Chapter 263 - Underneath the Glowing Fire.

Eric and Osira returned back to the first tunnel on the left, up to to the second section not with Ratbugs but with rotten pieces of wood. The reason behind it? Well there is a opening exploded in the first section where all the cold can go in and dusk has set as they walked their way up the staircase. They need to go through this night with as much warmth as possible, how odd is it that there are a couple hundred of Ratbugs down at the storage room but not enough leather or fur up here to get a comfortable night sleep.

There are tens of men and women in this group, if they put in some work they can indeed strip some Ratbugs out of their leather to at least provide some warmth for the children and elderly, Mollara of which almost falls in the category since she is 49 years old.

"Sounds like you too have put in a lot of work." Complimented Bittore with a smile as soon as the two little explorers entered the room. But one thing she noticed at Osira was her face smiling and a bit of hair falling on her side since she tied her hair into a bun swiftly. Bittore immediately thought the worse of what could have happened and was bold enough to ask. "Why are you smiling?" Surely expecting that she and Eric went at it and actually not minding it if it went that way.

To fight off any suspicious theories made by these people who just sat here while these two worked, she swiftly answered. "We just found a lot of goods down there, we shot down 3 Queens!" Considering the Ratbug problems they have been facing ever since they got here, they all figured what she meant by "Queens".

"We need a set of extra hands, there are over 200 Ratbugs down there and a bit of planks." Specified Eric and by the end of his word 6 men stood from the crowd already to lend a hand. They all seem middle aged and likely are the fathers of the younger here, and the fathers of Fire Controllers in this group too. At least they didn't abandon their families regardless of the religiously spread trickery.

A lot of ladies stood up in the crowd as well, 13 of which were Fire Controllers. And a handful of non Fire Controllers as well, knowing these people like the back of her palm thanks to the experience together. She immediately pointed out in aims of protecting their mental wellbeing, "I think some of you should sit this one out, the scenes there are graphic." To give a bit more information so she can do a better filtering, she specified. "Demons fought with 3 Ratbug clans."

"Oh." Replied a non fire controller lady in the crowd and decided to sit this one out, but felt a bit guilty about not being able to lend a hand and asked. "Leader Osira, can I do something else to lend a hand here?"

"Not now specifically, just try to keep the Fire going." She requested as she dropped the rotten wood to the ground lightly. "We need some warmth. The men will butcher the Ratbugs and you ladies who can sew have to try and make as many beds as possible for the night."

"Yes Leader Osira!" Answered the middle aged lady in enthusiasm, very happy that she can help.

Trying to make them put in a lot more work, she gave them a few reasons to gain pushed motivations on. "We are very low on sleeping bags as you all know, so ladies with children and husbands have to try to squeeze in one sleeping bag for the night." Seeing that a lot of people started smiling, thinking about couples sleeping together. She decided to light the mood a bit more with the thought of success. "Tonight we will sleep rough but by the next night we will hopefully have sleeping bags for most of us, there are enough Ratbugs to work on and I don't think we will have to worry about food for a long while!"

Now for the ultimate set of motivation, she pulled the gems she found at the right and left wings of the first section along with Eric and stated. "Me and our friend here found 4,000 Gold Coins worth of gems. Even when all of this food runs out we can buy a lot more if we manage to sneak to a domain and buy food, I'm happy to tell you that we won more than we asked for!"

Bittore was just watching as she was seated, happy to see her daughter take this much charge when she herself is recovering. The way she motivated people with her soft wordplay reminds Bittore of her young self, and now although Osira portrays herself as grumpy in the face of the unknown and enemies, she is the kindest with her friends and family. It is indeed nice to see, it proves loyalty in a slightly dysfunctional way.

"Alright people let's move it! We have a lot of work to do and midnight is only a few hours away! It was a long day for all of us, but we can push through!" Afterwards a lot of the ladies got into work, here with coal torches not an option they will prove more than useful on illumination and will make everything a lot easier since they too have strong backs to carry goods.

