"Well, I'd be happy to buy it off you. Did you find the antlers too? Those are worth even more in some places. Here, pass it over so I can check the condition. I'll give you three silver for it if it's any good."

"Bao!" The kid stamps their foot. "Don't rip off the weird stranger!"

"...all right, three and ten, but only if it's all usable. Three flat if I have to take it apart and throw some out."

The kid nods firmly, finding this an acceptable price.

"Didn't think to grab the antlers," she says, but she isn't really very disappointed with herself. "Three and ten sounds good." She unfolds her find.

The man inspects the hide, declares it of acceptable quality, and fetches her payment: three loose coins, and ten darker ones looped onto a short length of string. Each coin is round with a square hole through the middle, and fairly light.

"If you found it close by, it might be worth your time to go back and look for them," he says. "I've seen those go for ten silver a pair. Not around here, admittedly; that was back when I still traveled to Omashu a few times a year."

"I dunno. Maybe. It was a ways back, and I don't have a cart or anything. I guess I also don't have a lot of money."

"Sorry, I can't help you there. I used to go out on hunting trips myself, but that was years ago. My leg can't take it now."

"Awwwwwww," groans Fen. "But I really wanna see some saber-tooth moose-lion antlers! And how about the teeth?"

"The teeth aren't worth too much but they're not hard to transport, either," says Bao.

"They're COOL-LOOKING," says Fen.

"Cool-looking teeth won't put food in your belly."

Fen grins triumphantly. "They do if you're a saber-tooth moose-lion!!"

She has the teeth; she's not interested in selling them. Gotta have something to add to her drawer of battle trophies when she gets home.

"Maybe I will go back. Haven't really got anything better to do, I guess. About how much would you buy them for if I did manage to bring them back, d'you think?"

"I could afford five silver, in the hope of passing them on to a traveling trader the next time I see one. Maybe five and thirty if they're especially big."

"I reeeeeeally wanna see 'em," says Fen, clasping their hands together in front of them and making big pleading eyes. "If you bring back the antlers you can stay with me in my house when you get back! I'm sure Mom won't mind. I'll even show you my rock collection! Some of them are sparkly!"

....she is fond of having a roof over her head.

"All right. I'll see if I can find 'em again. Tomorrow, though, they're too far back to make it there and back again today. This place have anywhere to buy food?"

Bao starts to say, "Well, you could..."

...and then Fen interrupts, bouncing excitedly. "Take me fishing take me fishing take me fishing!!! I'll show you to the river and everything! I've got my own fishing rod! Pleeeeease?"

"Fen, you know it's dangerous to go that far from town..."

"I'm sure I'll be safe with Karen! She PROBABLY fought a saber-tooth moose-lion ALL BY HERSELF," declares Fen. "If the scary soldiers come she can BEAT THEM UP."

"I do not think she did that," says Bao, facepalming.

"Yeah, I'd love to, but I don't think I can fight a bunch of soldiers any more than you can." Or, well, she does, but not reliably, not without getting people killed, and she really hates getting people killed. And she doesn't know how they're armed. "And I wouldn't wanna get in trouble with your parents or anything."

"Mom wouldn't mind!" says Fen. "I really miss fishing!"

"Maybe another time," says Bao. "For now, why don't you show Karen to Auntie Jin's house? I hear she's making dumplings this afternoon, and you know what happens if you get there in time to help."

"FREE DUMPLINGS!!!" the child exclaims, and grabs Karen's hand again. "C'mon c'mon c'mon!"

- well, it's food.

She follows.

Fen leads her all the way across town and knocks on another door. As soon as it begins to swing open, they're already excitedly saying, "Hi Auntie Jin! Bao said you're making dumplings! Can I help? This is Karen she's really neat and probably fought a saber-tooth moose-lion!"

The door finishes opening. The woman on the other side looks older than Bao but younger than the old lady from the village, and has a very gentle smile. "Hello, Fen. It's nice to meet you, Karen. Come on in; I was just getting started. Would you like a cup of tea while we work?"

"Yeah!" says Fen.

"Yes, thank you."

She does not, actually, particularly like tea, but she feels like it's nicer not to refuse, and it's not like she has a ton of fluids in her system right now. Not exactly in a place with hot and cold running water.

"Right this way."

The kitchen is not super spacious but it's plenty big enough for two adults and a child. Auntie Jin pours three cups of tea, which is subtly-flavoured enough that it's mostly just slightly pleasant-smelling warm water, and sets about helping Fen roll up their sleeves; then the two of them settle into an obviously-practiced dumpling-making routine, with Fen enthusiastically including Karen in everything and trying to teach her three things at once about how to help, and Auntie Jin stepping in where necessary to restore order and make things more comprehensible.

That's - good. It's tiring but it's good. If she can focus on this then she doesn't need to focus on anything else.

(She may not be very focused. She's trying.)

Nobody has any complaints, and the dumplings turn out okay. They're very tasty dumplings.

Awesome. She is successfully stalling on the starvation front.

"This was very good, thank you."

"You're very welcome," smiles Auntie Jin. "Teaching young folks to cook is one of life's great pleasures. And what better reward for a job well done than a tasty meal you made yourself?"

"There really aren't many better things in life."

Not right now, anyway.

"So! Fen. Is there, like, an inn around here? Anywhere else a person can stay the night?"

"I dunno," says Fen. "I guess you could stay at my house. But I'm not showing you my rock collection until I see an antler!"

Auntie Jin blinks, mildly confused; but then she says, "That might be the best offer you'll get. I'm afraid we haven't had a proper inn here in quite some time."

"Easily beats sleeping outside. I'll take it."

Fen gives Karen a somewhat exaggerated suspicious look, like you might do if you weren't sure how to look suspiciously at someone but felt that the situation called for it anyway. Auntie Jin laughs behind her hand, and then Fen giggles too. "C'mon, I'll show you my house!"

Karen follows!

Some of the houses they pass have lamps lit against the coming night, but most are dark.

The house Fen brings her to is small, although not that much smaller than its neighbours, and surprisingly tidy for a place implicitly belonging to an unsupervised ten-year-old. Fen conducts an abbreviated tour: there is a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a shed out back containing a somewhat more sophisticated toilet than one might naively expect in a remote medieval village. Karen gets to sleep in the living room, on an efficiently assembled pile of blankets.