Homecoming

Having parted ways with Niks, Isabel and I eventually saw a light at the end of the distant tunnel. Pushing forward, I emerged from an overgrown, narrow tunnel nestled behind a tangle of tree roots and partially obscured by large boulders.

Stepping out into the familiar forest, the oppressive towering trees and thick canopy that obscured the sky, only marginally better than the claustrophobic caverns when it came to visibility, meant that I didn't have much hope of figuring out where we emerged.

Dropping my pack on the ground, I ran up the trunk of a nearby tree and, hooking an arm around one of the lowest branches, I pulled myself up. Hand over hand, I quickly made my way higher, before balancing on one of the uppermost branches, my weight causing the entire top of the tree to bend, with a threatening creaking warning not to go further.

With my new vantage point, my eyeline barely peaking above the sea of green, I was able to see the mountain that we had recently been scrambling across to the north. To the southwest, I saw a thin, wispy stream of grey smoke rising. Deciding that was probably the goblins' camp, I quickly made my way down the tree, and jumping to the ground, I grabbed my pack and set off again.

---

Seeing the clearing, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, the fatigue of the previous months' training and travel mellowing a bit as I returned. Clearing the tree line, there was a commotion that quickly spread throughout the camp. Many of the goblins dropped what they were doing and came to greet me. Quickly, a circle of chattering goblins had formed around me, with Mackinzie bringing up the rear.

After greeting the goblins and pushing through them, I came face to face with Mackinzie. She was more reserved than she would normally be, and thinking that she was still mad at me, I asked, "Hey, what's up? You okay?"

Blushing slightly, fidgety and swaying back and forth anxiously, Mackinzie, her voice barely audible, responded, 'I'm fine, glad you are safe,' before hurrying away. Noticing the book tucked at her side as she ran, I smiled, realizing what was going on.

Before I had a chance to even set down my bag, the goblins encircling me began aggressively thrusting various clay works my way, with many different styles, some partially glazed, or with streaks of color, demanding for me to tell them what I know about glazing.

"There are many different ways to glaze pottery, but the easiest is to mix wood ash with crushed clay," I explained, taking some of the failed pieces and starting to grind them on a large rock until it was a mostly uniform orangish powder. Then I mixed it with wood ash from the kiln and added water to make a slurry before dipping a clay pot with a lid in it and gingerly setting them into the furnace. I started up a fire in the opening at the bottom of the furnace, and before long, there was a whooshing sound as ash and carbon flakes shot out of the flue.

"You need to keep the pottery very hot for a while for the glaze to melt and flow, covering the pottery, and then slowly letting it cool," I finally said as I started unpacking, carefully laying out the minerals I had collected on my trip. Then I took some of the wood that the goblins had collected in their pottery-making fever and started carving a simple box, roughly 12 by 4 inches, before packing it with sand from the creek and then setting it near the furnace's hearth to dry.

While the goblins were still milling around, I grabbed one of the largest pots made and loudly said, "I need pee." Everyone around me looked at me confused before I reiterated, "I need pee; it contains certain minerals that I will need when casting metal."

This explanation seemed to satisfy the goblins, but Mackinzie still looked at me like some kind of pervert. Setting the large clay pot in the mostly unused hut since the bugbear's culling of the goblins, they quickly went inside and relieved themselves, filling the vessel.

Taking the still warm liquid and setting the pot on the cooking fire, and lighting it, I slowly stirred it with a stick as it started to boil. Going between the cooking fire and furnace, keeping the fires stoked, Zarra approached and said, "I have completed preparing the goblin fertility herbs; Nissa wants to know when we will use it."

"I would like a few days to get some rest and finish working on what I am working on, but soon, I promise," I replied. Zarra's face broke into a smile as she ran off, probably to report back to Nissa.

I stopped stoking the furnace to allow it to start cooling, and eventually the pot of pee boiled off, leaving a waxy powder caked to the sides. Grabbing the glazed pot and lid from the furnace, using sticks, I set it down on a rock to finish cooling. While I waited, I started scraping the powdered pee residue from the sides of the larger pot and crushing it, then dumped it into the now cooled, smaller glazed vessel. Taking the lid and smearing on more of the ash and crushed clay slurry to seal it, I added it back into the furnace and reignited the fire.

Carefully stoking the furnace with charcoal and ensuring a good draw, I sat back and started whittling a simple knife blade with a tang. Using the now dried-out sand and mold I pressed in my wooden carving, leaving a clear impression.

With the furnace still roaring, I decided to fulfill my promise to Zarra, Ies, and Sonx, making a tasty dinner. Leaving one of the goblins in charge of managing the furnace's fire, I set off collecting some greens and herbs. I managed to find wild garlic, onion shoots, mustard seeds, juniper, mushrooms, and even some peppercorns.

Coming back with my new haul, I stopped by the goblin that usually handles the butchering, now recognized as Sonx, and took several animals' worth of meat and fat. Next, I laid out the pepper and juniper berries on the ground and, using the drying spell I tested on pottery and used against the treant, I rapidly dried them out. Crushing them between two rocks, I added them to one of the wide, shallow clay pots, and mixed in cubed meat, fat, onion, garlic, several thinly sliced mushrooms, and lastly, the salt I had collected. Before adding a small amount of water and covering it to let it simmer.

Lifting the lid occasionally to stir it and add water, the aroma started to waft through the cave, drawing in the goblins. Before long, I was once again encircled by the goblins, all holding bowls, looking to me expectantly as I cooked. Once the meat had browned, I pulled it from the fire and started dishing it out. The now exposed dish readily released its pungent scent, a mix of garlic with meat and piney undertones, making the gathered goblins salivate, a few rumbling stomachs echoing around.

With the food dished out and having sat down to eat, Mackinzie sat next to me and said, "This smells great. What is in it?"

"Mostly meat and mushrooms, but I mixed in some juniper, pepper, onion, garlic, and salt," I casually replied, causing her to quietly respond, "Oh, that's nice," before whipping her head around and almost yelling, "Wait, you got salt? How? Also, what about the other spices?"

"There are loads of edible plants in the woods, but you need to know how to prepare them," I said around a mouthful of food, not slowing down to talk as I scarfed down the first meal using some real spices.