PART I - KITCHEN DUTY

It took Callie a few moments to get her bearings when she woke. She was in an enclosed space, so didn’t see any of the moons or stars through the window. In fact, she couldn’t even see the window, and it was dark enough that instinctively her Dark Vision activated. Lying on her bare chest was a mostly naked sleeping Pixyl, although she had kept her socks on for some reason. She finally had a smile on her face, though, and her wings occasionally twitched in time to what Callie hoped was a happy dream.

Following dinner the night before, Pixyl had gone off for her private one-on-one conversation with the Major. Callie was unsure what could take so long, but eventually Pixyl returned after about four hours. She looked exhausted, as if emotionally drained, and had obviously been crying at some point. Despite inquiries, she had refused to talk about it, instead simply asking for some intense cuddle time. Callie had straightened up the blanket fort, and they moved their pillows there, the hanging blankets giving them a little privacy. Despite the nudity, there hadn’t been any sex, just skin-on-skin contact to let Pixyl know she was there, coupled with quietly humming a few Earth songs while they both drifted to sleep.

Carefully untangling herself from the Pixie, Callie located her shirt and underwear, slipping them awkwardly on in the limited space under the bed, then found her pants. Freezing for a moment when Pixyl made a few noises, she sighed in relief when her girlfriend’s steady breathing returned. She was so amazingly beautiful and Callie found herself after several moments simply staring at the sleeping form. She’d probably look a little creepy, actually, if Pixyl had awoken and seen her staring at her like that.

Rolling out of the Ogre-bed blanket fort, Callie stood and walked quietly to the latrine room, her pants over her shoulder and now wide awake. Emerging a few minutes later, now fully dressed, save her socks, Callie took quick stock of the room. Vanis, Tazrok and Xin were all still asleep. Lena had opened her eyes, apparently having heard Callie moving about. Callie put her finger to her lips, and then pointed to herself, before making a walking motion with her fingers and pointing towards the door. Lena returned a nod, and simply closed her eyes.

Callie picked up her moccasin boots, already pre-stuffed with a pair of socks, a habit she’d learned from Pixyl. Quietly, she padded across the room and through the front door, closing it silently behind her. Outside, the air was actually quite chilly this morning, and the ground was wet, indicating it had rained, at least lightly, during the night. There were a few stars visible in the sky, but also a lot of clouds, making a dreary day a possibility if it didn’t clear. Far to the east, just the barest hint of light was visible on the horizon with her Dark Vision, so it was still some time before dawn actually broke. Like every morning, Callie asked the important question …

What is my level?

LEVEL: BRONZE.974

“Whoa!” Callie almost silently gasped. Her point increase the previous morning had been pretty substantial, bringing her to 902, up over two-hundred points as a result of the Elemental fight. Somehow, though, she had picked up another seventy-two this morning, which seemed odd since there was no training or combat the day before. Just the bunkerball game, the fight debrief, and a few social things, plus time with Pixyl. The thought of possibly getting points by spending time with Pixyl led to a passing juvenile thought that she might be sleeping her way to Silver, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

This new total put her dangerously close to Jesca now, assuming the Catkin hadn’t received additional points this morning from whatever happened the day before. This meant there was a good chance they would both reach Silver tomorrow. Of course, with Callie’s luck, she’d get to 998 again and have to wait another day in general torture. Or worse, 999.

Walking to the garden, Callie stopped briefly to make fists with her toes in the wet grass. The lingering dew made the grass cold, which served to wake her even more. Moving to the fountain, she cupped her hands under the running water, quickly casting the Season spell on what she held to give it a minty flavor, and then washed her mouth out before spitting quite unladylike into the grass.

Callie dried her feet with her shirtsleeve before putting on her socks and boots. She wasn’t sure what to do, and didn’t want to return to the cabin and risk waking anyone. Shrugging mentally, she started to make her way towards the training field to maybe do a little solo Tai Chi before anyone else might join her. However, a glimpse in the distance of bright yellow hair lit by a magical light caught her attention, and she detoured towards the kitchen. She wanted to let Pama know how well the treats went over with Reynard.

“Hey there,” Callie said, waving.

Pama was in the midst of handing crates from the back of a cart off to her Goblin assistants, so they could bring them inside. Seeing the new arrival, she simply nodded and gave Callie a crate as well, gesturing with her chin to bring it inside.

The back kitchen was a pre-dawn madhouse, with at least a dozen Goblins racing around. Some were simply moving things about, but most stood at counters cutting, stirring or in the case of two by a stove, frying up some kind of sausage and pan of scrambled eggs for breakfast. Callie had never visited the kitchen before a meal, only helping with cleanup in the evenings the past week prior to their Culinar lessons. For some reason, knowing Pama could just magic up whatever was needed, or replicate small amounts of food into large amounts, she hadn’t expected it to be this crazy.

