The hunting party at this point had completed most of their goals, and they were just a few days from their eventual return to the village.
So instead of resuming their return, they decided to take a break.
The past few days had been hard on the elves, and if not for Yennefer, there might have even been a couple of deaths already.
Needless to say, they needed time to relax.
It was nearly night time, the sun's descent had painted the sky in a fiery hue, very similar to the fire they had prepped up.
Eliron had just returned to the camp from a short patrol, when Delilah ran into him, just like she had done the last time.
But unlike before, when she saw him, her face lit up.
"M-my lord." She said in a low tone, a smile painting her face as she hurriedly got to her feet.
"I have gathered… the herbs you… asked for."
The way she spoke was as though she was afraid of making a mistake, and took things slowly, instead of blurting it all at once.
"You seem excited about it. Alright, let's go check it out…"
Delilah lead him to the other side of their makeshift camp, then she pulled out a woven basket from underneath a bush.
Eliron watched patiently as the woman took her time to open her basket, emptying the contents on the grass.
As the herbs spread out on the grass, Delilah stared up at him, a warm smile on her face.
In addition to the thyme she had gathered earlier in the morning, there was an assortment of other plants as well.
Eliron knelt down on the grass and slowly began to look through them.
'I haven't seen anything good…'
Other than catnip, which was practically useless, the others were weeds.
Delilah still had a smile on her face, so Eliron did not want to disappoint her by telling her there was nothing of use to him.
So he continued searching through the pile, but at the end of the day—
"It looks like only the first one you found will be useful. Thankfully, you gathered a lot of it, so thank you."
"Now, I think I'm going to…" Eliron was about to get up when Delilah held his hand.
Then she averted her gaze from his, before mumbling, "T-there is more…"
"Hmm?"
The elf pulled out another woven basket from the bushes, then another, and another, and another…
Eliron's eyes widened as he stared at the haul, a nervous smile on his face.
"I see you've been busy."
The elf smiled.
'This is going to take forever…' he thought as he got to work.
It took nearly an hour to sort through the herbs Delilah had gathered, and when he was done, he was happy he had taken out the time to do so.
"This is amazing!" He said as he stared at the herbs by his side.
Pepper grass, sage, wild garlic, thyme amongst a lot of other spices… Delilah had gathered tons of them during the time they fought the mammoth.
Some of the spices were already known by the elves, but some, Eliron only knew because he was originally from earth.
He smiled as he praised Delilah, thanking her for her effort.
Delilah seemed more than happy to help, and nodded excitedly. Then her eyes widened when Eliron offered her his hand.
"Want to make dinner with me?"
She paused briefly before she took Eliron's hand, and he pulled her to her feet.
"I… would love to."
Eliron nodded. 'I promised Yen I was going to cook something delicious, now I have all the spices I need.'
•••
When Eliron arrived at the fire with Delilah in tow, Artie glanced at him and sighed, knowing he was about to make an absurd request.
What she never expected was that he would ask her to let him cook.
"You… want to cook…?" Artie's expression turned sour as she glanced at the monster bird they had already de-feathered.
She folded her arms across her chest, her eyes pleading. "Please, no." She said bluntly.
"Heh?"
It was not that Eliron did not expect this response. When it came to cooking, he actually had quite the history…
A very negative one of course.
When he was about 15 years old, since he was not very strong physically, he had attempted to do something else for the good of the village.
At that time, the chore that had interested him was cooking.
So after learning for a few days from the older elves, Eliron was allowed to cook by himself for the first time.
The results were catastrophic…
Eliron had terrible proclivities when it came to cooking, and a hyper active mind that never allowed him to stick to the recipe.
Not only did he end up wasting the food they barely had, everyone who ate his food was sick for days, Artie included.
She had been an unfortunate guest of his elder brother at the time, and had to be assisted home where she slept for several days.
Artie glared at him and took a defensive stance in front of the fire.
"Stay back. You will never touch this pot."
Eliron sighed.
"Come on Artie, you're tired aren't you? Teleporting so much should have put a strain on your body."
He gave her his most friendly smile. "Just relax and let me do the cooking."
Artie did not budge, she was like a stone wall, completely resistant to all his sweet talk.
Delilah who had been silent beside him saw this as an opportunity to speak. "Lady… Artie, I can… assure you that we will do our…"
She was cut off by Artie's sharp glare, swallowing her words.
"You're one to talk Delilah. Haven't I told you to stop eating the wild herbs you come across? Yet I saw you earlier today shoveling in mouth fulls."
"And you expect me to trust both of you deviants with cooking?"
Delilah's eyes widened as she glanced at Eliron who seemed surprised.
"That…" she huffed. "That was for… scientific p-purposes!"
Artie clicked her tongue and pointed her stirring rod at them. "Both of you, out. I don't want to see you anywhere remotely close to this kitchen—"
She suddenly froze as Yennefer appeared out of nowhere like a ghost, wrapping her arms around her shoulder.
Yennefer's golden eyes were practically blazing as she stared at Artie.
"What is going on here…" she asked, her voice sounding so low that it was terrifying. "Why isn't dinner ready?"
When it came to food, Yennefer was a different type of beast.
No one answered, they all just stood still, under the oppressive atmosphere blossomed from Yennefer's hunger.
Artie then cleared her throat… "These two are delaying dinner." She pointed an accusing finger at them.
Yennefer glanced at them, her stomach rumbling like an enraged beast.
Delilah froze stiff as a log, while Eliron smiled.
"I t-told you I was going to cook something special, remember?"
"Cook something special?" Artie scoffed. "He can't even make Oats!"
Yennefer smiled darkly, and tapped her shoulder. "Let them cook Artie…"
"If they fail." She stared at the two of them, no trace of humour in her golden pupils.
"Then I'll just have to eat them instead…"
Delilah fainted.