Tanya waved her hand. "It's fine. Just eat the fish."
Then she quickly used the excuse that Star and Moon didn't know how to handle fish and hurried away from Miles.
Phew.
What's wrong with Miles? Did he get scared when she suddenly fainted? That shouldn't be enough to make his personality change so much.
She searched through the memories of the original body and didn't see anything that suggested Miles had strange feelings for her.
Tanya didn't think too much about his change. She quickly took over the task of handling the fish.
Because Star really didn't know how to do it. A fat fish was lying on the ground, and they were about to stick a branch through it and just roast it over the fire like that.
She couldn't let them waste it.
She took the fish and used a bone knife to scale it, cut it open, and clean out the insides. Her movements were smooth and quick. The others watched, amazed.
Back in the end times, Tanya could cut open a zombie's head without blinking to take the crystal core. Cleaning a fish was nothing to her.
She cleaned all the fish, told Star and Moon to wash them at the river. Two were cut and grilled, one was used with wild vegetables for soup, and two were stored in her space to eat later in the evening.
The smell spread through the air, and everyone started drooling.
Star couldn't help but shout, "It smells so good!"
Mily had always been told that the fish from the river shouldn't be eaten easily. Too many bones. People could die from choking.
So when Tanya said the grilled fish was ready and started giving it out, she was hesitant.
Especially when she saw Tanya stuff something called magic grass into the fish belly before grilling.
And she even sprinkled some dark unknown powder on it.
Was this really edible?
But soon, the smell made her drool, too. It was just too good.
So when Tanya handed her a piece of grilled fish, she copied Star and took it carefully, biting a small piece.
"Wow! So delicious!"
This might be the first time she ever tasted something this good.
Star kept nodding. "So tasty! So tasty! Big sis, you're amazing! You can make fish taste this good!"
Then came the fish soup. Fresh and fragrant. Everyone felt like they could swallow their own tongues.
Tanya smiled. The more satisfied the others were, the better her cooking was. That made her feel really proud.
Feeling good, she decided to say more. "Don't talk while eating fish. Be careful of bones. After you eat the meat, put the bones on the fire and roast them till they're crispy. They taste good too."
The three kids followed her advice, and it really was delicious.
Miles hadn't said a word. He was focused on eating.
If he moved too slow, the grilled fish was gone.
A bit slower, and the fish soup was gone.
Even the wild veggies disappeared.
In the end, not even bones were left.
Seeing they still looked hungry, Tanya took out another fish to grill.
Since there were others around, she pretended to go into the bamboo hut to take out the fish, as if she had hidden them in there.
While preparing the second round of grilled fish, Tanya asked Star, "Did you learn how to do it?"
Star quickly nodded. "I did! It doesn't look too hard!"
It wasn't too hard. The key was mastering the heat when roasting. But that came with practice. Just saying it wasn't enough.
So Tanya put the fish in front of her. "You do it."
She smoothly passed over the role of chef.
Star was excited. Even Moon and Mily were eager to try. Tanya let them go ahead and play. She was full anyway. If it didn't taste good, they'd be the ones eating it.
Suddenly, a flapping sound came from near the bamboo hut.
Tanya suddenly remembered. "Oh no, I forgot about that injured phoenix!"
She walked toward the hut.
"Strange, I didn't tie you up, and you really didn't run away?"
She checked it. Its wing and leg were both hurt.
No wonder it didn't run. It couldn't move at all.
"Hang in there. I'll go get some medicine. If you survive, I won't eat you. But if you die, sorry. I can't waste all that meat."
The phoenix: I'm skinny! No meat! Eating me will break your teeth!
She walked back and told Star and Moon to give the phoenix some water from time to time. She happened to see Miles with two bone knives at his waist. He looked like he was going hunting.
"Wait. I'll go with you."
Miles didn't agree. "It's getting dark. I'll go quickly and come back fast. Or we won't have meat for dinner."
"It's okay. I have some stored up. We won't go far. I just want to find some herbs. If we don't treat the phoenix soon, it'll probably die."
Miles could tell she really wanted to save the bird. So he agreed. But while walking through the forest, he asked, "That phoenix doesn't have much meat, and it's male. It won't lay eggs."
What he meant was, they couldn't eat it or get eggs from it. Raising it would just waste food and effort.
Besides, some people in the tribe had tried raising small animals before, and it never worked.
Tanya was looking around at the plants and answered without much thought, "Because... it's pretty?"
Miles: …
Well, its feathers were beautiful. All kinds of colors. It did seem to be liked by the girls.
That little girl even gave it such a nice name. Phoenix.
Miles curled his lips. He looked a bit upset.
Tanya was actually looking around for the right kind of tree. She wanted to use her wood powers to collect some water from the plants. This water, once purified, could help heal normal people and also help other powered people grow stronger.
But after the apocalypse, normal plants became rare. Most were mutated. She didn't recognize these primitive ones at all.
She had a book about plants, but the book needed her to collect samples first before it would show what they did.
So if she had to rely on finding the right herb, that phoenix would probably already be dead.
It was faster to collect the purified plant water.
She had already found a tree that gave off a very fresh and strong wood energy. She was thinking of an excuse to send Miles away when she realized he was following her and didn't seem happy.
"You don't have to follow me all the time. I saw some herbs over there. I'll go pick them. You go hunt."
Miles looked around. They were just at the forest entrance. It wasn't dangerous. He said, "Don't go far. Wait here until I come back."
"Okay."
Tanya agreed. When he chased a rabbit and walked off, she went near the tree she picked earlier. She used her powers to collect and purify the plant water, letting it drip into her bamboo tube.
At the same time, a golden light flashed from the book in her space. She noticed it and got curious. What kind of rare plant had such pure energy?
She looked around to make sure no one was there, then focused to check it out.