Happy Meal

"I tell you Cooper, this girl ain't very sociable!" Marcus muttered to his drone.

He was now sitting in another room, since his presence seemed to make Klara uncomfortable. All of his attempts to start a conversations had failed, as the girl had simply kept staring at him almost as if he was some kind of dangerous beast ready to pounce at her. Even after he had some drones take a few furs to her to make her more comfortable, her cool attitude didn't change a iota. So in the end Marcus had elected to retire to the storeroom and sat near a pile of his own eggs, venting his frustration by complaining to Cooper.

"I mean, I get that she's injured and that I don't look exactly normal right now, but she looks at me as if I threatened to kill her dog or something!" he continued his rant "Even after I gave her the furs of my own bed! Now I'll have to sleep on the floor, but did she thank me? Of course not! Not even a word! She just took the damn furs and kept staring at me! She's getting fucking creepy! What should I do with her, buddy?"

Cooper didn't answer, nor Marcus expected it to. The drone wasn't capable of talking, heck it couldn't even think on its own, but having some sort of echo chamber for his thoughts helped him to relax.

Anyway, he couldn't do anything about this right now, so he just had to wait for Felix, who seemed the more collaborative of the two, to come back.

Following this line of thoughts, he shifted his attention to the drones accompanying the boy and saw that he was still out in the woods, looking around for plants and roots.

Just to be sure that he wasn't gonna be discovered while outside, Marcus concentrated on the flying drones that were patrolling the valley but he didn't see any threat nearby.

In fact, since the previous day the gremlin patrols had retreated north of the swamp, abandoning the territory completely save for a few packs of gargoyles that still scouted the nearby valleys but those luckily were far from the one the hive was in.

This actually seemed quite suspicious to Marcus: why abandon the territory they had fought so hard for, especially since the fight was going their way?

The only answer he could think of was that maybe the humanoids were more concerned about the humans than they were about him. This theory was supported by the fact that the army sent to attack the humans had been much, much bigger than all of the patrols sent against the drones combined.

It was still highly suspicious though and Marcus knew the gremlins well enough to expect some sort of dirty trick from them, so he resolved to keep his eyes (or rather, the eyes of his drones) well open just in case.

Also, there was another aspect of this unexpected truce that was both welcome and horrible: since the conflict was on break for now, it was the perfect moment to replenish the hive's forces, but this meant more eggs to lay.

And Marcus, who was already uncomfortable laying eggs on his own, couldn't even process the level of embarrassment he would experience if his guests would witness him during such an act. The thought alone was almost enough to make him feel physically ill.

Still, he didn't really have a choice: to ensure his own survival he needed all the drones he could get. So he would have to just take care of this dirty business while hidden in the storeroom, and maybe station a warrior drone to the entrance to make sure the humans wouldn't get in.

Taking a look at the pile of eggs near him, Marcus decided to make at least two drones watch this room. At all times.

Felix came back a couple of hours later, carrying a small but very full bag with him.

As soon as he entered the cave, he looked out for Klara, finding her resting on a bunch of furs laid on the floor.

"Hey Klara!" he shouted, waving at her "I'm back!"

The girl turned a bit to look at him, a grimace of pain on her face.

"Took you... long enough!" she said weakly, "Did you find... the things I've asked... for?"

"Yes! And then some!" he smiled, walking to her and emptying his bag on the floor. A lot of herbs, roots and fruits rolled out. "I've also gathered some food, since we both lost our backpacks and our provisions were in there!"

Klara frowned hearing this. She had been about to scold her friend for taking so long and leaving her alone in a nest full of creepy creatures, but she couldn't fault his logic. They needed to eat after all.

"Well, let's give a look at your injury then!" Felix said, "I've got the toadbirch bark, the dawnshade berries and even some bloodmold, just in case of an infection!"

Klara's side was swollen, bruised and incredibly sore, and she felt a sharp pain everytime she took a breath.

The first thing Felix did was to give her a dawnshade berry. The berries were a very good painkiller, but they would become toxic if you ate too many of them.

Then he took the toadbirch bark and soaked it in water before putting it directly on the injury. The bark had a painkiller property too, but most importantly it would also reduce the inflammation.

The left the bloodmold apart, since it would be needed in case of an infection: that particular mold would, in fact, grow pretty well if applied on a suppurating wound, eating away the infection.

After being treated like this, Klara seemed a little more at ease, and the two decided to start eating.

Felix had been able to find various things, from berries to edible roots and even some small pinepears, who while still very unripe would do nicely to fill their bellies.

"Uhm, so, do you know where Marcus is?" the boy asked while chewing a root "I can't see her."

"I dunno." the girl replied while eating a few berries "She has been gone for at least an hour now. I think she's gone to one of the other rooms. Not that I miss her though. After you left, she stared at me for very long, without blinking... it was awfully creepy!"

"She did give you some furs to rest on though." Felix added, looking at the bed the girl was laying on.

"Some of the other... things did it. Not her." she answered.

"Well, I think she must have ordered them to." the apprentice sorcerer mused "The others don't really seem that smart."

"Whatever. Ouch!" Klara shrugged, then grimaced as the movement still felt painful "Well, I guess I'll have to tolerate her presence as long as we stay here. We are basically at her mercy and I can't move right now, so it's better to stay on good terms with her. But we must stay on guard. We don't know if these creatures could turn on us. And besides, there is something in this monster girl that bugs me."

"Eh!" Felix snickered "So the bug girl bug you?"

"Shut it!" the girl shouted "This is no joking matter! Our lives are at stake!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry!" the boy said "Please calm down. So, why does she bugs you?"

"I dunno." she replied "But there is something about her that feels weirdly familiar..."

Before they could continue this discussion, Marcus emerged from the storeroom, walking towards them. She looked a bit weary, as if she had done some strenuous physical exercise, but she smiled at Felix, clearly happy to see him.

