As Wilbur leaves, a kindly middle-aged blond lady comes over. She is a bit plump though she’d lost weight recently. She is carrying two bowls of soup with a few skewers packed with vegetables.

  “Come on, you two! You’ll regret it if you let the boys eat everything,” She says, holding out two bowls. Elanor laughs, “we wouldn’t want that, now would we?” Elanor nudges Laurel playfully.

  “Nope, we wouldn’t want Vickie’s hard work to go to waste,” Laurel says, smiling as she takes a bowl. “She had a restaurant in town. People came from all around to eat her food!”

  “I’m looking forward to it then,” Elanor says while grabbing her bowl with a big smile. Vickie blushes and waves her hand coyly. “She exaggerates. We don’t have much to work with, so don’t expect too much,” the plump woman replies with nervousness in her voice.

  The aroma is intoxicating as Elanor takes a bite from one of the skewers. The grilling was completed perfectly, giving the vegetables a satisfactory crunch. As her teeth sink in, the juices squirt out, filling her mouth. Her tongue dances with joy as the sweet taste permeate her mouth.

  As she swallows, her eyes grow wide with shock. She feels a gentle energy dissolve and flow into her meridians. She can’t understand how food grown by mortals could have this effect. Typically to get food like this, you need to have a specially prepared garden.

  “It's so good," Elanor moans. "Yah sHo gud!" Laurel says while stuffing her face.

  "Haha, you praise me too much," Vickie says with a smile that goes ear to ear. "The credit has to go to the vegetables. They are the most incredible ingredient I've ever seen."

  Elanor is about to reply when she sees Laurel pause for just a moment out of the corner of her eye. "Aunty, don't you think you should set some out for our guardian spirit?" Laurel says while smiling coyly, "You know how much he loves his vegetables. He'll definitely want a taste too!"

  Vickie hit the palm of her hand with her fist in realization. (like you would for rock paper scissor or roshambo. Also called Nattoku.) "You're right. We can't ignore him and leave the big guy out, can we?" She turns away, "you two enjoy."

  Over by the food, there are three young boys of similar age-fighting. Vickie wacks one on the head and yells, "You three are acting like we haven't been feeding you. Do I have to teach you all manners?" She scowls at the boys as they all answer in unison. "No, miss." They look sheepishly at each other before they all got a fist to the head. "Now go entertain our guest of honor instead of acting like hyenas," Vickie scolds. "Fine," the boys yell, deflated, rubbing their heads.

  The boys run over, shoving each other. "Hey, beautiful!" The tallest boy with blonde hair says while swishing his hair back. Elanor raises her eyebrow as the other two boys snicker. "Sorry, boys, you have to be this tall to ride," Elanor retorts, putting her hand above her head which was twice as tall as the boys.

  "Roy, you're so dumb!" Laurel says, sticking out her tongue. "Elanor is mine," She jokes, grabbing Elanor's arm protectively. Laughing, Elanor says, "Why don't you introduce your little friends."

  "Fine," Laurel replies, rolling her eye as she points to each boy. "The tall idiot is Louis, the one with an ugly face is Roy, and the pipsqueak is Douglas."

  The three boys' faces turn grim. Douglas, his curly hair bouncing as he points in anger at the rude girl, "just because you're a year older doesn't mean you're better than us!" "That's right, mom says I'll grow into my face," Roy retorts with tears forming. "Don't listen to her. She's just jealous of my good looks," Louis says while posing elegantly.

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  "Well, hang in their kids," Elanor continues to laugh, holding her stomach. "They're only nine, so they don't understand how the world works," Laurel says while tugging on Elanor's arm.

  "Hey boys, come over and help us," a small woman about five feet tall calls over. The mothers of the three boys are clamoring over the food with large bowls. "Roy, stop making a fool of yourself and get over here," A grim homely looking woman yells.

  "But mom!" Roy whines. Only to see his mom giving him the evil eye. All the boys shrink and mumble curses as they shuffle away. "Perk up. It's an honor to feed the divine spirit. " The small woman says with a big smile, patting Douglas's shoulder. Douglas's mom waves at the young ladies while Roy's gives a polite nod.

