The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 205: Winter is coming

"Alright," I said. "Let’s do this one at a time," I said. "And... Thank you for caring so much."

"You don’t even need to mention it, Ari. It’s the least we can do."

"Yeah, you’re just that precious," Fenric added, and then they both shot their gaze at Noah, behind him, to say something as well.

He laughed and nodded.

"Yes, for our ’queen’ it’s only right we care this much." He said, and I wanted to take his words as him trying to hype me, but my heart felt it more than my head wanted to process.

"Sure, sure, I get it," I said, my face heating up. "But this won’t do."

"What is it?"

I looked at the tent barely keeping the sun out. It was made with the bear skin before, and I only planned for it to be large enough to act as a blanket on the floor and a tent over our heads for when we sleep outside but it’s become too small with the increase in our family members.

There was one more big-bodied male, and this tent wasn’t going to do us justice.

Not when winter was already here.

I huffed.

The sun was still out but there was no denying the chill in the air.

Winter was here. So, we need to prepare even more before the animals go into hibernation.

"Well," I said, my gaze out into the sky. "If we’re going to be a family, we’re going to need a bigger tent."

They all looked at me and I looked down, turning to Noah.

"You know the way around here, I assume?" He nodded. "Then, do you think we can get to the nearest tribe before the snow starts falling?"

"Not possible." He said. "It would’ve been possible if it were just me running around full speed and resting only at night, but it’s not possible now that we have you, who is pregnant, and heavy supplies."

I twisted my lips.

"Then we do need a bigger tent after all," I mumbled.

It looked like the weather would darken with snow clouds in a week, and snow would start falling in the next week. So, Noah is saying we can’t get to the nearest tribe in two weeks, huh?

Just what brought him out here, so far from his tribe to begin with?

It spiked my curiosity even more but I let it go for now.

What was important was how to prepare for the winter.

"Alright, I know what to do. Noah, do you know how to sew?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"I didn’t see a need to learn it. It’s not like I’m a female." He said and Fenric suddenly felt smug.

Since Fenric knows how to sew, he probably felt he would be most needed in what I was about to say and he was right to think that.

"Winter is coming," I said. "We have no solid shelter over our heads, and we can not hope to make one either, unless it is a moving shelter, because we have no plans of staying in one place."

I would’ve loved to make a moving shelter, but it’s too complicated, and once we get to a route where we can’t move it through, things will become devastating. So our best bet is to get to the nearest tribe as fast as possible, and while we do that craft more things that will help us survive the early winter in case we don’t make it in time.

And the first thing would be clothes. Thick, warm, and comfortable clothes.

"After this meal," I said, "You three will go out to hunt for big animals, and preferably ones with soft, thick, and warm pelts, like the bear."

Damar raised his hand.

"Yes, Damar?"

"Are boars included?" He asked and I shook my head.

"No, no," I said, shaking my head. "Unless we’re planning to keep meat for the winter, we won’t be catching boars. That’s going to have to wait."

Damar nodded.

"So, do we all understand the assignment?" I asked and they nodded. I turned to Noah to make sure he wasn’t dozing off during the briefing. "Noah, did you get it?"

"Yeah, I did. You want us to hunt for big animals, right?" He asked and I nodded.

"That’s right."

"I understand you plan to use the pelt but what are you going to do with the meat then?" He asked and I flinched. "We can eat a few, I’m sure, but we can’t eat ’all’ of them at once."

I bit my thumb. How could I have forgotten about that? It’s not like the meat will disappear once we rip their pelt off, so what do we do with all of that?

I know their appetite and how much they can eat in one sitting so it’s not that much of an issue. The issue right now is that we’re almost out of salt.

And we’re lacking grain too. After this meal, we won’t have rice anymore.

Ingredients... Ingredients... Salt... Salt... We need to get grain and salt.

"Noah, do you know what this is?" I asked, showing him the little bit of salt we had left.

"Hm, yes I do. I just never thought it made a great addition to meat. It was delicious."

"Of course, just eating the salt is bad," I said, placing the pouch down. "But as you said, it makes a great addition to meals. How do you know salt?"

"Hm," he looked aside, scratching his head. "Those soft-coated beasts use it." He suddenly started murmuring to himself. "I think they get it from the fishtails that protect them? I’m not sure all of a sudden."

"Hey, speak up. I don’t know what you’re talking about."

He turned to me and remained silent for a second before sighing.

"I know where you can get salt, but I don’t think we can get any in the time we have. If it’s urgent then forget about it. After all, it’s located near the first tribe we’ll come across."