"Mark! Are you done yet? We should go get something to eat!"
Upon finishing up the last piece of armor that needed to be crafted for the day, Mark was assaulted with the pleading voice of a grumpy Anabel. To her credit, he supposed it was high time to get some food after working so long without a break. While he was content with some beast jerky, he doubted she would be interested in eating something that was likely to make her sick.
He quickly cleaned up his work area and set the forge to smolder so it would quickly heat back up when he got back after eating. Then he organized the equipment and weapons he just forged so someone from the caravan could come by to get them whenever they wanted. After getting everything set for his absence, he dusted himself and walked over to Anabel.
"Alright Anabel, what are you wanting to eat for lunch?"
Anabel seemed a little grumpy due to hunger, but she quickly perked up when it was finally time to get some food. She only had to think for a second before she decided on what she wanted to eat, and she knew that anything she chose would be the first in a long time for Mark, if not the first time.
"I know what I want to eat, you will just have to come along and see!"
Mark was already prepared to go along with whatever Anabel was wanting to do, so he just wordlessly followed her as she turned around and began walking toward the village proper. While they were walking along, Anabel was humming a tune that indicated that she was in a good mood, ostensibly due to the prospect of food that would soon be entering their stomachs. Mark, on the other hand, was just thinking about work as one might expect from him by now.
'When we get back I can test out the sword. The bedrock should be a good test of the strength of the alloy, but the sword should be capable of easily slicing through it. Maybe I should affix another sword reinforced with the strength alloy to a workbench and try my sword against that. Yeah, that should work. But if it slices through that too easily. . .'
"HEY!"
Mark was suddenly broken out of his ruminations with a startling shout from Anabel. She giggled as she managed to make him jump a bit.
"What are you thinking about, it's not work is it?"
Mark was a bit taken off guard, but he managed to recover easily enough.
"I was just thinking about what we are going to eat. It's not easy to guess since the caravan is in town and it is possible for it to be anything. Who knows what one of you inner village people would be interested in eating when they bring something different with every caravan."
Anabel made a playful sour face at him before she began giggling again. She already knew he was just thinking about work again since he hadn't even asked her where they were going to eat in the first place. 'I bet he is going to love the city-style meals that are available at the food section of the caravan. I don't think he has even eaten at one of them before. As far as I can tell, he only eats that disgusting monster jerky. . .'
Due to her hunger, and the fact that Mark seemed to be lagging behind as he periodically got lost in his thoughts, Anabel grabbed Mark by the arm and pulled him along until he picked up the pace. By the time they got to the caravan, Anabel had a firm grasp on his hand with her hand and her other hand was holding on to the forearm of the hand she was holding.
Once again, the seeming couple drew the eyes and gossip of the villagers.
Anabel faintly heard: '. . .sleeping together? I heard she was at his place last night and no one had seen her return. . .'
She blushed and looked up at Mark who had an oblivious look on his face. She could tell that he was, once again, thinking only of the forge. However, she also began to think about the flame and sparks that exploded out when Mark hit the metal with his hammer. The crisp ping and the visual display still seemed like magic to her and she was excited to see him work on his special sword from last night.
She quickly led Mark over to one of her favorite cooks who traveled with the caravan so she could finally have a nice meal.
"Well if it isn't the beautiful baker's daughter! Come to grace this old woman with that appetite of yours again have you? And who is this giant fellow you have brought along with you eh? Its been a long time since I have seen a young man with so many muscles packed onto such a large frame. . . he wouldn't happen to be part giant would he?"
Anabel was happy to hear the long winded welcome of her favorite cook, the old woman always treated her well and could talk by herself for hours without letting her guests get a word in edge-wise.
Mark was snapped out of his daydreams again. "Huh, hammer."
The old woman appeared visually stupefied at the random statement from Mark. This got Anabel caught up in a fit of laughter at the old woman expense while Mark tried to figure out what was going on.
When Anabel got ahold of herself, she introduced Mark to the unusually docile old lady who looked to still be evaluating the muscle-bound idiot.
"Mark, this is Lady Ai, and she makes the best chicken fried rice in the caravan. You have to give it a try, I bet it is much better than that jerky you seem to eat exclusively.'
