Omen Valley

Vulo stuffed with Sa-tarna bread and boskmilk

Aphris is leaning against the side of a wagon when she sees dust at the hills. Her eyes change into slis in her concentrating to discover if these are enemies or friends. She sighs relieved when she recognizes the banners of the Omen Valley outriders. The dustcloud comes closer and soon she recognizes some of the man on their kaiila, lances proud in the air, proud because their hunt was success full.

The leader sees Lady Aphris and yells in a frolic voice “we shot a nest of vulo, cooking to do for you, yearkeeper” whit a swift turn of his kaiila he comes close to Aphris and throws a bundle of vulo before her feet. It are 10 birds, legs snared together with a small rope.

Lady Aphris looks at the present kajirae which immediate run towards the demanding free woman, they kneel before her and wait for orders. “here are some birds, girls, pluck the feathers and remove the intestines, if you are fast I might give you lazy bitches a piece of it too” she says with a joyfull voice to the kajirae thinking that the intestines mixed with slave gruel would be a nutritious extra for the otherwise so sober diet of the slave girls.

Aphris walks for the cooking pots above the fire, seeing from an eye corner the girls are hard at work. She takes a big pan and fills the bottom with boskmlk. She orders some sa-tharna bread from a slave girl, and she lays the bread in the milk, then she takes some herbs and garlic which she uses to flavour the milk-bread mix.

She winks the kajirae with the vulos and orders them to bring the birds. Aphris notices that the birds are cleaned and removed of legs, head and intestines. Each of the 10 birds she fills with the flavory boskmilk – bread mass. Then she sews the vulos bodies close with an intestine and sticks them at a metal stick, the sticks she hangs over the fire, ordering the slaves to change the position of the birds constantly so they get a nice smelly brown crust all around. When the birds are grilled she reserves 5 for the Omen Valley, the other 5 she puts in a blanket to keep them warm, afterwards the blanket goes in a basket. She orders one of the kajirae “ bring this to Mistress Katatoki at the Kataii camp, say it’s a gift from the people of the haruspex”