Vaneälótë had been excited about the change in the weather. It had been a long, hot summer and she was more than happy that it was ending. The cool air had been satisfying to feel on her skin after a day of cooking. It had been several weeks of this blessed cooler weather before she awoke to a warm day. The more as time went on, the air seemed to shimmer with the heat. That wasn’t right. It was nearly October things were supposed to be getting quite cool. But now the fruit was withering on the trees and the carefully stored seeds for fall were already in the ground. This was going to be a disaster.
If things didn’t cool down again, drastically then there was going to be a shortage. The hunting trips would have to be postponed for cooler weather. They needed the coolness of the frigid waters and caves to keep the longer term stuff from going bad. That meant they’d have to find other ways to store the meat that the hunters had already brought back–unless they used all of it. The fruits they had to trade were going to wither before they could be harvested and then there would be no use or worth in trading them.
Vaneälótë felt a headache coming on. Soon Tess would be over here to bring up the same thing. It would mess up her ales, wines, and meads which meant there went the spices they both needed… But she really didn’t want to have to talk about it more. Maybe if she made her way to her nest, she could get away from Tess until she could at least think this all through.
Carefully, setting down her work she went to find Sungrass. After a few minutes to haggling with her mouse familiar, she’d convinced them to clean up the odds and ends that were left so that she could duck out and take a walk. Not that it’d be a refreshing walk, it’d be hot as ohaysu-
She shook her head. First she had to get away.
After walking to her private nest, she curled up with her male. His feathers felt nice and cool against her skin and the words he murmured made a nice cadence to think to.
They could trade the meat they had to gemmed shifters for seeds. Most of them didn’t plant things or even eat much planted stuff. They were typically always willing to trade away seeds. That would take care of the meat they couldn’t store and it would give them them the seeds if they needed to replant them. If they didn’t they could plant them slightly later and have a secondary crop to trade with. She’d have to discuss this all tomorrow with the others as there was sure to be a meeting. She just had to have a few hours to think for herself.
As long as everyone didn’t panic this could work, provided this heat wave didn’t last long…
By the third week of the heatwave, Vaneälótë was having to be the voice of reason for not panicking. It was not a good look for her. Normally, she was the one grousing about this or that running out, or how she didn’t know how to work with *these* ingredients. Admittedly, she was a bit dramatic. But she *liked* being dramatic. She did not like drama. They were not the same things.
This confounded headache seemed to be lasting. They had literally talked this entire situation to death. There wasn’t too much more that they could do other than wait and see. Waiting was not something else she was strong in doing.
She was scraping the bottom of the barrel with ideas. Sh needed to have patience. There was nothing else for it. It might be easier if her head wasn’t throbbing so.
Maybe she’d go hang out with the little foals for a few hours, volunteer to nanny for a short time. Foals didn’t worry about much usually–not when they were very young. They didn’t worry about food or warmth because they knew those things were going to be provided for them. It would be nice to go back to that idyllic mentality for a few hours. She could take them snacks and be their favorite auntie. It sounded like a good plan. The idea soothed her mind and helped her to relax for what felt like the first time in weeks. She actually felt excited about what tomorrow was going to bring.
But she had not expected tomorrow to bring two of the things it did–good weather and…well, she didn’t know what to say about *that*.
