as what Lala and Vina make!”

“Hey, Rimee...” Vina Ruu said, giving her sister a look.

“Ah, I’m not saying you’re bad at it or anything. This stew is just that tasty!”

“Enough, already.”

I felt bad for Vina Ruu, but I didn’t have any real complaints about how it had turned out. Of course, it didn’t have any pico leaves, tau oil, or wine for flavoring, so the taste seemed lacking in overall depth, but it was definitely a proper cream stew. Even the chamcham and chan, ingredients that I wouldn’t generally use here, had a surprisingly positive impact on the dish. As for the stock from the bones, the quality of the kimyuus and the fullness of the karon went quite well together.

As for the manju, they just barely managed to scrape by. Ultimately, it would be difficult to call them tasty, but they weren’t especially bad either. Considering that I’d had to use arow and sheel skin in them despite not wanting to, that wasn’t a half-bad result, I’d say. Ultimately, it was saved by the garlic-chive-like pepe providing a good flavor to the dish, as well as the high quality of the karon meat. I could definitely make it a whole lot tastier if I had access to tau oil or myamuu, but it’s not like I could use what I didn’t have.

“Hmm. This is sorta like the dishes people in the post town sell,” Rimee Ruu commented after eating her small slice of manju. “You know, with the way you took all sorts of ingredients and just sorta jammed them all in together!”

“Now that you mention it, you may be right about that.” The residents of the post town still didn’t seem to know what to do with all the new ingredients they were getting. And it was true that this hastily improvised manju had ended up being similar to the sorts of dishes they had been making. “Is this the best I can do...? If I’d had access to tau oil, I’m sure I could have brought it together better,” I commented.

Then a voice called out from elsewhere in the room, “Um, Asuta...do you mind if I voice my honest opinion?” a Vela woman chimed in, wearing a small smile that seemed to have a lot of competing feelings behind it. “The soup dish, at least, is actually more delicious than the things we normally eat. If we simply used giba meat instead, I’m sure my family would be very pleased with it.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. We cannot afford to buy too many different ingredients in our house, and this was a dish you prepared using scraps from the castle town, so that is perhaps only natural.”

Now that she mentioned it, the clans under the Sauti weren’t as well off as the Ruu or Zaza. In fact, it was possible that nowadays, the small clans selling giba meat to the Fa might have been doing better than the Sauti. Still, if they could recover from the damage inflicted by the lord of the forest, the Sauti would likely end up being the third most prosperous clan in the forest’s edge. And if that happened, they wouldn’t need to suffer from poverty in their day-to-day lives.

“The key components of this cream stew dish are the karon milk and the bones. Karon milk costs around the same amount as fruit wine, and you could get a high-quality stock from giba bones too. Since we’re working with bones anyway, why don’t I teach you about that starting tomorrow?”

“Huh? You’re going to visit the Sauti settlement again tomorrow?” Mil Fei Sauti asked in surprise.

“Yes,” I answered with a nod. “I’m sure you’d have some concerns about trying to teach this after only a single lesson to go on, right? I’d like to get the Mahyudra women learning these techniques as soon as tomorrow, but for now, I think I should keep stopping by for at least the next few days.”

“But Asuta, you have your work at home.”

“My workload in the post town has lightened up quite a bit with the arrival of the rainy season, so it shouldn’t be any issue. Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and the others can handle the prep work without me now too. In fact, that’s what our plan for today was.” Mil Fei Sauti still looked worried, so I added, “When I slip out of work like this, I ask a number of women from clans like the Fou and Ran to help out in my place. Now that there’s less work to go around thanks to the rainy season, they’re happy to take it. After all, work generates wages.”

“But you’re the one who needs to pay those wages, aren’t you? That means you’re taking a loss by doing this, doesn’t it?”

“No, we’re only talking about a few red coins... Ah, sorry if that sounded arrogant of me!” I quickly said, flustered by my own carelessness. However, the look in Mil Fei Sauti’s eyes remained as calm as ever.

“It’s truly wonderful how much you value the pride of our people and always act kindly toward others, with no concern for how much it costs you. The way you think...it’s almost like how the leading clan heads must constantly take the needs of their people into consideration.”

“A-Ah, no, I don’t think anywhere near that highly of myself.”

“I’m praising you, so please don’t look so troubled. I was only comparing you to a leading clan head as an example,” Mil Fei Sauti said, bringing a hand to her mouth and breaking out in a smile. “I would like to convey the techniques you have taught us to the northerners as accurately as possible. What should we do for preparations?”

