Chariot had just reached Dawn Island, rented a room at an inn and made herself familiar with the general layout of the city and was about to either finish her evening with a drink at the inn or stretch her limbs a bit more to walk of the numbness, that had accumulated on her journey. Ships were not made for the Mink, they offered much too little space to really move around. It was not like Mink, even of the wolf kind, really needed a whole mountain range to run around like maniacs, chasing other things, but like every being Chariot's body started to arch for some exercise after being locked in a room for days.

Anyway! Because she needed to move her body and exercise was never bad she made her way outside town and started with some simple stretches and warm up exercises. The Mink had never really exercised intentionally, she had a good physic being a Mink and all, also her work as blacksmith clearly had helped her develop more muscles, but she knew the basics. It actually felt rather good just to bend and stretch her limbs. After the long ship ride they felt rusty after all. In general when she thought about it like a smith polishing a weapon it made a lot more sense to her.

One the topic of weapons, she had brought her huge curved blade Wolf Wing with her, it was just a cheap mostly pretty weapon, one of her first creations as an blacksmith's apprentice, but one she took a particular liking to. After warming up a bit she took the blade and swung it around, one-handed like she meant to use it of course. It made her remember her teacher's first look at the blade, rating it as far too big and heavy to be used in the way she wanted to, but Chariot was a Mink and a rather tall one as well, the sword obviously felt a bit heavy, but fit her well in size. With each vertical swing it became harder to hold it with a stretched out arm, she clearly needed to improve! She obviously did not hold back, each swing was at the maximum speed she could pull out of her. That was the way it had to be, even if she still considered it a warm-up.

Once the warm-up was over she transitioned from just standing while she swung to running and jumping. The area she had found herself in was a light forest, so it offered many roots and stones to jump over or past, while she slashed at the surrounding branches and brushes with her sword.

She had always thought about real combat, since the beginning of her journey, not because she particularly was looking for it, but because she had always heard about the dangers of the ocean, about marines and pirates fighting each other and even mystical beasts and sea creatures. The Mink had to be able to defend herself if she had to. Unlike other Minks she never grew up as a hunter or anything like that, yet it felt almost part of her blood. Every movement came rather natural to her, yet she still lamented the fact that she had never learned anything as a pup. She imagined that other Minks, those who were part of the tribe, learned a lot about survival, hunting and fighting much earlier. They would probably laugh at the twenty-two year old, who was barely able to catch a rabbit and swung her oversized blade like an amateur.

After about two hours of varying exercises and a lot of sword swinging Chariot stopped and sat down on a rock to catch her breath. Once again she felt like she should do more, but she just was not able to keep going. Breathing heavy she leaned against her sword, rather frustrated with what she saw as a failure. She expected much more. With a loud growl she raised her body and slammed Wolf Wing in the next best tree, barely cutting deep enough to make the blade stick. It barely dweller her anger to the point where she was able to pull the sword out and calmly decide to make her way back to town.

Her plan was to come back to exercising the following days, till she was satisfied with herself and less of an embrace for her whole race. First it was time to get a drink at the inn and then catch some sleep.


761 Words

Chariot's whole body hurt after the previous day, but that did not really stop her from wanting to exercise. Once this woman had made up her mind there was no stopping her. So she just grabbed a light breakfast, composed of mostly vegetables and fruits at the market and made her way back out of the city to the forest where she had trained the day before. There was still some frustration in her, but she had understood her limits and at the same time lowered her own expectations a little. That meant she also had set smaller goals for herself to reach each time training. The first was to develop stamina, even if it just let her move a few minutes longer that was a success. For that she had strapped the sword to her back and just started running. Maybe it was another of her racial treat of her, but running never felt bad or dull to her. Instead she felt very refreshed and it helped distract from the pain in her muscles.

