Honorary Titan Fan Week 2021 Prompt 5: Change

Summary: Eating dinosaur meat with a good friend makes Kole feel alive.

Tags: Pre-Canon, Friendship, Starting Over, Freedom, Dinner

At Peace

A bowl made of clay filled with cooked velociraptor meat was not something that could have existed in Kole's old world. In the past, she would have dined on lukewarm delicacies in the cold, sterile environment her parents crafted for her. The tastes bland, the scents and conversations nonexistent, they once made dinner a prison for her.

But in the world below the ice, Kole relished her meal. Rich, juicy meats and clean water, while simple to wealthier folk, made her feel alive. She sunk her teeth into the succulent tail of a dinosaur and nibbled it until only an off-white, jagged bone remained.

Underneath the shade of their treehouse, Kole and Gnarrk ate. While he wolfed down watermelon after watermelon, she satisfied herself with the meat. She leaned back in her wooden seat, listening to it creak on the floorboards, and she tilted her head, peering at the thick, dark green foliage through the leaves forming their roof.

She heard critters scamper and dinosaurs bellow from within the forest. While she would have heard similar noises in the forms of racing ermines and roaring polar bears above land, the creatures here created a unique ecosystem. With animals that should have perished or evolved eons ago, the place Kole called home provided a chance for her to study what archeologists and zoologists fantasized about in their thesis papers.

"Gnarrk?" the caveman questioned, his jaw shifting like a horse as he devoured another watermelon.

She rolled her shoulders and straightened her spine. "Oh, I'm fine. I was enjoying the view," she said, pointing around her. "It's neat that we can hear the dinosaurs from up here."

"Gnar gnarrk?" he asked, cocking his head, his matted hair shifting with him.

She chuckled. "It is kind of scary, but I know you'll protect me." She tapped her chest with her knuckles. "Especially since you can swing me around like a club to clobber them."

Gnarrk broke into a wide grin showing all of his teeth. He bobbed his head up and down, cheering and flexing his arms to prove her point. Kole laughed with him, her smile causing her eyes to crinkle, and she stood up, collecting her bowl. She gathered his dishes as well, telling him she would wash them while he finished his dinner. As Gnarrk nodded and shoved a massive slice of dinosaur meat into his mouth, she descended the twirling oak steps to the stream outside of their home.

Crouching, Kole beamed at her reflection. A colorful face gazed back at her, not a hint of paleness to her cheeks or brow. In the old world, when she glared at herself in the mirror, only a haggard, weary child greeted her with dark, sagging bags under her eyes.

Kole washed the bowls until they were spotless. Stray fish swam upstream, occasionally brushing by her hand and tickling her knuckles. Their scales sparkled, almost blinding her as the light filtered in through the trees, the uncontaminated water allowing her to see them perfectly.

Organizing the bowls by size, she held the largest one at the bottom with the rest inside of it. Standing up, she picked at her shirt and shook off any leftover water droplets. A yawn escaped her, and she blinked, her tummy full and her mind at ease, no longer having to worry about parents regulating every aspect of her life.

"Gnarrk! Gnar gnar gnarrk!" he called from the balcony, his massive hands gripping the wooden railing.

"Yep! We'll nap right now, Gnarrk. I'm pretty beat after a day spent hunting dinosaurs," she said, trekking back upstairs. Setting the bowls back on the table, she stretched her arms high above her head and yawned again. "An hour sounds good, right?"

Gnarrk nodded and ambled over to his hammock made of string and wool tied to the far wall of their treehouse. He settled down to sleep, and Kole jumped into the hammock above him. They grabbed their blankets and adjusted their pillows, wishing each other a pleasant nap, Gnarrk falling asleep almost instantly.

As she listened to him snore, Kole sighed and closed her eyes. She wouldn't trade in her new life for anything else, vowing to never return to the one she abandoned.