FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

It was only an hour later but the sun had nearly disappeared for the day behind the high cliff that bordered Sica village. Nearly all the villagers sat in the dining hall at several long wooden tables. The heat of the hundred or so bodies combined with the hundreds of steaming clay dishes that covered the tables was eased by the cold breeze that flowed through the large open windows as a light rain pattered softly on the low roof. The cacophony of so many ferrets swapping loud jokes and stories, discussing the wheat harvest, arguing what the weather will do next month, and tending to wailing babies or hyperactive children would have made any outsider feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic. But to the ferrets of Sica village it was the sound of family and home.

Ollie sat next to his mother and opposite his uncle and breathed in the kaleidoscope of aromas that flowed from the clay pots. He took an empty bowl of his own and a handful of lettuce from one of the many neatly stacked piles of individual leaves. He spooned a dollop of hot wheat porridge into his bowl, adding in chilli sesame syrup and a few beer-soaked leaves and quickly mixed them together. Tae offered him a bowl of spicy fish soup but he declined. He didn't feel like seafood tonight. Using one of the lettuce leaves as a wrapper, Ollie took a small handful of the wheat porridge and popped it in his mouth. He smiled as the heat of the chilli tingled his mouth and throat, and tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Tae happily drank down spoonfuls of the fish soup, sometimes taking small pieces of cold potato covered in a soothing fruit cream to ease the heat of the spice.

A ferret wearing heavy gloves gave a call to watch out as they carried a large stone bowl to the table. Ollie and Malet immediately moved the smaller dishes out of the way to make room. The stone bowl had been heated to a ridiculous temperature in the kitchen kiln, and everyone made sure to stay out of its way unless they wanted to get seriously burnt. Inside the bowl was a pile of diced up raw bird, with a multitude of different vegetables and herbs arranged carefully on top, and covered in a few raw eggs. The ferrets closest to the bowl applauded at the presentation and the server smiled and took a small bow, getting several laughs from the crowd. He took out a long metal stick and stirred the contents of the bowl quickly and violently, lovingly destroying his own creation. The bird and vegetables hissed and sizzled as they were pressed against the side of the red hot bowl and then scraped off with the stick, leaving them fried and crispy coated in the egg. More stone bowls were brought out to different sections of the tables to similar reactions. Steaming mounds of the mixture were collected by the villagers who all the while chatted, joked, waved and greeted anyone they hadn't had a chance to talk to yet.

All of the ferrets used lettuce leaves to eat anything that didn't require a spoon. It kept their paws, and of course the food they were eating, clean. Ollie remembered a trader that frequented the village from another city telling him that their people used knives and tiny pitchforks to stab and cut their food, which he found weird not to mention extremely rude. Ollie thought the cooks of those cities must be very lazy to not properly cut up food before it was served. He took his portion of stone fried bird and mixed it with his spicy porridge, licking his lips.

"Ollie!" The voice was high and familiar. Ollie looked up to see a young ferret holding a clay pot the size of his head squeeze himself in between Uncle Malet and a particularly voracious villager.

"Hey, Deo! I didn't see you when I got back today," Ollie said to his younger brother.

"That's because he was a good boy and stayed in the kitchen to help the cooks like he was supposed to," said Tae, leaning across the table. Deo puffed out his chest in pride, and held out the clay pot.

"I got you this," he said, his little face beaming.

Ollie took the pot and lifted the lid. A familiar, delicious scent burst past his head in a waft of escaping steam. "Fried snake with sticky sauce..." he muttered, mouth-watering. "Did you make this?" He piled a large portion of the crispy white flesh followed by a good spoonful of the brown syrup into his bowl.

"No." Deo shook his head. "But I caught it!" He added excitedly, bouncing up and down on the bench.

"Really? You caught this exact snake?"

Deo nodded so hard his short ears whipped back and forth against his head. "I made a trap! Hunt Master Talon was really happy with me!"

Ollie paused in his chewing. "Wait," he said through mouthful of snake and lettuce, "You were in the hunting party today? I wasn't allowed to be part of the hunting party until I was fourteen," he complained, giving a sideways glance to his mother. Tae just smiled and shrugged at both her sons. Malet piped up instead.

"I've been told the boy has talent. He still has to learn how to track properly, but he has the mind for traps. He also knows when to keep quiet when he's told." Malet looked pointedly at Ollie, who just rolled his eyes and stuffed more of the delicious snake in his mouth. Deo's proud smile was so wide he was in danger of straining something.

"You've still got chores to finish in the kitchen, off you go lad," Malet instructed Deo, ruffling his fur between his ears. The young ferret nodded, waved at his family and bounced off towards the back rooms of the dining hall.

"I still think it's unfair he gets to go on hunting parties already," Ollie mumbled at no one in particular.

"You have a dragon, Ollie," Tae said, giving her son a sharp glance. "You will have that over him for the rest of your lives. So don't complain."

In his mind Ollie conceded the point, but he didn't let it show on his face. Instead he made a point of shoving an oversized chunk of fried serpent in his mouth. Tae shot him a look of disgust and warning, but Malet simply ignored the young man and instead munched on a leaf full of creamed potato. His eating was interrupted however, by a raspy voice that seemed to pierce through the immense cacophony of hundreds of ferrets eating and talking.

