A Sudden Epiphany

After a moment of contemplation, Hana finally decided to prep the bamboo shoot gifted by the kids using her pannikin(1). Looking at the burning pots, she realized she wouldn't be able to use those so soon. She needed to soak them overnight first before she could use them on open fire. Additionally, it could only be done once the potteries have cooled down totally after the fire treatment.

Using her new knife, she started peeling the bamboo shoot gently, adjusting her finger strength until she found the right condition to perform her work. She felt like she was cutting through a piece of crispy potato chips; it was very light, hence she needed to be extremely gentle. It was totally different from a normal bamboo shoot where one needed a little bit of strength before one could peel them well.

Hana then proceeded to cut the shoot into tiny slices, about three old version fifty cents (2) stacked together. When it was smaller in size and thickness, it will take less time to boil them through. Since Hana's pannikin was small, she estimated that she needed to boil the shoots in four batches consecutively before she could finish boiling them all. Therefore, if she cut them into large sizes, the boiling time would be significantly lengthened. After she had boiled all the bamboo shoots, Hana could just keep the remaining shoots submerged in the boiled water if she couldn't finish them all in one sitting. After a week or so, the boiled bamboo shoots would ferment and become tastier.

After fetching water from the filter with her cleaned pannikin, she immediately placed it on the usual fireplace a few paces away from the burning pots. Looking at the ferocious fire, she felt a little regretful for not bringing back more catfishes. If not, she could've smoked them right now just by the fire!

Reading her mind, Kuro and Shiro looked at each other and communicated with their eyes.

Shiro slowly retreated a few steps and disappeared into the woods, while Kuro claimed Hana's lap for its own as usual.

...

Water from the pannikin had boiled for a short while. Tiny bubbles appeared and popped continuously as Hana sprinkled in a pinch of salt in. She stirred the salt infused boiling water patiently until it dissolved properly. After that, she added the cut bamboo shoots a bit at a time to prevent them from spilling from the small pannikin. It was really hard working with a small-sized 'pot'.

Afterwards, Hana looked everywhere for a suitable bamboo canister amongst the piles of leftover bamboo poles she left at the side. She needed to be ready to transfer the boiled shoots with the water inside after a short while. The heat treatment on the shoots was a little longer than blanching, but not too long until the texture was affected. So, Hana needed to double up with her preparation.

[Aha! This is a good size!]

She smiled happily when she found a bamboo with a large diameter. She cut the opening nicely and carved the opening a little so that the top part could fit the body part of the bamboo and functioned as a closed lid, just like enzyme-substrate lock and key feature. She tested the new bamboo lid and found it to fit snugly with the bamboo canister.

Feeling satisfied with her handiwork, she then made a few of the same canisters. It could be her future 'water bottle' or container of many other things later.

Hana poured the boiling water together with the bamboo shoots into the first bamboo canister. She left the bamboo shoot 'soup' cooled off at the side without closing the lid. Once she had balanced the bamboo securely in between rocks, she took the next batch of water from the filter for the second time. She then repeated the same action again, adding some cut bamboo shoots once the water boiled.

Hana was worried once she realized she had overused her water supply after she completed the fourth batch. She knocked her head repeatedly. [Stupid me. I'm running out of water again. Next time I will make a few trips to fetch water from the stream.] She was a little reluctant to make the repeated trips, but hey, she would brave the extra mile for the sake of making delicious food for herself. No problemo!

Suddenly, she heard a sound at the direction of the cave entrance.

Shiro entered the cave with a bunch of catfishes inside her familiar shopping bag slung on its neck. All the fishes had stopped moving as well. They were even sufficiently cleaned from grime and dirt.

"Woahhhh! Shiro! How did you know?!" Hana exclaimed, part in excitement, part in wonderment.

Her excitement stemmed from her sudden epiphany about her telepathic connection to her pets. This time, it was clear as day that she didn't spell out her inner thoughts about making smoked fish from the fire treatment of her potteries. It meant that they could read her mind! Hana now understood how these cutiepies could understand her 'language' all this time.

She concentrated on Shiro and faintly heard something foreign in her mind.

It was very faint, whispery, and easily ignored; even the buzzing of mosquitos was louder.

Hana's eyes widened once she comprehended the vague sound. It's a very light non-gender oriented clear sound was heard.

[Express delivery for you, Mom.]

Shiro was looking her way with a smile in his eyes.

A different adolescent male voice resounded in her ears faintly. At least she thought it was in her ears, although it actually happened in her mind. This one sounded clearer after she focused more on the sound in her mind.

[Mommy, I was the one who asked Shiro to get the fish. I don't have limbs to help you with. I'm so sorry T.T]

Kuro tried to explain himself to his mistress for not helping out. He knew if he brought back the fishes via swallowing and vomiting, Hana wouldn't accept it.

Hana turned to look at the little black snake on her lap as he looked up at her with sad starry eyes.

She had been too dense to realize the obvious. Kuro must've tried communicating with her so many times since the beginning but was totally ignored by her. Simply because she never entertained the notion of telepathic-communication and didn't think to try. Those were gimmicks from 'lightnovels', whereas she, as a grownup, tried not to be too childish.

It seemed that she had been too close minded.

Hana closed her eyes for a moment to let reality sink in. Once she tried, she found two blurry lights in her mind. She instinctively knew they were the consciousness of her pets existing within her which linked her directly to her pets.

[Thank you, Kuro, Shiro, for everything. I heard you loud and clear.]

Both Kuro and Shiro's eyes lit up with delight with their mommy's direct telepathic communication. Especially for Kuro, he had been extremely touched as she finally responded.

[Ahh..Shiro, a question.] Hana asked hesitantly.

[Yes, Mom?] Shiro tilted his head inquiringly.

[Are you a boy or a girl?] Hana asked while grinning sheepishly. The cute fox's voice appeared quite androgynous in her ears. She didn't think that she should flipped the fox up just to check its real gender, right? So right now, she needed to make sure before anything else.

Both Kuro and Shiro blanked for a minute.

Twitching his lips while trying his best to maintain his dignity in front of Kuro's sarcastic grin, Shiro finally answered. [Boy.]

...

Author's Note:

Hi guys, Mrs Mooncat would like to clarify something. This chapter is the transition between nongender oriented pronouns describing our favorite pets, Kuro and Shiro, as Hana had finally determined their gender. (laughing) From here onwards, both pets will be noted as 'he/him/his' as it was clear that they were boys.

Another thing is, all italic wordings (or in webnovel, in [brackets]) are sentences in the form of telepathic conversations or inner thoughts depending on the situation.

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(1) Pannikin = as a reminder, a big cup or a small-sized personal bowl one usually used for beverage or soup.

(2) three old version fifty cents = The old Malaysian's fifty cent is about one inch in diameter. Now it is the same size as the 20 cent shilling.