Morning came and Elliot was the first one to wake up feeling completely rested as if he had slept for a year. He looked around the room only to find Ryder sleeping comfortably with a stupid smile on his face while still completely clothed.

“No different from a child.” Elliot thought to himself.

Standing out of the bed he stretched a little bit, before wearing his clothes and exiting the room. After walking down the stairs he found Ruth already awake, making something on the stove in the kitchen.

*Creek* The stairs released a creaking sound under Elliot's feet, Ruth got startled and moved her head to his direction in haste, only to have a sigh of relief after seeing Elliot there.

“Oh didn’t expect you to wake up so early. Here is some warm water, if you want you can go outside, fill the lavabo and wash your face.” Ruth gave him a small bucket with warm water before returning to cooking something on the stove.

“Thank you very much.” He said while Ruth smiled at him in return.

Elliot got outside and found a hand water dispenser connected to an outhouse, he filled it up and went to relieve himself in the outhouse. After finishing his business he washed his hands and face in the dispenser.

It was more of a bucket with a metal pole sticking under it that needed to be pushed to make the water go out than a dispenser that you would normally see. But for Elliot, even this was already a luxury. Usually, he would just take some clean snow from the ground and wash his face with it, but now he felt like a king.

After washing his face with the warm water Elliot closed his eyes and felt the light breeze tickle his face completely waking him up. After taking a big breath of fresh cold air he went back into the house.

As he entered he found sleepy Nina sitting on one of the chairs in front of a table barely holding her head with both of her hands.

She smiled lightly and said, “Good morning Elliot.”

Elliot nodded his head and returned the greeting, “Good morning Nina.”

“Mom is making some porridge, would you join us for the meal?” Nina innocently asked.

Ruth turned around and wanted to say something but held her words to her heart.

“Sure.” Answered Elliot not noticing Ruth's weird behavior.

“Oh right, I have some herbs and berries that will strengthen the taste if you want.” Elliot ran and came closer to Ruth.

Ruth wanted to refuse but after seeing Elliot get out a handful of dried berries from his pouch, she only could gulp her saliva and agree. Even she was already tired of the cheapest and bland foods she cooked because of the lack of ingredients.

Elliot grabbed a stool and placed it in front of the stove, he jumped on it and before Ruth could even react, took the cooking spoon out of her hand. He started to drop the berries one after another crushing some of them with the spoon while leaving some to be.

He even started to grab a few other herbs from his pouch and dropped them into the pot. Ruth thought that Elliot was playing a chef and dropping random stuff into the portage and wanted to stop him before he destroyed what little they had to eat.

And just as she grabbed his hand to stop him a carefree voice came from the stairway.

“Good morning, oh Elliot, what are you doing in front of the stove?”

Elliot looked at Ruth confused and then at Ryder who was walking towards the kitchen table sitting in front of Nina.

“Making breakfast.” Answered Elliot as he felt Ruth's hand release from his.

“Oh good. Hello, there little girl.” Ryder said to Nina with a smile, but to his surprise, she didn't return the greeting and just looked down as if a small scared animal. Ryder shrugged his shoulders and just continued to stare at Ruth and Elliot in front of the stove.

Ruth shivered as she felt a cold gaze fall on her back and could only look at Elliot “destroy” their breakfast in silence.

A minute passed and then another at some times Elliot would drop a whole herb or two into the pot other times he would drop only its flowers and some herbs he would remove after a while from the pot completely and throw them away.

For Ruth, it felt like an eternity still feeling heavy pressure from behind her and knowing that there was a good chance that they would have to skip breakfast altogether today. But the only person she could blame for her mistakes was herself and that is what she did.

“Good, it's done.” Said Elliot after he tasted the leftovers on the cooking spoon.

Ruth recovered from her self-loathing daze and got caught by surprise by the pleasant aromas that filled the kitchen to the brim without her even noticing. She looked in shock at the pot of porridge that looked a lot more appealing than she ever made.

*Gulp*

A strong sound of gulping of saliva sounded in the kitchen, Ruth's face blushed as she placed her hand at her mouth only to remember that it wasn’t her. After rotating her head slowly she caught Ryder removing a drool from his face with his sleeve.

“What I am hungry.” He said embarrassedly, making Nina giggle a bit.

In less than a minute the table was filled with four equal size bowls half filled with porridge. The smell made everyone want to devour their food but no one dared to take the first bite as if afraid that when they do that the illusion will break and they would just look at a normal porridge once more, well all except Elliot.