Soon the pain had subsided to the point where it was barely note worthy, but before she wanted to start to train as she did before she took the time to calmly explore the area. Growing up in the city she always enjoyed the few times away from all the noises and smells. She loved the forest and fields, much more than the ocean too. Compared to it the ocean was just boring, blue from one end to the other and with a very obnoxious salty smell, almost like the whole world around her was sweating. Because of her fur, Chariot did not sweat, which was both nice, yet sometimes a hassle, her body just heated up till she could barely move, whenever it got too warm around her or she used too much energy. Even if it hurt she did not dare to let her tongue hang from her mouth like dogs did it in those situations, she was not that much of an animal and even more so it was not very lady-like.

While considering all these silly things she had reached a small stream in the middle of the woods and took a hand full of water from it. Having something to drink near by made the place just perfect for training. Still warmed up from her run she started with stretching her body, much longer than before, to avoid muscle strains as much as possible. In all honesty she had clearly over-rated herself the day before. Swinging a blacksmith's hammer all day was far easier than the oversized Wolf Wing, even if it was just for an hour or two. Yet she still wanted to do exactly that, much more focused too.

While standing straight she pulled the blade from her back and begun with a hundred vertical swings, loudly counting along: “One... two... three... four...” and so on till she felt the weight in her right arm once she reached “Ninety-two... ninety-three... “ till it was finally a hundred swings. Obviously, even when she hardly used it to swing she switched to her left hand next and completed the same exercise properly.

Once that was completed the right arm was rested enough to begin with horizontal swings, first one-hundred along her side from left to right, then the same with the left arm from right to left and then both arms in the opposite direction. She felt good about this exercise, it tired her arms but she felt still able to carry on after it as a whole. After all her goal was to get better at what she had started the first day of training, which was moving and swinging, but first she took the time to get another hand full of cold water and shake of the fatigue in her hands. At the same time it was about time for lunch and so she strapped the sword onto to her back again and made a jog back to the city to find a place to eat.

She had nothing special in mind and so it was rather easy for her to find a place that served something to her liking. Near the dock she settled down at a fresh fish restaurant and ordered a grilled salmon with some fried potatoes. Since Mink and animal's with fur were somewhat alike they avoided eating those, so when Chariot ate meat it was either fish or bird and only on rare occasions a rabbit, cow or sheep, but that was most likely the wolf in her or her human upbringing.


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Having eaten Chariot felt much less exhausted, but far heavier than before. It was not bad enough that she needed a hunter cut the grandma from her belly, but she certainly felt sluggish and not up to start training again right away. The body was a mystery, exercise made it feel hungry and tired, then after eating it felt tired and sluggish because it needed to digest. It made her want to yell at herself and ask why her stupid body could not make up its mind, but all she could do was wait a bit and use the time to stroll across town. Not all about the city's noise and smells were back. There were areas like the park where the smell of flowers overshadowed the smell of the surrounding city and the noise of joyful children playing pulled her attention away from the loud markets. At this day there was even a small group of street musicians that drew her attention and she used her digestion time to sit down near them and listen to the songs they had to offer.

Chariot was not really someone that knew how to appreciate art to the fullest, especially not music, but she still enjoyed it, especially when it were songs telling tales from far away places. After a while the group stopped and one of the musicians looked towards their odd listeners. Mink were very rare in the Blues so obviously she drew his attention. Stepping close to her he smiled and asked: “Did you like our music?”  Chariot nodded and returned the smile. “Especially the story of the knight hunting the wolf.”  The man looked slightly surprised, the song's subject was a village being attacked by a wolf, stealing sheep and children away, till one day a knight visits and hunts the wolf and in the progress discovers that the real culprit was the towns mayor. “Is it a real story you came across while travelling?”  “It is from a book, but are you not hurt that the wolf gets killed and cut up? I mean because well...” His worries made the Mink laugh out loud and she shrugged. “Not really, I am as much a wolf as you.”  

