Mantain - Taha, Elise, Lillie

The underground cavern was warmer than before, when they stepped back into it. The day before, they had been the first group to join the mission to help the Matriarch, and had been working tirelessly from morning until late in the evening, ripping crystals out until they could not close their mouth anymore. 

They had been helped, then, by another vayron, one with healing magic, who had been called to stop the Matriarch's bleeding. He had cast a spell on them, and their jaw still felt sore, but half as before, and the cuts they had gotten all over their toungues and gums were closed. They had thanked the vayron, and had started the long trek to the surface. There, they had stayed together, first while doing the report of the day, of the progress made, of what they found, on their opinion and on any issues they noticed. Then, like zombies, they had all moved in a group towards a restaurant, and there they had sat down, wary of their jaw aching, and ordered soft food. They ate it together, and Lillie cried a little when she realized she could close her mouth.

 

The work had been tough, and a civilian like her, who managed a bakery, and did not fight like Haldor and Elise, or fight to survive like Taha, a reos like her had experienced neverending painful work for the first time. It was worth it, but the toll it took on her? Heavy. Nobody expected her to handle it well, and nobody batted an eye when she cried.

 

But now, now it was another day, and they had talked about it, yesterday, while eating. They had talked about how glad they were to taste the soup, to stop tasting their own blood for hours. How it had been hard, and it will keep being hard, and that getting to go home and rest, eat a meal, was the highlight of an awful day. 

 

So Elise had hummed, and asked. "Do you think the Matriarch would enjoy this soup?"

Taha had looked at her weird, like she had grown a second head. "Where's this coming from?" asked Haldor, voicing Taha's inner question.

"She's been stuck there, for decades, with food only from the underground." Elise explained. "I don't know what you've eaten until now, Taha, but don't you think this soup tastes good? Is there a food you tasted, after you came to the surface, that made you think: "this life is worth living?" I think she would enjoy it. I know she hates me, and you probably think this is just a ploy to make her like me, us, empyrians, but i still think she deserves to taste this. This soup, the chicken from the shop next door, the sweet buns Lillie offered us this morning. I think she should taste them all."

"I can bring some tomorrow, if you want, for her" Lillie said, following up Elise's discourse. 

Taha hummed, and Haldor kept quiet, silently eating the soup.

"And i know, ok? i know she will get angry. I know she will taste this and be glad to be alive and able to eat it, but i also know she will have the thought "we were stuck here, struggling, barely living, while the ones that left us behind got to enjoy delicious food and ignore us". I know she will think that. I know she will be angry, i know this anger will get displaced at us, at Lillie, who's young, who has generations behind her birth and the sealing of haedians in the underground. Still. I think she should taste them. I think good food must be shared."

The all kept eating, silence stretching over.

 

So now, another day, and they had received news that yes, they could be in the provisioning team, they would not need to be in the rescue team since they had worked tirelessly all yesterday and they were probably still sore, and that yes, the Matriarch was allowed to eat food from outside, Cailu had confirmed it. Cailu had said to bring light food, if bringing any, as the Matriarch did not eat a lot, and her stomach was used to food from the underground. Certain tastes might make her sick, certain ingredients might disrupt her body's process of producing crystals, making her sick. Some things might be poisonous for her, or she might be allergic. They had no idea what her body had mutated into, in the years that passed.

 

As the four of them entered the cave in which the Matriarch resided, their eyes widened at the sheer amount of reos going around. Some went past them, carrying bags of crystals, moving them outside of the cave, probably outside of the underground even, so that all the reos had space to move. Other were going at the Matriarch's body, ripping crystal after crystal. Some reos were chanting, a faint green hue overing over the place where they were ripping crystals, a healing spell so the crystal would not bleed and the wound would close. The sheer amount of reos, five times the amount of yesterday, left them stunned for a moment. Petrified.

 

“There's so many reos today...” Lillie murmured, her voice barely audible over the steady sound of movement around them. “I had no idea”

 

"So this is why they left us take on the task of bringing food, instead of assigning us to the rescue team once again" said Elise

 

"Many civilians have joined the rescue after yesterday. Those who were here came out exhausted, and they talked to their families and friends. It created a chain reaction, and everyone asked to help" Haldor said. He had been informed this morning, about the uptick in workforce, and had been glad.

 

They approached the Matriarch, wary of the reaction from yesterday, where Elise and Lillie got screamed at, the hatred evident. But today, they found nothing. They had joined later than the rest, it was already mid day, and the shift in personality from the Matriarch was evident. The cave was full of empyrians as well as vayrons, and as they approached, she opened her eyes but did not move otherwise. 

 

As they approached, Elise started talking. "We know you have been taken care of until now by the caregivers,” she said, her voice gentle. "And we don't expect you to trust us or to rely on us, that would be presumptuous. However, we thought you would appreciate us bringing you food."

 

She, Taha and Lillie removed the bags on their back, and the four reos began removing the containers from the bags. They all placed each container in front of the Matriarch, and they all saw the scowl she was wearing.

 

“We brought soup,” Haldor added, his voice quieter than usual. “We don't know what you've eaten until now, but with the abundance of water in the caves, we assumed soup was something you've had before plenty of times.”

 

"I own a bakery, i also bought something for you to eat, but it might be too heavy on your stomach." Lillie said.

 

The Matriarch’s eyes flickered with something unreadable, but she did not reply. Instead, she parted her jaws ever so slightly, an unspoken acceptance of their offering. Elise thought she probably had no idea what a bakery even was, but kept her mouth closed.

 

Taha stepped forward first, nudging open one of the containers. The rich aroma of the soup drifted into the air—an earthy broth infused with slow-simmered herbs, with potatoes and tender pieces of meat. It was on the thicker side but not heavy, fragrant but not overpowering. She slowly dipped the whole container in the Matriarch's mouth, letting the soup pool in the Matriarch's jaw, and then stepped back, looking at her.

 

The Matriarch closed her mouth, tasting what was fed to her. For a moment, there was only silence. Then, a single tear welled in the corner of her eye and slipped down the fur of her face. She opened her mouth again, and the four of them did not say a word and kept feeding her, one container at the time. It wasn't a lot, for a massive being as she was, but it was the max amount they could carry with their dwarfed bodied compared to her. 

 

Once the soup was gone, the bubble they were in seemed to pop. Around them, reos were still going at it, ripping crystals out of the Matriarch, but for a second, just one, nothing was there except kindness from the empyrians, and appreciation from the Matriarch.

 

They relationship was broken, and it would take a while to repair.

 

But they all were trying, and they would succeed.

 

Together.