  "The one waving is Harriet. The other one who nodded is Marsha," Laurel informs Elanor. Laurel waves to the three women and hollers jokingly, "Don't work them too hard."

  They all fill up a water bucket with soup and grilled vegetables. The boys then drag the bucket off towards the hill. They don't get far before a bull starts rushing down from the hill. The boys are so scared they throw the bucket away. Before it can hit the ground, the bouncing ball that is Joe opens his maw wide, chomping up the bucket whole. Joe comes to a sudden stop in front of the boys. His belly continuing forward, almost smashing the boys into a pulp. The out-of-control gut causes a gust of wind to bowl over the three boys. The guardian spirit leaps back up the hill just as fast as it came with a satisfied expression.

  The shaken boys get to their feet. The mothers sigh in relief as they check on their shell-shocked sons. It is good that their protector is so strong. However, they still worry that he might accidentally crush them like ants someday.

  Laurel can't stop giggling as she pulls the arm of the beauty next to her. "Come on. You should meet Anna! She's cool. I told you about her earlier." As they walk over, Elanor's eyes fall on a couple with the boy she'd met earlier. The woman has long black hair and green eyes like Franklin. Her arm is limp in a sling. The only thing exceptional about the woman is her eyes that seem to hold endless determination. The man next to her is muscular with skin like leather. Clearly, he's spent a long time laboring in the sun.

  "This is Anna and Arron," Laurel smiles, introducing the two. "Nice to meet you. I've heard of your gallantry." Elanor says with a bright smile. "Thanks, but any mother would do the same," Anna replies cordially.

  "Ha, ha, no need to be modest. You'd be surprised how many bastards are out there," Elanor says as another bottle enters her hand. "Cheers to your gallantry!" She exclaims before downing the bottle. Laurel's eyes bulge as she thinks, ‘even if this is water, a person can't drink this much, right?’

  Arron clears his throat, "Ahem, I understand that cultivators are well learned." he gestures gently to Anna's arm before continuing, "I don't want to impose, but do you think you could take a look at her arm?" He asks the beauty.

  Elanor looks like she'd just ate something sour, "well, I guess I can take a quick look." As she reaches out, her hand hesitates a bit before she bends down to get a closer look. "hmm, I'm not a healer... You know?" She asks with an apologetic look.

  "Oh, sorry, I only..." Arron trails off.

  Anna cuts in with a slight smile, "we didn't mean to put you in an awkward position. Don't worry about it. I'm getting used to it."

  Elanor feels a bit bad as she ponders what to do. Laurel suddenly dodges left, right, and then lifts her leg as mud balls fly by. "Hey!" She turns and yells before grabbing her head grimacing in pain. Elanor's eyes turn sharp as she the girl dodges all the hidden attacks.

  Mellisa seeing her girl in pain, runs over, scooping Laurel up. "She's had a bit too much excitement, I guess," Mellisa says while looking worriedly at her daughter. "Lately, she's been having headaches when she's overstimulated," She explains, rubbing her girl's forehead and continues, "I hope she didn't hit her head." Then Mellisa reluctantly smiles at Elanor. "Thanks, I haven't seen her have this much fun in a long time," she murmurs.

  "It was a lot of fun for me too," Elanor nods with a bright smile, her shiny white teeth glimmering in the campfire light.

  "We'll be turning in. Please enjoy the rest of the night," Mellisa says. Bowing slightly, she turns away.

  Elanor bites her lip. "Argh, fine." She says, stamping her foot, dust swirling around her. Everyone looks in surprise at the beauty, suddenly throwing a tantrum. "I'll do it, you bastard!" She yells at the hill.

  Elanor walks straight up to Gregory. "Thanks for the grand banquet. I know it puts a strain on your food stores." Gregory bows and says, "there is no need for you to worry about such things. Your presence here today has given us a bright moment in these dark times."

  Elanor ignores the pleasantries as she replies, "I'll come back when I can. My master is a great healer, so I'll try to convince her to return with me." Elanor doesn't give him time to respond as she leaps away, speeding into the forest.