Catching A Cold

On the way home that night, it began to rain heavily while Iris was on her way home. Despite Ember's speed, Iris still ended up drenched. Since they lived in the northern part of the beast continent, the rain was especially cold and Iris was left shivering by the time she made it home.

Basil made sure to feed Iris lots of hot soup and honey sweetened tea with herbs like ginger and chili to help her warm up. Basil also made Iris change into a dry set of clothes and wrapped her in a warm blanket while she rested by one of the warm brazier fires. Basil wrapped his tail around Iris and pulled her close as he worried for her health.

Still, when the next morning came around, Iris was running a fever and had a runny nose. It was clear that Iris must have caught a cold from the rain and she would have to rest in bed.

Caspian had frozen the water in the icebox as soon as he got home the previous night. So the eggs and fish were kept cold and could be saved when Iris felt better. Basil only wanted to make Iris foods for her health until she was no longer sick anyways and would not hear anything about feeding Iris something else.

Basil stuck by Iris's side every minute while she was sick unless he was preparing her medicine or a cloth to dampen her fever. Caspian felt unsure what he could do to help and decided to just quietly sew while resting on the floor near Iris.

Ember felt incredibly guilty that Iris had fallen sick under his watch. The rain had only started when they were halfway home and there was nowhere close by to stop and rest for the night. Still, Ember felt he should have done something more or he should have known it would rain.

In his guilt driven state, Ember left the house for the fields. He stayed out all day ensuring the weeds were picked out and deepening the trenches. With such a heavy down pour, Ember worried the plants Iris cared for would become flooded. After that, Ember ensured the fences were still stable and in their correct places, fixing them as necessary.

When he ran out of things to do in the fields, Ember turned to the forests. Iris required a lot of firewood to light the house, keep her warm, and cook food. Ember had noticed she was running low and he planned to carry home several logs today so that they would have time to dry.

He spent the rest of the day chopping down trees and dragging them home in bunches of three toed with vines. Thanks to his Phoenix form, he was able to quickly fly back and forth and the kitchen and cellar was soon filled with logs.

When he returned home, Ember was disheartened to see that Iris was still feeling poorly. Knowing there was still little he could do for her, Ember went and broke the logs down into firewood.

Caspian joined Ember in finishing the work, but kept a few whole logs aside for other purposes. Since a large amount of wooden dishware had been sold at market at the beginning of the rainy season, new ones would need to be produced. Caspian knew Iris had only been wanting to raise funds to invest into making other items that would sell better rather than wanting fewer dishes.

After all the wood was chopped, Ember went to bed. He wanted to sleep away all his negative feelings and hoped Iris would be feeling better the next day. Ember missed how bright and lively Iris always made everything feel.

Caspian carefully turned all the logs into blocks of wood before whittling them down into dishware. He then placed these new dishes along the banquet table and started a fire in that rooms braziers. Caspian hoped the warm fire would help remove some humidity and dry the wooden dishes. Caspian would later have to oil the bowls with animal fat as Iris had taught him.

The next day, Iris was still miserable and had to rest in bed all day long. The three males became even more pitiful as they watched Iris continue to suffer.

Basil had seen many sick and even injured females as a witch doctor, but it was somehow different when it was his own mate. Basil continued to nurse Iris and he even held her close as he lay in bed beside her. As a male his immune system was stronger and he wasn't afraid of catching Iris's cold anyways. All Basil cared about was caring for Iris and keeping her company.

Ember was starting to feel bitter about the fox beast hogging all their mate's attention, but he was held back by his guilt. When Caspian suggested to Ember that they go hunting to stock up on meat and plants for Iris, Ember didn't even bother to get angry at Caspian. Ember happily spent the entire day catching prey and cleanly preparing them for Iris.

Meanwhile, Caspian prepared firewood for smoking and drying the meat. Since today was a rare sunny day, Caspian wanted to make the jerky Iris had told him about. When Iris went to buy the salt, she had happily explained

"I want to make jerky. It should be pretty easy since we have salt and we've already smoked and dried meat before. The main differences are that you have to cut the jerky into thin strips rather than large chunks and you use a lot of salt. The salt adds to the preservation, helps the meat dry out, and adds to the flavor.

Of course, just plain salt is boring so I'd like to make a few kinds. Like one with lots of crushed peppercorns and some light crushed chili peppers. Then once with a nice honey glaze. Of course, some plain salt would be good too."

Caspian had to get Basil's help on mixing up the seasoning mixtures, but Caspian could prepare the meat himself. So, whenever Ember carried back prey, Caspian immediately got to work preparing the meat and setting it out to smoke and dry under the sun.

As the small pieces were harder to hang on the trees, Caspian used braided together thin strips of vines and slotted the meat in between the braided parts. Caspian would then hang the meat from a tree with a fire carefully built below it.

Since Iris taught Caspian to dig a hole and line it with stones to prevent fire spread, Caspian was less stressed by the fire. While Caspian still remained at the ready to put out any stray fires, there was relatively little to worry about. In fact, Caspian could even concentrate on sewing clothes while he sat nearby.

Caspian felt it would be good to wait to learn some new designs from Iris before using all the material. However, even just making a few outfits would take most of a day if it was only him working on it. Therefore, Caspian did not feel too stressed as he continued to make the old designs he had already learned.