After getting back to camp, Kaara emptied her clothing of all the Ingen fruit, and washed herself clean of its sticky nectar with her magic.

Afterwhich she had to endure a couple more lectures from both her mother and father. At the very least, her father was a bit more forgiving, especially when he heard she’d done it for his sake.

Or it could’ve been that he was preparing to change shifts with her mother and go out hunting for the day. Whatever the case, Kaara counted her blessings.

Her father was donned in a fur cloak and gleaming black armor with red and gold plumage denoting his status as the tribe’s chief. He had a brutal jet black tail which ended in natural spikes and was clad in similarly colored steel . Kaara had seen him knock down trees with it before as easily as one might swing a sword through grass.

He knelt down in front of Kaara, “Just don’t do it again. Me, your mother, and everyone else in the camp would be very sad if we lost you. So try not to be so reckless.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Kaara nodded, “Okay, I’m sorry, papa.”

“I look forward to eating some of the jam you and Tiksu manage to make today when I get back.”

“It’ll be the best Ingen jam ever papa!”

Her father gave her a nod, turning to her mother and hugging her before leaving. They exchanged a few words, but Kaara couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“I’ll be back from my hunt by tonight. Let’s all have dinner together.”

Kaara perked up, “Really?!”

Her father nodded.

Kaara was excited. She hadn’t eaten with her mom and dad together in such a long time, “Can I bring my friend too?”

“Why not? You need to heal your soul after those geysers right? Once that’s done we’ll decide your punishment.”

The word ‘punishment’ hit Kaara like an arrow, “O-Oh, Well I mean-”

“I’m off!”

Kaara waved him off alongside her mother.

Kaara’s mother spanked Kaara with her tail, “Help Rux and Tiksu prepare our quarry will you, dear? I’m going to bed. I’ll be awake in the afternoon.”

“Okay momma, sleep well!” Kaara said, watching the crimson haired xia plod off toward their tent. She wasn’t normally this tired. Last night must’ve been daunting.

Kaara pivoted on her heel, and jogged over to the rest of the night hunters. Sitting on a boulder was a monolithic mountain of a xio. A giant among giants who stood more than three meters tall, and was built like a brick wall.

Littered in scars, he was in the middle of giving his ax a death glare as if he was trying to scare it into sharpening itself.

Kaara ran over to the xio and hugged him, “Good morning, uncle Rux!”

The xio looked up from his weapon, his expression melting away into the most adoring smile, “Kaara! Bright and early as always. I see your mother carried you back to camp by your tail again.”

“I do my best thinking when I’m hanging by my tail! Do you need help sharpening your ax?”

Rux waved his hand dismissively, “Not today, thank you, I can do that much myself. But I know Tiksu’s going to need your help butchering the Malaki we killed.”

“You guys killed a monster last night? That’s so cool!” Humans often referred to anything frightening that could kill them as a monster, but to xiozians like them, there was a difference between a monster and a magical beast. Malaki were monsters, Magakos were magical beasts. Magakos might have been dangerous, but they were born like anything else. Malaki, on the other hand, were beings of pure evil who were not born, nor needed to eat and yet they killed and devoured just the same. They perpetuated themselves by defiling the bodies of their victims with their corruption.

And it happened that Malaki stew was one of Kaara’s favorite foods.

Admittedly, though, that was a long list.

Kaara was drooling, “And Tiksu’s gonna be cooking it tonight right?”

Rux nodded.

Kaara didn’t know what to do with her excitement, so she channeled it into a strange arm flailing dance somewhere between a jog and a seizure, “Malaki stew for dinner?!”

“Of course! Though this one was pretty big, so we were thinking sausages and jerky would be good as well.”

Kaara sprinted towards Tiksu, “I just realized I’m real busy helping Uncle Tiksu! See ya later Uncle Rux!”

“They haven’t even finished dragging it to the butcher tent yet!” Rux yelled after her, shaking his head.

She sprinted over to the xiozians who were working together to drag a large grub-like Malaki along, “Wow! He’s big!”

Tiksu caught her eye as he waved her over, “Kaara! You here to help?”

Kaara nodded, thumping the ground with her tail.

“I see you want the first bowl of stew huh?”

Kaara nodded with even more enthusiasm.

“Alright, grab a rope and help us drag this thing.”

Kaara saluted, and grabbed one of the ropes.

“Heave!”

“Ho!”

When the party had finally dragged the Malaki to its destination, they dispersed, leaving Kaara and Tiksu to their work.

“Thanks for your help everybody!” Kaara said.

Each hunter regarded her with a friendly wave before retiring to their tents for the day.

Tiksu gave an exaggerated sigh, “Man, it was a long night, but mine’s still not over huh? Alright, we’ll work on this together. Can you still cast magic? I saw those geysers you made earlier.”

Kaara nodded, “I think so!”

“Alright, well you get that end, I’ll get this one, and we’ll cut this thing into chunks.”

Section by section, Kaara summoned her water magic and carved through it just as she’d done with the vines of the Ingen tree. She did this almost every time the hunters brought back a Malaki.

The creature’s grotesque form slopped in putrid chunks on the ground, leaking its black ichor into the ground. It reeked of rot and decay, but Kaara knew when they started cooking it she’d be drooling from its otherworldly scent.
“Wash up the Fichor and put it in a pot, we’ll need every drop.”

Kaara waved her hands, creating water from nothing, and using it to scoop up the false ichor- the ‘Fichor’- and splash it down into the pot.

From there it was a matter of using her magic to slice it into more manageable chunks of meat. A good portion of it was going to be set aside for curing, while the rest would be dumped into a massive communal cast iron pot at the center of the camp. Over the course of the day the other members of the camp would be foraging for any spices, vegetables, or fruits to stew in the pot.

When all was said and done all that was left to do was wait for it to cook. The sun hung at its peak in the sky by now, and the meal wouldn’t be ready until the evening.

“The Ingen jam will pair nicely with some bread, I think. Or maybe I can make it into a sauce for some steaks? I’ll figure something out, we’ve plenty of food for next week. Thank you for your help.”

“Of course!” Kaara beamed.

I’m gonna take a nap. Supper will be ready by sundown. I heard from Rux that Rorik was going to challenge him again today.”

“Wait really?!” Kaara took off, only to stop, “Where? I gotta cheer Rorik on!”

“Southwest of camp in the sparring grounds.”

Kaara took off again.

Today was just getting better and better. Normally Rorik was out apprenticing as a hunter during the day, but if he was challenging Rux that meant he was in the camp.

Though there were admittedly two reasons Kaara was in such a hurry. The first of which was that she wanted to bear witness to her good friend Rorik’s success, and the second of which was to act as the ring-side nurse should he fail.