Lady Ai waved off Anabel in a shooing manner with a scowl on her old wrinkly face. "Come girl, I have told you time and time again to call me Nang. It's not hard to remember that my name doesn't start with Lady!"
Anabel didn't back down, and only retorted, "Miss Nang, I have to introduce you properly first, this is Mark's first time meeting you. You wouldn't want him to get the wrong impression now would you?"
"Bah! Little brat! See if I cook you anything good if you keep talking to me so formally!"
The old lady seemed to enjoy the back and forth with Anabel, and Mark caught on that this was probably their normal interaction when this caravan came around. He didn't know why he thought that, but a feeling within him made him think that.
"Anyway, Old Nang, let's get some chicken fried rice! I am starving and Mark here has been working hard all morning so give him a double serving!"
The old lady smiled at her moniker given by the pretty young girl and acquiesced. "Very well, Annie, I can assure you that neither of you kiddos will walk away from here hungry."
Mark was happy to finally get around to the meal part and added, "Thank you miss Nang, I could probably eat for three people at this point."
The old woman didn't look surprised as she walked over to her cooking area with a regular-sized plate that she returned for Anabel before she grabbed what looked like a platter one would serve a family with. She loaded it until it was heaping with chicken fried rice and brought it over to Mark with a big spoon.
"Eat up now, you look like you're still a growing boy and you are going to need every bit of nutrition that you can get at this point. It's going to take weeks worth of food for a normal person to keep you going, so make sure you aren't skimping out on any meals, you hear me? And Annie, you bring this young man around as often as you can, I doubt there are many in the village or this caravan that can provide the amount of food this giant needs to eat."
Anabel and Mark were busy stuffing their faces with the delicious food, so they weren't available to respond to the old lady who was talking at them more than talking to them, but the old woman didn't seem to mind as she just kept talking along while watching them scarf down her food.
"I hear he is the one that has stuck a deal with the caravan leader to provide the weapons and arms them hard-working guards need to protect the caravan as we march through these treacherous lands. While this food ain't free, as I expect our normal fair for the food yall are eating, I sure am willing to cook enough for both of yous to eat to your stomachs content. And this young man is going to need plenty of it to make all of them weapons and armors I've been seeing the guards walk around in. Mighty fancy lookin it has them, it does."
Mark was wondering if the old lady would ever stop talking, but he ended up just having to tune her out while he continued to stuff his face. At this point he wasn't even sure if he had been chewing the delicious food he had been shoveling into his face, all he knew is that it tasted so good he was involuntarily moving the spoon from the plate to his face as fast as he could. He had to force his mouth to do what it could to keep up.
He looked over at Anabel who seemed to be enjoying the food just as much as him, as she had a look of concentration on her face as she staired at the food before her while she similarly stuffed he face with a smaller spoon.
It took a while for them to finish, with Mark cleaning his platter before giving it back to the old woman. He had to lean back in his chair and hold his belly with how swollen it was after being stuffed with so much food.
Anabel similarly leaned back and closed her eyes for a minute before turning to Mark.
"Well, what do you say we head back to the forge so you can keep working."
At those words, the previously deflated blacksmith perked up like a hound that had caught the scent of its prey and quickly stood up from his chair.
"You're right! After such a good break, there is no need to stop the forge until late into the night tonight!"
The old lady smacked his shoulder with a wooden spoon as he made this statement.
"Hold it right there you muscle-bound idiot! You better bring this young lady back here within an hour after sunset to get some more food! You can't expect everyone to starve themselves to work themselves to the bone like you now can you?"
Seeing the truth in her words, Mark looked a little ashamed and replied to the advice, "Thank you old Nang, I will be sure to bring Anabel around often so we can get plenty of your food."
The old lady dropped her fake scowl and replaced it with a bright smile, "Well good, then yall take care and come back soon!"
Anabel had herself a good laugh at the exchange between the two as she exchanged pleasantries before leaving with Mark. She had paid the bill while Mark was getting assaulted both physically and mentally by the old woman, and Anabel knew it was just her way of keeping things lively.
The sun was still up at high noon when they got back to the forge, and Mark quickly got the forge ready to heat up his sword and arranged the tools he would be working with.