Chương 6

Sobelle gathered all the fruits that weren't either infested with bugs and parasites, or newly grown. For the former, she made sure to follow the stories of her father and threw the infested ones to the ground. According to legend, letting those things fester was unhealthy for the tree and thus would kill it over time. Even though trees were tough and they couldn't be bitten—Sobelle had tried—it was still necessary for people to do this. No one truly knew why.

Then again, the method worked so maybe bugs could hurt trees? This is despite the fact that bugs couldn't even hurt humans the same way bigger creatures could. And trees were bigger than humans. And so much tougher too. Sobelle checked her basket and nodded once she saw that it was already full. With so much food gathered, she believed that her family wouldn't need to be hungry for the next few days. Not that they ever were.

Her father's job meant that they had a lot of food to eat and her step mother's social circle ensured that they had plenty to spare. No one in their house ever went hungry, it was why none of her brothers were ever sold as slaves to passing merchants. Or why Sobelle and her sister had all the time in the world to choose a husband, her father being one of the village's guards played a role when it came to the latter as well.

Sobelle also wondered if the abundant food was the reason why so many of her siblings survived.

'Now I get to contribute. No one can say that I'm just a slacker anymore.' Sobelle wore her pride as she went down the steep land and headed for the treeline. She faced the same problems she always did when inside a forest, though they no longer bothered her as much. She went out to the fields that surrounded her village then searched for the path that led to it.

She had already trekked through several layers of shrubbery on her way out of the trees, she'd go mad if she were to ever willingly pass through a field of grass after that. No time was wasted once Sobelle spotted the path, she ran straight to it and headed back home. The basket felt heavy, it didn't help that the fruits bounced up and down with every step she took.

Yet the cold wind mixed with the rush of excitement in her veins made Sobelle forget about any discomfort and she found herself apathetic to the weight on her back. It did not take long for Sobelle to notice that everyone looked when she reached the village. Why this was became clear when one of them pointed at her and her father rushed out of the crowd to check on her. The man was ghostly pale before he saw the state his daughter was in.

Color, red to be more specific, returned to his cheeks when he saw his daughter but he did not lash out. He didn't dare to add further stress to his daughter by screaming at her. To his surprise however, Sobelle wasn't just calm, she was also elated.

"I forage for fruit! A lot of them!" She proudly removed the basket from her back and presented it to her father using arms red from insect bites.

"I also have some mushrooms under them too, I don't really know if you can eat them though."

"This is..." The anger Saltor felt disappeared when he saw the reason for his daughter's absence. He sighed, got to his knees, and gently explained to her what she was and what she wasn't.

"Sobelle, you are not a forager, understood? We have enough food at home. You do not need to do this. What you are is a healer, if not, then you will learn how to find work that is inside of this village, not outside. Understood? You are not to leave this place." This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"We will bring the fruits to the river and clean it, then we let them ripen in our home." Saltor cleared his throat and straightened himself.

"And as for the caps, I believe they are safe. The deadlier ones reside in the deeper parts of the forest, where trees grow large and darkness looms. Did you go there?"

"No? There was sunlight where I got them." With the new things Sobelle learned about mushrooms and how they grew, she believed that the place her father described may just be full of caps. It was unfortunate those ones weren't edible, and so weren't worth getting.

"Good, now let's go to the river so you can get cleaned up." Saltor looked exhausted but relieved. He reached forward and affectionately rubbed the head of his daughter, "you need to take better care of yourself Sobelle, no man would want you if you were to continue living like this." Sobelle had no issue with that, she didn't want to get married soon anyway. If anything, no man choosing her would be a blessing as that meant she'd have a lot of time to train her way into knighthood. So what was the issue, really?

"Okay." Sobelle followed after her father—who took the basket from her to ease her burdens—and the two of them left for the river. When they got there, she stripped off her tiny dress and took a dip into the cold water.

"Don't go too deep, Sobelle! You don't wanna get dragged by the currents!" Her father warned.

"Stay along the shoreline and leave the deeper parts of it! There are leeches in there as well so don't—" Water rushed into Sobelle's ears and she no longer heard her father's nagging. She swam underneath the current, air left her lungs slowly, she sank closer to the riverbed with every bubble that left her mouth. Sobelle opened her eyes, the water was murky. Of course it was. Shapes moved and swayed within the unclear depths and it took her a bit to adjust to them.

When she did, Sobelle was able to instinctively differentiate the plants from the animals. The former cast long dark shadows across her vision and often stayed in the same spot, while the latter swam away from her and could be barely seen. Sobelle rose to the surface and took a deep breath then dived back down again. She repeated what she did earlier and sank herself by expelling air from her lungs, though this time she had memorized some parts of the river.

This allowed her to check rocks for crabs and look for Shusks. The stationary creatures had a tough shell, and they were even slower than a snail. Sobelle found no issue when she grabbed them off the riverbed one by one, she upturned rocks and found more of them. A few managed to swim away for a few seconds, though Sobelle didn't know how. They had no flippers or hands, they looked like rocks, and rocks couldn't swim! Yet they did it anyway.

Maybe these rare few Shusks who could swim were blessed by the Gods as well, they treated everyone equally so it wasn't strange for them to bless some of the Living Rocks and give them the ability to traverse the water. Even if it's just for a moment. Sobelle felt a light buzz in her head so she rose from the water and brought her catch to her father. Who looked like he wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut and silently took the Living Rocks from Sobelle's hand.

"Shusks are plentiful this time of year huh?" Saltor checked one by flipping it over. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and opened one then swallowed it whole.

"Mm. I used to eat these frequently when I was a kid. I'd ask your mother to cook them too! She loved these."

"Really?" Sobelle rarely got the opportunity to learn more about the woman so she stopped diving into the water to ask her father more about her.

"What was she like? How did she cook them? By boiling?"

"No, not by boiling." Saltor tilted his head to the sky and smiled.

"Every few months, a merchant would pass by and they had these dark, bean sauce that tasted bitter. She would put that in water, boil it—" wait, didn't that mean the Shusks were still boiled? Why did her father say no? That didn't make sense.

"— and then odd a lot of onions into it, sometimes she put ginger in too. And after we wed, she started to add garlic for my sake."

"It sounds like it'd taste good." Sobelle was glad to learn more about her mother.

"It did. I was always so excited to go back home every time we had Shusks and it'd be ready by the time I got there. Your brothers loved it too!" Saltor laughed.

"And I'm sure you'd love it just as much if you were able to eat it before she died."

"... Yeah. Maybe." Sobelle felt her eyes sting and she decided that it'd be better to go to the river to gather more Shusks.

"I'll see if I can find some more."