"Oh, hi Marcus!" Felix saluted her, waving his hand "Nice to see you!"

"Oh, hi Feelix!" Marcus replied, trying to repeat the boy's speech "Neeice tae sae yeth!"

"Very good Marcus!" he laughed "Very good! Just a bit more time and you'll be able to speak properly!"

Klara said nothing, merely staring at the creature as she picked up one fruit. She then looked at Felix, indicating first the fruit and then at her own mouth with a quizzical expression in her face.

Her question was immediately understood.

"Of course you can eat that, Marcus!" the apprentice sorcerer nodded "You can eat all you want. Here, have some roots and berries too!"

And he gave some to the monster girl, who looked at them with a puzzled expression and then gave most them back, just keeping one of each kind for herself.

She then proceeded to bite the fruit, grimacing a bit because of the sour taste, but ate it all nonetheless. She then ate a berry and a root, and she seemed to really take a liking to it.

Then, suddenly, she hit her forehead with the palm of her hand, frowning and repeating a word in her weird language. The two humans couldn't really tell what she was saying, but it sounded like "stupid stupid stupid!".

Klara and Felix looked at her with confusion.

"Uhm... is everything alright?" the boy asked "Perhaps you didn't like the berries?"

The monster girl looked at him, still frowning lightly, and shrugged, as if saying that it was nothing.

"Uhm... ok." the boy responded, and went back to eating.

The meal didn't really take long since it wasn't that abundant, and it left both Felix and Klara still quite hungry. They tried to sate their hunger by drinking a lot of water, but it just wasn't the same.

"We need to find something more nutritious soon." Klara said, eating the last of the berries "These vegetables may keep us alive but if we eat only things like these we would soon get weaker. Also, I need proteins and calcium to heal faster."

"Yeah." Felix concurred "But we are still in the wrong season for nuts and other more nutritious things, and I'm not a hunter like you, so catching some prey would be difficult."

The two remained silent for a bit, trying to think of a solution. Then their thoughts were disturbed by a crunching sound.

They both turned to the source of the sound, and saw Marcus who was watching them while loudly eating a piece of mold wax.

The monster girl looked at them, then at piece of mold wax, and and offered it to them.

Klara didn't move, but Felix took it from the creature's hands and tried to bite into it.

It was quite hard to chew, with an almost wood-like texture, and at first he couldn't even sense the taste. Then, after quite a bit of chewing, his saliva finally started working on that substance, and a foul taste invaded his mouth and almost made him throw up.

He spit the rest of the mold wax, coughing and gasping, and he ran away to the river, trying to wash away the taste from his mouth.

"So... I guess that it wasn't to your liking." Klara said sardonically.

"Puah! Not really." Felix admitted, still spitting "Tastes like rotten eggs and spoiled milk. I guess I could eat that stuff if I was about to starve, but not any sooner!"

He then turned to Marcus, who was staring quizzically at him, apparently surprised at his reaction to the mold wax.

"I'm sorry, but didn't you happen to have anything else to eat?" he asked "Klara needs to be well fed to heal, and some meat would greatly help!"

"Hey, are you really asking her for meat?" Klara intervened, astonished.

"Well, it's worth a try, isn't it?" the boy replied, and he gestured for something to eat, pinching his own arm to indicate the word "meat".

As always the monster girl seemed to immediately guess what he meant.

He made a quick nod towards the drones scuttling around them, and less than a minute later one of the more humanoid-looking drones came from the storeroom carrying various pieces of meat in its arms.

"See?" Felix said to Klara "The problem is solved now! With all that meat we could... eat... for days..."

His voice slowly died out as he slowly realized the nature of the meat that was being presented to him.

There were two varieties of meat: one was purple, and the skin seemed dark gray and sometimes covered in dark chitin armor: it was obviously the meat of the drones. But the other was even worse: there were a few recognizable body parts, like arms and feet, that obviously used to belong to a goblin.

Both humans looked in horror at the meat, while Marcus merrily gestured them to serve themself.

"Felix?" Klara asked.

"Yes?"

"Is this creature really serving us the meat of goblins and of her own goddamn kin?"

"I... I guess so?"

The two exchanged a very concerned look, while Marcus, who was studying their reaction, noticed their disgust and with a quick nod ordered the drone to take that meat away. She then shrugged apologetically towards the humans, as if trying to excuse for making them uncomfortable.

"Don't worry. We're fine. I know you were just trying to get us something to eat." Felix said, still trying to get the image of the severed goblin arm out of his head. Even if the hand had four fingers instead of five and the skin was gray, it looked far too human for his liking.

Klara, on the other hand, seemed even more alarmed than him, as she had gone completely silent, keeping a hand on the handle of her knife and looking at Marcus as if the monster girl was about to pounce her and try to rip her throat.

"Well then, I guess it's better to leave Klara to rest for now!" Felix said quickly, trying to defuse the tension in the air "How about I give Marcus some language lesson? I'm sure we could all be more at ease if we could better understand each other!"

He gestured towards Marcus, indicating himself speaking and then the monster girl, and she immediately understood. She made a bright smile, and nodded happily.

"Perfect! We can just get a bit further in order not to bother Klara!" he said, taking a few steps away from the girl's bed. Marcus followed him.

As soon as they were both sitting in the floor, a dozen meters away from Klara, the apprentice sorcerer started his first lesson.

"Well then... let's start with presentation. I say: my name is Felix." he pointed to himself while saying this "And you say: my name is Marcus."

He pointed at the monster girl.

"Meeeth noum es Marcus." she said, immediately picking up.

"Splendid!" Felix smiled "Now let's try something else..."

And the two spent the following hours conversing this way, while Klara kept staring at Marcus with suspicion.