Chapter 3 #2
By the time the hunt was done, she was in a good mood and feeling a sense of accomplishment.
A pig was roasting with an apple in its mouth, and they would have the meal that they usually did only a little earlier.
They would tell the stories and eat, but then, instead of camping out, they would return home for the night.
This time, Oret started the stories with old warrior tales.
It was from the glorious times of old, and surprisingly, some humans knew old Majuri tales from the voyage here that other warriors had told.
Those were what several told. Victoria told a tale of saving elephants from poachers when there were so few left that they feared they would become extinct.
That is what ultimately happened: they had done everything they could to prevent it.
This planet had many elephants, or at least animals that closely resembled them.
They would always be a favorite of hers due to her past experience with them.
“An elephant never forgets? What does that really mean?” Oret asked.
“They have an especially long memory, and they ran trails every year and always knew which way to go.”
“Are you saying they were smarter than humans?”
“It is hard to compare animals to each other and to humans. Elephants have their own intelligence, as do certain other animals. Humans need to learn to appreciate animals and the things that they can do.” Victoria observed.
Hopefully, in this new world, people will learn to appreciate animals, plants, and the environment more and refrain from destroying any of them.
If they didn't, they would end up back where they were with a planet that could no longer support them.
She believed that the Majuri would teach them to do better and prevent them from repeating what had happened on Earth.
The humans who had come here seemed to understand the rules.
Hopefully, in this new world, people will learn to appreciate animals, plants, and the environment more and refrain from destroying any of them.
their previous planet. Many of them had never been able to make any of the rules or do any of the things that saved or destroyed their planet.
Here, it was up to each of them to do what was necessary to make sure that this planet would last forever.
“Here, have half this apple.” Oret handed her half.
“This is great. Those young warriors did a great job with the pig.”
“I agree, and you ate a good meal.”
She knew what he meant because he kept a close eye on how much she ate.
Even her husband hadn't taken as good care of her as he tried to do.
Avoiding him had not been a good decision because she had gotten run down and collapsed.
That wasn't something she ever wanted to do, and she certainly never wanted to do it again. Her family and close friends had all been unhappy about what had happened, and everyone had something to say about it. The problem was she knew they were right, and she’d let fear rule her.
Victoria was afraid of having a relationship with Oret.
He was such a strong and dominant male that she feared he would run over her.
Sara had pointed out that he’d shown no sign of doing that.
Fenwik was also dominant and even more so than Oret, but he’d not run over her.
It was time to let the fear go and see what could happen between them.
She could live a second life with Oret and enjoy the time she had left.
Victoria was too young to give up her life and not do everything she could with it.
Her daughter was right, and she knew it.
Now she needed to decide what to do about it.
Could she give this relationship a chance?
Was it time to see if she could find happiness again?
She couldn't live her life based on what she thought might happen to the rest of her family because there was no way to know.
What was likely was that some of them would be going elsewhere, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Oret took her back to her place, and they settled in for the night.
She had to admit that it was great to lie in his arms. How would it be to take things one step further?
There would only be one way to find out, but could she?
Not tonight, but maybe soon, because the need was there and she knew he felt it too.
They snuggled closely and fell asleep, and she didn't wake up until morning.
There was no denying that the Oret took her back to her place, and they settled in for the night.
She had to admit that it was great to lie in his arms. How would it be to take things one step further?
There would only be one way to find out, but could she?
Not tonight, but maybe soon, because the need was there and she knew he felt it too.
They snuggled closely and fell asleep, and she didn't wake up until morning.
There was no denying that she felt much better, and she had put on a little weight since her collapse.
It was due to the excellent care that he took of her.
He brought her the best meals and made sure she ate them.
They did things together that benefited the colony, while also helping her relax significantly.
They caught a lot of fish. Teaching them to clean the fish would be a little bit harder because they were still young children and didn't have the knife skills yet.
No one was expecting what happened when a sea monster made an appearance.
It tried to grab one of the children, but Victoria quickly cut the limb off that had wrapped around the child.
It didn't give up right away, and one of its other arms headed toward the other child, and Oret cut it off.
The creature let out a horrible, screaming noise and headed deep underwater.
With so much excitement, they decided to take the fish that they had caught and the two arms from the sea monster and head away from the water.
The children weren't scared, only excited, which was probably not a good thing.
A healthy amount of fear was beneficial, motivating you to take the necessary precautions to stay safe.
They were a good distance from the water when they began gutting and cutting up their fish.
Neither child was particularly excited about what they were doing now.
Both still gave it their best shot and appeared to be advancing their skills.
Once they were done, they headed back to where they could both take a shower.
Working with the fish or the kills of any kind was messy and made them smelly.
It was a good thing that showers were set up, allowing anyone to take one at any time.
A water treatment center was also set up to remove any contaminants that didn't belong in the water, ensuring that the water released into the holding tank was cleaner than the water that had entered it.
The Majuri had the ability to either break down the chemicals or impurities added to the water or pull them out and capture them, depending on the nature of those impurities.
If Earth had only had that technology, the planet would still be alive.
Victoria was sure that in time she would stop thinking about her old planet so much.
Oret had told her that in his time, Earth was used to teach children a lesson about how not to live and what not to do.
That was sad, but if they learned from the mistakes her planet had made, that was a good thing.
They met back up, now that they were both clean, and headed to the cafeteria for a meal.
She had to admit that had he not been with her, she would have probably skipped the meal.
The aroma of cooking fish filled the air, making her hungry.
They decided on the fried fish, even though she could admit that she liked fish, anyway, because they prepared.
Someone had made coleslaw, and it was very good.
The tartar sauce had added dill, which she preferred over the other kind.
Whatever the local root vegetable was, they had prepared it like fries, and it tasted remarkably like them.
There were also hush puppies that were neither undercooked nor overcooked, and she was very pleased with them.
The kitchen crew was improving at their job, and eating a meal was more enjoyable than ever.
To ensure they would get dessert, they went ahead and selected theirs.
Carrot cake was her choice while cherry pie was Oret’s.
They carried their plates and their dessert to a table in the cafeteria.
They usually sat in the kitchen, but someone was already taking a break there.
Maybe it was good for them to socialize with others.
Victoria didn't talk much, but she did listen to Oret as he spoke with the others, and she saw how easy his manner was.
When some of her miners came in, she was able to interact with them in the same way.
Other than her family and a few of the kitchen helpers, they were the people that she knew well.