“For now, I think just preparing the milk fat and sorting the vegetables would be plenty. Then, starting tomorrow I would like you to have the Mahyudra women take care of as much of that as possible while the pots are boiling. If they eventually become capable of cooking all on their own, the guards and nobles would have no reason to complain about it.”

“Understood. We shall try our hardest to make that a reality.”

That brought our business at the Sauti settlement to a close for the time being. For the first day of work, that was plenty. The rainy season lasted two months, so I wanted to take my time engaging with Mil Fei Sauti and the others, as well as the women from Mahyudra.

With that, we moved to depart from the Sauti settlement. Sundials were essentially useless during this season, but there was already less light coming in through the window. I figured we were about at the lower fifth hour.

“Well then, see you tomorrow. Give my regards to Dari Sauti, okay?”

“Of course. I really do appreciate everything you’ve done today.”

As Mil Fei Sauti and the others saw us off, we put our rain gear back on and left the Sauti settlement behind us. It was dark enough that it seemed like the sun was probably about to set, and with the rain intermittently starting and stopping, the forest’s edge looked quite gloomy.

“It’s gotten pretty late, hasn’t it? Um, I’m sorry I forgot to mention this before, but...” I started, and then, while I was carefully managing the reins, I told them that I also wanted to stop by the Ririn settlement.

“That should be fine!” Rimee’s voice energetically called out from behind me, though I didn’t turn to look. “We didn’t know how long things would take with the Sauti clan, so we’ve already wrapped up all of our work back home! We’ll be just fine as long as we’re back by dinner!”

“H-Hey, Rimee...and Asuta, this is such a sudden request,” Vina Ruu said.

“But if I don’t take advantage of opportunities like this one, I’ll never get a chance to talk with Shumiral. And besides, I have a message to deliver from Radajid of the Silver Vase to Giran Ririn. Sorry, but would you all mind coming along with me?”

“Of course. I don’t mind,” Bartha replied.

“I’m not especially busy either. With the weather like this, I can’t exactly cut firewood or teach swordsmanship,” Ryada Ruu added.

The vote seemed nearly unanimous, one member of our group aside. Satisfied with the result, I broke out in a smile, only to hear a sigh by my ear.

“You arranged this as a trap for me, didn’t you, Asuta?” Vina Ruu said.

“I-I wouldn’t call it a trap. I didn’t know you’d be coming along until I stopped by the Ruu settlement, after all. But I’ve been planning to visit the Ririn settlement ever since I got that request from the Sauti.”

Vina Ruu remained silent.

“Right now, you really want to find out what kind of man Shumiral is, right? So don’t you think you should try to see each other every now and then?” I whispered quietly so that Rimee Ruu and the others wouldn’t hear, only for her to grab the bit of hair that hung down in front of my right ear and twist it. “H-Hey, that hurts! You’re going to tear my skin!”

“I can’t imagine how you of all people would think you could tell me how to handle things between me and that man, Asuta.”

“You’re right! I’m really, really sorry!”

“Hey, what are you two whispering about?” Rimee Ruu asked, saving my hair and the surrounding skin from getting torn off. With my scalp still stinging and tears in my eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder if her grabbing my hair rather than an ear or a cheek was to keep from running afoul of the custom saying men and women shouldn’t touch one another unnecessarily.

Well, Vina Ruu did try to creep into my room at night the very first day we met... I hope Shumiral never learns about that. Actually, would it be wrong of me to try to hide that fact? Well, at the very least, I didn’t want him to hear about what had happened until things had been settled between the two of them. Not until the day arrives when we can just laugh it off... Though I guess if Vina Ruu and I don’t say anything, there’s no real chance of anyone ever finding out.

As that thought ran through my head, Rimee Ruu called out, “We’re almost at the Ririn settlement!”

I had gone there once before, but I had come from the north that time, so I had no clue where I was going. It really was reassuring to have Rimee Ruu here to act as a navigator.

“Hmm, that last side path went to the Muufa, so it should be the one after the next.”

“Thanks. So you’ve visited the Ririn too, Rimee Ruu?”

“Yeah! When I used to go on walks with Granny Jiba, we would go around to all the subordinate clans!”

Asking around, I found that this was the first time going there for everyone else. It was apparently quite rare for members of a parent clan to visit their subordinate clans. That made sense, though, as festivals of the hunt and large weddings were all held at the Ruu settlement. Still, that meant that Vina Ruu had spent the last ten or so days not even knowing where in the forest’s edge Shumiral had been living. That doesn’t sit well with me. And there aren’t really any reasons to gather the subordinate clans during the rainy season. Was Vina Ruu intending to spend the next several months without seeing him?