The two of them continued their chat. Chariot eagerly listened to the stories he had to tell, while the travelling band continued to play music without their singer. In return Chariot told the man most she knew about Mink and her life as a Mink. After a long while the two had shared enough and Chariot felt like her stomach had finished digesting she thanked the man for all the stories he told her and gave him a few coins, enough so the whole band could get a drink.  

Much more relaxed the woman made her way back to forest to get a bit more exercise done before it was time to have dinner and sleep. Enough rest was important and she did not want to ruin all the work she put into it just by getting sick or hurting herself accidentally. Once again she started with a light jog into the forest, followed by stretching and light exercises like squats and push-ups. Next followed a few more warm-up swings with her sword, they already were better than the ones she performed the day before, but she still had a long way to go before it was really good enough to win a fight.

Warm-up done and almost bored with it Chariot finally got to the real main dish of her trainings menu and she started her assault on the wild branches of the forest again. Dashing, jumping and slicing as fast as she could, over and over. It made her happy that no one else was there to see her, because even in her eyes it seemed silly. All was about visualization, she had to imagine those branches as terrible dangerous and armed villains, that were just about to attack her, when she came in and sliced them down, but the sound the breaking branches made did not help very much to keep that fantasy alive for long, especially since she was far past the age for daydreams. In the end she barely lasted ten minutes longer than the day before, but it satisfied her, she saw a small step forward and it validated her decision. As long as she just kept practising she was sure to improve somehow.

Slightly more satisfied than before she made her way back, again jogging to put the last bit of her energy to good use, before she reached the inn and fell into her bed.  


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Another day, another opportunity to suffer from aching muscles. Two days in a row made her slightly less motivated to start exercises right away. Instead she expanded her usually short breakfast, even when it was still just fruits and bread and used the morning to take a look at the local blacksmith. She was curious to see what work he did and how he did it. At some point she also planed to maybe to improve her own weapon, so she wanted to take a look and see if it was possible to rent the place in the near future.

The forge was far better than the one she had learned in and it left her honestly a bit impressed. The whole store was rather clean for a blacksmith, the walls were covered by all kinds of armour and weapons, all well crafted and in great condition. The forge area was obviously most interesting to her. It had a giant oven, multiple anvil and moulds for giving the metal the right shape to make blades of all kinds. Her curiosity quickly drew the attention of the owner and he looked up from his work to the tall woman. “Looking for something specific?”  Chariot's view shifted from the moulds to the man. He was younger than her old teacher and a bit smaller, obviously smaller than her, but his deep, strong voice commanded respect. “Just taking a look at your great workshop.”  She smiled and introduced herself next: “My name is Chariot, I am a blacksmith apprentice on a journey to learn more.” The man examined her. She had seen the same look many times before, not many blacksmiths were women and even less were Mink, but she saw that the man was able to appreciate her strong body and tall build. She did not hide much and since it was a warm day she had not put on more than a simple shirt and short pants. “You want to learn here?”  Pulling her wrapped up sword from her back, putting it on a desk and then unpacking it she explained: “I wanted to ask if I could ask to borrow the place to improve on this blade.” The man came to her and looked at the big curved blade. “Quite the piece of art you got there, but full iron makes it rather heavy.”  He also lifted it, to Chariot's surprise with little trouble. “But the weight is balanced rather well. I guess you made this yourself to match your body.”  Chariot nodded and smiled at the the man complimenting her work. “I want to remake it as steel if possible, which is why I thought about making a mould of the general shape.”

The two kept talking about blacksmithing and the man, who at some time introduced himself as Adam, gave the woman good advices about improving the blade. In the end Chariot decided to leave Wolf Wing with him so he could make a mould while she went on with her training.

