The morning after lifting the well bucket was the hardest lesson Alex had learned in this new life. The small piece of scavenged tallow was a distant memory. His muscles weren't just tired; they were vibrating with cellular debt, and the deep, marrow-ache amplified the cold. The dizzying fog of starvation was back, paralyzing his thoughts.
He needed a system. The brief clarity from the tallow had taught him that the primary currency of this existence was caloric energy, and he was bankrupt. Scavenging small scraps was a temporary injection, but it would never fuel the complex thought required for a successful escape. He needed sustainable, consistent nourishment and physical conditioning.
Theron was already yelling, his rough voice a constant irritant as he prepared to leave for the tannery. "Get to the buckets, boy! Don't look like a slug all day!"
Alex moved with forced compliance, his mind already calculating. He saw Theron not as a menacing uncle, but as a hostile resource holder whose behavior could be influenced by a simple cost-benefit analysis.
If I work myself to death, he loses his labor. If I maintain minimal, reliable utility, he feeds me just enough to function.
Alex's focus drifted across the shack's meager contents and out to the sounds of the village, identifying opportunities for both food and training:
The Food Opportunity: Utility
Direct theft was too risky. The best source of food would be earned by becoming slightly more valuable than the cost of his upkeep. He knew Theron often struggled with the small, detailed tasks of curing delicate hides—tasks requiring focus, dexterity, and patience, all qualities Theron lacked.
Alex considered his options:
Butcher: Too many witnesses. High risk of contamination/plague accusation. Rejected.
Field Work: Too much exposure. Requires sustained physical labor he currently can't maintain. Rejected.
Theron's Labor: Theron needed Elian to be functional for the chores he despised. Alex realized his goal was to transition from being a required chore boy to a necessary specialized asset. If he offered to take over the tedious, precise work of curing small leather pieces—something Theron hated but was crucial for profit—Theron might increase his rations to ensure the quality of the work. Alex was completely indifferent to Theron's own nutritional needs; the goal was simply to secure a reliable supply line of food for himself.
Conclusion for Food: Alex would push for a change in his duties, offering improved, detail-oriented utility to Theron in exchange for increased, consistent rations.
The Conditioning Opportunity: Isolation
His body was a disaster. He needed to build muscle, increase his stamina, and, most importantly, experiment with the black rabbit corpus without witnesses. He had to condition himself discreetly.
The Yard: Too small, too visible to the street. Rejected.
The Shack: Too small, too close to Theron. Rejected.
Alex looked toward the deep, foreboding shadows of the King's Wood. The outer fringe of the forest was often used by villagers for gathering firewood or small traps, but people generally avoided going too deep, fearing wolves or the King's patrols.
Conclusion for Training: The King's Wood fringe, near the unused wood-chopping block, offered the necessary isolation and cover. He could use the excuse of firewood gathering to spend an hour away from the shack each day, where he could practice minimal, controlled uses of the focused cold to boost his physical output and test the limits of his energy debt in private.
By the time Theron roared for him to take the first load of water, Alex had his plan: Calculated Utility for Calories and Isolation for Conditioning. He knew where to find the opportunity; now, he just had to execute the negotiations.