If she kept on sighing like she had been, it felt like she would lose not just her happiness but her very spirit itself. It really was a stroke of good luck that she happened to be accompanying me today.

“It’s the next path. And it’s a narrow one, so be careful!”

Following Rimee Ruu’s directions, I turned the wagon off onto the side path. And sure enough, it was definitely narrow. Still, that made sense, considering nobody had expected that a wagon might need to pass through it when they’d been making it.

I had Gilulu advance carefully, making sure that the canopy and wagon wheels didn’t get snagged on any branches. With all the greenery hanging over us, it really was starting to get dark now.

When we reached the end of the path, our field of view suddenly opened wide. It was a larger settlement than I had expected, since I had heard the Ririn only had ten members, but there were four houses lined up there. But then again, I saw empty houses pretty often here at the forest’s edge. It wasn’t like every small clan had been small from the beginning, after all.

“That house on the far right is the main house. It’s getting dark, so the men might be back already!”

The house Rimee Ruu pointed out wasn’t an especially large one. In fact, all of them were around the size of the Fa house. I directed our wagon toward it, still taking care not to get our wheels stuck in any mud. There was light streaming out of the windows, and I could hear loud voices even though we were still well away from the door.

“It seems like the men are back after all. What do you all want to do?”

Everyone aside from Vina Ruu was already standing. As for the eldest Ruu daughter, she was curled up in the corner of the wagon, with Bartha poking her head and laughing.

“What’s the matter? Now that you’ve come all this way, you can’t simply leave without even seeing him.”

“Well...I wasn’t expecting this... And my hair’s all wet from the rain...”

“If any guy complains about stuff like that, you should just send them flying.”

“Come on, let’s go. Shumiral’s gonna be real happy to see you too,” Rimee Ruu urged.

It took roughly thirty seconds of that to get Vina Ruu to finally rise to her feet. The rain had pretty much come to a stop, so everyone else stepped out without any rain gear, though I had mine on already and didn’t take it off. As I was the one who had suggested this whole venture, I went ahead and knocked on the door.

“Excuse me. This is Asuta of the Fa clan, with Vina Ruu, Rimee Ruu, Ryada Ruu, and Bartha from the Ruu clan. Are the Ririn clan head and Shumiral present?”

For a moment, my words went without any response.

Despite how noisy things were inside, nobody came out.

Were they already in the middle of dinner, perhaps...? As I tilted my head and wondered about that, the door finally opened, and I was instantly taken aback, as I found myself faced with an incredibly unique woman.

“Asuta of the Fa clan, and visitors from the Ruu...? The Ririn clan welcomes you,” the woman said, tilting her head. She was very pretty and had blonde hair, which was rare for a person of the forest’s edge. However, she wasn’t just beautiful. She also had this mysterious feel about her that was difficult to describe.

Her hair, the same color as Ai Fa and Rau Lea’s, had been trimmed short. The nape of her neck was completely exposed, and she wore a hair accessory above her right ear. Her bangs came down to around her cheek, but only on the left side.

Her eyes were a clear, pale blue. She had long eyelashes, with the corners of her eyes drooping down ever so slightly as she looked my way with an amiable gaze. Her facial features were all precisely aligned, as if everything had been placed exactly where it belonged. Her nose was neither too long nor too short, her lips neither too plump or thin, and her overall appearance wasn’t especially similar to someone from either Sym or Jagar, instead having a face that didn’t look like it belonged to any one nation in particular.

She also had an incredibly slender build. Because of the poncho she wore to protect herself from the rain, I couldn’t precisely make out the contours of her body, but her shoulders were narrow and her arms were thin. And as for her height, it looked to be about the same as mine.

I couldn’t begin to guess how old she was. I could at least say that she seemed to be older than fifteen and younger than thirty, and she had a kind of detached air about her, which was probably the reason she felt so enigmatic.

“My apologies, but we are currently a bit busy... Ah, I am the clan head Giran’s wife, Uru Lea Ririn.”

“O-Oh, you’re Giran Ririn’s wife? I’m Asuta of the Fa clan. Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Uru Lea Ririn replied with a smile. It was an open, almost fairylike expression, and it remained firmly in place as she turned back toward the inside of the house. “Clan head, Asuta of the Fa clan and some members of the Ruu have stopped by for a visit. It looks like it’s going to start raining again at any moment, so can I invite them inside?”

“Go ahead!” a voice replied from within.

