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Crow drove in as the sun was setting.
The Drifter stood at the card table, using it as a prep counter, chopping the water potatoes they had foraged earlier in the day. A small box of spices lay open. Several bottles had their lids off.
Eris sat by the fire, a bucket in her crossed legs, her lips and fingertips stained purple.
“All right, what’d you bring me, hotshot?” the Drifter called out.
“Geese.” Crow held up two large dead birds by their long necks. “And eggs for your breakfast tomorrow if you like.”
Drifter nodded appreciatively as he took the dead waterfowl and held them up to inspect them. “Oh this is nice. Better than I expected. This’ll be good. Geese have good fat. Moondust, you’re gonna love this.”
“I’m sure I’d love whatever you make. I do not think I have ever eaten a goose.”
“The nastier the critters are, the better they taste. And geese… are assholes.”
Crow laughed.
Drifter’s eyes sparkled. “I’m gonna ruin goose for you forever, Three-Eyes. You ain’t never gonna be able to eat it made by someone who ain’t me and not think back to how much better this was.” He winked at her.
Crow laughed again.
“You too.”
“I look forward to it.” Crow sat down next to Eris by the fire.
“Blueberries?” she asked him, holding out the pail.
“Sure.” He took a handful.
“Warning you now," Drifter said over his shoulder, "Those ones are pretty sour. She likes ‘em underripe.”
“They’re good.” Eris talked while chewing. “I didn’t know blueberries could be this good.”
Crow put a few in his mouth and blinked, smiling. “They are definitely sour, but still good.”
“I warned ya.”
“So good. Even the sweet ones make the sour ones more sour.”
“Lotta stuff tastes best fresh from the bush, sweetheart.” He winked at her.
Eris began to cough. Crow blushed. Glint floated near Crow, obviously confused. The Drifter’s ghost spun its shell near Eris’s shoulder in concern until she started breathing normally, then settled down on her knee.
“You’re supposed to eat ‘em, not breathe ‘em, Moondust.”
“You licentious wretch. You made a blueberry go up my nose.”
“I think I get double points for that.”
The Drifter took the dead geese and a knife and walked out to where the lake was lapping up against the rock.
“Points?” asked Glint, looking to Crow. “What are the points for?”
The Drifter looked up. “Tell ya when you’re older.”
Both Eris and Crow nearly spit their blueberries out of their mouths, laughing.
“He is insufferable,” she mumbled through her mouthful of blueberries.
Crow couldn’t stop smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen either of you so happy.”
“We are… good for each other.” Eris agreed through purple lips.
“Crow. Don’t forget the tea.” Glint said beside him.
“That’s what I was forgetting. Thank you. Devrim sent me with tea for you.”
“Mmmm…”
“Oh that’ll be good.” Drifter commented from the water. “That man knows his tea. What’d he send us?”
“Hold on let me get it.” Crow stood and went back to his sparrow.
“Devrim is a treasure.” Eris said appreciatively.
“He said the exact same thing about you,” said Glint.
Eris gave him a doubtful look. “Did he? Or is that another one of your creative interpretations, little ghost?”
“Uh… um…”
“He did actually say that.” Crow returned with a small wooden box and handed it to Eris.
She smiled and opened it. “Assam. I like Assam.” She put the pouch on the ground beside her and pulled out another. “Darjeeling. I like that one too. And Blackcurrant. I’ve never had Blackcurrant.”
“That’ll go real good with the stick bread in the morning.” Drifter called from the water. “Especially if we make it with the blueberries inside of it.”
Eris paused. “Oh… oh that will be so nice… the blueberries inside of the stick bread…”
“Yeah. That’s why I took out that mug of them so you wouldn’t eat them all.”
“I thought those were for you to eat.”
“I mean, I will. With you. In the stick bread. In the morning.”
He crouched and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head on his way to the table, his hands full of raw goose meat.
Eris placed the pouches of tea back into the box. “Please tell Devrim thank you from us. This is lovely and we are very much looking forward to it.”
“We will,” Glint said cheerfully.
Crow smiled and scooped another handful of blueberries out of Eris’ bucket.
“All right, all right, all right… this is gonna be good.” Drifter approached the fire with a cast iron pan with a lid on it. He put the pan on the ground and used a fresh log to pull a bunch of coals out from the middle of the fire before tipping the log over onto the rest of the fire to keep it going.
He put the pan on the coals and turned the handle so it wouldn’t get kicked but also wasn’t in the fire.
“Mind that. It’s going to literally get searing hot.”
Crow nodded.
