"Huh?"
Jordie opened his eyes as he heard Minos cry out from within his arms. He was expecting to be barbecued by now. But when he looked up to see why that hadn't happened, he saw the khalkotauroi cow's mouth flames die down.
Minos' cry caused the Khalkotauroi cow to unexpectedly stop her fiery onslaught. Jordie was stunned at this sudden turn of events, but the voice of the System brought his focus back to the present.
[Minos' hunger is reaching critical levels. Please administer feed as soon as possible.]
"What?", Jordie asked aloud. He quickly focused on his bond with Minos and did feel that the feeling of hunger associated with him began to grow more and more intense.
"Crap!," he cursed while taking the bottle of milk out of his pack, "Feel free to scorch me later, but right now I gotta feed my kid!"
With a crying Minos in one arm, bottle in the other hand, Jordie used his teeth to uncork the drinking gourd and placed it near the baby's lip.
"Moowah! Moowah...mmmm"
"There you go, good boy," Jordie said in a relieved tone.
Minos began to happily and greedily drink down the bottle of khalkotauroi cow milk, the faint scent of cinnamon wafting in the air as some droplets of milk leaked out the sides of his mouth.
Unusually, the khalkotauroi cow did not take this moment or weakness to kill Jordie, but just...watch. Jordie was too busy focusing on feeding Minos, but if he had looked up, he would've seen that the khalkotauroi had a rather sad expression on her face.
Minos eventually drank down the whole bottle and let out a loud burp...only to start crying again.
"Wasn't enough huh? Hey System, think I could-"
[The System's assistance at this time is unnecessary.]
"Huh?"
"Moo."
_________________________________________________
"Why does she live out there with the old, injured and sick? Shouldn't she be with us and tend to the young?"
"Don't you know?"
"Know what?"
"When the raid happened last time, they managed to get pass the sentries."
"Her leg was torn while trying to protect her son!"
"But the son was lost in the conflict, taken away and never to be seen again."
"Well that's sad and all, but shouldn't she have recovered by now? And if she lost her son, shouldn't she be trying to get impregnated?"
"She should be, yes. But I think her leg is still hurt, why else would she be out there?"
"Perhaps she's unable to breed anymore?"
"Doubtful! She's only ten summers old, still in the prime of her life."
"So why is she hanging on the periphery then?"
"Who knows..."
These were the words she had heard practically everyday since her son was taken. She never retorted or confronted these words, but she did have answers she would never share with them.
"Tend to the young, you ask? The meals I make are for him and no others."
"Recovered, you say? I have not recovered. So what if the pain in my leg was gone, my heart still aches to this day."
"Still young, you say? My best years were lost when he became lost. I am no more but an old spinster at this point!"
"Replace him, you say? Have you no heart? No soul? How can I replace someone that is irreplaceable?"
"Just leave me here to die with the others," she thought, "It's the least I can do to make it up to him..."
Everyday she would go and mingle with the old, injured and sick and everyday she would go and make meals for a child who would never claim it.
She was certain that this would be her life until the Great Ones came to take her soul away.
But then one day, a strange little thief took away a meal she made...
_________________________________________________
The khalkotauroi cow walked over to the sitting Jordie and Minos, positioning herself so that Jordie was right beneath her udders.
"What?," Jordie asked confused.
"Moooo," the khalkotauroi cow responded while bobbing her head. It looked she was gesturing, but Jordie didn't exactly understand her.
"Moo!"
Minos began to reach out towards the udders hanging above them, his little hands just flailing above him. It didn't take long for Jordie to put two and two together.
"Oh...okay..."
Jordie repositioned Minos and lifted him up towards the dangling udders. Once he was in reach, Minos latched on with this hands and mouth and began to gulp down the bronze-colored, cinnamon scented milk.
Through his bond with Minos, Jordie could feel waves of happiness radiating from his soul.
"Drink up little guy, sorry it took a while," Jordie thought to himself as he saw baby Minos drinking the milk like there was no tomorrow, "wonder how it tastes..."
"Moo."
"What?"
"Moooo."
The khalkotauroi cow began to gesture with her head again, but this time while staring directly at Jordie.
[I think she wants you to drink up too, dear host.]
"I'm sorry, what?," Jordie asked in disbelief, "You're messing with me again, right?"
"Moo."
Instead of gesturing with her head, the khalkotauroi cow poked at Jordie with her hoof and then gestured upward.
"Uh...okay then," Jordie accepted reluctantly, "raw milk isn't that dangerous right."
[Only in Earth cows,] the System commented.
Making sure Minos was safely held, Jordie got to his knees and positioned himself so that he was eye-level with an udder that was opposite of Minos' position. Unfortunately, he forgot to factor in that his hands were fully occupied holding Minos.
"Guess I gotta do this old school...bottoms up?"
Jordie threw caution to the wind and dove face first into the cow's udder.
"Huh...taste like...mildly spicy horchata?," he thought to himself as he began to suckle the teat and feel the freshly squeezed milk going down his throat.
This was arguably the weirdest thing to happen to him in this life or the last, but it did feel oddly comforting to him.
[And this is why I gave you a luck stat...]
Both Jordie and Minos enjoyed their unexpected meal while the khalkotauroi cow had this satisfied look on her face.
They didn't understand how or why, but they had brought a little comfort into her life.