Without Wolf Wing Chariot decided to do only some simple endurance training, once again starting with a run to the small fresh water stream in the forest, where she stretched and then continued with push-ups and squats. She had heard that many weapon-less fighters trained by punching trunks so she tried that herself. Others might have expected her hands to have claws, but she kept them rather well cut, so anyone thinking she should have slashed at the tree was just silly. Her feet on the other hand offered that option and after punching a tree often enough that her hands started to hurt she continued with some simple kicks, leaving some rather deep claw marks on the tree. Hopefully no one took it as a sign of some giant bear or wolf in the forest. Kicking was a nice change of pace to always just swinging her sword. As she continued she tried multiple ways of doing it and different stances, even some jump kicks with varying success. Her natural nimbleness gave her some confidence back. After disappointing herself in regards of stamina her general “minkness” did not disappoint.

It took multiple hours till she had enough of playing around in the forest, which was not really enough to make her tired, but just perfect to work away the pain in her muscles and hopefully prepare for much harder exercise in the coming days. There was still much work to be done and after she finished her run back to town she took her time to plan ahead for the next days.


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It was the first day since Chariot had started training more seriously that she did not feel like a horse cart had ran her over, not that she knew exactly how that felt, but she imagined it similar. Just thinking about it reminded her of her first weeks training as a blacksmith.

Chariot had always been more fit than children her age, but even then it was rather early for her to become a blacksmith. She had gotten bored of just helping the church with house chores and there for wanted to earn some money. It was quickly clear to her that the master smith did not want a girl apprentice and therefore he worked her harder than any other. The first weeks she only carried around heavy boxes, much heavier than even the older apprentice had to carry. He also only left her to do the boring jobs, like clean the shop front or sort the weapons. Even if at that point the girl did not want to become a blacksmith, or at least defiantly did not see it as her dream occupation, she already had her stoic nature and strong will to finish what she started, so she grit her teeth and endured it. Enduring was always something she was good at!

After over half a year the blacksmith finally let her actually swing a hammer for the firs time, only after making sure she would not suddenly catch on fire. The girl was covered in fur, so it was reasonable to worry. She still remembered having to carry multiple buckets of water from the nearby river just in case anything happened and they had to throw them on her. At first she herself was a bit scared of the fire and the heat was hard to deal with, again thanks to her fur. Overall Mink were really not made to work in a forge, other than her strong physic nothing helped, but she still performed better than the master had expected. Strict as he was he obviously made sure she did not stop swinging the hammer for her whole work time, making her flatten multiple pieces of iron for the outer shell of a statue someone had requested. In the end her arm felt like it was about to fall of her shoulder, luckily arms did not do this, even when she was not too sure of that back then.

The following weeks the same exhausting work continued, carrying multiple buckets of water into the forge, then flattening iron all day long only taking a break to watch over the store's front and helping customers pick a decent piece of armour or a good tool. The basis of good was obviously the piece with the highest price tag. Only later she learned what other aspects were important, like balance and other qualities. That obviously did not change that for customers the most expensive was always the best sale! What she learned from that was that when shopping for blacksmith made goods always take a blacksmith along to pick the right goods.

It was years later that she finally made her own sword. She had always liked weapons more than just tools. They had something more about them, whenever she made an axe or shovel she was able to imagine their use, but each sword or dagger she made it was always interesting to imagine what kind of use they would find. Maybe they were just for protection, maybe even just as a decoration piece or used for hunting, but maybe they would end up killing someone. The shop did not mind, as long as a customer paid it was satisfied. It did not matter if the customer was a marine, pirate or even revolutionary. In the young girl's fantasy some of the swords she helped make would end up part of great battles, which decided the fate of the world. At her current age she knew that most of them were not really good enough to cut down fate, like she had imagined.

Wolf Wing was one of those relics of her silly youth too. The giant curved blade was well made, even for her adult standards, but it clearly was not good enough that she would take it into a battle against the world, as she herself improved so had the sword to improve. Her mind still full with silly memories she decided to pay the blacksmith another visit. She wanted to see if he already finished the mould for a new and better version of Wolf Wing.