*Aum*

He looked around with a spoon still in his mouth and innocently asked, “What's wrong, why aren't you eating?”

“Ah no…” But before Ruth could find an excuse another *aum* came beside her.

“So tasty!” Shouted Nina with delight.

*Aum*

“Yah ites tha besst mael yu ever did Ellirot.” Said Ryder with his cheeks full as he tried to fill his mouth with porridge to the brim.

Ruth was the only one that still didn't taste the meal.

“Mommy it's really tasty, you should try it.” Smiled Nina with a little bit of porridge stuck to her cheek.

Ruth only smiled as she cleaned Nina's cheek with a napkin before taking a spoon of porridge and placing it in her mouth.

A new world opened before Ruth, a world of tastes that she never imagined possible, and before she noticed she was suddenly taken aback by a past memory that she had almost forgotten.

“Eat your food Ruth or it will get cold.” A motherly voice came from behind her.

“Alright, mom.” Said a little girl with a big smile that sat in front of a table, she looked very similar to Nina.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

The little girl sat on a stool and kicked her legs one after another, forwards and backwards as she sat on the stool while slowly eating her porridge spoon after spoon. She was looking out of the window eager to go out and play.

Sounds of small birds chirping happily outside. And the sounds of her mother cooking something behind her filled her with calmness and happiness.

The little girl was carefree and free of worries.

“Ah…” Tears suddenly started to drop from Ruth's eyes.

“Mommy is crying, here here.” Nina stood on the chair and patted Ruth on the head.

“I am alright, just got something in my eye. Eat your food Nina or it will get cold.” Ruth stroked Nina's head with a smile.

After seeing that her mother was alright Nina continued to dig into her porridge once more with a happy little face.

Elliot didn't understand why Ruth cried either and continued with his meal while Ryder didn't even bat an eye.

After finishing his meal he raised his eyes to see that Ruth ate only half of her food. He wanted to ask if the food wasn't for her liking but before he could she moved the bowl to Nina.

“Nina, I am full. Can you be a good girl and finish after me, I don't want the porridge to go to waste.” Ruth passed the bowel to her.

Nina just finished licking out her bowl as her eyes went bright.

“You sure?” She was a little bit concerned.

“Yeah, I had something smaller to eat while I was making the meal.” Ruth said with a smile, Nina looked at her smiling face nodded, and started to eat.

“Elliot, it's a little embarrassing to ask you but could you tell me how you made the porridge so rich in flavor surely it's not just the dried berries that you added.”

“Yeah Elliot you never made something so tasty before, you hid your secrets well, from this day onwards you must only make meals just as tasty as this.” Ryder pointed at Elliot with his spoon as if he was a king holding a scepter and giving a command to his loyal knight.

“Yeah, I added lots of herbs.” Elliot answered Ruth's question and then with a fierce gaze he turned to Ryder and angrily stated.

“Who are you to blame me? Who’s fault is it that we didn’t have even a small piece of normal food for days? No matter how many herbs I use at best I can make a roots soup mediocre and not disgusting.” Elliot was a little bit angry at Ryder for giving him an impossible demand when the person at fault was him.

“But the dried fruits…” Ryder mumbled.

“Berries would taste like shit if mixed with shit and completely unsuitable for roots and edible tree leaves.” Elliot rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Ruth covered her mouth with her hand as she gave out a small laugh, “*Chuckle* Sorry you two fight like siblings, are you related? You don’t look alike though.”

“Hmm actually having such a good cook in the family couldn’t be so bad, what do you say about it brother?” Ryder asked half-jokingly.

“In my nightmares.” Answered Elliot.

“Really? Such a shame, hopefully you won’t regret it later…” Ryder quietly said as he started to lick his bowl like a child.

“So Elliot would you… Em, teach me which kind of herbs you put in the porridge?” Ruth asked him embarrassedly a six-year-old to teach her how to cook.

“Sure no problem and even better I show you.” Elliot started to pull different kinds of herbs out of his pouch.

“Usually I have a lot more but because…” Elliot paused and lowered his head a little bit as he remembered his grandfather.

“I had to leave them behind, but what I still have on hand is enough for most meals.” Elliots started to point at some of the herbs and explain their properties and tastes.

At first, Ruth just wanted to know how to make the same tasty porridge as he did, but as Elliot started to get deeper and deeper into talking about all kinds of herbs, she understood that they can be added to all kinds of dishes and no less their value was at least a good restaurant secret.

