A Curse of the First

•«CHAPTER NINETEEN»• •«FOOD»•

Birch poured a bit of soup from a pot into his bowl, smiling slightly. She still seemed a bit upset that he had followed her, but she was acting like everything was fine. It had been early morning when she had woken him up, saying that he needed to help with cooking breakfast. Apparently, the first battle was going to start tomorrow.

Fir looked around after remembering what happened that morning. The sun was about midway in the sky, lighting up the whole camp. Everyone—mostly everyone, some were training—was out in the clearing. Turns out, the soldiers served soup and bread for almost every meal. Breakfast was meat and vegetable soup with a mild spicy bread on the side. For lunch they had either a shredded chicken soup with bread topped and an egg, or bacon--no soup--and a piece of seasoned bread. For dinner vegetable soup was severed with a side beans, but there was also an option for beans, dry vegetables, and a small slab of meat.

All of those meals were accompanied by a cup of water. And of course, all those meals were rations so they were as small as they could be while still being a good amount of food. Birch sat down next to him, a piece of seasoned bread in one hand and a couple pieces of bacon in the other. Fir, on the other hand, had a small bowl of soup and an egg-topped piece of bread. He took a hesitant bite of the bread, having never tried it before. She glanced over at him, half a piece of bacon hanging out of her mouth. Looking away, she tore off the bacon and chewed what remained in her mouth.

The sun was bright that day, but it wasn't really hot out. Actually, it was more on the colder side, but the sun sure was bright. Fir looked around after awhile, lifting a spoon to his mouth and taking a small sip of soup. The setup seemed busy, many soldiers already have finished their meal and going to do something else. Even Birch had almost finished eating, but Fir had only taken two bites of his food. He tried to eat quicker, though he didn't really like the taste of the bread. I suppose the chicken soup is alright... He thought, staring at the bowl in his hands.

Birch finished her food and stood up, brushing bread crumbs off her pants before turning to look at him. "I'm going to go work on my fighting, prepare for the battle tomorrow," She added before walking off quickly.

He watched her leave before continuing to eat. It felt weird being outside for so long, especially when the ground was still so muddy. Fir took another sip of soup before deciding to just go ahead and finish the bread. He ate it quickly before starting to eat the soup again. When that was finished, he stood up and headed back to his tent. Captain Maple had given him a pair of boots that were more suited for the mud, and boy was he thankful.

The mud was one of the worst things, besides the fact that a war was about to start. Another bad thing was that Birch hadn't been talking to him much. She had been much more reserved, but he assumed she was just focusing on the upcoming war. Fir walked at moderate pace, not exactly in a hurry but not wanting to hang around. He felt out of place here, like he was blind surrounded by the sighted. His tent was more on the outskirts of the setup, on the opposite side of the border. Sure, he had to deal with more mud, but it was better than being by the border at all.

He spotted his tent in the distance, but kept his pace the same. Luckily, Fir got his tent to himself, which made since because he was the prince. It had taken him two days to get here, or was it three? He couldn't quite remember at that moment. He was still tired from walking from the castle to all the way here. His feet were sore from having to pull themselves out of the mud with every step he took, and they were going to be even more exhausted since there was still so much mud. With a tired sigh, he headed into his tent.

ONLY TWO CHAPTER (EXCLUDING THE EPILOGUE) LEFT!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MIGHT FINISH THIS BOOK BY THE END OF THE MONTH IF IM LUCKY!!