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The owner of the forger, Adam, was already waiting for Chariot when she arrived at the store. Both greeted each other with a handshake. A typical blacksmith handshake was always strong, strong hands and arms were important to anyone that swing a hammer that much. “I finished the mould as you asked, the whole thing including the grip. Even when I think it just adds to the weight.”  Chariot looked at the mould and Wolf Wing next to it. “If you want those saw blade like cut ins you will have to take care of them after moulding the metal.”  She nodded at his comment: “Yes that is how I did it before too, there should not be any problem.”  Carefully she looked at the gear in the shop and the iron bars in the shelve. “What kind of material can you part with for me to use?” Adam took a look himself and went over his inventory. Blacksmiths usually did not buy any material unless there was an order for an object, so she had to be lucky if there was any spare material which was better than the metal she had already used to make Wolf Wing the first time. “I'm not picky, if you have some stuff that I can use together with Wolf Wing's iron to make some cheap steel it is good enough. Obviously you can have the excess iron.”  This time Adam nodded and brought forth a box full with some old swords, placing it near the forging oven. “I had planed to melt these down anyway, they are steel, you can mix it with the iron of your sword and make it stronger.”  Quickly Chariot looked over the swords and was satisfied, beggars could not be choosers. “The pay for you melting these into bars will be one bar of steel, enough for the blade.”  “I did not expect more.”  

Chariot smiled at the generous offer and got herself ready for work. First she made sure to tie her wild hair into a pony tail and put on gloves and an apron. Next she started to heat up the oven to start melting the swords. There were ten in total, enough to make around five bars of steel. She got the proper mould for that and started.  It was nice to work in a forge again and it somewhat was good exercise too.

It did not take her long to finish most of the swords and it was time for her own blade to be melted. Watching the blade melt was bitter-sweet. She surely had some attachment to it, but she was looking forward to its improvement. While the iron was heating up she prepared the mould for the new blade, but first she had to mix the metals, pure iron and steel. The end product was somewhat steel, so it was better than before. Once that was done the next steps were rather easy: pour the metal into the mould, let it cool a little, improve on the shape by carefully reheating it, cutting out the saw blade like cut-ins, then just sharpen, polish and finish it. Just the usual stuff and some breaks in between where she finished the metal bars for Adam. In less than half a day all way done, Wolf Wing was improved and Adam had four new bars of steel and one bar of iron.


572 Words - NOT TORWARDS STAMINA TRAINING

The newly made Wolf Wing Mk.2 felt a slight bit heavier. Which was not bad for training purpose, but something she had to get used to. She wondered if she kept improving the sword it someday would reach legendary status. Obviously she had heard of many legendary swords, ones that had special names and were put in tiers. Those were called “Meito”, it would be amazing if Wolf Wing ever became a Meito, but that depended both on the quality of the sword and the wielder. Before she was able to craft something so amazing Chariot had to learn much more.

Back to reality from her dreams of the future she tied the still slightly warm blade to her back and made her way to have lunch. Again she found herself near the ocean, this time ordering a bit less, so she did not have to spend additional time to digest and could get back to exercise right away. She had a freshly caught fish with some salad and a bottle of water. The cold breeze of the ocean helped a lot to cool her body, just after her work in the forge. Again a disadvantage for a Mink blacksmith, all that fur made it extra hot! Meanwhile the food and drink helped replenish her strength and get ready for exercising with the new Wolf Wing. She could not wait to get used to the new weight, even if it was not much.  

After lunch she stretched right there at the docks and took in the fresh air of the ocean, before starting her run towards the forest, where she had been training the two previous days. She had clearly left her mark on the place, there was almost no unbroken branch and since the day before even claw marks. Maybe it was not a good idea to keep training like she did, she did not mean to hurt the forest or its inmates in any way.

Before beginning with her sword swings she started with some light squats and push-ups, then used a thicker branch for some pull-ups and hanging sit-ups. She imagined that this was what they called a real “jungle gym”. Which made her wonder if there were any better places to actually train around, but then the forest was rather tranquil and let her focus on herself the best.

