Alora shuddered and let out a whimper. She was lying on her stomach next to the fire, her front paws covering her eyes. Her wings were pressed against her sides, and her hind legs were tucked underneath her, her tail curved around herself in a protective manner. She sniffled and whimpered again, curling her tail even more as she struggled to turn herself into a ball.

“Um. Are you alright?”

Alora slid her paw down off her left eye, her trembling slit pupils searching for the source of the sound. There was a bald man lying on the ground next to her, looking at her with bright green eyes. Only a whimper came out in response when she cracked open her mouth.

“I, uh, saw what that black dragon did to you,” the bald man said. “It—”

As even louder whimper than before left Alora’s throat, interrupting the man. “All I did was bite his tail!” she wailed. “And he, he…, he’s evil!”

The man wet his lips with his tongue. “Do you … want to get back at him?”

“Are you crazy!?” Alora slammed both her front paws on the ground. Miniature earthquakes racked her eyes, and a violent shuddering shook the earth beneath her. “What if he punishes me again!?” She looked around, making sure no one was around. Her heart was thumping so loud that she could hear her blood rushing through her head. She swallowed and crept closer to the man before whispering, “Yes. I want to get back at him.”

“I can help you with that,” the bald man said. “You see, he and I have quite a bad history.”

“Wait a minute,” Alora said, furrowing her brow. “You’re the guy who tried to kidnap Vur. Why do you look so much better?”

“My bones are still broken, and all my tendons are torn,” the man said, still lying on the ground without moving. “I can only speak right now. I learned a recovery spell, so as long as I’m alive, I’ll eventually get better. But that dragon really did quite a number on me. I sincerely thought I was going to die.”

Alora swallowed. “And you can really help me get back at Un—at … him?”

“That’s right,” Zyocuh said. “What do you say?”

Alora looked around once again to make sure no one was watching. Then she swallowed again. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

***

Mary and Tafel stood next to each other. It was still nighttime, their surroundings lit up by the fireball in Tafel’s hand. In front of the two women, there was a creature that resembled a sheep mixed with a monkey. It had hands with opposable thumbs and legs that resembled a primate’s, but it was covered in a layer of red wool. It was also dead, Chi’Rururp thoroughly embedded in its chest. Its eyes were nearly bulging out of its head, its face long like a sheep’s. Mary stepped on the creature’s stomach and pulled Chi’Rururp out of its chest. She turned towards Tafel. “Can we eat it?”

“No!” Tafel said, almost shouting. “You can’t eat something that spoke!”

“But all it did was baaa at us before attacking,” Mary said. “It didn’t speak.”

“It spoke in sheep!” Tafel shook her head. “Okay, fine. Let me rephrase that. You can’t eat something that so closely resembles a human.” She pointed at the dead creature. “Besides, it’s dissolving now.”

Mary turned her head. The creature was bubbling like boiling water, losing its form. It turned into a large droplet of jellylike substance before collapsing in on its own weight, bloody liquid seeping into the earth. Mary pouted, and her stomach growled. “Why is it so hard to find food?”

“I actually have food,” Tafel said. “Why don’t we stop here and I’ll cook you some?”

Mary’s eyes widened. “We’ve been hunting for nearly an hour. Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

Tafel raised an eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to catch and cook something by yourself,” she said and reached into a portal, taking out a lump of ice. Inside, there was a frozen cut of meat. “Isn’t that what you said?”

“I just want to eat!” Mary cut down a dead tree and turned it into two makeshift benches. She gathered the branches and tossed them into a neat pile for Tafel to use as firewood. Her brow furrowed. “I just want to eat a properly cooked meal. Properly. Cooked. You can cook, right?”

“You know, once you eat enough of it, you get a little used to raw meat,” Tafel said while melting the chunk of ice in her hands. “Alice’s cooking is terrible, I’ll admit. And it took me an extremely long time to get used to it, but at least, she … tries?” Tafel sighed. “Yeah. There’s no redeeming her cooking.” She turned to the empress and handed her the cut of meat. “Can you cook?”

Mary shook her head. “There are always people around to feed me. And when there aren’t, I walk until I find nice-smelling food.”

“Are you a dog?” Tafel took the cut of meat back and adding a block of wood onto the pile of branches before setting it on fire. She took out a pot from a portal and placed it on top of the fire before adding water. A generous fistful of salt was dumped into the water.

“Wait.” Mary pointed at the pot. “Is that … mithril?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” Tafel nodded and added the meat.

Mary’s eyes widened. “Why…, no, how? Wait. The fire. Mithril should stop heat. Will it cook?”

“They’re phoenix flames, so yeah,” Tafel said and nodded.

“Won’t the branches turn to ash really fast?” Mary asked.

“I added some firewood,” Tafel said with a grimace. “Don’t worry.”

“What kind of wood can—”

Tafel sighed. “Don’t ask. It hurts me to think about it too.” She shook her head. “All of this stuff comes from Vur’s grandmother’s kitchen. Well, not the meat. I’m afraid of what she’ll have stored away. I don’t want to eat something, think it’s delicious, and find out it came from an extinct creature when I want some more.”

“Baaa.”

Mary grabbed Chi’Rururp and thrusted it behind herself without looking. The bleating stopped, and something toppled over. Mary put Chi’Rururp down, her gaze firmly locked onto the mithril pot of water that was starting to boil. Tafel stared at the dissolving sheep creature behind Mary. Then she shrugged and resumed cooking, adding some vegetables to the pot.