A wonderful rich aroma of frying meat wafted onto the air making Nimue lift her head and take a deep sniff.She looked around, confused. There were no people and no way to build a fire outdoors since the entire area was flooded. Turning a look toward the hut, she realized it WAS coming from there. Where had Maric found meat like that? She wondered.<br/><br/>Picking up the heavy bucket with both hands, she staggered back to the cottage.<br/><br/>“Where did you get meat like that?” she exclaimed in delight. He smiled and pointed toward his saddle bag with the tip of his knife.<br/><br/>“Oh, travel meat. Perhaps, pork salted cured?” Nimue guessed, trying to control the watering of her mouth. “I haven’t had any since…before.” She settled the bucket on the table, sloshing a little as it rested. “Oh, you are cooking! I didn’t know men could cook, well, men besides the monks.”<br/><br/>She propped open the door to the hut to let in the fresh sweet air and the watery sunshine while Maric cooked. Folding up the coverlet, she took it back up the ladder to the loft. No sense in leaving it down here to gather unnecessary dirt. When she returned, the food was divided up in neat piles on the table top.<br/><br/>Nimue picked up the hot bacon by the corner, burning her fingers and her mouth when she bit into it. Rolling her eyes in ecstasy, she said,<br/><br/>“This is the best breakfast I have ever had in my whole entire life.”