Zorroku and Peaches

Worth Her Salt

Zorroku and Peaches

Part 1- Worth Her Salt

At dawn you awoke out of a deep sleep when you heard riders coming into the village. They came right past your house, and circled it a few times. Speaking in a language you didn't know or understand. The sound of heavy draft horse hoof beats pommeling the ground woke you up and gave you a start.

You and your sisters all seemed to stir and sit up at the same time to the same disturbance. Your twin Grace shared a worried glance through the lightening darkness of the early part of the dawn. You both already knew what you needed to do. You both got up and got your little sisters, who were twins as well and only six, and made sure they were dressed and tucked safely under the bed and hidden just in case your home was about to be broken into and raided. Your sisters all shared one room and one big bed. Grace and yourself slept on the outsides of the mattress, leaving the much warmer middle of the bed for your younger sisters. Grace lit a tiny candle and both of you quickly got dressed and prepared for the inevitable. Then you heard a knock on the door and your father's answering of it. It was Khagra, the Clan Chief at your door at such an early hour and a quick conversation. Then you heard your father's knock on your bedroom door.

"Bella, you're needed." Your father, Micha bid urgently before you slipped out of your room.

"Yes Papa?" You asked, trying not to feel as panicked as you were inclined to feel. Hoof beats, especially right next to your house, conspicuously when you weren't expecting them was not a good sign.

"I need you in the kitchen, make a very good breakfast. Also a very big breakfast and some sweet fruit and honey cakes." Your father directed as you frowned in confusion as to why. But you nodded in understanding and slipped quickly into the kitchen to get to work. Your father went to your brother's room and ordered them to get to the fields and start butchering goats from the herd.You pulled up your long auburn curly hair so that it wouldn't get in the food, and rolled up your sleeves and set to work before your mother joined you.

"What do you need?" Your mother asked before you told her what you needed help with. You had lit the candles and the fires in the kitchen and taken stock of what you had on hand to work with. If your brothers were butchering goats and your father requested fruit and honey cakes, those were just two of the components of a meal. You tried to think of what else would be palatable and appropriate to offer with it and began pulling as many ingredients as you could get your hands on and putting them on the counters.

It was breakfast. So if you were roasting goats, that meant big appetites and to supplement the roasted goat meat- that meant bacon, sausages, ham that were already smoked and cured and hanging in your pantry. And eggs of course, possibly omletes, so you also pulled out a wonderful smoked cheddar too. But that was only if all the chickens, by a miracle- laid enough eggs yesterday and this morning. You pulled the fruit preserves and the comb of honey for the sweet honey cakes and set aside a log of butter for those as well. You pulled potatoes, onions, garlic out as well for pan fried potatoes and onions as you put a jar of pure bacon grease with them. You grouped your ingredients together by what should go into each dish as a repertoire of recipes began flooding into your brain. You needed relatively quick and easy dishes that could be made with minimal effort but maximum flavor. Biscuits and gravy would be in order as well. You also looked at the bowls of sourdough dough sitting on the counter and did a quick taste test and blew out a breath of relief when the dough was finally sweet and ready to be baked. You would have to make more once you baked that this morning. You worried if this breakfast was the only thing that would keep your family, your Clan Chief's family and the clan safe from raiding.

Right now you didn't hear anything other than the screams of a some goats meeting their ends in the butcher courtyard just outside the kitchen as your father and your brothers butchered goats and by the screams, each of them was killing and butchering it's own goat. You could hear your father urge your brothers to work as quickly yet thoroughly as possible. Your brothers, also twins- collected the blood into bowls. Since orcs usually loved blood cake and blood sausages as you pulled even more onions out just for that.