Faldrid's stomach rumbled, "How much longer do you think it will take her?"
Loutrin looked up from sharpening the metal skewer in his hand, "I'm not sure. I offered to go with her but she said she didn't need any help, so I'm sure she's fine. Well, unless she was lying."
Faldrid rested his chin on his hands with a tired look on his face, "no, she wasn't lying at all. But if she's the same as she was when I saw her last, the problem is she always gets too carried away."
Faldrid paused then turned to a man that was walking by the pair, "Hey, do you know how to hunt by any chance?"
The man froze as he was put on the spot, "w-well...umm...master I..."
The man's last words made Faldrid remember the green cloak he wore, "There's no need for such titles, I'm Faldrid, but about the previous question."
"Sister Sadine!" A Hand called out
Loutrin looked up, "looks like she's finally back."
Faldrid followed Loutrin's gaze and landed on a single figure walking to the camp.
"She doesn't seem to have anything with her." Faldrid said
"Looks like you're going to have to break open those rations. Even if Mistress Sadine will kill you."
A tired grin formed on Faldrid's face.
"Sadine! Where is that fat boar that you promised us?" Vale shouted out in irritation.
When they had all decided to rest for the night, Sadine insisted on going hunting to feed the party. Well, "insisted," may not be the right word as she said that she would kill whoever ate the rations that they had packed. The only reason Vale listened to her was because she had begged, and Vale knew Sadine wouldn't stop bothering her until she got what she wanted.
Sadine waved at all of them with an awkward smile, "Well, you see..."
Apparently, she had gotten carried away just as Faldrid suspected. She did, in fact, hunt down an enormous wild boar, but the only problem was that it was too big for her to carry back on her own, so Sadine, Vale and other Hands rushed to get the boar before it could spoil or was eaten by some other predator.
"You know just hunting down a dear or some small rabbits would have sufficed." Faldrid said to Sadine who was happily eating her prize right next to him.
"What are you saying? Just look how big that thing was! You should be thankful that I went out of my way just to feed you."
Sadine gave a smile with an air of superiority, but Faldrid was unimpressed, "You didn't go out of your way, you literally begged to hunt for us, and I would have been just fine eating the rations that were packed for the trip."
"Huh? Are you really saying that you would rather eat those horrible rations over this?"
Sadine started to shove the piece of meat into Faldrid's face as if it would make it look more appetizing. Just before Faldrid was about to push her away, Loutrin spoke up.
"The rations weren't that bad, but they definitely weren't as good as this." He looked up from eating the piece of meat in his hand.
"See Faldrid, what did I..."
Sadine furrowed her eyebrows as if noticing something off, "Wait, how would you know what the rations taste like."
"Because I ate some."
Sadine smiled to herself in disbelief, " You did what?"
Loutrin didn't look up from his plate, "I ate some of the rations."
"And why would you do such a thing when you knew that I was going out of my way to provide you with a quality meal."
Loutrin stopped eating and looked towards Sadine with a confused countenance, "Forgive me mistress, but I don't remember you ordering us not to eat the rations, and besides what would you expect after you took such a long-time hunting. It's not like I intended it to be a meal, but a snack."
Sadine turned to Faldrid with a hint of disbelief, "What do you think I should do in this situation?"
Truthfully Faldrid didn't know why he hadn't taken advantage of the rations as a way to hold him over until Sadine had gotten back. Maybe it had something to do with exercising patience? No, maybe it was out of respect for Sadine? Well, respect was a strong word, but it had been something like that.
Faldrid gave a sigh, "You shouldn't do anything. What did you expect after taking as long as you did? If you took a minute longer, I would have probably dived into the rations. You only made empty threats to stop everyone from eating them anyways."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that you should have gone for easy prey, instead of trying to impress us with that boar."
"What do you mean? I just thought that something like a boar would taste way better than just some ordinary deer or rabbits. Impressing my subordinates has nothing to do with the matter."
Faldrid shook his head, "Sure. I'm almost certain that if you saw a lion, you would have tried to bring it back to us to eat."
Sadine opened her mouth to speak but retracted her words as if changing her mind, "I..um..I...well you know lion is considered a delicacy in some places."
Faldrid had started to get annoyed again, "No place I've ever heard of."
Sadine chuckled, and slapped his back, "Well, you just need to broaden your horizons."
Faldrid looked towards Sadine as if to say, "really." Faldrid had extensively studied all of the known outside nations, and he could take a gamble that he knew more about them than any in close proximity. With that Sadine's chuckles became awkward, as she realized what she had just said.
Her laughter began to wane, "That still doesn't change the fact that I only had the wellbeing of my subordinates on my mind."
Sadine and Vale were of course one of the eldest hands having served Morta for around fifteen years. There were some that were older than her, but it was a rare sight. Most had died in service, become disabled, or had just taken on roles of administration in cities and towns. So, what she said was true, in regards to most of the other hands being her subordinates, since there was an unspoken rule that with experience comes power. Though all of the Hands out ranked the rest of the regular soldiers.
Loutrin nodded his head to Sadine's remark, "And I'm incredibly thankful for your concern, but by any chance did you pick up any fruit while you were out?"
Sadine stood up, took a deep inhale, and slowly exhaled, "GO GET YOUR OWN DAMN FRUIT!"
Faldrid smiled, "So much for concern."
Sadine was breathing heavily, most likely from annoyance and frustration, and as Faldrid stared at her a thought came to his mind.
"Sadine, now that I think about it why are you even here with us and not the other Hands?"
The camp they were in was set up into three parts. The first consisted of the regular Black Crescent members' fires and tents. Though the female members did separate themselves a little from their male counterparts. The second was the party's attokas, they were all clustered together in the center of the camp. The last part of the camp was made up of the Hands of Morta. The Hands kept to themselves and rarely interacted with any of the Bluecloacks. At the moment they were all located a ways away from the road, so as to not attract any unwanted attention by the chance some luxcian travelers were taking it by night.
From where he was Faldrid could see the entrance to the forest of Euma. The section of the forest had been cleared away to allow the road to go through it. To Faldrid's knowledge this was the only other gap in the forest besides from the break to the east, though this one was man made.
After Faldrid thought about it, they had been given a relatively easier task compared to the other parties. Lord Mortis for example had to lead his group all the way east to then cut through the forest to intercept the part of the caravan he was tracking. Faldrid's group, though, traveled less distance to the west in their pursuit.
Sadine sat back down on her log, "I have no interest in talking to them. Really, you should just see how they look at me. It's like they think I'm not even a tenebrage. Like I've transcended that or something. Like they'll learn something by just being in my presence."
Faldrid perfectly understood her feelings, but Loutrin didn't seem like he could be more confused, "But mistress, what's wrong with that? I think anyone would give anything to be in your position."
Sadine chuckled, "You would think that wouldn't you?" She paused looking into the fire, "it's just not for me. I'll leave all that to Vale. She's a natural at it. She probably enjoys it, too."
Even though Faldrid understood where she was coming from, something still bothered him, "But last time I saw you that was all you wanted."
Sadine shrugged, "I did, but things change."
"Let's hope not too much."
Sadine smirked and stood up again, "I would have to disagree. Things are starting to drag." She gave a wave as she walked away, "See you in the morning Faldrid."
Faldrid didn't hear the last part, "but isn't that a good thing?"