The lounge area Venie had given them was right next to the rooms Kit had rented. He ended up getting three rooms, one each for Mars, Milka and himself. The lounge was bright and welcoming, large floor to ceiling windows spilled light into the room.
Three large sofas and two armchairs dominated the room surrounding a wooden coffee table. Kit took a seat on one of the armchairs and the rest of the procession sat down as well. Once they were all seated, Kit gave introductions to Milka and the newcomers.
Mayor Mushroom cleared his throat. “Kit, is everything alright?”
Kit guessed the mayor was talking about his hasty retreat from the Fancey plate. Kit nervously started twining his fingers trying to think of an excuse. Mars came to his rescue with an answer. “Ah, yes. Kit and I were just sorting out a misunderstanding with Chef Nutmeg.”
Mayor Mushroom glanced at Kettle with a nervous gaze. Kettle sat up straighter, “We wanted to talk to you about the incident that happened last time.” Kit had left so quickly the last time he came to Fairweather town, he didn’t wait to find out the outcome of the official investigation into the attack on him and Peaches.
“Yes, yes. It was such an unfortunate circumstance that Kit and his friend got targeted by a group of thugs on his last visit.” The mayor broke in. “Don’t worry they have been severely punished for their crimes.”
Kit’s brows shot up, that didn’t sound like Chef Nutmeg received any punishment for instigating the assault. “What about the culprit behind hiring the thugs?”
“Ah Kit what are you talking about, the investigation results didn’t find anyone behind that group. They acted on their own, apparently it wasn’t their first time targeting visitors to Fairweather town.” The mayor cleared his throat nervously, then poured himself a glass of water from the bottle sitting on the coffee table and swiftly downed the glass.
Kit started to become angry at the mayor, the arrogant chef really did get away without being punished by the authorities. No wonder the man had learnt to do whatever he pleased, if he was being protected by the mayor.
He ground his teeth and stared a hole in the mayor’s head. When the mayor finally raised his eyes to meet Kits, he gave Kit a weak smile. “Now Kit don’t look at me like that, besides you have now sorted out you’re misunderstanding with Chef Nutmeg, yes?” The mayor winked at Kit and became all smiles.
Confusion filled Kit what the hell was that all about? He turned to Mars who was sitting closest to him. Mars leaned over and whispered in his ear. “I think that means the mayor will not interfere with what happened at the Fancy plate today.”
Mars whisper was more like a whisper shout, everyone in the room had heard his words. Kit turned his gaze to the mayor once again to see that the man was nodding his head. Frustration filled Kit that Chef Nutmeg wouldn’t be punished for his earlier actions towards him, then it disappeared when he thought about what Mars did earlier.
A deep sigh left his mouth. He brushed all his thoughts about Nutmeg to the back of his mind, they had other things to discuss, and no amount of discussion would change what had already happened.
He made a firm resolve to himself that things like this wouldn’t happen in his Spartan Fire. If someone did something unethical, then they would get punished no matter who they were!
“Ok let’s forget about the incident and move on to more important things, what did you think of the area I reserved for you Kit?” Mayor mushroom beamed at him in a confident tone.
A genuine smile grew on Kit’s lips, the placement of the plot was in the heart of the market. This was a great place to open his stall. “It was a good size and in a great place, I will be happy to open a stall there.”
“Good, good! Then how much in the way of funds would you need to get it up and running?” Kit had absolutely no clue, he would need to figure out a design first then go shopping to see how much the permanent fixtures would cost.
He gave the mayor a simple shrug, “I can’t tell yet, do you have a budget in mind?” The mayor had offered to pay for all his equipment if he made a stall here, but Kit wasn’t silly he knew it would have restrictions. It would be better for him to know how much he had to spend before he went shopping.
Kettle was the one to answer Kit. “We have allowed 50 gold crowns for the budget for your stall.” The mayor snapped his head towards Kettle and Kit watched as the mayor’s eye twitched. Kit chuckled, he was sure that Kettle wasn’t supposed to let them know the limit of their budget.
“Ah, now that might be a bit too much. I’m sure you won’t spend it all Kit.” The mayor tentatively spoke. The smile on Kit’s face grew, he was going to spend every crown! He was still mad over the whole Nutmeg fiasco and retail therapy was just the thing he needed to feel better!
The mayor looked at Kit’s large smile and sighed. “Kettle oversees the finances for the stall so I will leave it to him. I have spent enough time away from the office so I must return.” The mayor stood up and made his goodbyes, then left in a rush. Kit assumed he didn’t want him to ask any more uncomfortable questions.
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Kit didn’t waste any time after the mayor left, he pulled out paper and quills then handed them around to everyone in the room, he even gave one to Kettle. “I am going to need a bit of help to get some inspiration. So, I would like everyone to come up with a design for a market stall, then we can compare them at the end and hopefully get something to start working with.”
The sound of scratching on paper filled the room, when everyone had put their quills down Kit collected everyone’s designs then spread them out on the coffee table. He was hoping between all of them that he could mash together some kind of stall from the different ideas.
