The bride price had been paid, Bo had given his final permission and Trilok was to claim Noya. The whole thing lifted her heart. She was happy not only for her nephew, but also for Noya, who she loved and respected very much. The drums were telling of a celebration, and a celebration meant food and drink.
Ephrim and Hiram had already been by to tell her that they would be hunting the next few days, Gabe and Dorian had plans to fish. Some of their catch would be smoked, some would be reserved to fry. The mates of her brothers were already gathering up herbs and flowers for sauces, and one had traded for sacks of sartana flour to make breads with, and she was informed that she was in charge of sweets and desserts. Desserts? That meant her berry tarts and honey cakes. And since her reserves of honey were growing short, that meant honey hunting.
Now, honey hunting is just not something you do in the spur of the moment, you have to plan. When they had arrived back in the area, she and Rook had ridden out to make sure the hives were where they were last season. They were basically in the same spot, some were hanging from the branches of trees, and there were even some that were in the hollowed out holes in the trunks of dead trees, but basically in the same area as before.
The first day of the plan, had her and the girls out carefully cutting a nice bundle of grass. It was cut, not pulled up by the roots, which was very important. You never uprooted the grass, and you cut it for very few reasons. Grass that was cut, could still grow, but grass that was wrenched from the ground by it's roots, died never to return. The grass was laid out to dry, then bundled. Next, they gathered the crocks and the pots that they would need, to gather the honey in, washed them thoroughly, checked for cracks, and made sure they sealed.
While the girls worked on the clothing they would wear, she had walked out to Ba'atar's parents wagons to see if Birmmah would be able to watch the boys for her. To say the woman was thrilled, would not even begin to cover how she acted. Now Aamon seemed a bit torn. She could see that he liked the prospect of spending time with the boys, but he also showed a great curiosity about her and her honey gathering. Seeing this curiosity, she invited him to go with them, and he accepted. They would make a day of it.
Returning to her wagons, she found things in a bit of an uproar. It seems that Ba'atar's new slave had broken two of the honey pots while washing them, and juneau seemed to think it was on purpose, and had switched her good for it. It actually looked like the woman was about to strike juneau in return, until she caught sight of Cana and Rook approaching. Instead she lowered down, and crawled under Ba'atar's personal wagon. Rook asked if she wanted him to drag her out, she shook her head, and said it was not her problem, she was Ba'atar's slave, and she had too much to do to mess with her.
She had to go hunt honey.
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