Nighttime Strawberries

Later that night, Macha laid down and looked at the stars as her stomach growled. They traveled for hours without stopping and she was hungry. Alcinous ordered her to go to sleep an hour ago, but he did not offer her anything to eat.

As she tossed and turned, she cursed this man who lay next to her. Her hunger was too strong, and she found it impossible to fall asleep. They still traveled in Marseille's territory, so she did not see a reason to proceed on an empty stomach if she did not have to. These were lands she traveled along a few times, so she recognized the area.

This was the same route that she used when her group hunted the Dzoavits, so she remembered there was a strawberry patch nearby. It was currently summer, and she knew they should be in season. The only thing she felt unsure about was whether the plants would still be there.

When she turned to her side, she saw that Alcinous appeared to be fast asleep. As she looked at his sleeping form, she wondered how anyone could sleep with a scowl on his face. It almost seemed unnatural and made her wonder if he trained to look so angry.

GURGLE GURGLE Grrr~

Her stomach hurt from being so empty and she placed her hand over it. In her mind, she thought, "That's it. I have to get some food or I won't even be able to travel tomorrow."

She moved her palm in the air to ensure Alcinous would not wake. He did not stir, so she silently got up and left.

As Macha made her way through the night, she concealed her presence. They were still in the Outer-Reaches and she realized this could be dangerous. Even though this had been the safer route, she remembered how she ran into the Manticore along the way.

The humid summer air clung to her skin and the lack of breeze made it worse. The sound of bugs rang in her ears and covered up any noise she made.

She took almost half an hour to locate the strawberry patch from a few years back. It moved slightly compared to her memory, but she smiled happily when she found the small round red strawberries hanging from the vines.

Crouching down she picked some berries, shoving them into her mouth greedily. Although she disliked Alcinous, she still decided to pick him a few. They both wanted to save Tyr and Luna, so she needed him to be healthy for the sake of her friends.

While she plucked the fruit, she heard a twig snap behind her. Macha immediately dropped the berries and spun around, drawing her daggers.

Behind her stood a black-haired woman with dark brown eyes. She held her hands up, showing that she was unarmed. Her voice was tender, and she asked, "What are you doing out here? You should be resting."

Macha lowered her daggers and put them away in their sheaths. "Who are you?" Although she had never met this person before, she had an eerily familiar appearance.

The woman bent down and picked up a strawberry that Macha dropped. "I'm Miriro Gabris, the second daughter of Alcinous. Please go back and rest. Tomorrow will be another long day of traveling." It was currently her watch, and she did not want anything to happen to the woman they needed to protect.

A loud growl sounded from Macha's stomach, which elicited a soft chuckled from her, "I'm too hungry to sleep. I came out to get some food." Miriro did not seem to be a jerk like Alcinous so she continued to eat the strawberries. She dusted off the ones that fell and decided those would be for Alcinous. "Would you like some?" she asked her new acquaintance.

To Miriro it was odd that the woman they looked after had not eaten yet. "Why bother eating these when you can just eat some dirt or something? Rest is more important than flavor." Her parents raised her to not indulge in things. Her father always warned her family how temptations could lead someone down the wrong path.

"What? Eat dirt?" Macha had never heard something so asinine before. It made her giggle as she popped another strawberry into her mouth.

Her voice was serious, when Miriro replied, "Did they never teach you how? Earlier we overheard you asking about food." Everyone she knew had learned how to ingest anything and gain nutrients needed for survival. It was a basic skill that her father taught to her whole family.

Macha stopped eating and looked up at the black haired woman. "What do you mean? If you're talking about magic, I haven't studied very many spells." This was a topic she preferred to skim over. She was still embarrassed that she only knew the sort of magic that children could do.

Bending down, Miriro picked up a handful of soil. "You focus your energy into it and invoke the element of life." As she explained, the dirt glowed with a soft green light. "When it's ready, it will look like this," she clarified as she held up the earth in her palm.

She held it out for Macha to have some and offered, "Here try some. The spell gets rid of the earthy flavor and all it leaves you with is the texture."

Macha took a pinch of the soil from Miriro's hand and sniffed it. Like the woman said, it did not have the earthy smell anymore. Instead, it had a faint smell similar to rye. Not trusting Miriro completely she suggested, "Why don't you eat some first. I want to see your reaction."

Miriro poured the rest into her mouth and chewed it a bit before swallowing.

The black haired woman did not have any hesitation, so Macha lifted the dirt to her lips. This did not seem appealing at all and only made her remember of when she swung on the monkey bars as a child. Sometimes she would fall and land on the large mound of soil that someone piled below it. The dry dirt would cling to her tongue and the other kids would laugh at her.

The memory caused her nose wrinkle, wanting to get this experience over with, she quickly shoved the soil into her mouth. Like her new acquaintance suggested, it lacked the earthy characteristic that one would expect. It had a flavorless taste to it and only had the thick powdery texture. "This is what your father expects me to eat while we are traveling?" she asked without any joy.

"Of course. We don't have time to waste on cooking or hunting. Any mission that the King gives us is highly important. My father created this spell so we can work as efficiently as possible." Miriro said this as a fact. King Freyr never requested them to do anything that a lackey could do. Her father trained each of them since they were children and all of their skills were top-notch.

Hearing the reasoning behind the spell forced Macha to admit that the practicality of this spell was sound. Despite the bland taste, Miriro was right. The less time they wasted, the better Tyr's chances of survival were.

Macha returned to Alcinous's side and practiced weaving the spell for the next few hours. She needed to master this so they could travel for hours every day. The thought of living without any flavor for a few weeks made her sad, but it was worth the slight discomfort.

As she practiced, she grumbled silently, "Is it really impossible to add a flavor to this? I mean, you're already taking away the flavor of dirt, so can't you just make it taste like peaches or candy?"

Then she realized this was Alcinous's spell she wrinkled her nose in disgust and thought, "I bet he did that on purpose."