Kit finally sat down to rest his tired feet. Dove placed a meal in front of him and Kit soon forgot about everything else except filling his belly. Once he was pleasantly full, he swept his gaze around the table.
Happy chatter filled the dining area, Kit’s gaze was caught by Mud and Pretzel giggling and whispering in each other’s ears. He followed the direction of their probing eyes to see it settled on the twins with a mischievous glee. Kit wondered what the pair were up to. He soon found out when Cadbury almost fell backwards in his chair with his haste to separate himself from the plate in front of him.
What had previously been a plate of pasta was now a wiggling dish of worms. Cadbury was dry heaving at the sight of the slimy squirming worms that had taken over his plate. Mud and Pretzel burst out laughing, joy filled Kit at the sight of Pretzel’s flushed face.
Everyone at the table’s eyes were drawn to the commotion. Snickers chortled at the wiggling mass, then reached over the table to pick up one of the worms. She then proceeded to slurp the worm into her mouth.
Jaws dropped as the worm disappeared. A loud smacking accompanied the disappearing creature. “Mmm, delicious!” Snickers licked her fingers in a dramatic display. Kit felt his stomach churn at the disgusting sight.
More laughter escaped from Pretzel and Mud, Kit felt something wasn’t right hearing their joyful chortling and gazed back at Cadbury’s plate. The slimy worms had disappeared and had turned back into a plate of pasta.
Cadbury was starring daggers at Mud but didn’t scold him for his practical joke. Cadburys eyes flicked to Pretzel, “Oi you got me good Pretzel!” Cadbury reached over and ruffled Pretzel’s hair. “I’ll let it go this time lad, but if there is a next time, I’ll retaliate. Got it.” Cadbury softened his words with a sweet smile.
Pretzel nodded then ducked his head, looking sorry about the practical joke. Next to him Mud had a calculating glint in his eye. Kit sighed, he hoped this didn’t turn into a prank war, he decided it was time for a distraction.
“Before we all turn in for the night there was something I wanted to discuss with everyone.” Kit explained about the offer from mayor mushroom to build a permanent market stall in Fairweather town.
“Kit how did you manage that!” Snickers was practically bouncing in her chair at the news. “Wait that’s not important, who are you going to send to Fairweather town?” A frown emerged between her delicate brows.
“Right now, I’m not going to send anyone. I still need to think about how to run the stall. For instance, should we just sell a couple of meals or should we package meals in a set. The market shop will have the restaurant name attached to it so how we promote the stall will be important, especially if this is going to be one of many.” Kit didn’t want to rush into opening the stall, he wanted to have a good plan in place first before he went ahead with the venture.
He really wanted to be able to open a few of the market stalls in different towns. So, he would need his first one to go off without a hitch. He didn’t know if other towns would be as welcoming as Fairweather town’s mayor had been in establishing a permanent tenant. So if the first stall was successful then he could use the accomplishments of the market stall as a bargaining chip in future negotiations.
“I think you are right not to rush into this Kit. Let’s all think about it and see what ideas we come up with.” Snickers had a look of contemplation as she spoke. “Oh, by the way Kit what did you think of the rewards from the monster run?”
He had completely forgotten to head over to the town hall to collect his rewards! Kit slapped himself on his forehead, how could he forget! He decided to be honest that it had completely slipped his mind. “That, I forgot.”
Laughter broke out at his reply, Dove gave Kit with an incredulous gaze. “Really? Haha! Kit, you amaze me all the time! How can you stand not finding out what the rewards are? I would be chomping at the bit to grab them. That would have been my first stop on arrival!”
He had been so distracted by the changes in Spartan Fire when he first came back that his mind hadn’t been focused on collecting the rewards. Then Snickers had dragged him off and he had no time to even think about other things beside his restaurant.
Now that it was brought up again, he couldn’t wait to head over to the town hall in the morning. A thrill of excitement swept his body. How much money would he be getting tomorrow? Would it be enough for some new armour? He sure hoped so, if he was going to finally head up the mountain, he would need to acquire something to properly protect himself from attacks.
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With this thought buzzing in his head Kit bid everyone a good night, he wanted to go to sleep so tomorrow would get here faster. Mud, Pretzel and Dove accompanied him back to the boarding house. On the walk Kit wanted to see what the young lad had gotten up to today. He had been too busy to supervise him. “Pretzel what did you do today?”
A smile bloomed on the small adolescent’s face. “I helped Snickers today. We went around speaking to all the customers, it was fun!” Kit was a bit shocked that Pretzel hadn’t gone off with Mud then a frown crinkled his brow.
