Lydia the Siren's Arc

Chapter 22 of 37

Morning came. Lydia woke under the painted stars, human and hungry in a way she did not know. Her stomach ached, but no beast stirred beneath it. Bastion stood at the small stove, turning something in a pan. The smell was strange and warm. She had eaten travelers and raw fish her whole life. She had never smelled bread. "Sit," he said. He set a plate before her. Eggs, a slice of bread, a cup of water. Lydia stared at it. Then she leaned down and bit into the eggs without hands, the way she had always fed. Bastion said nothing at first. He watched her tear at the plate. Yolk smeared her chin. She swallowed too fast and coughed. "Slower," he said. He sat across from her. "It won't run away." She wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist. "I don't understand this," she said. "The heat. Why cook it. Why wait." Bastion picked up a fork. He held it up so she could see. "You use this," he said. He speared a piece of egg and lifted it. "Then this." He ate it, slow, and set the fork down. Lydia frowned at the fork. She took it like a dagger and stabbed the bread. It skittered off the plate onto the floor. She hissed at it. Bastion laughed. It was quiet, but real. "Not a spear," he said. He came around the table and stood behind her. He wrapped his hand around hers on the fork. His grip was warm. "Loose. Let it hold the food. Not you." She let him guide her hand. The fork lifted a bite. She brought it to her mouth without dropping it. The egg was soft and salted and good. "There," he said. He did not make it more than it was. He went back to his chair. They ate. Lydia dropped the fork twice more. Each time she picked it up again. She watched how he chewed with his mouth closed, how he drank between bites, how he did not rush. She copied him. By the end of the plate she ate like a woman, not a beast. When she finished, she looked at the empty plate. She felt full, and warm and content. He stood and took her plate to the basin. "Tomorrow I'll teach you to hold a knife." Lydia watched him wash the dishes in his quiet cabin.