Drifter went back to the lake to wash his hands and returned to the table with a wet cloth bag to wipe it down. He picked up another, dry, cloth bag, folded it and brought it to the fire to use on the pan when it needed to be moved.
Then he sat down next to Eris.
“We ain’t got plates or cutlery so it’ll be us three eating out of the pan with knives, but I figure current company will be fine with that.”
Crow chuckled. Eris leaned her head on the Drifter’s shoulder smiling. Drifter reached into the bucket in her lap, pulled out a handful of blueberries and popped them into his mouth. “Damn! Those are sour!”
“So good.” Eris mumbled.
He snaked his arm around her waist.
“Not as good as watchin’ you this morning…” Eris tensed and her face whipped around to stare at him, “...climbing trees.”
She relaxed and then looked at Crow. “I have indeed been climbing trees,” she said, as though it were a terribly scandalous secret she was asking him to keep.
“What’s the matter beautiful?” he whispered in her ear. “Did ya think I was going to say something else?”
“Rat,” she hissed.
“What… you gonna tell me to… watch my tongue?” His eyes glittered and he grinned mischievously, running his tongue along his bottom lip, daring her to react.
She glared at him.
Crow was suddenly very interested in the fire and did not make eye contact with either of them.
Drifter kissed the end of her nose. “Can’t imagine what’s getting ya so flustered, Moondust, you must be hungry. Let me check on our dinner.”
He shifted away from her and leaned over, lifting the lid with the cloth. The pan was full of water-potatoes, fungus, greens and several chunks of goose. He skewered each piece of goose in turn and flipped it, then he toppled the potatoes and used his knife like a stick to swirl the rest of the contents of the pan around the meat. He replaced the lid and stuck the blade of his knife into one of the quarter logs of firewood that were in a pile behind them. The sizzling continued.
“Lookin good. Won’t be much longer now. You find any excitement on your perimeter last night and/or this morning, Crow?”
“Nope. Quiet. Pretty nice, actually. This is a really beautiful area. I’ve never been here. Never would have come here if not for you two so… thank you. It’s really nice.”
“It is.” Eris smiled.
Crow’s smile softened and he looked from Drifter’s face to Eris’ and back again.
“Pretty magical, how she looks huh?” Drifter said to Crow, his face filled with pride and delight as he watched her.
“Yes. I’ve never seen you so happy, Eris. You either for that matter, Drifter.”
“Heh… you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” He nodded toward the pan. “Wait till this is done.”
The pan in front of the Drifter began to sizzle even more loudly. He opened the lid, flipped the goose meat once more and put the lid back on.
“Geese are waterfowl, which means they are greasy fuckers. And few things cook greasy fuckers as well or as tasty as one of the greatest human inventions to happen before the golden age.” He held both of his hands open toward the pan on the fire. “The cast iron frying pan.”
“Hmmm… It’s certainly the heaviest cooking pan I’ve ever encountered.” Eris commented, putting her bucket of blueberries next to Crow.
“That there is one of the glorious things about cast iron. Not only does it cook like nothin’ else, it also doubles as a bludgeoning weapon and can be used as a half-way decent shield against shrapnel in a pinch. Won't stop a bullet though. Found that out the hard way.”
Crow laughed. “I half expected you to say ‘transmat firing’ at the end of that just now.”
“Ha! I should add that one to the list.”
“Is someone running gambit for you while you’re away?” Crow asked.
“Nope. I stuck up a sign.” He held his hands out against the night sky showing them the size of a small sign. “On vacation. Fuck off.”
Eris laughed. “That’s so you.”
“What are they gonna do? Fire me?”
“Aren’t you always saying you’re worried someone will break in and go through your stuff?” Crow ate another handful of blueberries.
“Heh. That’s what the enhanced tripwire mines are for.”
“Enhanced with what?” Eris asked.
His eyes flashed like a snake’s. “Motes.”
Crow’s eyes went wide. “Oh no.”
“Rat, are you seriously saying you set traps filled with Taken that might spill into the tower if someone is foolish enough to rummage through your things?”
“Annex is pretty isolated. Only thing they might wreck is Ada’s loom and Ikora is right at the top of those stairs. Pretty sure the point of that has always been to make sure she could nova bomb my ass the moment anything got outta hand and just vaporize my entire operation, myself included. It’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve gone away lots of times and not had to clean up Taken from the tower yet. Well… none that successfully left the Annex anyway.”
Crow leaned over to Eris “I’ll let Ikora know she might want to keep an eye on it from a distance.”
Eris nodded.