We stepped inside onto the dirt floor, washed our feet with water from a jug, and then entered the Ririn house. Right in front of us, there was a curtain with brilliant embroidering. It must have been for keeping out the cold. After hanging up my rain gear by the entrance, I went ahead and passed through it.

Beyond the curtain was the main hall, where four or five men and women were leaning over with their backs to us.

“Welcome, Asuta... Ah, and the eldest daughter of the Ruu is with you too,” one of the figures said, straightening up and shooting us a smile. It was the Ririn clan head, Giran Ririn.

I started to greet him back, but before I could, I froze in place. Now that he was facing us, I was able to see who had been hidden behind him. “Shumiral! What in the world happened?”

“It’s nothing serious. He just got a bit of a chest injury,” Giran Ririn replied.

Shumiral remained lying on the floor. I clenched my fists and turned toward Vina Ruu. She was frozen in place, like I had been, her face deathly pale.

“Apparently, the rain dulled the eyes and ears of the hunting dogs. We ran into a starving giba, and he took a hit from it when it charged us.”

“I-Is he really okay? It doesn’t seem like he’s able to respond.”

“It didn’t get him with its horns or tusks and his ribs aren’t broken, so it isn’t serious. He should be able to regain his strength in a few days,” Giran Ririn commented with his usual gentle smile. And all the while, Shumiral was lying there listlessly by his feet. His upper half had been stripped bare, and there were bandages wrapped all around his chest. “He can’t speak up, as breathing is still difficult for him, but if you come closer, you can talk to him if you’d like.”

Giran Ririn gestured to the people who were gathered around Shumiral to treat him, and they made room for us to approach.

As I came closer, the smell of medicinal herbs stung my nose. They had a grassy smell that reminded me of the lilo used for bruises. When Vina Ruu had hurt her ankle, something similar had been applied to her injury too.

All five of us went up to Shumiral. His eyes remained closed, and his breathing was pained and shallow. His face was coated in cold sweat, causing his loose silver hair to cling to his thin cheeks. The orange light from the lit stove formed deep shadows on his face, making the pain in his expression all the more obvious.

“Are you okay, Shumiral? It’s Asuta. Vina Ruu is here too,” I called out while taking care not to be too loud. Shumiral opened his eyes a bit, his weak gaze turning my way.

“Asuta, Vina Ruu... Why are you, at the Ririn settlement?”

“Don’t force yourself to talk. We had business with the Sauti clan today, so we stopped by on our way back.”

“I see...” Shumiral’s voice was faint, and was getting stuck in his throat. Even if he didn’t have any broken bones, he had still been injured pretty badly. It was difficult for me to keep my emotions in check, seeing him like this.

“Shumiral was injured because I wasn’t experienced enough. I was supposed to be the one guiding him, and yet I still allowed this to happen,” one of the men off to the side said. He was quite young; I couldn’t even tell if he had hit twenty yet. His face looked really tense, which was understandable, in light of what he was saying.

“They decided to take refuge up in the trees when they ran into the starving giba because they didn’t have good footing on the ground. But his hand slipped, and he fell right in front of the beast. Shumiral was injured trying to defend him,” Giran Ririn added from the other side, his voice sounding incredibly calm. “If Shumiral hadn’t saved him, he could very well have taken a tusk to the throat. In addition to rescuing him, Shumiral was also able to protect his own life. It was incredible work for a hunter.”

“No... I showed, my inexperience, in how I could not, avoid the giba...”

“That’s true. You still have plenty of room to grow even stronger as a hunter. In that way, you’re still very inexperienced.”

Shumiral gave a faint smile in response to Giran Ririn’s kind words. Then his gaze slowly shifted over to Vina Ruu. “You have seen me, in quite an, embarrassing state. Are you, doing well, Vina Ruu?”

“Never mind how I’m doing.” Vina Ruu had been hanging her head all this time, and because of her long hair, I hadn’t been able to see her expression from my position next to her. “You’re so thin... And yet you still intend to keep on being a hunter?”

“Yes. If I train, I should be, able to, gain a bit more strength.”

It was only natural that Shumiral was thin compared to a hunter of the forest’s edge. Folks from Sym were generally tall and lanky. Despite his height, his shoulders and waist were slender, and his limbs were long, strengthening that impression all the more. Still, he didn’t look weak at all to my eyes. His arms were toned, his stomach was taut with well-defined abs, and he had no excess fat whatsoever. His body absolutely looked like it belonged to an athlete.

“I wish, I could have, seen you yesterday. I was able, to make, a catch then.”

