Page 37 of Moon Tamed

“Once, I brought an ex a live rabbit while a wolf. It takes skill to catch them alive and uninjured. She’d wanted a pet rabbit, so I caught her one. She didn’t appreciate the gesture. I see her sometimes, and she just calls me a bastard.”

Ah. I understood. Food rabbits, like the ones we hunted, were furry bastards out to destroy the world. “She probably wanted a bunny from a pet store. The fancy ones from Earth you’re not supposed to eat.”

“Huh. People actually want those? They aren’t just tamed rabbits?”

I nodded. “They’re cute, they’re cuddly, and they’re good companion pets. They’re intensive to care for properly, but they can be caged as needed when guests are over or you need to go to work. They’re social and friendly. Food rabbits are mean little bastards who deserve to be eaten.”

Calden narrowed his eyes. “Well, she should have specified, then. I spent hours catching one for her. Then she made me let it go without eating it.”

I gasped. “No!”

“She did. She even followed me until I did what she wanted, yelling at me the entire time. It took her two months after that to decide I am truly a bastard.”

“I don’t get it,” I admitted. “Why let dinner go? If she didn’t want it as a pet, they’re delicious, and you’d spent all that time catching it so it would be fresh.”

Calden sat on a nearby armchair with Lucky, careful to keep from damaging his tail. “I don’t get it.”

After a few moments of consideration, I contemplated the issue of general greed, something I rarely battled—unless it came to books. “Maybe she was holding onto the hope that money would leap out of your wallet and into hers?”

“That thought had crossed my mind. She got angry at me for having rabbit three or four times a week. Why wouldn’t I eat free food?”

“Exactly. Free food is extra tasty. I’m a goddess at skinning and cleaning rabbits. I have at least twenty recipes because I don’t want to get bored of my favorite free food. Why don’t more people take advantage of rabbit hunting? I can get fifty dollars for the better furs and ten dollars for the lower quality ones.”

Calden raised a brow. “How are you killing your rabbits that you can get fifty for skinning one?”

“I use a sling with a rock and aim for the neck. If I snap their necks, I can get the whole skin off, including the ears and most of the face. I leave the feet intact, too.”

“You hunt with a sling?”

I grinned at his incredulous tone. “I read how to make them, so I tried it. It works. Better still, I rarely damage the skin. I have to practice a lot or my aim sucks. I hate missing. If I miss, I don’t get free food.”

“You really hunt with a sling.”

I couldn’t blame him for his disbelief. I tended to present myself as a prim and proper professional most of the time, although he’d already gotten to see my playful side. “I can’t afford a gun or ammo, good bows and arrows are expensive, and my sling cost me less than thirty dollars to make. I even have favorite stones I try to retrieve. Some are better than others.”

“Would you use a bow if one was provided?”

I considered his question, struggling to think through the general brain fog brought on due to an illness brought in from Earth. “Archery looks fun.” I frowned at the reality of the situation. “But arrows are expensive.”

“Some can be recovered. I have mine enchanted to maximize their chances of survival. I make my own arrows, so I hate when they’re broken. I don’t skin my rabbits to sell the furs, though. It didn’t occur to me to do it. I take the feet, though.” Calden petted Lucky and considered me with interest. “How much of the pelt needs to be intact to earn fifty dollars?”

“Most of it, with a single cut down the belly and one cut per leg, leaving the feet intact. The idea is to leave as much good fur available for the crafters as possible. Depending on the fur texture, I may cut along the back or side. It varies by rabbit. There are several different breeds of wild rabbit, and some are softer than others. We don’t have any of the good fur breeds here, though. The fur is coarser.” I opted against informing him where the best fur could be hunted, as it involved crossing the border to a different city-state, something we wouldn’t be doing until the quarantine period ended. “If the belly and the back fur are both exceptional, things get tricky. I’ll sometimes cut those pelts into multiple pieces, which is fine, since the soft fur brings in a premium, even if you don’t have the full skin.”

To my dismay, I discovered talking drained me of energy, and I yawned. The soup soothed my irritated throat, which encouraged me to drink more of it.

“You should go back to bed. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to check on you. Do you want to go back upstairs or turn the couch into your nest?”

“I’ll go back upstairs. What about Lucky?”

The man chuckled and gave the peacock another round of petting. “He’s coming with me, so don’t worry about him. He’ll get all the attention he needs. Do you need any help getting upstairs?”

I took that as my cue to finish my soup, take the mug to the kitchen, and clean up after myself. To my amusement, he followed me, making sure I could manage the task on my own. “I’ll be all right. Thanks, Calden. I really appreciate you checking in on me.”

“It’s my pleasure. Call your mother if you need anything or give me a call. Either works.”

“I’ll call,” I promised, before making the journey back to bed. Changing back into my pajamas cinched my need for some more sleep, and I crawled under the blanket and passed out the moment my head hit the pillow.

EIGHT

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