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Updated: May 26, 2025
Using the wood Akar had brought him, Kalus built a small fire and they divided the cooked meat between them. Sylviana had protested slightly, but given in when informed that regardless of the Mantis' decision, there could be no more free meals of sebreum. There was an air of restless tension in the small enclosure.
Searching among the shadowy back reaches of the cave, he found his answer. There in the darkness, packed together in thick, faintly luminous clusters of yellow-green wax, lay several large deposits of sebreum, self-synthesized food of the giant praying mantis. 'So that is why she is so well fed, he scoffed, though deep inside he trembled.
Almost the moment Sylviana stopped speaking, he felt the cold dread of what he must do return from its small distance. He must leave this safe place and hunt. And though under present circumstances the odds against him were appalling, he knew he had to try. If the reserves of salted meat were tapped too soon, the sebreum not rationed, they would all starve in the cold heart of Winter.
... When do you have to hunt? 'In the afternoon, when the sun is warmer and I am stronger. I feel so weak. He shook his head to fight off a tear of exhaustion. 'Is there any water left? She brought it, along with a half-filled bowl of sebreum. He ate readily, though his body cried out for meat. She sat beside him on the bed, speaking softly and brushing out his hair.
Once I figured out that sebreum was something I could eat, as much as I cursed myself for it, I just couldn't make myself go out into that world. Then there was the Voice, telling me to stay there, and wait for some kind of sign. 'I was alone and scared and miserable. That anything at all could walk through the open entrance and tear me apart was obvious, and it really started getting to me.
She ate from the wooden bowl without relish. But still the food gave her sustenance. Kalus watched her, saddened, then rose and walked into the chamber beyond. He returned a short time later, his bowl filled with the green, sweet-smelling sebreum. He placed it in front of her. 'I know it's not easy for you. 'But the Mantis. 'Has a heart the same as I do.
'No, but I will be soon, with as much chance as he. And you can live on sebreum. 'He knows I will not let her starve. I'm sorry, Sylviana. But his place is with his own kind. 'It's not fair. Her eyes would not stop filling. Kalus picked up the fur she had discarded, and gently replaced it around her shoulders. He put his hand on her head shyly, feeling unworthy, and unable to do more.
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