“Elliot, are you sure you want to continue?” Ruth stopped him in haste.

“What do you mean?” Elliot asked innocently.

“Well, aren't those recipes precious to you? Or to your family?” She became even more embarrassed and thought she was about to take advantage of a kid and steal his family secrets.

“No, those herbs recipes are mine, and even if they are precious to me, isn’t it better to have more people that would see them as precious?”

“Ah… If so, do you mind if I write them down?” She asked, lowering her head even lower.

“Sure no problem.” Elliot looked at her little bit confused.

“Don’t go anywhere...” She immediately ran to bring something as if afraid that Elliot will go on his word.

“Kid, you are so generous.” Ryder said as he gave out a cheeky smile.

“But they are just random recipes that I found out while experiencing cooking? Oh, and they were mentioned in a few journals as well.”

*Tap-tap-tap* Fast running sounds as Ruth came back running breathing a little bit heavier.

“Found it.” She smiled as she placed an old book on the table.

Most families already had one or two books in their possession but they were still quite rare in rural villages and towns. Completely different than in big cities where nobles could read a new book every morning and even commoners could afford a few books a year. All thanks to famous techniques and the help of lesser artifacts.

She flipped a few pages and got charcoal into her hand and listened to Elliot as he continued to talk about herbs, asking questions once in a while completely forgetting herself in the conversation about cooking.

Elliot gave Ruth many examples of herbs and cooking techniques he discovered, while even drawing a few of the herbs he didn’t have in her book with his ideas for different kinds of meals that they could be used.

As time passed Ruth suddenly noticed that she started to talk to Elliot as if he was an adult and even in her head she saw him as a peer which frightened her a little bit.

“Well, I think that’s pretty much all.” Elliot said as he wrote another word in the book.

“Oh sorry, what did you say?” Ruth got pulled out from her toughs by Elliot.

“That’s all I know currently about cooking, more or less.” Elliot looked up to find Ruth staring him right into his eyes.

“Is something wrong?” He asked.

“No, it's nothing…”

Elliot looked around the room to find Nina asleep on the table and Ryder was gone.

“Where’s Ryder?” He asked.

“He said he is going to prepare the horses because you will be leaving soon. Oh and Nina wanted to play with you once more before you left but I guess that won’t happen.” She gently stroked Nina’s hair, as her hand touched her head Nina released a few mumbling words.

“No… More, don’t go... blueberry…” With made Ruth only smile.

“Right we should be leaving any moment, sorry Nina.” Elliot stood up and started to go to the door as he approached it he stopped.

“Thanks for the food and the hospitality, it was really great meeting you.”

“Don’t mention it…” Ruth lowered her head in shame as she remembered the night before.

He looked at Nina before leaving and said, “Sorry Nina, we will play next time.”

As Elliot stepped outside he was met by a cart full of stacks of foxes and rabbits furs stacked at each other creating a few piles.

“Ryder what is this?” He asked, confused.

“I was preparing and waiting for you here for more than an hour and you asked me this weird question.”

“What is this?” Elliot continued to ask the same question as a robot.

“Fur of rabbits and fur of foxes I think, they were really cheap so I bought them all.”

“So many… Forget it, you are a merchant, surely you know better than me.” Elliot just shook his head as he went closer to the cart, while Ryder looked awkwardly at him and then the fur piles, doubting his genius decision of purchase.

“Oh, where do I sit?” Elliot asked.

“Eeee, under the piles between the pile or above you chose.” Ryder chuckled and made him some space on the driver's seat.

Ryder helped him up and gave the reins a weak smack making the horses start to move forward.

As they just started to get away from the small house they heard someone calling them by their names, when they turned around Nina and Ruth were standing outside the house.

Nina was shouting as she waved goodbye with her hands, “Bye Elliot in the future if you are around come to play!”

“With happiness.” Said Elliot under his breath as a small smile formed on his face.

“What an energetic little girl.” Ryder commented as he glanced at Elliot and immediately stared at him.

“You smiled…” Ryder pointed at him in shock.

“What?” Elliot asked as he touched the tip of his lips.

“I saw it!”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about.” Elliot pretended not to notice.

“Elliot you can’t play that kind of mind games with me I know what I saw!”

*Chuckle* Elliot chuckled as he continued to look at the shrinking small house from afar.