The Wolf, the Butterfly, and the Kraken

Chapter 63

Kauhl

I gazed down at the woodgrain on the table before me. It was the only Lycant sized table in all of Venera. It was almost as rare as me, a warrior. No, a battlemaster, who should be out leading the warriors into battle. But I was here, teaching my grandchildren to write their glyphs. This was a punishment, I knew. Mother Moon was punishing me for how I treated Vam all this time by making me watch his children while he rode to the battlefield.

Not only was I watching his children, but I was doing so incompetently. I could not just take the children to a puppet show, or pay admission to a bath house to swim. No, my money was different from the Veneran money, and it wasn't accepted by the vendors. I was broke, and had two children to provide for, and very little language skills. I was a trained warrior. I would not work at the docks.

Maisey asked, "Grandsire, what are we having for dinner?"

I had a solution to this, "I will go hunting, and catch us something."

Oshie's eyes brightened, "Can I go with you?"

I smiled softly, "In a few years, when your legs are long enough that you can run very fast." For now he would make it harder to catch something.

Maisey asked, "Where are you going to go hunting Grandsire? You can't hunt inside the city, and you have to be careful not to harm animals owned by people on the plantations outside of town."

I hated that she was right. I wasn't sure I could find my way out of the city and back to them, let alone find an animal that didn't belong to someone. Some of the Veneran animals were very different from our animals. Horses and fluffers were odd animals. Sheep were too. All three were domesticated animals though. What would I be allowed to hunt? I shook my head. It didn't matter, my grandchildren had no food on the table before them. I would get some.

Just then the door to the shop opened and Kane walked in. Maybe he would know where I could go hunting. He had spent the day with his lady friend, and her scent was all over him. They were not mated, and I didn't think he should be teaching the children that such relations were acceptable. However, maybe things were different in Venera. He was a grown man, and I could not tell him what to do.

"Ah, Kauhl, how was your day? Where's Vam and Joann?" he asked, quite chipper.

Oshie mumbled, "They left again." His tears started again. It had taken a long time to get them to stop earlier.

Kane took a deep breath and eyed the three of us, seeming to lump me in with the children. I glared at him, "I can provide my grandchildren food."

He nodded, "I'm sure you know how to fish, but after a few meals of that they need something else."

Fishing. I felt stupid. I had not even considered the fish in the river. I could do that.

Maisey said, "He was going to go hunting."

Kane shook his head, "Kauhl you have to travel two or three days from here to get to a place where you can hunt. Let's be logical here. Now, what does their pantry look like?" He opened the door to reveal a few items, and some dry goods. Then he opened a bin to reveal that it was half full of flour, and another was a bit over half full of beans, and the last was ⅓ full of gerg. The beans and gerg would make a poor hunters stew. "Looks like there's some stuff here to last a week. I have less money than I would like to have at this time." He was broke, probably spent all his money on the woman he was seeing. "However, if we need to, we can get the earnings of Vam and Joann from their employers. I will be paid in 10 days. Do you have any money?"

I grumbled, and emptied my purse on the table. "The vendors will not accept my coin. I have plenty, but they are not Veneran."

Kane was transfixed by the coins, "They are immense next to ours. Let me feel the weight of them." He lifted one, testing the weight. He smiled. "I have an idea. I can turn your coins into a piece of copper, silver, or gold. That piece can be weighed, and you can be paid out in Veneran coin for it. We can try it with some coppers and a silver or two first if you don't feel like doing that to a gold piece. Then we could take your coppers and get something from the market. What do you think? Want to try?"