Kai stepped on a batch of seaweed! This was a great find as she was thinking about broadening her foraging horizons. She only really saw this variety in a packet, dried, in the supermarket, rarely stocked on the shelf. She decided to pick a few broad leaves and leave the rest for further cultivation. She would dry these and continue in her underwater forage.

Every now and then she would hold her breath, pinch her nose, and go into the water, scanning with her eyes and hands, looking for other edible finds. She found a few water snails, which she plucked and popped in her mesh bag along with the seaweed.

The more comfortable she got in the water, the more confident she became to explore and had finally let go of her nose. The water was clear however she reveled in the chance to explore this unknown region. She was only familiar with chlorine infested pools in the summer crammed with people at the public swimming hole. She only as a kid went swimming in a lake with her parents on a camping trip once and was traumatized as the swampy area gifted her with a large leech attached onto her round plump child-sized butt. She cried as her parents tried to get it off with salt, and finally moved onto a lighter combined with a stick smoldering off the campfire. She shuddered at the thought and continued onward, keeping note on the edible plants that lined the quiet riverbank.

Kai was happy that she was exploring this amazing space that worked as nature’s food market. She foraged plenty river snails, lily roots, minnows, crawfish, cat tails, water chestnuts, among the few ingredients to name. She started going down river along the bank, foraging, and worked her way back along the muddy shore. The minnows were carefully caught via her collapsible thin mesh colander, scooping them in shallow areas, letting the tiny bodies air dry after a good batch was collected in a few sweeps in the water. Everything was edible and suitable to be cooked in various ways and was a haul big enough to be made into multiple dishes, if preserved correctly. She couldn’t wait to taste the fresh ingredients in a superb dish, so she wanted to head back with the supplies so that tomorrow she could afford the ample time to create and prep for cooking these dishes. She managed to find her way to her shoes and towel just as the light was completely faded and the stars and moon lit up the body of water, cashing reflections to dance across the water. Her mesh bag was heavy and full of waterlogged ingredients that she would immerse in a huge bowl of cold water to preserve until the next morning.

Kai made her way back to camp under the moon light and saw that the fire died down, Mao curled up next to it for warmth while Kapt’n apparently used his specter paw to add a few more wood logs to keep the fire controlled to produce embers.

She smiled and walked past the scene, heading to the cave to find another collapsible bowl to put in her bounty and finalize that series of events. She was completely fatigued and wanted to finish everything up to finally get some rest.

Kai found the bowl, got the water, and put both the mesh bag with the water ingredients and fish into the water to preserve their freshness. The water lily root was kept outside the bowl, as it was a strange ingredient that was like a crunchy potato with holes and did not require water. She finally finished all these chores and put some warmer polar fleece clothes on, feeling the chilly air brush up against her wet skin.

Kai went back into the cave and located her palm branch makeshift bed and blankets, whish caused her to pull a face and mutter under her breath, “fucccck meee, this is hella shitty for my first night. At least I got this gig up to this point.”

She got into her leafy bed and fished out any other clothing along with her thin blanket she brought from her pack, hoping the night did not get any cooler as she drifted off to sleep. Exhaustion took hold of her as she recapped how much she got done in one day and how much more needed to be done before she could return to civilization and lazily curl up in her own bed in comfort.

***

The next morning, Kai woke up to the dawn of a new morning. Her nose was the coldest as she found her body was relatively warm. Mao had found a spot to sleep against her, keeping her body warm as she spooned him for warmth.

She got up and yawned, trying her best not to wake him up while putting on some basic clothes.

She swiftly took a drink from the water bottle filled with clean spring water and rinsed her mouth, then proceeded to fish her toothbrush and tooth paste out of her pack to freshen up.

The air was gorgeous and fresh smelling, giving a sense of pure energy wash over her. She had a relaxed feeling after waking up and she felt unhurried to work on little projects. The first one was breakfast.

There were many items she foraged and wanted to use a bunch up so it wouldn’t spoil. She decided to make a simple soup, starting with the broth base. She needed to cook certain items in order so that cooking times could adjust frequently. Broths that were hurried did not pack as much flavor so she had to use the fish as a basic platform to steep the rest of the flavors in.

The first thing she did was kick up the ashes and relight the fire from the embers last night. This posed no problems as the embers were shallow, lit up the debris easily and was constituently consuming the wood like a hungry baby. A few medium and heavy logs after the light dry foliage allowed Kai to unhurriedly stoke the fire and get it to a reasonable way before pulling her attention on her next task.

The pot of water that was used the previous night was still there and had water in it but was too big.

She needed a smaller pot for a smaller portion of breakfast. She didn’t plan on the usual breakfast or the emergency ration granola bars but wanted to earnestly live off the land so that she fully had a taste of the bounty from within.

She walked back to her pack and freed the pan out along with a few other items she forgot about. One of these items was a mini portable sleeping blanket and she cursed. This item would have saved a lot of effort, energy, and heat if she remembered she brought it. She breathed out the bad vibes and let bygones be bygones and made sure to remember to use it in the future, laying it on the surface which was described as a primitive bed with the cats on it.

She quietly walked back to the fire and had the small pot along with a bunch of items she planned on using. A collapsible small grill rack was one of the items she grabbed which she thought back she felt was essential in her realm of cooking.

Kai wanted to lightly grill some vegetables while boiling others in the soup. The materials she got last night would be essential to use while some other fresher ingredients would also require consumption before It completely fouled as she had no fridge and had to rely on natural sources to keep anything fresh. The sea creatures were one of them. Those immediately got separated, washed, and finally tossed into the small pot. Kai used her utility knife to peel the water lotus root to show off the fleshy potato-esque interior before chopping it up and putting some in the pot and some into the griller. Those needed to boil first and the rest could take the time to process.

Everything went by quickly and smoothly. The fish broth melded well with the roots and vegetables in the cooking. The bamboo shoots became the harmony in the dish while the seaweed was highlighted as the melody. Arugula and watercress meshed well with the overall percussion in the dish while the ginger was the conductor in leading all the great flavors in the soup. The orchestra of flavors gave way every bite and after Kai’s second bowl, it was long gone along with her grilled veggies. Those didn’t turn out well however she needed to truly find some delicious delectable materials and that technical problem would be history.

The breakfast ended well on a high note and Kai went back to the cave to pull out some kitty vittles for the lazy feline. This wouldn’t last for too long however she knew that Mao could take pride in finding his own way or would share off of her when he was hungry and so she didn’t feel too obliged to cut his meals down to meager portions just to sustain a lazy approach. He already demonstrated a will to assist so she didn’t want to wake him up and start demanding some work done since he was just a house cat that seemed to be able to talk and go into another world.

Her hands rummaged through her pack and started to pick through the items to start her day and refocus herself on her projects to move forward to find and join the clan properly.