Guk had run into a huge problem, one he'd never seen coming—he was out of teeth.
Of course, that didn't mean the ones in his mouth. He meant the teeth he could use to trade with Gold Tooth. Before, he'd rarely needed teeth; whenever he did, he could just send his guards out to make a round and get some.
But the boyz had gotten wise, too. Now, whenever they saw a White-Helm, they ran as far away as they could. So Guk desperately needed a way to bring in teeth in large quantities.
Whenever he ran into a problem he couldn't solve, he'd try to remember every word Diego had said to him. Those scattered remarks sometimes gave him a fresh idea, though he couldn't explain why he remembered most of what that guy had told him.
"We can't stand this damn heat. We need to rest."
Useless. Skip.
"Do you have any other entertainment besides fighting?"
"We also watch other guys fight."
Still a useless conversation. Skip.
"Why do your mushrooms grow so fast?"
"I dunno. They just grow."
Guk thought back over that exchange for a moment, but couldn't find anything useful in it.
"...We need to eat a lot every day. We don't necessarily eat less than you do."
"You eat mushrooms too?"
"No, we eat grain, plants, all kinds of meat. Of course, we have mushrooms too, but mostly just... for variety."
Guk found nothing he needed in that conversation about food.
"Fighting is common, but it's not something we do every day. We need to work to get food."
"I don't get it. What's fighting got to do with eating?"
"If we're always fighting, we won't have anything to eat."
"That's weird. The stuff's right there. What's that got to do with whether you