Rick had cooked the monster boar.

All of it.

Because Monica would not let anyone else handle the edible meat once it had been cut off from the carcass. She almost even complained over them throwing away the inedible (for humans) guts.

So it became Rick’s job to be the one in charge of rotating slabs of meat on a stick over the fire until it was cooked at least enough for Victor to swoop in with a considerable amount of honey to lather the thing in and to have the twins disappear into their storage space. This way, they could make the meat last for longer.

The process took almost a full day. Especially with Dia pouring over the thing and using her powers to remove parasites and toxins from its flesh, a rather standard practice when the wild game reached a certain age and size.

The first three chunks had gone and vanished, with Monica being none the wiser. The fourth she realized something was up. Everything after that point meant she stuck to his side and glared at each chunk of meat as if daring them to turn into thin air like the previous ones had.

And as soon as her portion was done, she ate it. And the two portions after, and the two after that. And another one as they hit the road once more.

Half an hour later, Monica began to groan.

“What is it?” Rick already knew the answer. She was cupping her gut and her face was slightly green. “Feeling bad?”

“Bad.” She patted her belly. It was ever so slightly less ‘perfect abs’ than she’d had the morning prior. “Hurt.”

“You ate too much, dumb dumb.”

“Rick bad.” Monica glared him, the intent clear in her eyes. ‘I know I overate, and it’s your fault’.

He burst into laughter, earning a shove out of her that nearly knocked him to the ground. The feline walked with one paw firmly grasping the ruck-sack where she kept the remainder of HER meat, and the other on her tummy. Her gaze turned forward as she sulked on. Rick for the most part, held in the amusement as they moved, noting that despite the lack of a handsy cat, a handsy nurse had quietly taken the Sabertooth’s place.

“My hand’s never going to be free, is it?”

“Not if I can help it.”

Not particularly disheartened, he carried on.

“People ahead.” Mr. Gabriel interrupted the otherwise mostly idyllic walk down the dirt road. The centaur he was riding tightened her stance and moved slightly to the side of the road.

She was clearly intent on making a run for it with the old man if things got hairy.

It was a shift in the air, Rick noticed it quite easily enough. All of a sudden, the maidens had changed positions, moving towards the perimeter of the group. Even Dia tensed and held his hand more firmly, also looking just about ready to yank him towards her and out of harm’s way.

The only two that barely moved were Monica and Lizzy. The reptile remained trailing behind Kat. Monica just snorted and let out a grumble as she walked ahead of Rick, effectively in the lead of the whole group.

As they moved forward, Rick caught sight of the group the older man had spoken of. It was a caravan of some sort, no less than twenty or so carts, most with improvised cloth roofs and at least forty or so maidens and some humans walking along. Each cart was being pulled by either a centaur or a normal maiden, and Rick quickly noticed most of them looked like they were one missed meal away from collapsing.

Victor quickly walked ahead of Rick and Monica, waving towards the caravan as one of the maidens broke off from the security perimeter and approached. The woman clearly had seen better days. There were bags under her eyes and she froze the moment she’d spotted Monica. It was clear her focus was on the black collar the Sabertooth wore before it moved towards Rick and Victor.

“Hail.” She straightened up. “What do you seek?”

“Hello Cadix, I’m Victor. I have wares if the people wish to buy.”

“We have no coin, only trade.” The light of recognition never made it through her soured expression. “We also do not allow blackies to join.”

Rick took the turn to step forward. “I’m not sure what issue you have with Monica, but we’ll just move ahead of your group and continue on.”

“Traitorous feralborn bitches, that’s what our ‘issue’ is!” Cadix flicked her hand forward, fist clenched tightly as she twisted it in place before she put it back on the hilt of her sword. Some sort of gesture Rick had not seen before.

“We have no ill will.” Victor quickly spoke up, glancing at Rick and then at the rest of the group. “We will be on our way if you let us pass.”

Cadix didn’t have any complaints to add to that. She merely walked back to the caravan, speaking with various people along the way. And the whole thing slowed down, which made it easier for them to circle around and just continue down the road. Every step of the way, Rick could feel open glares directed towards Monica, some even at Lizzy. More than a few of the maidens even repeated the gesture Cadix had made.

And the feline had not cared a single bit, more focused on her aching tummy and that Rick wasn’t too far off.

“What’s up with them?” Kat whispered in a low voice as soon as the caravan was a good hundred meters behind them.

“Survivors.” Victor shook his head. “Some from Seledo, even. I’d considered traveling with them, but caravans like these aren’t the safest bet.”

“They’d have surely killed us and taken our things along the way.” One of the twins hissed under her breath.

“Where are they headed?” Tomas wondered. “Can’t they just… stay in Seledo?”

“It’s the law.” Rick glanced at Dia, the pink-haired maiden squirmed a little.

“She is correct.” Freya added. “Any who lose their home are to travel towards the nearest large city. If the local Lord deems it as a possibility, they will be given provisions, coin, and sent back. If not, they will be employed and given a place to stay in the Lord’s city itself.”

“That sounds like theft and abuse.” Mr. Gabriel snarled as Rose kept clopping her way down the road from the side of the group.

“Dad said the law came about because of the raiders and Wildlings.” Ginny muttered as she walked next to Kat. “After a feral attack, smaller villages are too weakened to be able to sustain those that can’t pull their weight. Having survivors come could very well result in everything crumbling down as people fight for food or shelter when things break down.”

“People who lose their homes in such a way have turned to banditry many times.” The elf nodded, looking over her shoulder towards the caravan as it was slowly increasingly further away. “The Wildlings emerged out of exactly that. And it is something the Kingdom has little interest in fomenting.”

“So Wildlings are people who just opted to live off the grid, huh. Cool.”

“Wildlings are those who have forsaken the kingdom and its laws.” Dia spoke under her breath, grasping Rick’s hand a bit more tightly as her gaze became lost in something only she could see. “Many Wildlings are run by sadistic monsters, trapping and torturing humans.”

“That…” Tomas hesitated, glancing at Freya.

The Elf shook her head. “We once found a human who’d escaped a Wildling group that lived in the frosty peaks at the edge of the kingdom.”

“Noah.”

Ginny tensed, expression souring as her face lowered and looked towards the ground with clenched fists. “Papa adopted him, to keep him from having to be sent to Balet.”

Rick frowned slightly, quite sure he’d heard of the name before. “I take things didn’t go smoothly.”

“It was the normal kind of drama amongst humans.” Freya shook her head dismissively. “Major Huge had several people in the village that didn’t get along well with the way he did things. Eventually it escalated, and after a feral wave had left the village rather tight in resources, the Baron sent Noah off along with the others that had lost their homes.”

“The group was ambushed by ferals somewhere along the way.”

With a strong shake of her head, Ginny sighed, azure claws relaxing as she turned to look away. She only hesitated as Kat reached out to pat her shoulder.

“At least the Baron’s dead now.”

Somehow, Rick got the impression the gesture had not been as reassuring as Kat had intended it to be.