Slow Progress

Iris awoke next to Basil who was happily watching her as he held her tight. His tail was casually wrapped around Iris's waist and he had a playful look on his face. Iris yawned as she asked

"Have the others left already?"

Basil teased

"Why? Am I not good enough company?"

Iris playfully hit Basil's arm as she lightheartedly scolded

"You know what I meant. I love spending time with all my mates including you. I just worry you all are working too hard."

Basil tapped Iris's nose lightly and narrowed his eyes playfully as he answered

"You mean, especially me. Ember went to fetch prey for breakfast. Caspian decided he wanted to try breaking ground on a second basement floor. He said something about wanting to be extra sure we were digging in the right spots since we haven't had any progress thus far."

Iris knew this was true enough. They had already been here a week and a half and had dug out quite a bit of the mountain. Stone was overflowing outside the mountain and yet they had yet to see even a hint of something interesting.

Caspian had rested only a day longer before insisting on pulling his weight. Iris's mates now took turns working versus keeping Iris company. Everyday two of them would spend all day mining outside of brief rests to sleep or attain sustenance.

One of Iris's mates would keep Iris company for the the day with them switching off on whose turn it was each day. Today it would be Basil's turn. Iris was quite happy that they were resting as needed and gaining back some of the weight they lost on the journey over. They would have to take the journey back slightly more leisurely to ensure they could be healthy when they returned home.

When Ember returned with prey, Basil immediately got to work cooking. Ember went off to work with Basil's promise to fetch them back when it was time to eat. Today, it looks like Ember found a bear and fetched back a dozen fish.

Iris let Basil handle the roasting of the meat and preparation of soup and tea while Iris handled the fish. Iris filleted the fish and then rolled them in the quickly dwindling supply of acorn flour.

Thankfully it would be possible to collect cattails for their pollen when they returned. Otherwise, Iris would be entirely out of flour for baking and cooking. This would be all too disappointing for not only Iris, but many others who enjoyed her food.

Iris placed a flat stone she had Caspian carve flat for cooking a few days prior next to the hearth. When it began to heat up, Iris rubbed animal fat on it and placed the seasoned and flouted fish to pan fry until browned on both sides.

Alongside this, Iris put some dried peas to boil in a small amount of water with a animal fat, salt, garlic and onion for flavor. Iris felt it was a shame there was no bread or rice to serve alongside the fish and peas. If there were, the fish dinner might resemble a more complete meal.

When the food was finished cooking, Basil went off to fetch the others back. However, this was not before helping Iris get some of everything first. Basil did not mind his food being eaten by others as well, but he would always prioritize Iris.

Ember came back and helped himself to a small amount of everything. He had eaten some raw meat earlier while hunting and did not need the food for the energy as much as he enjoyed the taste and his mate's efforts.

Caspian, however, ate like a ravenous beast who had not eaten for a week. Iris supposed he must have worked up quite the appetite while working. Feeling sympathetic to his plight, Iris scooted closer to him and rubbed his back as he ate. Caspian felt sweet as he slightly slowed down his eating to better enjoy Iris's affections.

Basil gave a small smile as he left most of the meat for Caspian. Since he was resting with Iris today, he would be able to hunt prey for dinner. Basil knew how exhausting it was to work hard for so many hours in a day and didn't want to make Caspian eat less.

Once breakfast was finished, Ember and Caspian got back to work. Basil left to wash the dishes and fetch back more water from the lake. Basil gave Iris a small bowl of water to bathe with before leaving. He kissed her head promising

"I'll be back soon. Don't miss me too much while I'm away."

Iris gave a small smile as she waved him away. As her mates were too busy, Iris had to attend to more of her own needs. Iris didn't mind combing her own hair, but it made her miss Caspian despite him having just been here.

Iris decided that it would be a waste to leave all of the stone here and leave it piled up when they were finished with the mining. Thus, today she planned to have Basil break the larger chunks up into smaller pieces that could fit in her bag. Since many things were built from clay and stone bricks in the city, Iris figured the stone might one day come in handy.

Basil had worked hard the previous two days to mine out the stone and carry it outside. However, Basil couldn't bring himself to say no to Iris's request when she told him what to do. Basil just followed Iris outside and got to work.

Despite the huge amount of stone, much of it was already in small chunks. Ember's method of smashing the rocks apart in combination with using the antler picks tended to create smaller chunks. As for Caspian and Ember, they paid no mind whether the chunks were larger or smaller and just broke the stone apart as they pleased.

This meant that half of the stone chunks were already sufficiently small enough to fit in the bag. To appease Basil's worry of Iris cutting her hands on any sharp edges stones, Iris used a scrap of animal hide to pick the pieces up. Iris would have to make some gloves later on to make the process easier later on when she repeated the process.

Clearing out the stone made Caspian's and Ember's jobs much easier as they could move the stones out of the way more quickly. Since there was no reason to let the stone build up again, Iris decided it would be best to take care of it for a short while each day. This would make the process easier for whoever was resting for the day beside Iris as well.

Luckily, it only took until a little bit past high sun to get the stones put away. To make it up to Basil for asking him to work so hard on his day off, Iris offered offered to brush his fur out in his fox form. Basil quite liked the sound of this and easily complied as he transformed.

Iris happily pet Basil alongside running the bone comb gently through his fur. Basil quite liked the feel of the thick comb tines scratching lightly against his skin followed by Iris gently stroking his fur. Iris enjoyed Basil's softness and continued to stroke his fur long after it had been fully brushed out.

Soon, Iris decided that it might be relaxing to read the book on forageables aloud to Basil while continuing to pet his soft fur. Basil knew of many of the herbs mentioned, but found it quite fascinating to learn of what the books his mate treasured contained.

Basil listened attentively in case he learned anything new so that he could use the info in the future. He also found it quite pleasant to lay beside Iris and be pet. It was a very relaxing way to spend the day for both of them.