“Where should I put this?” Callie asked, seeing Grig working at one of the counters.

“Um, over there,” he said, pointing a food-covered hand towards a stack at the end of the counter.

“Good morning, Callie,” Pama said, breathlessly entering carrying another crate.

Setting her own crate down where directed, Callie quickly took the one from Pama, setting it with the others.

“Thank you. You’re up early. Couldn’t sleep?” Pama asked.

“I guess,” Callie shrugged. “I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I was just going to go up to the field. The sun comes up soon.”

“Would you like to help? We’re pretty busy this morning.”

“Is it always like this?”

Pama shook her head. “It’s going to be extra busy this week getting ready for all the Midsummer events, and the additional people that will be arriving, so we’re going to try to cook some of the simple, easily-preservable meals ahead a little bit. On Midsummer night, we’re not going to have another feast, but we will be having a plated dinner that I want to actually make with real food, so there’s a lot I need to prepare for that, too.”

Jesca had been fairly coy about her plans for the holiday celebrations, save that there was going to be an afternoon of making masks and trinkets, evening bonfires, and both a dinner and a party, much like when they first arrived, but no details. Supplies had been apparently arriving for a week, though, and she was working closely with both Pama on the food angle, and Captain Kela’s people on the other logistics. Callie had offered on a couple occasions to lend a hand, even volunteering Pixyl and Lhawni to assist, but Jesca had politely declined, saying she was enjoying the distracting challenge and wanted things to be a surprise.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“How can I help?” Callie asked.

Pama looked around. “Grab that and come this way.” She pointed to one of the crates and then led Callie to the counter next to Grig, which had a cutting board on it and a set of sharp knives. “These all need to be cut up into small pieces. Go wash your hands and come back, then I’ll show you what I need.”

There was a plumbed tub not far away with running water, so Callie washed quickly using a bar of soap, drying her hands on a towel and tossing it into a basket to be eventually washed.

“Just like this,” Pama said, demonstrating what she wanted. She wasn’t doing anything fancy, just dicing everything into small pieces. But, this was her kitchen, and Callie had learned from various kitchen disaster reality shows that you do it the way the head chef says to do it. Improvising was never a good idea.

Callie stepped in, taking the knife and starting to dice something vaguely resembling a reddish eggplant. It had a wonderful aroma, a little like sweetened garlic, and the nearly pure-white interior stood out starkly against the red skin. Curious, she focused on the vegetable.

WILDERNESS SURVIVAL: FLORA - RED GECKIM (FRUIT)

The fruit of a Geckim plant, which is considered ripe when the color changes from green to red. Geckim fruit is quite nutritious and can be eaten raw, including the skin, or used in cooked dishes. If allowed to over-ripen, the skin turning brown, the resulting mash can be combined with sugar, fermented and then strained. The intensely-flavored concentrated result is called Geckim Nectar, and is used in many gourmet dishes.

“What are you planning to make with this?” Callie asked, showing her initial work to Pama for approval. Knowing it was edible, she also took one of the diced nuggets and popped it into her mouth. Much like it smelled, the vegetable had a mild, sweet, garlicky taste, and was slightly crunchy, like a fresh cucumber.

“I’m not sure, honestly. I may just lightly salt most of it with some dried Odomi and then bake it until it’s slightly crispy. After that, it can be eaten as-is, or tossed with herbs and light oils or sauces. There’s even a few complex dishes that use it as an ingredient. It’s very versatile.”

Pama moved on to direct the rest of the kitchen while Callie slowly cut her way through the crate of Geckim. Grig did point out a bruised spot on one of the fruits, which he said to cut around and discard, as it would be quite bitter. It did smell a little funky, too.

Callie had never been much of a cook. She could follow directions, but when it came to improvising and having the result be good, it was even odds it would be the opposite. Morgan had been a bit of a foodie, though, and had tried to teach her a few things about flavorful cooking. Callie hadn’t retained much, though, and now standing in a kitchen she struggled to remember some of those lessons. Then the struggle came crashing to a halt with the realization that there were ways to cook with magic, so what did it actually matter?

“Doesn’t it just make more sense to use magic for all this work?” Callie asked Grig.

The Goblin shot her a bit of a scowling look, before answering, “Fresh food always tastes better than summoned, or even replicated. And for replicated food, you still have to have the original meal as a base, so we need to put the work into that.” He gestured towards the stove where the eggs and sausages were being cooked that would apparently be the seed for the morning breakfast fare. “We have to feed sixty-some recruits and another one-hundred sixty others three times a day. Pama can replicate a lot, but we still need to start with enough for about twenty or thirty people.”

“Whoa. I had no idea,” Callie said.

