Chapter Seven
Scheherazade
Weathering the Storm
Often I’m left roasting alone for most of the day while Brin leaves the valley. She is loath to make too many meals from her tamed stock – these are a hedge against hard times. And so she makes frequent hunting and scouting trips, bringing home fresh meat while keeping an eye on her former people. As I had done in the cave, I worry terribly about her each time she goes out. And of course, she always returns safely to report that the search for me is as frustrated as ever. Then one morning she returns only a couple hours after setting out – and just ahead of a reef of threatening thunderclouds piling overhead. She remarks grimly to me as she tosses a sack of fruits and vegetables into her cave and goes to untie her hammock from the tree.
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