“Wait Pretzel, did you work all day?” Pretzel happily nodded. Kit wasn’t happy with himself for forgetting the youth today, how could he let him work such long hours! “We agreed you wouldn’t work a full day when you came here. I don’t want you to do that tomorrow and we will need to organise you into the roster to have two days off a week.”
Pretzel eyes widened and a flicker of panic appeared. “Kit, I like to work! I worked every day in Fairweather town from when I woke up in the morning to when I went to bed. I can do a full day! I’m just like your other employees!”
Pretzels pleading voice entered Kit ears, he patted the younger boy on the shoulder in comfort. He could tell the boy was worried about finding his place in this new environment. “I’m sure you can work a full day. But I won’t allow you to until you reach 18 years old. They are the rules in my restaurant.”
The shifts in his restaurant were already too long for Kit’s liking, but he couldn’t do anything about that yet. When he could upgrade the boarding house then he wanted to hire enough employees to have two shifts running a day. Right now, everyone worked from breakfast till dinner.
If this was in the real world no one would work at his restaurant with those kind of hours. He couldn’t possibly ask a minor to work in those condition, especially one he was now responsible for. By the look Pretzel was giving him the young boy didn’t agree with his sentiments.
“Kit, I want to be important just like all your other employees, please let me work just like they do.” Pretzels eyes pleaded with Kit along with his words.
A soft sigh left Kit’s mouth, he wanted the boy to feel included, but he just couldn’t budge on letting him work a full day. Pretzel was only 16 years old, he needed time to play and enjoy his youth, he also needed to go to school!
Kit clicked his tongue at his thought, how would he send the boy to receive an education if there was no school? He made a mental note to talk to Grandpa tomorrow to see where Spartan Fire residents received an education previously.
“Pretzel you are now an employee of the restaurant so you will have to follow the rules set in place. Besides you will need time to attend school.” Pretzel opened his mouth to argue, Kit stopped him. “This is not negotiable, if you want to work full time at the restaurant in the future you need an education.”
Pretzel pursed his lips and started to sulk. As Kit was about to console the lad, Dove stepped in. “Kit’s right Pretzel, getting an education is important. I know you’re worried about fitting in with the rest of us, so how about this. Each of us will take turns providing your class every day. That way you can get to know us all at the same time you learn. What do you think of that?”
Pretzel perked up at Dove’s suggestion and started to frantically nod his head. “Ok! When will I start Dove?”
“I have tomorrow free so we can have a lesson in the morning, then you can head over to the restaurant when we are done. Tomorrow night after the restaurant closes, we can set a schedule with everyone for your future classes.”
Kit was amazed at Dove’s idea, it was a great way to integrate Pretzel into the team. He also had a feeling that this must be how schooling worked in small villages that didn’t have a school present. The elders would take turns imparting their knowledge to the children.
Honestly Kit was starting to feel very incompetent as a guardian. He hadn’t even thought about what the boy would need when he invited him to come back to Spartan Fire. He really wanted Pretzel to have a better life that he had previously experienced over the last two years after his parents passed away.
Kit rubbed his brow in frustration, he needed to have a conversation with someone who had experience in taking care of others. Grandpa’s face immediately jumped into his head with this thought. Although Pretzel’s schooling was now taken care of, it looked like he would still have to seek the old man out tomorrow.
Happy laughter filled Kit’s ears. He realised he had become lost in thought and was brought back by sound of the others amusement. He let his worries go for now and joined in the conversation. They soon reached the boarding house and went their separate ways.
Snowball was waiting in his room on return. The familiar sight of Snowball chewing on a precious rock filled Kit’s sight, he couldn’t help himself from running his fingers through Snowball’s soft fur. “Hey buddy, did you miss me?”
A wet lick was his reply. “Looks like you have been busy collecting treasure while I was away.” Kit looked at the small pile of precious stones littered all over his bedroom floor. He felt a pang staring at the glittering rocks, how much would these all be worth?
He quickly chucked that thought away. These were all Snowball’s treasure and he needed them to level himself up. Kit decided to quickly tidy up his floor, so he didn’t trip over one of the stones in the morning. Once he was done, he climbed into bed and closed his eyes.
Kit woke the next morning to a wet nose poking his cheek. “Morning Snowball, did you sleep well?” A soft yip left the fluff ball’s mouth. Kit dressed himself then took Snowball into the kitchen for some breakfast. As soon as he entered the midnight guardians started to filter in. Five black panthers surrounded him and Snowball in his arms.
“You can’t have him yet, he needs some breakfast.” On his words the large cats lazily moved to settle in parts of the dining area. Kit placed Snowball on the ground and started to make breakfast for everyone.
Bree was the first person to arrive in the dining area, she quickly started to set the table while Kit cooked. When she was done, she ambled over to him. “Kit I’m glad I caught you alone, there was something I wanted to discuss with you.”