Page 50 of Valka

“No laugh!” he said, clapping his hands trying to make her pay attention to what he was telling her to do.

“I’m trying. Oh, okay, that’s better,” she finally said, getting herself under control. “Thank you for feeding Bye George.”

Valka flashed her a quick grin. “Welcome.”

“Valka cook now.”

“Okay.”

“Valka?” a male voice called.

“Oscal,” Valka said to Delia.

Delia nodded and pulled the fur up closer over her chest. She knew Valka didn’t like the others getting a glimpse at what he considered his.

“Come!” Valka shouted.

“Thank you,” Oscal said, walking into the large cave.

“What?” Valka asked, as he broke Delia’s eggs into a stone bowl he then rested in the hot coals of the fire to cook.

“I have news,” Oscal said.

Valka looked at him expectantly.

“I came to tell you that our scouts have returned with news on the other females,” Oscal said.

Valka was squatting over the fire, watching Delia’s food cook, but stood quickly when he heard what Oscal had to say. “Alive?”

“I think so. I don’t know which other females they could be, so they must be those that our females arrived with. We’ve learned that the weasel people found a group of females near the swamps, and have absorbed them into their tribe. Surely they are ours, don’t you think?”

“Not ours. Ours here,” Valka said.

“But they arrived with ours. That makes them ours.”

“No. Weasel female.”

“They may want to come to our tribe, be with their friends, meet some of our males!”

Valka shook his head.

“We should go after them,” Oscal said.

“Oscal have female,” Valka said.

“Not for me. Mine is a good female. For the others. There are still males that need mates.”

Valka leaned over and grabbed the stone bowl, using the edge of the fur breech cloth he wore to transfer the hot bowl to before he started blowing on his fingers.

Delia giggled, and Oscal tried not to smile at the fact that Valka had burned himself.

“Valka feed Delia,” Valka said. He walked over to the storage areas of his cave and grabbed up a scrap of fabric to hold the bowl with. He took it over to Delia and made sure she had it safely in hand and with her soup eater (spoon) before he went back to where Oscal waited by the fire. “Females weasel now.”

“We could raid their village. Say that they were ours first.”

Valka shook his head vehemently. “Female know Weasel. Not Cliffer.”

“You think it would be too hard to move them here?”