Page 8 of Barbarian's Treat

TIFFANY

I spreadout my materials on the floor in front of me and think about what kind of costume I can make for my son. My fingers brush over feathers and I consider his thick, curling hair, so much like mine. Perhaps a feathered crest? There's a bird that has one, but it's all white and my feathers are the brown of the dirtbeaks. I touch my dvisti fur and snow-cat hair tufts and then discard the idea of using either. I don't want to waste either one on a costume when making yarn requires so much fur. It needs to be leather, then.

"Any ideas?" I ask Drenol. He sits near our fire, a fur wrapped around his shoulders since he gets cold in the brutal season. The elder sa-khui has been showing up to invite Lukti to games of chess...and when Lukti isn't around, finds an excuse to come and spend time anyhow.

My mate likes his visits. He makes sure to consult Drenol on whatever weapon he's working on, even though Drenol never has a positive thing to say. "I think he has adopted us as his kits," Salukh told me when I pointed this out. "He will never admit it, but he enjoys having a family to sit with around a fire."

Which is sweet, sure, but Drenol constantly looks as if he's sucking on lemons. Last night he told me that the dinner I'd made wasn't as tasty as Stacy's. This morning he criticized my tea and said it wasn't strong enough. That I was using the wrong herbs.

Normally his Eeyore personality doesn't trouble me, but today it has been getting on my nerves, which then makes me feel guilty. He's an elderly male who adores my son and has no family of his own. I should be kinder. I should.

Drenol grunts. "I still do not understand what this is for."

"Halloween," I say, pulling out a few furs in different shades of gray and considering. Maybe a metlak costume? Is that even fun? Or just kinda sad? "Kids love it back where I come from. I want Lukti to have a nice costume so he can enjoy himself."

"Seems foolish to me."

Of course it does. "Foolishness aside, if you have ideas to what sort of costume you think I could make, I'm open to suggestions. Maybe a dvisti? Or a bird?"

He makes another disapproving sound. "Leather should be used properly. It is not so plentiful that we can afford to waste it."

"I'm not wasting it." I keep my tone cheerful. "I'm going to repurpose whatever I make for Lukti so he can continue to wear it."

Or...I am now.

My son bursts in, all excitement. "Mother, did you hear? Masan is going to be a dirtbeak for our costume holiday! He's going to put a nest on his head and carry Millicent around in it! Do you have extra feathers? Maddie sent me to ask."

I gather up my feathers and hold them out to my son, smiling. "You're lucky you came in when you did. I was just trying to think of what kind of costume to make you. Unless you have ideas now?"

"Whatever you make me will be wonderful, Mother! You should dress up, too, Drenol! It'll be fun!" He leans in and kisses my cheek, moves to Drenol to give him a quick hug, then grabs the handful of feathers and races back out of the hut. "I can't wait to see Masan! He's going to look so silly!"

My whirlwind son is out the door again before I can say anything else. I exchange a look with Drenol, amused. "I swear he's going through a growth spurt. Can't sit down for five minutes lately. Does that mean I need to make you a costume now, too?"

Drenol's mouth flattens.

"You wouldn't want to disappoint Lukti, would you?" I keep my tone sweet, but I know I've got him. If there's one soft spot on that sour old hunter, it's my son. Already I'm imagining how much leather I'm going to need for yet another costume.

"Mm."

"Any ideas for what you want to be then? Nothing is too crazy. One year I was a cat, and another year I was a 'one-night stand' which, well, was a table. You want animal, vegetable, mineral, a person...?"

He thinks for a moment. "Anything?"

"Anything."

Drenol points at the chess board. "Can you make that?"

The king? I stare at it for a moment, and then the entire costume unfolds in my head. Leather bleached white—or black, depending on which side of the board he wants to be. A long tunic with some strategic boning to make the bell-shaped base and a thick belt in the center to nip in the waist. Thick stiffened hide shoulder pads. A crown made of more stiffened hide—or with leather stretched over a bone frame.

"You want to be this one?" I ask, touching the white king. "Black leather might be harder to dye than white."

He nods. "And Lukti can be this one." He taps the pawn.

It's an adorable concept. Maybe I'll make myself a hat to be the bishop, and Salukh probably won't dress up, but I bet I can get him in a checkerboard cloak. I'm excited to get to work. "I like the way you think, Drenol."

After a while, Drenol leaves to go nap, and I spend a lovely afternoon cutting leather into even squares for checkerboard cloaks. Even if I can't manage the chess piece costumes, I can make us all matching cloaks. A checkerboard cloak isn't practical for hunting, but the good news is that I can sew a white fur on the back and use the checkerboard for the interior lining, and nothing is wasted. I love projects that stretch my imagination, and I'm so occupied by my work that I forget all about dinner until Lukti pops his head in the hut and glances at me. "What's for dinner, Mother?"

I look up like a deer in headlights. "Is it dinner time?"