Reaching for the Stars

Chapter Seven

I wake up to a growling stomach, but have nothing to eat, I look for the little beast, wondering if he will be offended when I have nothing to give him for breakfast. But to my surprise he is not in his usual curled up place on the bed, which was much more comfortable after I sacrificed my nicer spare clothing to fix up the bedding.

It was still nothing compared to the bed I had at the Dagon residence, but it was the best I could do under these circumstances, and certainly much better than the tree branches I had slept in for a few nights on my way here. I try to find the energy to get up, to do something, but I can't find it in myself, I felt so hungry.

It had been years since I had missed meals at the Dagon residence, I had become accustomed to having a full stomach, missing a single meal shouldn't be this debilitating to me, but I had been living off of bread and meat jerky, it wasn't exactly a satisfying meal even when I had it. But eating that had certainly been preferable to eating nothing, and now that I had run out of food, the only source of company that I had in this desolate place had left me as well.

Now I was truly alone, I couldn't believe I had made it all the way here, and I would die of starvation. I hear an odd thud and look up in surprise, worried that some other beast had made it through the white flower boundary. But to my surprise it is merely the little beast, except he wasn't alone, he had brought a dead Jade Rabbit, something easily half his size. I prepare myself to die from envy as I watch him eat this food in front of me, but to my delight he merely drops it and noses it in my direction a few times, before finally staring at me in annoyance when I don't quickly realize he is giving it to me.

I don't know how to feel, foxes were supposedly cunning, cruel, and powerful, why would this fox bother helping me, why would he do something that would ensure I live, surely giving him some of my food and a dry place to sleep hadn't been worth much? But who am I to turn away this much needed food, so I quickly get out of bed and grab the dead animal, using my small knife to roughly skin away the fur, I had never done this before, so it was horribly done.

I had no skill when it came to skinning and cleaning dead animals, my skills for cooking were minimal, but I suppose here I was just going to have to learn quickly or suffer fur in my food or it being foul tasting. There wasn't any need for it when I was living in the Dagon residence, though I should have anticipated a great many skills I would need to learn when I got inevitably kicked out of the family.

Though I had retained hope till the very last moment that I would pass, that I would succeed my goal of reaching the third common qi level, maybe even making it to the Low Spirit Apprentice rank. Thankfully starting a fire wasn't beyond me, though I would imagine soon my flame stick would fail to work, then I would really have to learn how to start a fire.

But for now it still worked and I set to work cooking the food that the little beast brought me, I understood the concept of skinning an animal and cooking it, had even seen it done a few times, but the actual skill to do it was so far beyond me, so trial and error was the only way this was going to happen for me. Luckily now that I had been kicked out of the Dagon family, I now seemed to have all the time I could want to learn things or do whatever I wanted really, there was no one left who would lecture me about my posture or my attitude, or even the way I dressed, no I was all alone, and while being away from the pit of snakes that is the Dagon family was probably good, it felt strange to be alone.

I complained internally about this little beast all the time, but in truth I was grateful for the company. I cook the meat longer than it probably has to, unsure of how to properly tell when it is cooked and not wanting to risk eating raw meat. I keep the largest pieces of the Jade Rabbit's pelt that I didn't manage to completely destroy, knowing once it was cleaned, I would be able to find some use for it.