The Fox Witch

Part 33

A/N: Only 17 more Chapters to go. Are you ready :D We can almost start a countdown!

It was only twenty minutes later when he arrived with a big ass fish - gutted and cleaned and ready to cook - and coals in a cauldron with another cauldron, which was empty. It was for the soup or whatever they wanted to do with it. Maybe some tea? Brett didn't know and didn't care; he was just happy he had it.

He set everything down and looked around. But where was Eddy?

*

Eddy was looking around the forested area, damn every tree looked the same! Was he supposed to go north or south? The thing was, Eddy had no clue where the hell he was. Generally he was good with directions, but typically he had a map, gps or a compass. He had none of those things, so now he was looking at moss on trees to figure out which way was north, south, west and east. This information would be a good thing to know if he knew which way to walk.

When Eddy didn't come back, Brett feared the worst. He had his sword at the ready. He spiked their food and set the cauldron on the dirt where he ripped some grass out so nothing would go up in flames.

Then he started to look on the ground, trying to decipher where Eddy went. He was a good hunter, so he singled out Eddy's way fast. It was the only one in that direction and fresh anyway. So he trotted along the path Eddy made, following the broken branches, pressed grass and disturbed leaves. And of course, the footprints.

Eddy shook his head to himself, "You're more danger prone than I thought, Edward Chen. Next time you feel adventurous at least take a knife so you can mark trees to find your way back."

He tutted as he scolded himself, and yes he scolded himself out loud, because he was the only one there to do it!

Brett got to Eddy in under three minutes and heard the witch scolding himself. Maybe a knife wasn't such a bad idea. Or a dagger.

"Well, at least you left a good trail to follow, witch."

He leaned against a tree and observed Eddy from behind. The man was pretty sure Eddy had not heard him or thought he was not alone anymore. Eddy jumped, quickly whipping his head around to see the man just chilling out by the tree. Shiro and Brett apparently had something in common, scaring people, "Oh hey, Brett. Sorry I got lost."

He flashed one of his awkward grins.

"I have noticed." The man came closer and picked up half the stack of firewood. "I think that is enough wood for us and the fish. Did you get all the lemon balm and other herbs you need? If not, I saw a couple of them when I was tracking and following you."

It was easy to find Eddy and that told Brett the man had no survival knowledge. He would need to teach him at least the bare basics.

"Yeah, I got what I thought would be good for a rub on a fillet." Eddy smiled a tad shyly at the Khanzadeh. Well, this was a bit embarrassing, but he'd survive. It could have been worse, it wasn't like he was caught doing something bad. He was just caught having no sense of direction.

"Good them. Come, Eddy. We will need to feed you."

With that, Brett led them out of the forest and to the pond. They had a roaring fire in not even ten minutes and Brett had made tea for them while Eddy focused on the fish.

After everything was done and they were sated, they sat together, nibbling on some left over fish and drank the tea.

Brett turned around and kissed Eddy on the cheek.

"Well, that was very delicious I must say. Very good indeed. You are allowed to cook more for me."

"Does that make me worthy of being a good housewife?" Eddy asked jokinging, bumping Brett with his shoulder slightly as he did so. After all their fake reasoning for doing their sneaky cooking was, so Brett knew he'd be marrying a good cook. Which he was, a decent one in the least.