"Take… for myself? Like… claiming someone?"
Discomfort must have appeared on his face because Kaira chuckled softly. A short, almost shy laugh.
Yuka was already cracking the egg with enthusiasm, her small hands searching for a weak spot in the shell. But she stopped mid-movement. Something occurred to her.
"Wait!" Her head snapped up. "Hawke, aren't you going to eat anything? We'll share with you!"
"Yeah." Kaira agreed, nudging Yuka with her elbow. "It's your egg. You should eat it too."
Hawke looked at the broken egg, remembering the scene the men had just made of eating the egg that way…
Then he looked at the insect parts in the makeshift shell. The thin legs, the fragments of chitin, the greenish liquids coagulating.
His stomach churned again. Stronger now.
"No." The word came out before he could filter it. "I… I'm not going to eat this egg. Especially not raw, like this." He paused. The grimace came naturally. "It's disgusting."
*Silence.*
Kaira and Yuka looked at him. Then at the egg for a moment. Then back at him.
Yuka tilted her head, her black braids leaning to the side.
"Disgusting?"
The word was repeated slowly, as if she were experiencing a new concept.
"It's... kind of..." Hawke gestured, trying to find the words. "Don't you think it's strange to eat this raw? Without preparing it? Without... I don't know, cooking it? Putting it on the fire? Keeping it warm?"
More silence.
Kaira frowned. She looked at the piece of insect she was about to eat. She looked again. Her fingers swirled the fragment, examining it.
"It is..." Her voice came out slow, thoughtful. "Now that you mention it... it is kind of strange, isn't it?"
Yuka looked at the egg in her hands. Her expression gradually changed; From initial enthusiasm to doubt, from doubt to a slight grimace.
"Do you always eat this like this?" Hawke asked.
"Yes," Kaira replied. "Always. It's normal."
"Normal because we never thought of doing it differently," Yuka added. "But now that he said 'disgusting'..."
She grimaced more profoundly and dropped the egg as if it had burned her hands.
Kaira did the same with the piece of insect. The two looked at the food with a new expression, distrust.
Duggi had overheard the conversation.
He lifted his head from the ground where he was lying, still distractedly licking his fingers. His eyes were fixed on the discarded food.
"Hey!" His voice came out gruff and cheerful. "If you're not going to eat it, give it to us!"
"Yeah!" Kuggi jumped up, crossing the distance in three strides. "What a waste to leave food! Give it here!"
They didn't wait for a reply. They practically ripped the eggshells off Yuka and Kaira's hands with the insects. Yuka let out a small cry of surprise, but the men were already far away, returning to the campfire.
The sounds returned: sucking, chewing, swallowing. Insect fluid dripping down their chins. Animal satisfaction.
Duggi raised his head for a moment and pointed at Hawke.
"That's why you don't have muscles." His voice was thick, full of food. "You don't eat properly; too Picky."
The others laughed.
Duggi nodded in agreement.
"Fussy! You have to eat real food! Like this!" He showed her mouth full, bits of insect visible between her teeth.
"Fussy? ME?"
Kaira stood up in a quick movement. Her eyes flashed. She crossed her arms and raised her chin.
"Hawke defeated a man more muscular than any of you. Easily."
Her voice was firm, cutting through the air.
"I saw it with my own eyes."
The three men stopped eating for a second. Duggi blinked, confused. Kuggi frowned. Tairo tilted his head.
Then they started laughing.
"What?" Duggi chuckled, spitting out bits of food. "Him?"
Kuggi laughed louder, slapping his thigh.
"That skinny guy? I doubt it!"
Even Tairo was laughing; and he was the skinniest of the three. Arms as thin as dry twigs. His empty stomach was now full, but his body still belonged to someone who didn't eat as much as the two larger men there.
Hawke looked at him.
"But you're not even that muscular. Why are you laughing?"
The hypocrisy was impressive.
The men resumed eating, finishing off the last remains of egg and insect. They licked the shells until they were completely clean; their rough tongues tracing every curve, every nook and cranny. They sucked their fingers until no residue remained, no trace of yolk or green liquid.
When they finished, there was zero food left except for Hawke's egg, which now belonged to Yuka and Kaira.
Tairo burped loudly, the sound echoing in the cave. He leaned against the stone wall, his hand on his full stomach, his eyes half-closed in satisfaction.
"Ah, that's it." He sighed heavily, happy. "I was starving."
Grandma approached him. She stopped in front of Tairo, her eyes narrowed.
"Speaking of food..." Her voice trailed off. "You said you saw a carnivore. What else did you see, Tairo?"
The young man's eyes lit up instantly. He sat up straighter, his expression shifting from lazy satisfaction to genuine excitement.
"Ah! Yes!" His hands gestured. "I was going to talk about that! When I was running from the carnivore, I ended up going further than I intended. I ran one way, then the other, hid, ran again..." His eyes gleamed. "And I found a place, Grandma. It's incredible!"
"Incredible how?" The old woman crossed her arms.
"Food." Tairo emphasized the word. "LOTS of food. Big, fat, slow animals. Easy to hunt." He gestured with his hands, showing the size. "And fruit! Trees full of big, fragrant red berries. The smell was so strong you could smell it from afar."
Fruit. The word echoed in Hawke's mind like a divine promise.
Real fruit. Not dinosaur eggs, giant insects, or slimy green things. FRUIT. Red and fragrant.
He felt his mouth water instinctively. His stomach, which had churned with the egg, now ached with longing for something he didn't even know existed.
Duggi approached Tairo, still distractedly licking his fingers.
"Are you sure?" His voice was skeptical. "You're not making this up?"
"Absolutely sure!" Tairo pounded his chest. "I saw it with my own eyes! There's water too; a clean river, full of fish. Big fish, Grandma! You could see them jumping."
Duggi whistled softly.
Grandma seemed unconvinced. Her weary eyes, filled with experience, had witnessed many promises fade away. This only reduced the size of the group.