The men joined too, as specified earlier their job is to butcher since they tend to be less grossed out with such a task and they usually skinned hunted game. But as for now they can help bring the first round of Ratbug carcasses, a couple of these men have dealt with Ratbugs several times before so they will lead the entire group of butchers towards a better result.

Bittore stood up to help as well, and as Osira was about to leave she noticed her mother following after. Turning back, Osira requested. "Mother please sit, we will take care of everything."

"But... we need every bit of help we can get here, I don't want anyone to feel cold." As always she has put her people first, it is why she did all of this scheming to begin with. She of course wanted to help now as well even though her overall health was terrible an hour ago and she needs time to recover although mostly healed.

"They won't, we will keep a fire going all night long. You just take your time to relax, as much as I've heard your state was terrible a bit earlier." Convincing Bittore to sit is hard, but she should try for the sake of her well being.

"But.."

"No buts mother, you need to recover." Osira insisted, putting her arm around her mother after to walk her back at her comfortable fur seat.

"Alright... But I have to handle my business, I haven't gone all day." Aiming to tease her once more to lighten the mood she asked. "Did you two love birds possibly find a bathroom here, I'm sure the Snow Ignites didn't poop on the mountains."

"Stop calling us that!" Osira urged with a loud whisper with her cheeks getting red again! Trying to fight it off she just answered the other question. "There are little holes in the dungeon at the first section, you can get relieved on. We didn't find an official rest room yet but I hope that will do." Redirecting her to the other direction, trying to lead her up to the first section she expressed. "Let me help you get up there, there is quite a set of stairs."

Afterwards she grabbed her mother from the knees, got a firmer grip around her shoulders and lifted her as if they got in a wedding. "Uuu Osira shouldn't you be doing that to Eric?" Even at this case she still tried to tease her daughter, even throwing a bit of sarcasm on it too.

"Just stop talking about that mother!" She expressed in a tone which had a hint of a little giggle, as she walked her way towards the stairs.

As for down at the storage room, Samantha the swift was clumsy enough to carelessly grab a rotten piece of wood and get several splinters. At first she didn't say anything to anyone and just cursed several times under her breath. "Shit shit shit shit!"

Most didn't hear it, except Zelimia who was looking for the biggest planks to carry, the smaller ones can't be given much attention since a couple other men are gathering a lot of them already. "What's wrong, why are you jumping like a River duck." Her wordplay funny indeed but she had a firm point, Samantha was jumping along as she cursed.

"Nothing, I just got some splinters." She answered as if it is nothing even though the pain of several splinters burns quite a lot.

"Oh we need to get rid of those, you can get an infection." Trying to give more severity to this little situation she reminded. "Remember Henry one arm?"

"Oh... you have a point there." Actually asking for help after, she requested. "Just keep a fire going near my hand and I'll pry them off with my Dagger."

"Nonsense, just hold a fire near me and I'll remove them for you, quick and painless." Expressed Zelimia, wanting to help her very close friend as much as she can.

At first Samantha disagreed, "No no, I got it." But once recalling how many splinters Zelimia removed from little children of this little tribe, she decided to agree. "Actually, alright but please be quick."

The first round of people mostly made their way up, the last bit of ladies carrying a few Ratbugs over their shoulders so they are all alone down here. Perfect, just what Zelimia wanted.

Removing the first couple of splinters with ease, burning three more others after and just pulling the long ones out with her fingers she gave Samantha the pleasure of relief. Now to fight off any infection, she lightly burned the places where bits of blood burst out thanks to the removed splinters.

It hurt a bit no doubt but she remained a strong figure, noticing that a bit of hair has gotten out of place surely from all the bouncing she did when she got all those splinters, Zelimia ran her hands through Samantha's hair and leaned in.

Underneath the set of Fire bursting above Samantha's hand, Zelimia lended a little kiss. Not to be alarmed it was set lightly above Samantha's cheek, it is fair to say that both became abnormally red and hid their blushes with a hug after.