Neve noticed and he didn’t say anything. He liked it. He didn’t know why he enjoyed the fact that Cael was following him everywhere and being protective. No one had ever been protective of him like that so there was no way he was going to hate it.
The first ember appeared in someone’s notch about twenty minutes in. The man stared at it like he wasn’t sure it was real.
"Blow on it," Neve said. "Gently. Cup your hands."
The man blew.
A small flame appeared.
The men around him made a sound that Neve had never heard a group of adult warriors make before. They were genuinely delighted like children.
Neve almost smiled.
He showed them how to transfer the flame to fuel. How to feed it with small pieces first before adding larger wood. How to build it up without smothering it and how to bring it down without losing it entirely.
Then he showed them the meat.
He had them skewer pieces on their sharpened spikes and hold them over the flames. He walked through the clearing correcting angles and distances. Too close and it burns on the outside and stays raw inside. Too far and you’re there for an hour. Find the heat without touching the flame.
"Flip it," he said regularly. "Every few minutes. Both sides need the same time."
"How do we know when it’s done?"
"Colour and smell," Neve said. "When it stops smelling raw and starts smelling like last night, it’s close. Press it gently with your finger."
He went around checking and correcting. A few pieces were burnt on one side by people who had gotten distracted talking. He used those as examples of what not to do, which they found funnier than he expected.
For the drying, which was a longer process, lower heat, and a greater distance from the flame. He showed them how to set up a rack using the spikes and some of the bamboo. Thin cuts of meat, hung to dry slowly rather than roasted, the smoke does the work over time.
"This will be perfect for winter," he said. "This takes hours but the meat will last weeks. You won’t need to hunt in the worst cold."
The chief, who had appeared silently at the edge of the clearing at some point, was watching with his arms folded and his chin slightly raised.
Neve kept going.
"Now. For the salt..."
Murmuring started, followed by a few uncomfortable looks.
"The poison," someone said.
"Small amounts are not poison," Neve said. "Last night you tasted it. Did anyone get sick?"
Silence.
"You’re only going to sprinkle. Not pour. Less than you think you need." He held up his fingers to show the amount. "This much. On both sides, near the end of cooking."
"I have salt," Gideon’s voice came from the back.
The crowd parted slightly as Cael’s brother came through carrying a clay container. He set it near Neve and stepped back.
"I used it for treatments," Gideon said. "So I have a large supply."
Neve had no idea Gideon had. He felt a bit angry for spending that one crystal to get salt while the villagers got their own for free.
’You shouldn’t be angry, Neve. Just smile and continue.’
He adjusted the linen on his body and continued.
"Perfect," Neve said, clapping his hands once. "We’ll use some of this today and keep the rest stored for cooking. Everyone take a small amount."
He showed them the application once on his own piece.
They copied him.
The salt hit the meat over the fire and the smell changed immediately. The clearing reacted.
"There it is," someone said.
"That’s the smell from last night—"
"Oh—"
Within twenty minutes the clearing smelled extraordinary and everyone had something in their hands. The atmosphere had shifted from learning to something closer to celebration. Men who had been strangers to Neve three days ago were nudging each other and comparing their pieces and arguing good-naturedly about whose fire was better.
Neve stood back and watched.
’This is it,’ he thought. ’This is the mission. Not just the cooking. This. Them being here, doing this together, trusting that it works. Ha! I should have been a teacher instead of working in that zoo.’
He was busy admiring himself and his hard work when he heard a loud thud.
Someone behind dropped to the ground.
It was one of the younger men near the back. He sat down at first and then fainted on the ground. The people around him were crouching immediately and the celebration noise cut off.
"He fainted!"
"Is he breathing?"
Then...
"The salt—"
"It’s the meat—"
Two voices from the left, loud and sharp.
"He poisoned them!"
"That red fruit shouldn’t be trusted!"
Neve looked toward the voices without surprise.
The two women from the other day. Isabella’s friends. Standing at the edge of the clearing. The expressions on their faces were obviously screaming that they had been ready for this moment.
"The outsider poisoned the meat," the taller one said, loudly enough for the whole clearing to hear. "We told you. We told everyone he couldn’t be trusted."
Around the clearing, faces that had been open and happy two minutes ago were doing something uncertain now.
Eyes moving between Neve and the man on the ground. The unfairness of it was so predictable that Neve felt it more as exhaustion than anger.
’Of course,’ he thought. ’It always happens like this. One thing goes wrong and everything you built tips sideways.’
He exhaled slowly through his nose.
{System Notification: Bonus Mission Unlocked — Prove Yourself.}
{Reward: Sewing Kit.}
Neve looked at the notification as his eyes widened in surprise.
He looked at the man on the ground and looked at the two women watching him with satisfied expressions.
’Sewing kit,’ he thought. ’I need that sewing kit.’
He straightened up and looked at the clearing full of people waiting to see what he would do next.
"I guess I’ll have to prove myself then,"