Page 44 of Valka
She looked up at him and almost laughed. He was just barely holding onto his patience, all but shifting his weight from one foot to another.
“Alright,” she said.
Putting her water cup down and lifting the bowl to her lips. Before she sipped it, she held it up to her nose and sniffed. Canting her head just slightly she looked up at him.
He grinned at her and nodded encouragingly.
She sipped a bit of the broth, and met his gaze briefly before sipping again. “This is good, Valka!”
“Yes! Valka make soup!”
She examined the contents of the bowl and found different types of what she assumed were veggies, and hunks of meat. She dipped her fingers in the broth and picked up something that resembled a carrot.
“No! No!” he shouted before running back over to where the fire was and digging around in a box he had sitting there that she’d not seen before.
Then she laughed when he came running back, holding up a large spoon in front of him.
“Soup eater,” he said, handing it to her.
“Spoon,” she said.
He pulled it back toward himself right before he handed it to her to examine it closely once more. “Spoon.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“Soup eater,” he insisted and plopped it into her bowl.
“Thank you.”
“Welcome.”
“Oh, you learned ‘you’re welcome’.”
He grinned and watched as she took another bite of soup.
“This is my favorite thing to eat so far. It’s really, really good, Valka. Thank you so very much for learning how to make it.”
“Delia make soup?” he asked.
“I’m sure I could. If you get me the ingredients.”
“No. Valka soup best.”
“Okay.”
He got his own bowl and filled it, then sat beside her on the furs and ate his own serving. When he was finished and she was almost finished, he got up to get her more water and returned, sitting across from her smiling at her.
“Why are you so happy?”
“Delia wake,” he said. “Valka sorry Delia hurt. Scared Delia not wake.”
“Wasn’t your fault.”
“Valka leave Delia alone.”
“I shouldn’t have left the cave alone. I should have waited for you to come back.”
“Valka not leave Delia alone.”