“Are you saying I’m in the way by being here?”

“No. But I am embarrassed, to let you see me, so weak.”

“You were injured saving a comrade. That’s something to be proud of,” Vina Ruu said, desperately trying to keep her emotions out of her voice. But being right next to her, I was able to pick up on an ever so slight tremor in her tone.

“Pardon me. The medicine is ready,” Uru Lea Ririn called out as she approached. She held a wooden plate giving off the smell of medicinal herbs in her slender fingers. “It’s made with romu leaves. If you drink it, you’ll be able to sleep easier. Clan head...”

“Right,” Giran Ririn responded, and he gently grabbed ahold of Shumiral’s shoulders, pulling my friend up to lean against his chest.

Uru Lea Ririn knelt down in front of Shumiral and started bringing the medicine to his mouth with a spoon. Romu leaves were what Ai Fa had used when she’d dislocated her left elbow. They served to treat fevers and relieve pain.

With the clan head and his wife diligently nursing him, Shumiral drank down all of the romu leaf medicine. A little spilled from his mouth at the end, which Uru Lea Ririn wiped up with a towel.

“Now you should feel a bit less pain when you next awaken. We’ll rouse you when dinner is ready, so go ahead and rest for the time being,” Giran Ririn said.

“I will. Thank you...” With that, Shumiral lay down again and he closed his eyes, still looking pained. Uru Lea Ririn then started wiping the cold sweat off his face.

“It will take three days for you to be able to move around like normal, and another three to be able to head out into the forest. At the longest it will be ten days, so don’t push yourself too hard, Shumiral,” Giran Ririn continued.

“Understood.”

“Uru Lea will watch over you during the day. You have nothing to worry about, so just get as much rest as you can.”

Vina Ruu stirred by my side. “Are there not any other people in the main house?”

“Hmm? It’s only us and the children living here, though we’ve now gained a new clan member in Shumiral.”

“Where are these children?”

“They’re in the care of my younger brother’s family at the moment. They have a young kid too, so that was the most convenient place to send them.”

Vina Ruu was still hanging her head, but her eyes turned upward toward the clan head and his wife. Taking notice of that, Uru Lea Ririn broke out in that straightforward, fairylike smile of hers.

“We will entrust the children to them during the day until Shumiral has recovered. I’ll stay by his side the whole time, so please don’t worry.”

“By his side, the whole time?”

I was starting to feel a bit worried. Vina Ruu had been acting rather meek lately, but she had always had an unusually tricksy mentality for a person of the forest’s edge. Given the unusual circumstances of Shumiral’s injury, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was about to let go of her self-restraint.

“But it isn’t good for young children to be away from their mother from morning till night, is it?”

“No, but Shumiral will not be able to rest properly with such young children nearby. They will simply need to wait for a few days.”

“The suffering of our subordinate clans is our own...”

“What?” Uru Lea Ririn questioned with a tilt of her head, her smile remaining just as pronounced as ever.

“Giran Ririn, if I said I wished to aid you in this time of hardship, would I be getting in the way?” Vina Ruu asked.

“I can’t quite say I understand what you’re getting at, but I can’t make that kind of decision without Donda Ruu’s knowledge,” Giran Ririn replied, his eyes narrowing as he smiled and stroked his gray mustache.

Vina Ruu slowly turned toward her little sister. “Rimee, could I ask you to deliver a message to Papa Donda?”

“Yeah, of course,” Rimee Ruu said, bringing her hands together behind her head. That pose was one of her older brother’s favorites, and she had the same sort of impish look he often did in her eyes.

“I am responsible for Shumiral coming here to the forest’s edge. If that has led to an inconvenience for the Ririn, then I want to provide them whatever aid I can. Could you tell Papa Donda that?”

“Got it. So you won’t be coming home today?”

“That’s right,” Vina Ruu replied, deeply hanging her head once more. However, her position had shifted a bit, so I could see around her bangs a little this time, and there was no mistaking the fact that her face was as red as a tarapa.

“Asuta... What has happened...?” I suddenly heard Shumiral say from down on the ground. Were the romu leaves taking effect? He had the same empty look in his eyes that I had previously seen in Ai Fa’s.

“It’s nothing. Just get some rest, Shumiral.” There was still a chance that Vina Ruu could be taken back home in a few hours, so I decided not to answer him directly.

“Very well...” Shumiral replied, closing his eyes.

Would Donda Ruu allow his daughter to get away with this little contrivance? I made a secret mental note that if he did, I would have to stop by tomorrow on my way to the Sauti settlement and drop off some curry base.