Pouring eight bottles of bamboo water into the pan, Urist brought the pot to a boil. He turned to Rork and Rat and told them to gather some bamboo and split them in half. To his delight, the bamboo team had gathered a good amount of bamboo to use. Urist figured he could cook with the bamboo as a one-time use mini pot.

He had read somewhere that rocks and bamboo could be used to cook items like a pan if they were hot enough. Having the cooking problem taken care of, Urist watched eagerly, mouth-watering, as he thought about fish head stew. It almost made him jump with glee.

He turned to Uroa and Briana who had finished making the filters. “Can you gather the taro plant roots you found? I wanna add them to the stew. Oh, but make sure to be careful with the plant and rebury them in the ground afterward.”

“Un!”

“I hope we don’t run into those monsters… I mean those hares.”

The pair headed off into the forest while Urist got to work with Uria, cooking some of the fillets on rocks near the fire. Soon the water in the pan began to boil and Urist estimated it was time to throw the fish heads inside. Both of the teams came back with the items requested. The two dwarfs split the bamboo and then used it to cook.

Into one of the split bamboos, Urist poured a bottle of water. He used it to clean the dirt off the dozen or so taro roots that looked like brown balls. Then cleaned the bronze knife in the water to wash away the fish smell.

He placed the taro roots on the rock cutting board and used his knife to dice them into cubes. Grabbing the freshly cut taro, he threw it into the boiling pot and stirred. The smell of fish and taro floated near his nose moving his heart. The only regret on his mind was they hadn’t found any good spices to use. He could only pray that the fish and taro could make up the taste.

By this point, the rest of the dwarfs had returned to the cave and were watching the cooking take place. Urist took the leaf full of fish guts and far away from camp so large creatures wouldn’t be attracted to the smell. Digging a deep hole with a shovel, Urist hoped to feed the soil nutrients in hopes to make this spot rich for growing plants.

Finishing his work, he headed back to the camp.

Finished with the task, he headed back to eat with the group. As he approached, he could hear a cheerful discussion between the dwarfs about how their work went. Uria was watching the food, making sure it was thoroughly cooked on each side and stirring the pot with a peeled branch used as a makeshift spoon.

Rolling up his sleeves, Urist helped her out with the cooking. Within an hour, the meal was ready to serve. Each dwarf got three fillets and two fish heads while the guts were fed to the chickens and dogs.

They dug into the food and Urist almost cried. "Finally, something other than corn dogs. Let’s eat some fish, guys.”

Everyone cheered. Fish heads and taro cubes were poured into split bamboo as makeshift bowls. The fillets were eaten from the bamboo they were cooked in. Nine water bottles and corndog meals were taken out to eat as just the fish wasn't insufficient for the dwarf's appetite.

Which surprised Urist at how hungry everyone was, Where does a dwarf stomach put it all?

The dwarfs finished the meal by popping the fish eyes into their mouths and picking at the heads for meat.

It was a nice time but Urist kind of wished they had some sort of booze to drink. He had a faint recollection of his other life being young. He and his father in the moonlight shared good times together, drinking while fishing. The only thing his father told him about drinking was never to drink sad only for celebrations.

A feeling of longing filled Urist.

Father. Are you alright?

Although his memories were distorted and twisted, he remembered drinking under the moonlight with his old man, cracking bad dad puns together. The only frustrating thing was his father's face being etched out with black squiggly lines. It was like that for everyone in his past life; their faces were erased from his memory.

It filled him with grief and heartache to know he forgot the faces of the family he once loved.

I want to see you guys again.

He had no answers, only questions. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know why he knew he was dwarf. Heck, he didn’t even know what stopped him from breaking down into madness. Why was he trying so hard to survive? What’s the point? The deeper he thought, the sourer his mood became. Did anything he did here have meaning?.

“Hey boss, you alright?” Uria poked Urist’s cheek.

Her voice was like a light that shattered the storm brewing in Urist’s thoughts. He looked at her clear blue eyes. That bright complexion that brings relief to any, and that unabated curiosity that made him want to protect her.

He cut his line of thought and looked around to see the merry dwarfs having a good time. Every one of them cheering without fearing tomorrow. They were living in the present, celebrating the past, and excited about the future. Perhaps it’s because of these guys that I can keep going forward.

He smiled, hiding away his thoughts. “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about the things we have to do tomorrow. Actually, it’s a good time to tell you guys my thoughts, what we need to do tomorrow is…”

Countdown

Time: 4 Days 3 hours 5 minutes until Market opens

Points Gained: 2148

The clock in his brain kept counting down as the points had stopped at 2148 for today. It was a strange concept to see them growing and not know the meaning. Despite thinking about it all this time, could only come up that these points he gained somehow were connected to this so-called 'market'.

He did have one worry. After the countdown was finished, what would happen? Would there be another countdown? Would it open up the market again? Would it instead make another event? What if more than one countdown appeared?

His thoughts chased him to no end, to the point it felt like he was driving himself mad thinking about it. He would just have to wait and see. For now, it would be best to stop thinking and get to bed. They had a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Man, that fish soup could have tasted better with some salt... Ugh, I wish we also had potatoes. At least we didn't have to eat only corn dogs today. I'm starting to hate their flavor.