“Oh I like that… get the Hidden to watch over the thing that’s most likely to be disturbed… by the Hidden. That’s hilarious. You absolutely should do that. Please do tell them to protect my shit from themselves for me.” He laughed.
Eris sighed.
The Drifter lifted the lid off of the pan again and smelled. “Mmm mmm. That’s smelling just about done.”
He pulled the pan off of the coals onto the bare stone ground.
“But first, before we do anything else, the moment of truth, Moondust needs to receive the best part as tribute to being the most badass individual to ever wander around this system.”
“Hmmm?”
The Drifter flipped a piece of goose over and began to cut at something, pulling it gingerly with his fingertips. “Ooooh super hot. Gotta let it sit for a moment so it doesn’t burn ya.”
“What is it?” She leaned over.
“Only the absolute best part of the goose. Any goose. The primary goal of anyone who cooks goose. The crowning achievement of goose cookin’.”
He held out a semi-translucent brown square about the size of his hand balanced on the flat of his knife.
“The skin.”
Eris carefully took it with two fingers, holding it up in the fire light and inspecting it from all angles.
She kept her face impassive and looked at the Drifter’s eyes while she took a bite off of one corner. It made an audible crunch.
She smirked as she chewed it and took another bite.
The Drifter grinned his cocky grin. “You were gonna try that thing again like this morning, weren’t ya? Except this time it is so damn good ya can’t. Can ya?”
“It’s… really… really good.” She took another bite. “It’s like… I don’t even know what it’s like. It’s good.”
She broke off a piece and shared it with Crow.
“Hey! That’s your tribute.”
“And therefore I can share it with whoever I wish.”
His mouth opened in a look of mock pain.
“Fine.” She broke off a piece and held it out to him as well. He leaned forward and ate it from her fingertips.
“Hot damn I’m good.”
“You… you actually are…“ Crow admitted.
Eris nodded.
“Haha! All right, hunters.” He grabbed the handle with the cloth and dragged the hot pan between the three of them. “Knives out. Let’s eat.”
For a while the only sounds they made were the scraping of knives on cast iron and murmurs of pleasure at the delicious meal.
“All right, Crow, you can definitely come back for dinner tomorrow.” The Drifter licked his knife.
“Thank you, I would like that, but I don't want to intrude on your vaca-”
“Bullshit you brought us goose.” The Drifter waved his knife in the air in a circular motion. “You are hereby absolved. Don't tell Ikora you're having fun on guard duty though. Can't have that.”
“Quite frankly it's an honor to be trusted by both Ikora and the two of you.”
“And it is an honor for us to have such a good friend to watch over us.” Eris added.
“Hey, do you want to go fishing with us tomorrow?” Drifter sat down behind Eris with one leg on either side of her. She leaned back against him and sighed contentedly, pulling his arms around her waist like he was a human blanket.
“Um sure, I like fishing.”
Drifter leaned his chin on Eris’ shoulder. “Figured we'd start a little after three and that should give us enough time to catch dinner.”
“I can be here after three.”
“Don't worry, we'll be sure to finish f-”
Eris elbowed him in the stomach.
Crow blushed.
Drifter groaned and keeled over dramatically. “Foraging! For plants! You’re killing me Moondust.”
She leaned back against him and ruffled his hair.
“You are so crude.”
Drifter groaned in mock agony again.
“Your company would be enjoyable, Crow. Please come. We would love to have you.”
“I’ll be here after three.” Crow looked down at Drifter still on the ground.
The Drifter’s eyes were glinting mischievously in the firelight. He nodded slightly and looked in the direction of Crow’s sparrow.
Crow took the hint and stood up, pulling up his hood. Glint flew up into the hood to hover by Crow’s ear.
The hunter watched as Drifter reached out and tapped his own ghost, then pointed to the woods. It sped off to the treeline.
“I'm off for now.” Crow said. “Have a good night.”
The Drifter stood and reached down a hand to help Eris up. She took it.
“Thank you.” Eris smiled. “We will. You t-”
The Drifter shifted his grip on her wrist, stepped sideways, bent his knee, planted his palm on her stomach and pulled hard, lifting her up in an arc through the air and launching her into the lake with a loud splash.
“Ha Ha!” He clapped his hands. “Gotcha!”
The lake water began to glow green.
“We should go now.” Glint said urgently in Crow’s ear.
“I will end you.” Eris snarled from the water.
Stasis crystals began to swirl in the air like snow.
“Seven miles, hunter,” the Drifter said softly to Crow before jumping into the water to avoid a cold snap grenade.