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Shoneah folded her hands together and kneaded them lightly, trying to keep her patience. She had been making her own bullets for five years, she knew what she would need. But of course, he wouldn't know that. They hadn't spoken of it.

She was really going to have to learn patience, she mused.

"But we have no way to repay you for all you're doing for us," she told Tal.

The man held up one hand to stop her. "You are in need, and we need no other reason to help you. You need to get home."

"You can help us with our hunt, if you feel you owe us something," Jabek spoke up. "You took down a dragon, which tells me you must be quite the huntress yourself."

"Got that from my mother," Shoneah murmured.

Uri had been near the entrance to the cave, but now he came over to join the rest of them.

"I don't think this storm is going to let up any time soon," he told the others, crouching down by the fire. "We might as well settle in for the night."

It was barely past noon, but they all understood what he meant. It was quite dark outside now, and the thunder was only getting louder.

"Well, we could use some real rest," Shoneah murmured, rubbing her eyes. She was unaware of the shift in language. "I don't know how much I actually slept last night."

Once more, she was grateful for the blanket the men had given her.

"You should eat first," said Azok, taking a pot from over the fire. "A good hot meal." He stirred it once more, then ladled some into some bowls and held them out to Shoneah and Eron.

"Thank you," Shoneah smiled, taking the bowl thankfully.

Azok nodded, and went on to serve the others.

It was a stew that he had prepared: thick chunks of meat, tender and juicy, in a thick gravy, with different herbs and vegetables in it. It was unlike anything Shoneah had tasted before, more wild than even the free-ranging deer she was accustomed to hunting back home; but she found that she liked it quite well.

When she finished her first bowl, she asked for another, and then another; and before she was satisfied, she had downed four full bowls of the stuff. Then, with a warm blanket, a comforting fire, and a full belly, she found herself nodding off.

"Sabor, prepare another bed, will you?" Tal called to the group's physician.

Further back in the cave, Sabor did as he was requested, and Tal turned to Eron.

"Would you also like to rest?" he asked him softly. "We've plenty of furs so it will be comfortable."

Tal nodded. "Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do until the weather clears," he said apologetically. "Unless you'd like to help us with skinning the animals we caught this morning."

He gestured towards the back of the cave, where a few different animals were strung up from their hind legs on a scaffold with buckets under them to drain them.

Tal chuckled. "I think I like you," he grinned. "Good for you. Come on, then, let's get started."

He rose from his seat and motioned for Eron to follow him over to the animals.

Sabor meanwhile was finishing making up a bed for Shoneah. He put his two hands on the ground, and the rock rose, making a raised bed with a gentle dip in the middle and a raised pillow at the head. He draped it with furs, then called Shoneah over.

As impressed as she was with his magic, she was more tired, and without a word she lay down, pulled the blanket over herself, and was asleep.

"Let's start with something easy," Tal murmured, pushing aside some larger animals to get at some smaller ones at the back. "Here. A rabbit will do for introducing you to skinning. Looks like it's mostly bled out now."

He untied it from the scaffold and held it out to Eron.

"If you don't want your clothes to get bloody, you might want to take them off, maybe put on an apron," he suggested as an afterthought. "It's a rather dirty job."

Tal nodded. "Behind you, against the wall," he told Eron.

While Eron put the apron on, Tal untied a second rabbit and took two sharp knives from a small table on the others side of the fire. They were thick and wide, sharp on only one side - very similar to the knife that Shoneah kept sheathed in the back of her waistband.

"When you're ready," he said when he returned to Eron once more.

Tal handed one of the rabbits and one of the knives over to Eron.

"Start by cutting around here, here, and here," he said, showing Eron how to use the knife to cut around the rabbit's neck, down its belly, and around the legs. He himself did it quickly, having been doing it for many, many years. He slid the knife into the rabbit's pelt just deep enough that it got below the skin but didn't get caught on the muscle below it, which meant that his cuts were smooth and even.