He didn’t walk straight to his house. After the confrontation with Artemis, his face was red and his lip swollen. He decided to walk for a while before seeing his parents. He was hungry, but so was everyone else, and he had been known to skip meals to go on “adventures” long before the food shortage had started. During the summer months, it was unusual for him to return before sundown even on the coldest of days. His late return home wouldn’t be questioned.
* * *
Getting home just as the sky grew dark and Ortus’ clammy night air rolled in, Blott sat in the area of his house that served as a kitchen. His mother bustled around him, serving up a thin broth so desperately put together Blott was certain it would contain the eyes and feet of vegetables if they had them. It was welcomed, noneth