After the warm-ups she got her new blade and again started some swings. This time hundred-and-fifty vertical swings with each arms, followed by the same amount of horizontal swings in both directions, also with each arm. Wolf Wing felt good in her hands as always and the little bit of extra weight just increased the power behind her swings. She was very satisfied. Also the blade cut a lot better. In all honesty she had forgotten to sharpen the old Wolf Wing since the beginning of her journey. With the new blade she swung at some thicker branches and sliced right through them, it was a great feeling.

Lastly she obviously tried her swings while moving again. The sword added a bit more of momentum to her movement, which made it harder to control quickly at first, but with some extra strength she got it under control. That tired her a bit quicker though and she decided to stop earlier than before.  

Happy with her first test-run of the new blade Chariot made her way back to the city rather early to have tome to celebrate with a few cups full of sake. Jogging down the street she found the inn in which she was staying. It had a small, usually crowded bar on the ground floor and like every night it was full once again. The guests had already gotten used to the wolf in shirt and shorts and did not even bother looking as she made her way to a table in the back. The waitress was rather attentive and came within a few minutes. “What can I bring you today?” Chariot took a moment to think about it, she had wanted sake, but after the heat of the forge and her exercise a nice cold beer was also a great option. “A cold beer, make it a large one.” The waitress just noted it down and made her way back to the bar.

While waiting Chariot pulled Wolf Wing Mk.2 up again and took her time to look at the blade. It looked slightly different and felt really nice to touch. It made her think about really turning the sword into a Meito somehow. Even when she was not sure how.


776 Words

Somehow Chariot's trip to her usual lunch place had ended with her on a fishing boat. She just wanted to eat some fresh fish but then ended up recruited as an aid by one of the locals asking for help. Her morning training was completed, which meant that she was in no rush to exercise, but she certainly had no experience as a fisher. The man had just determined that she was strong enough to pull in a net and good legs to keep her footing on a boat. There had not been a chance to really deny him any help, by the time she realized what was happening he had already dragged her onto his boat set sail.

“Just sit there and try not to fall into the water.” Were his orders and since Chariot trusted the man to know what he was doing Chariot complied and sat down. “I am Chariot, what is your name Sir?” He did not even bother looking up, let alone answer her question. It made it a bit uncomfortable. As time passed and the island became just small enough to fit in her paws, Chariot began to worry a bit, if she should not have protested a bit stronger. She had the improved Wolf Wing with her and was confident in herself, a single old fisherman would not beat her and there were no other ships near. Maybe it was better to just relax a little. Which she did and began to look around the boat. She spotted nets and buckets and other fisher stuff she had no clue how to use. After a while the boat finally stopped and the man came to the curious woman. “Help me throw out the net, try not to get it tangled up or we won't catch anything.” Chariot just looked at him a bit unsure, but when he lifted the net on one side she followed his actions and lifted it from the other side. “On three throw it out as far as you can.” “Sure...” She was not sure at all but the count had already started and the two of them where swinging the big net back and forth between the two of them. It was hard to keep her footing as the boat's shaking added to the whole motion. Then on three, like the man had said, both of them hurled the net over the back of the boat and into the ocean. “Better then expected, you have some strong arms. Now sit back down so you don't fall, while we catch us some fish.” With that he started to set the sail again and spin the wheel.

Meanwhile Chariot kept looking at the big net that they had thrown out, it was not possible to spot any fish under the waves, but as they started to move she noticed a stronger thug on the net and over time that pull seemed to increase. She wanted to voice her concerns, “Uhm...”, but then Chariot noticed that the man also looked at the net from time to time and it seemed like he was not concerned, so she waited and just kept an eye on the net. She felt useless and all it left her to do was to take the time to relax a bit and think of her practice. It was probably good to take a break from it for a day, let the muscles rest and get a clear mind.