“There will probably be an additional sixty people here for Midsummer. Maybe even more,” Grig continued, obviously not terribly happy about it. “That already adds more work, and now Pama wants to make it extra special and use all-real food; no replication.”

“Hence why you are working ahead on prep,” Callie said in understanding.

“Exactly. The kitchen isn’t big enough to prepare everything for that many people at once, at least not to prepare that many real meals. We’ll cook most meals for this week ahead and preserve everything with spells that will last until they are served, but even then, it’s going to be a lot of work. Probably more than it’s worth. Preservations need to be refreshed often, and only a few people here can do that. If a casting is missed, the food will spoil almost immediately.”

“So our snacks aren’t preserved with magic then? The nuts and jerky and such?”

Grig shook his head. “They are real, and prepared to last a while naturally, so a preservation spell would be of little use, and could even hasten how quickly they spoil if an application was missed.”

“Interesting,” Callie replied. While they had been talking, Callie finished dicing the last of the Geckim, putting all of it into a large bowl. “I have a little more time. What else can I do to help?”

Grig gestured with his head towards the pile of crates. “Go rinse your cutting board and bring it back. Then get that next crate.”

The next crate was filled with what could best be described as yellow peapods, but each about the size of a medium carrot. Grig provided two large bowls, and instructed Calli on what to do, which consisted of opening the pod, separating the white, marble-sized pea-like insides from the pod, and placing each in a separate bowl.

WILDERNESS SURVIVAL: FLORA - SWEET DANDUM (FRUIT)

The fruit of a Sweet Dandum Tree. Considered ripe when the pod has turned yellow. Both the seeds and the pod may be eaten raw or used in cooked dishes. The seeds are quite nutritious, and the pods moderately so.

Knowing it could be also eaten uncooked, Callie chomped down on one. It tasted very similar to a Sugar Snap pea pod and the accompanying peas, but with an additional slightly-salty flavor. “This is good.”

“I like them fried in a little hot oil and wine, with a few herbs and strips of meat,” Grig said in agreement.

“I’ll have to try that some day.”

“The round seeds can be dried after being rolled in a dust of odomi and other herbs, too. Good travel food. Almost as nutritious as jerky, and crunchy. A good option for those that can’t or won’t eat meat.”

For a couple minutes, they both worked on their respective tasks, but finally, Callie’s curiosity was raised. “Are you a Culinar, too?” she asked. She had been told it was a little rude to ask people directly, so hoped Grig wouldn’t be offended. She really didn’t know much about the Goblin, though.

Grig shook his head, apparently not minding the question. “By class, I am just a Scout. I have learned a few Culinar skills while here, though. I might pursue food as a vocation when I leave if I can learn the right skills; maybe have a small food stand in Imor. I enjoy the creative work of cooking.”

“That’s great! Do you have a specialty?”

The Goblin shrugged. “I like to grill skewers with meat on them. I’ll flavor the meat for a few hours with herbs and oils and other things before I cook them.” He gestured to the other Goblins in general working around the kitchen. “They all seem to like it.”

“Oh, like a kebab? You can put different vegetables between the pieces of meat too, like mushrooms and stuff. Anything that would have their flavor enhanced by grilling. That Geckim, for example, might be good.”

“Ke-bab?” Grig asked, slowly sounding out the word, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Uh huh. Shish Kebabs. Super nummy. Oh, your food stand could have flavored sauces for the pieces of food to be dipped in, too, if people like that. Everything from sweet or savory sauces to super spicy, so lots of different flavors for people to try.”

“Shish Ke-bab,” Grig mumbled again, as if rolling the words around in his mouth. “Such a strange word. Or is it two words?”

“Two words, but just Kebabs for short.” Callie suddenly realized her mouth had spoken well before her morning-addled brain had engaged, and she had said too much. The only thing she could do was to use her old standby. “Why do I remember that?”

“Shish Kebabs,” Grig said again, this time with a little more assuredness. “I like that name. It sounds … exotic. And you are right. Different sauces for dipping would give more flavor variety, and make people come back again to try them all.” He looked at Callie. “May I use your strange Gnome word for my meat skewers? It will make them sound quite unique in Imor. There are few Gnomes in the lower Goblin parts of the city where I will likely live, so it will seem new and different.”

“Uh, sure,” Callie replied, shrugging.

“Grig’s Shish Kebabs,” the little Goblin mumbled, smiling as he looked up, his expression seeming as if he was imagining a sign over his food stand.

Callie actually got a warm feeling as she watched Grig smile. He had always seemed a little dour. Not really grumpy, but more as if life had beaten him down a bit. Now with a strange new word to call his signature dish, you could tell he was seeing a future just a little brighter than he had previously envisioned. Callie vowed that some day, if she was ever in Imor, she’d have to find his food stand and enjoy what she was sure would be amazing Grig’s Kebabs.