Most of them looked similar in design, a square bench surrounded a small area to move in and a stove top was squeezed in between the counters at the back of the square. A till was sitting on the bench on the opposite side of the stove. A small space for seating was at the front of the plot. There was only a slight variation in each design.
Kit sighed, all the ideas looked the same, nothing stood out and he couldn’t get any inspiration for something new. He would just have to use his cooking to draw people into the stall. Kit ran a frustrated hand through his hair, he wanted his first permanent market stall to be special.
He moved to gather all the pieces of paper from the table, as he collected them, he noticed that he was one piece short. He looked around at the group of people sitting in the room. Kettle was chewing on his lip as Kit’s eyes went in his direction.
Kit stopped his gaze at Kettle and raised a brow. “Ah, Kit I forgot to give you mine.” Kettle tentatively handed over his piece of paper. “I think I might have gotten the wrong idea of what you are after judging by the other designs, sorry Kit.”
Curiosity drew his eyes to the paper now in his hand. Surprise flittered across his face, this is what he wanted! Something different from the usual food market stall. Kettle had divided the large plot into two, a narrow walkway at the top connected the two spaces.
It was shaped like a U, one side of the stall was a rectangle of benches surrounding the outer edges of the designated split space, inside was a large camping kitchen that stood alone. The chef inside would have plenty of room to manoeuvre around the camping kitchen.
The other side of the U had a glass display cabinet that faced the divide in the sections, Kettle had written next to the drawing ‘to display wares.’ At the back of this section was a line of three time freeze storage shelves.
The thin section at the top that was like a walkway between the sections had a large display board that covered the length of the space at the back, counters creating a barrier between the employees and patrons to the stall. Kettle had scribbles, prices, and information next to the display board.
In the space inside the divide, arrows pointed in a U shape, it would make the foot traffic move in one direction, going past the kitchen first then the display board and finally ending at the display case.
The design was exactly what Kit wanted! There was no room for seating, but it was a market stall, it was meant for takeaway meals! Kit felt his excitement grow the more he stared at the piece of paper. “Kettle you truly are amazing! I will go with this exact design!”
A blush spread across Kettle’s cheeks and a pleased smile appeared on the man’s face. “I’m glad you like it.” Kit passed the paper around for the rest of the group to look at, numerous praising comments followed. It looked like everyone was impressed with Kettle’s talent in design.
Nervous energy ran through Kit’s body as he waited for everyone to finish. He just wanted to leave and start shopping!
When the others started getting settled in for a long discussion, Kit couldn’t take it anymore. He shot to his feet, “We can talk about the minor details later! Let’s go shopping for the main parts so we can figure out our budget for the rest.”
Laughter filled the room at Kit’s excited reaction to going shopping. “Alright, we will follow you, Kit.” Mars got to his feet with a chuckle. The others filed out the lounge behind Kit. When they exited the Inn, Kit turned to Kettle, he would know the best places to purchase the items he needed.
“Kettle, I want to get the camping kitchen first, where would be the best place to buy one?” He was going with a camping kitchen because he didn’t know if a proper kitchen would function in a market stall. A camping kitchen was also a movable item like the stall. This way if he wanted to close the stall for whatever reason, he could easily take his equipment with him.
Kettle gave Kit a strange look. “Kit aren’t you a member of the culinary guild?” When Kit nodded Kettle continued. “That would be the best place to purchase everything you need for the market stall.”
Kit made an oh shape with his mouth, he hadn’t even thought about getting the items from there. Kettle took the lead in navigating the streets to the culinary guild. When Kit stood in front of the door that had a carving of CAL in a chef’s hat holding a knife his excitement ramped up.
He pushed open the door and walked towards the large desk dominating the room. Claire sat behind the desk, a delighted smile graced her lips as she stared at Kit. “I did not expect you to return so quickly Kit! How are you?”
Kit returned her smile. “Hello Claire, I’m well. I’m here for two things today, some shopping and to promote my chef’s tier!” Now that he was here the shopping got pushed back in priority. He pulled out his culinary guild token and handed it over to Claire.
Kit’s heart started to pound as the token left his hand. He felt himself become one step closer to the restaurant promotion. Pure joy flooded his system, he was about to become a beginner chef! He had achieved all this on his own with out having to apprentice to someone! Pride swelled in his chest, and he couldn’t help straightening his back and puff out his chest.
Claire let out a small squeal catching his attention, her eyes were shining as she stared at the platinum token. “Let me go and get Kate, she would kill me if I did this without her.” Claire rushed through the door at the back of the room, not long after she returned with a familiar face.
“Kit!” Kate ran over and squeeze him tight. “How are you ready for a promotion already! You really are full of surprises!” Kit exchanged some pleasantries with Kate then they moved back to the desk.
Claire had pulled the thick tome need for the promotion from the drawer and had it laid out on the desk. Kit’s token was already sitting on top of the book, the borders of the book had already turned platinum to match the token.
“This is exciting! Quick Claire start the promotion!” Kate clapped her hands in glee.