Again the boat stopped and this time the man came dashing to the net. “Quick it is time to pull it in!” He yelled even before he was there and the almost dozing woman was wide awake right away. “Okay!” Quickly she took hold of her side of the net and started pulling, then she felt the man tug his side in and quickly both pulled with all their strength. “Don't let them escape, we got a big haul!” He yelled and pulled harder. Chariot could not help, but feel the strength in his order and follow his example. Within a minute the net had been fully pulled in and a big school of fish was jumping around on deck. “Don't just look at them, start putting them in the buckets, while at it smack their head hard.” With slight glare Chariot followed his order and started packing fish into buckets, each time smacking the fish against the ground to knock them dead. She could not understand how she had gotten herself into this annoying work, even more so why she actually did it.


770 Words

After getting every fish into a bucket she felt more tired than she had during her exercises in the forest. The smell was unbearable on top of that. “Good job girl.” Was the only form of recognition it earned her. The circle of throwing out a net, pulling it back in and then putting the dead fish away repeated two more times, before the fisher finally called it enough. At that point Chariot was covered in salt water, it made her fur feel terrible sticky and worse everything smelled like fish. It was probably the worst kind feeling in a long time. She much preferred the unbearable heat of the forge or the tiring exercise in the forest. Above all she still did not really gasp why she had given into helping the man. It certainly was not because he was a nice person, because since the beginning of their little fishing trip he had hardly talked to her, or even introduced himself.

The way back to town was not much more enjoyable, beside that the man had actually enough decency to give Chariot a towel. She did not want to leave it at just that. “Would you at least tell me your name, if you have me help with your work?” Her voice was clearly a bit more demanding than before and she kept her eyes on the man, waiting for an answer, while she tried her best to dry her hair and fur. It took the man a good five minutes to actually answer: “John.” Well that was some progress in their relationship and she felt less like some abducted slave. “So John, why did you pull me on your ship and made me help you?” No matter how serious her voice was, he did not bother to answer, even after Chariot waited for multiple minutes again, so she just gave up and went outside again to watch the town grow bigger.

They spoke no more the ship reached the port, where Chariot was ordered to help unload the fish and she actually did. She was not confined to the small boat any longer, running away was an option, but she was not the kind of person to stop anything half way, including work she did not want to do. The unloading went quicker than expected, even when she noticed the grumpy man's absence while she carried the last buckets into his shack. As she carried in the last bucket she smelled something odd, a bit smoky and as she followed the scent around the corner she found John sit in his backyard, next to a fire, together with six impaled fish that were roasting in the heat. Their smell watered Chariot's mouth. John just looked at her and sighed, then waved her to him, saying: “About time you are done, come over and eat.” The Mink could not avoid to laugh a little at him, but sat down next to him and looked at roasting fish. “They are almost done.” Then John actually explained why he had taken the young woman hostage and had made her help him:
“I've seen you eat at that shitty fish restaurant multiple days in a row now, if you want real good fish you got to catch it yourself!” Again she could only laugh at that logic, but the first bite into the fish kind of made her agree with him. It was tastier than she had expected and blew the whole annoyance that had build up right away.

“You know they use second rated fish and burrow it in seasoning and sauce, really shitty place. A good fresh fish tastes great just with a bit of salt.” As they were eating the two of them talked a bit more and John actually told more of his work, that his brother had gotten sick and that was why he needed an extra hand. The fish loving Mink had come at just the right time and so he took her with him. He even apologized for being a bit of an ass, but he was not very good at dealing with woman. That confession made Chariot laugh once again. Later he brought some cold beer and they had a rather enjoyable feast. Before leaving the woman ensured him to buy his fish from then on, whenever she needed lunch, but above all she needed a hot shower at the inn and a bit of rest. She felt more than just tired, training had to be skipped, but for once she did not mind not going through with her plan. The lingering taste of roasted fish made up for it.  


780 Words