Page 460 of Once Upon a Fable

“Thisis how you make money?” He scowled at my paused video. I had no doubt the comments would be full of people complaining that they’d been staring at a blank screen for too long.

“Yes.”

“Buthow?” His eyes filled with confusion. “I don’t get it.”

“Ad revenue, sponsorships, viewer watches.”

“I have no idea what any of that means.”

“I’ll teach you.”

“So it will be yet another thing I owe you?”

“Not at all.” I took his hand. “Think of it as payment for teaching me how to properly plant seeds.”

“Ha.” He rolled his eyes. “I doubt this is in the same realm.”

“It’s a skill for a skill.” I licked my lips. “Look, let me get rid of them, and we can chat properly, okay? I can’t make them wait any longer.”

He didn’t reply.

I took that as his co-operation and clicked resume.

“Sorry about that, guys. I had to explain how the World Wide Web works.”

The comment bubble popped back up, chiming with a thousand new questions.

What? Why?

How has he never heard of the WWW?

He’s legit a caveman!

I grinned, tingling with the knowledge that Kas had the origin story, the skills, and the looks to be a rock star on YouTube if he so desired. A little tease and testing the market would never be a bad thing. “Well, you know how there are some humans who live off the grid and don’t have phones or internet? A rare breed these days, but they do exist.”

No way.

Everyone is connected in this world. You can’t get away from it.

“Kas is different to us, guys. He comes from a simpler time. A time where eating dinner means you have to plan months in advance. You have to plant seeds, cultivate, harvest, and ration. If you want meat or fish, you have to learn how to hunt, gut, and skin. If you want shelter, you have to know how to provide a power source for heat, fix repairs, and bunker down when a blizzard sets in for weeks.”

Holy. Shit. So he’s never been in society?

Where is he from? A religious cult?

Tell us moreeeeeee!

I glanced at Kas. He sat stiff and unreadable beside me. I couldn’t tell if all of this was too much for him or he found it strangely intriguing. I tried to see it from his point of view. To be snatched from the silence and savagery of the wilderness only to be slapped around the face with an online world that could be as dangerous and as hurtful as all the other monsters of his past.

I should stop. This is pushing him too far, too fast.

“Unfortunately, guys, this was just a really quick video to say I promise to have some climbing content for you in a week or two, but...in the meantime, let me know what you’d like videos on. Kas is here to stay. He has a lifetime of hardship that’s made him uniquely qualified to share tips on how to survive if you ever find yourself stuck out in the elements. For all you hard-core climbers who go off into the forests, would you be interested in what he has to share? I could potentially set up his own channel. Show you guys a different kind of life—the life he’s lived before I found him and brought him home with me.”

Hell to the yes!

OMG, that would be amazing! I would love to know how to make my own food.

My brother is in the Army, and he loves all things survival.