Desperation's Summit

2: Feeding

They had, indeed, ended up at the cabin that Cordelia had spotted. The cabin sat, squat and backed against a daunting mountain slope. Once inside, however, Cordelia was surprised to see the interior was larger than expected. It took her a moment to realize that was because the deeper half of the cabin wasn't actually made of wood.

The rest of the home was carved into the mountainside. The first part of the cabin was what she expected. Wooden floors and walls, with rough hewn sticks of furniture. Two windows flanked the door, currently covered with heavy drapery. Woven rugs covered the floor, offering a bit of warmth against the chill.

But the rustic nature of a wooden cabin suddenly ended with cold hard stone. As if the mountain simply sprouted up, shearing off the back half of the cabin. It wasn't just solid rock. As her eyes adjusted to the interior, Cordelia realized halls led off deeper into the mountain.

"Stay there," ordered the troll with a grumble as he kicked his wet boots off and lurched toward one of the halls in the stone.

Cordelia had half a mind to snap back, 'Where would I go?'

But the troll had already ducked into a room adjacent from the hall. Faintly, she heard the thunk of opening trunks and rustling fabric. The vague sound of frustrated and rushed movement.

She ignored it, her eyes flickering back to her surroundings. Near the center of the cabin - had there been a back - a pillar of rock still stood. Inside that pillar, a hearty fire burned and the smoke went upward, to some unseen ventilated hole. Cordelia wondered how far up it went, before realizing, to the right of the pillar, was what looked to be a kitchen.

Moving toward it, Cordelia was a little surprised to see the sink appeared to have dwarven spigots, like an affluent noble's home. She supposed it made sense. This troll likely bartered with something to get the pipes put in place. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. There was likely a spring nearby to siphon water from and deeper into the rock offered a natural cold box.

Her considerations of the logicality behind this abode came to a crashing halt as her foot landed on something soft and squeaky.

With a yelp, Cordelia jumped back. A scream readied itself in her throat as she imagined she had trod on a huge frost rat or some sort of ugly trollish pet.

But it was none of those. She bent to pick it up, eyeing the button eyes and floppy limbs. It was simply a toy. A ragged handmade toy, but a toy all the same.

Cordelia's eyebrows dipped, staring at it. He hadn't seemed the sort to keep toys, she thought. Something shifted to her left, catching her attention. Her attention snapped to three trough-like bits of furniture, set up in a semicircle near - but not too near - the fireplace. They were positioned in such a way, one could see them clearly from nearly anywhere in the cabin section of the home. Close to the strange furniture sat a cot, with a rumpled pillow and fur blanket.

She hadn't seen them earlier. Or perhaps she hadn't wanted to see them.

Weren't there rumors of trolls stealing human children to eat?

Before Cordelia could edge closer to the cribs, the blue behemoth returned. They shot her a glare, as if to say 'I told you not to move.' Instead of speaking, they held up a small stack of clothes in one hand and boots in the other.

There was a beat of silence, as both of them stared, each expecting the other to come closer. Finally, Cordelia chose to be the bigger person. Warily she closed the distance between herself and the troll, reaching to grab the offerings.

"Your... mate won't mind me taking these?" Cordelia shifted through the clothes, wrinkling her nose at the color and texture of the fabric. The boots, at least, were tolerable. And they would be warm.