"Malet!"

"Gods, here we go," he groaned quietly. Tae gave him a look of warning. Ollie smirked and continued eating, fixing his eyes into the bowl. An old, short woman pushed her way to the chief. Despite being slightly hunched and shorter than most, possibly shrunken due to her age, she walked with such a sense of purpose it added an odd sense of weight to her otherwise small frame. The black mask of fur that adorned so many of her kin was so faded it blended into the rest of the grey fur that covered her body. She jangled as she walked due to the metal bracelets she wore around her wrists, and the many pieces of carved bone, wood, and small metal totems that were woven into the surprisingly long fur on top of her head and down her neck. She wore robes that were musty and hand-woven, with many strange and colourful symbols stitched into the brown fabric. Other ferrets moved quickly aside to let her pass once they noticed her, some nodding in respect and others bowing in surprised veneration. She ignored every single one of them.

"Ginzeil, it's an honour for you to join us. Please have a seat," Tae said pleasantly, in an obvious attempt to defuse the inevitable

"Malet! You had that buzzer taken apart!" She stood right next to the Chief and glared at him, wrinkled hands firmly by her side. Malet kept staring at his bowl full of sweet potato pancake and added a drizzle of chilli sesame syrup.

"That I did," he responded without looking at her.

Ollie peaked up and avoided looking at the priestess, knowing from experience that he didn't want to get involved in any confrontation with her. He noticed a ferret he knew as Timmiel standing shyly behind Ginzeil, wearing similar robes as the priestess, only much newer. Timmiel was a priest in training, a position that Ollie did not envy in the slightest. Timmiel was only a few years younger than himself. He offered the seminary priest a smile and a wave, which Timmiel hesitantly returned before turning his gaze elsewhere. Ollie shrugged and returned to his snake, hoping to ignore what was happening in front of him.

"I've told you plenty that I need those robots intact as possible!"

"That you have."

"Then why did you have this one pulled to pieces?" Ginzeil demanded. Only now did Malet look up from his food and at the priestess.

"Because I don't trust them, Ginzeil. It could have turned itself back on." He let anger and frustration creep into his voice. He was the damn Chief of the village, and if he wanted those damn robots broken down then, by the Gods, he would do it.

Ginzeil huffed and glared, drawing her gnarled body up to her full height, despite still being shorter than the Chief sitting down.

"No it wouldn't have. I made sure it was dead, or I wouldn't have brought it back to the village," Ollie said suddenly, annoyed at his uncle's comment.

"Stay out of this, boy," Malet snapped.

"No, listen to your nephew," the old woman rasped. "He's smarter than you give him credit for. And don't let that go to your head," she said quickly, rounding on Ollie and wiping the smirk from his face. "Bravery and intelligence does not equal wisdom."

"I suppose you'd know all about wisdom, wouldn't you?" Malet said into his food. Ginzeil glared at him.

"Yes. I am most wise. And you would be wise to remember that every now and then." She turned and quickly moved away, calling over her shoulder, "I want the robots as intact as possible." And then she melted into the crowd with Timmiel scampering after her, the throng of ferrets closing up behind her as quickly as they moved out of her way.

"Must you antagonise her like that?" Tae asked, shaking her head at her brother. Malet sighed and rubbed his forehead, the resignation very apparent in his tired eyes.

"She's right. She's the wisest person I've ever known, and I'd trust her to lead me out of Hell itself. But I don't like how well she understands those machines."

"She's only helped us improve. We have a new still, better tools... Your leg." Tae nodded at her brother's mechanical limb. But he just let out a short and humourless laugh.

"I'd still have my leg if it wasn't for these damn robots."

"You're right, I'm sorry. But she's only trying to help us survive."

"I know, Tae, I know. I just don't understand how a woman of God can have such a way with something so... artificial."

"Everyone has their talents, brother."

Malet grunted and turned back to his potato pancake. He, Tae, and Ollie sat in silence for a while and simply let the ruckus of the rest of the dining hall wash over them. It wasn't long until other ferrets, having finished their meal, approached the chief with business or reports of the last few days. It was nothing out of the ordinary; some water pipes had been repaired, a plough had broken, the new bird pen was ready for hatchlings, and other updates and minor complaints were passed verbally onto the chief who made a mental note of everything that would need to be addressed.

"Well, I'm stuffed," said Ollie as he stretched and rubbed his stomach. "I'm going to find Ghai. He's probably finished terrorising the fish in the river."

His mother and uncle bid him goodbye. The young Ferret wound his way through the villagers still in the hall, headed outside and through the village toward Snake River. The sun had long since vanished from the sky, and only the moon and a few scattered lights peering from hut windows lit the outside. The rain still fell lightly in a refreshing drizzle. Ollie whistled as he strode away.

Several pairs of eyes watched him.

"When do we start? I'm sick of waiting."

"Quiet!" Miz Ezra hissed at the rest of the harpies. "We wait for the right moment." She saw the restlessness in her warriors, the twitching wings longing for flight, and the soft clicks as sharp talons flexed.

"Do not fret, my sisters," she said with a smile. "Tonight, this village will burn."