Chapter 3: A Mother's Feast

“Mother! Mother!”

Aina was about to go back to sleep when the door of the house was violently shoved open. The shock made her sit up suddenly, making her body ache. She wondered what was so important that they would make so much racket.

“What?” Aina wanted to say more, but she felt out of breath and simply gave up.

“Food, mother!” the eldest said while presenting a slab of unidentified meat.

“Stacked to the sky!” the daughter in law exaggerated.

“The heavens hasn't abandoned us!” The second son knelt and prayed.

“We won't starve anymore, mother!” The third son too knelt and offered a prayer to the heavens.

“Fruits! We have sweet fruits!” the daughter shouted as she put a slice of preserved fruit into her small mouth quietly, trying her best to hide it from her mother.

Aina could only smile watching the children so happy with the food. In her old life, Aina had never suffered from hunger. Even though her family wasn't rich, there was always something on the table. And if there wasn't, she could always use her allowance to buy something at the convenience shop. Or she herself could just cook whatever was available in the pantry.

When she went to the university, money was tight, so she learned to stretch her budget by cooking for herself. She had gotten so good at it to the point that she was able to make a bit of side income making boxed lunch and dinner delivery on request. She never thought that she would have her first experience with hunger in another body.

And a mother's body at that.

But was it even realistic for food to come from the sky? She had heard of fish and frog, even meat falling from the sky, but those were always attributed to typhoons and tornadoes. There wasn't even any storm last night. And from what she understood from the conversation last night, the whole region had been suffering drought for the past two years.

“Rhi, we have grain and meat now. Quick! Cook porridge and meat dishes for mother!”

The daughter in law felt that her enthusiasm was snuffed with a pail of water on her head. It wouldn't matter even if they had meat, her mother in law would never let her have any. The only time her mother in law had ever given her any meat was during her wedding feast to keep up appearances in front of her own family.

Any other times she did get some meat were when Irek saved some for her from his own share. And he had to do it discretely too or her mother in law would accuse him of having too much food and snatched the meat for herself. Worse, Rhielle wasn't even allowed to eat at the table, forced to eat scraps in the kitchen after the family had eaten.

To say that she had regrets or dissatisfaction from marrying into this family would be a severe understatement. If she had a choice, knowing what she knew now, she would've rejected the offer, even if she would have to commit suicide for it.

But as she washed the blood and grime from the meat, she looked back and thought she probably would still stay quiet even if she knew her future. Wyrmrest Hollow had suffered from a two year drought, but at least they had the river up until last year's winter. The village she came from, Richfield, not only suffered the drought, they had no river to irrigate the field and even their three village wells were reduced to just one.

It was so bad in Richfield that even with the grain aid from the county town, some families still starved to death in their homes. Rhielle knew there was no real option for her family. Her family needed this marriage. While the bride price of two silver coins was low and nothing to brag about, it was the two baskets of redstag meat and four barrels of water that Irek and Varn brought that sealed the deal.

If her family had refused, there would be plenty of other families coming over to offer their daughters. After all, they were village folks. They could live without silver but it would be impossible to live without food.

Rhielle thought she should be thankful that her family kept her at home long enough to get married. It could've been worse, she could've been sold away as a slave like what happened to Nishu of the Faeru household. At least as a daughter in law she had the right to go home from time to time and her in laws couldn't beat her too badly.

“Food is ready!” Rhielle announced as she placed a pot of porridge on the dining table. Then she went back and served a platter of roast meat and a soup of wild vegetables with slices of carrots.

When the second son helped Aina to the table he saw the food on the table and said excitedly, “Wow, it's a feast!”

Aina sat down at the table. She looked at the offerings and thought that if this was a feast, the second son would probably die of shock at a buffet restaurant. She accepted the bowl of thin wheat porridge from the daughter in law and slowly brought it to her lips.

It was no gourmet meal for sure. But the simpleness of the meal slid into her throat easily. The gentle texture of the thin porridge moistened her tongue and throat and made swallowing easy. She asked for a second bowl and some meat which the daughter in law provided plentifully.

It was while she was eating her second bowl that she noticed her children looking at her while swallowing their own saliva

“What, something on my face?" her words were low, cracking a few times, but she was glad that she could say something.

Irek as the eldest son spoke, “You didn't tell us to eat.”

“If I don't tell you to eat, you don’t mind starving?!”

Seeing that they still wouldn't touch the food, she said harshly, “Eat! Or are you expecting a beating before you eat?”

Aina didn't know why she said that but she was satisfied that they quickly ladled the porridge and put meat into their own bowls.

Now she noticed that the daughter in law merely stood behind Irek. She watched them eat with a look of hunger on her face. Watching the daughter in law looking longingly at the food on the table while merely standing there made Aina explode in anger.

“You! Why are you just standing there? Sit down!”

“Umm, mother in law said the table is for family members. I'll eat in the kitchen later.”

“Did you not marry into this family? Just eat here.”

“But…” Rhielle looked to Irek for help.

She wanted nothing more than to sit and eat instead of eating what's left of the meal after they were full. But recalling how her mother in law was like, she was afraid that this was another scheme to give her an excuse to beat Rhielle up for 'not knowing her place’.

“So death means my words don't matter anymore? Sit and eat! Don't make me get up!”

Rhielle didn't give Aina a chance to get up and give her a beating. Irek quickly shuffled over and made some space beside him which Rhielle gratefully filled. Under the irate mothers gaze, Irek carefully ladled some porridge into his wife's bowl.

Irek looked at his mothers face, expecting some kind of objection. Seeing none, he tested putting a couple of strips of meat into Rhielle's bowl. But this seemed to anger his mother and he was about to apologize and put it back. But he didn't expect his mother's words and the reason for her anger.

“Goddamnit boy!” Aina slammed her palm on the table, startling everyone. “Are you feeding a pigeon? Give her more!”

“Yes! Yes mother!” Irek said, a little confused but happy that he wouldn't need to sneak food at least for today. “Here, wife. Mother said to eat more.”

Rhielle simply accepted the food with gratitude. She didn't know what was going on with her normally cruel mother in law but if she was allowed to eat, then she would eat. At least today wouldn't be the day she starved to death,