a long time, and went back to digging out a watering trench for the field.
The sun was low in the sky, casting deep golden rays. In the distance, I heard the laughter of a Dakkari child. Even from the pyroki enclosure, I smelled the delicious aroma of warm spiced meat and simmering broth, wafting from the front of the camp. There would be a communal meal that night to celebrate our new home and it was the perfect, peaceful evening for one. I was looking forward to it.
Hukan emerged from between two tents, coming into sight, two baskets looped around her arms. Her eyes sought me out in the pen and then she they turned to my two guards.
In Dakkari, she addressed them and I watched them exchange looks before gazing over at me.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, approaching the fence of the enclosure, brow furrowed.
“Nik, Morakkari,” Hukan said, inclining her head, when my eyes met hers. “I was wondering if you would help me.”
“With what?” I asked.
“The females need fresh kuveri for the grand meal tonight. Many of them and quickly. I fear I cannot gather enough on my own, so I would like to request your help.”
My eyes turned to the black vine forest before returning to her, biting my lip. I was reminded that our relationship was still precarious. Her coming to me for help was surely another step in the right direction, wasn’t it?
I nodded, exiting the enclosure. “Of course,” I said, taking one of the baskets from her when she offered it to me. “I’d be happy to.”
“Thank you, Morakkari,” she said. “I am grateful.”
As we turned into the forest, my guards followed, though, like always, they stayed a respectful distance away. It was my first time stepping foot inside and I found that when my eyes adjusted to the darkness, it wasn’t as frightening as I thought it would be. Curious, as we walked further and further into the darkness, I passed my hand over the black vines and they felt smooth and soft beneath my palm.
“They make a good broth base,” Hukan told me when she noticed me eyeing them. “Very rich. Very nutritious. And inside, they have edible seeds, though you must boil them first.”
“It seems everything can be used for something,” I commented, looking around as Hukan led us deeper inside.
“It is the way of the Dakkari,” she told me, walking next to me. “To be wasteful is an insult to Kakkari. And if we take something, we must replenish it.”
“Is that what those golden seeds were for before we left the old camp?” I questioned. “To replenish?”
“Lysi,” she said. “Seeds that will produce food for the next horde or the next herd of animals that passes through. You get and then you give. Even during your tassimara, there were seeds planted in every lantern, so wherever they landed, wherever Kakkari’s wind took them, they would flourish and provide.”
My lips parted. “Really?”
I’d never known. I remembered the glowing lanterns lifting into the sky that night, twinkling like stars. I thought that…wonderful.
“Lysi, it is tradition. It is the Dakkari way.”
I’d heard that more times than not…the Dakkari way.
“Even the southlands,” Hukan continued, stepping over a fallen vine, “are evidence of this.”
I saw her look over her shoulder, at my guards, as I asked, “How so?”
She didn’t answer. At least not right away. We walked deeper and deeper so that even when I turned, I could no longer see the warm glow of the camp.
“The kuveri grow this far inside?” I asked, getting a little nervous with the darkness, though I hid it as best as I could. “There’s hardly any light. It’s a wonder that they grow at all.”
“They thrive best in darkness,” she replied and after a few more minutes of walking, she said, “Here we are.”
There was a small grove of kuveri berries, growing on grey, bushy, wild plants at the base of the stones the black vines grew on.
“Let us hurry, Morakkari,” Hukan said, already plucking some of the berries off and dropping them into her basket. “The grand meal grows near.”
I nodded and helped her pick the little fruits off the nearest bush.
“Thank you for bringing the sweet bread yesterday,” I commented after a little while had passed, once a quarter of my basket was filled. “It was delicious.”
Hukan inclined her head. After another moment, she said, “I always enjoy when the horde comes through the southlands. It is bountiful here, is it not?”
“It certainly seems so,” I