“Are you well, Elkay?”
Elkay grunted some sort of response as he collapsed on the nearest soft thing: a battered, donated sofa. One that barely had much stuffing left in it and was rather dusty. But it was soft enough to lay on for a little bit.
“Not really.”
In the room with him was Lysar, who was busy stirring large pots of broth. Why there was a sofa in the kitchen, Lysar had no real idea, but it was at least nice to see another Rethan. Even if it was just Elkay. Lysar had been making vast amounts of broth all day, boiling up scraps to make into stock for future meals. The diet in the small city of Thre-Hertany consisted of vegetable and meat stews, so Lysar was almost always busy.
“You look… thin.”
Elkay grunted some more as he tried to sit up and inspect his own body. “Hmph. You are correct. But everyone seems thin lately.”
Lysar frowned, going from pot to pot, stirring as she did so. “Is it the food? Am I not cooking food with enough nutritional value in it?”
“I am not a nutritionist or a dietitian or anything like that, I cannot say…” Elkay flumped back onto the sofa. He was obviously completely exhausted, but he looked somewhat pale as well. Lysar kept an eye on the boiling pots, then made her way over to a pantry, fishing something out of it. A small cube of sugar. She came back and handed the cube to Elkay.
“Eat.”
“It is sugar.”
“Eat it.”
Elkay huffed, doing as he was told. The sugar crumbled and fell all over Elkay’s hands, but the sweetness was appreciated.
“Feel any better?”
“Not really, no.”
Lysar frowned. “Hm. I think we are missing something from our diets. The main things I cannot obtain are sugar, salt and spices. I believe that is affecting us. Making us lose weight.”
“Actually, aside from salts, I do not think that is the case…” Elkay tutted. “We simply need to increase our calorific uptakes.”
“Why?”
Elkay sat himself back up, pausing to lick salt out of his fingers. “I just spent ten hours working on the fields, digging out trenches for irrigation. Normally I would be, well, not doing that. Even those from the agricultural areas are working harder than normal.”
“Hm. Maybe if I see what I can do to increase the calorific content in our meals? But we have been low on fats, I am using what I can but it is not enough…” Lysar paused. “That Banikan friend of yours, could he help?”
Elkay rolled his eyes. “He is not my friend.”
“He seems like your friend. Either way, he is a Banikan. They eat lean meat and avoid fats, yes? If he brings his hunts back here, perhaps we can use what he does not?”
“Alternatively we can just send a hunting party out with him…” Elkay tutted. “There are plenty of smaller creatures that we can capture and eat.”
Lysar clapped her hands together, pleased with the idea. “That is good! The more meat, the better, I think! Would you be able to stir these pots for me while I go and talk to Rethais?”
Elkay sighed, picking himself up off the sofa. “Very well. I shall see you later, Lysar.”
“Bye, Elkay! Hope you feel better!”