They looked through cupboards.

All sorts of foods were found by the group. After all the recent action, it was nice to think of more simple things- like what vegetables went into a stew and such.

Aarock after looking through the spices and such would taste each one and think. Some of the spices he’d put back and others he would add to the broth.

He directed the group to try and find certain things, probably to keep the younger ones occupied. Narika respected his direction. His confidence and direction made him a good leader. Narika hardly could compare himself- all he had had was a mission and allies with a similar goal.

After gathering all the ingredients- they started to work on putting everything together. However, it got somewhat conflicting- and eventually Aarock and Elera kicked out all the boys.

It was a little demeaning for Narika, Mika and Venu when the little Sari was picked as part of the kitchen crew over them. They looked amongst each other after having been kicked out then slowly worked their way to a side room with some games where they lounged waiting for the meal.

Venu looked aroudn the lounge area for something.

“What are you looking for?” Narika asked.

“The wizard probably looked for mental stimulus…” Venu said while opening up a giant cabinet with an, “aha.”

Narika and Mika looked at Venu curiously as he pulled out a board, with tiles and strange shapes.

“You ever play Manka?”

—

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Between Elera and Aarock’s meandering through and discussing flavors – they were able to come to a finished product. Aarock and Elera both tasted it with their respective spoons.

“Hmm…” Elera spoke pensively.

“Yeah… it’s missing something,”

Sari had been quiet the whole time, but upon hearing took a leaf of some sort off the shelf,

“Here you go,” Sari spoke quietly.

Aarock sniffed it and shrugged while he peppered some inside a small cup with the soup. He let Elera try the concoction.

“This is definitely it…” Elera said.

Aarock added it in. They gave Sari a taste and she nodded contently, “yep!”

Elera looked at Sari with a sense of amazement while Aarock put out a dejected smile.

Aarock patted little Sari on the head, “Three hundred years dabbling in cooking and I still can’t compete with inborn talent…”

Within thirty or so minutes- between the bread, nuts and salad, and main course of hearty soup – everything was finished. (author note: elves are vegetarian)

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—-

Narika didn’t consider himself dumb- but Venu had already won two games and offered that Mika and Narika work together to outsmart him. The premise of the game was simple. One must reach the other end of the board without losing the commander. Pieces could be captured, but upon obtaining ‘crystal’ which would reappear on the board every third turn, a piece could be returned. In this manner- even if the chief were captured, it was possible to reclaim ‘chief’ and continue the game.

The game board opened up into three different levels and there were seven different pieces. Assassin, Healer, Knight, Warrior, Artillery, Chief, Soldier. There was also the blockade piece, which hindered movement in lines beyond it.

Soldier allowed the construction of blockade and served as defenders for one turn. Thus if one wanted to pass a soldier, they must attack the soldier first before moving.

Assassins had the most maneuverability- they could move on the third level of the board and come back down to the second- thus ‘blockade’ would be nullified, but by being behind enemy lines, they were more vulnerable to attacks.

Artillary only moved along the bottom level, but could attack the level above.

Knights could defend a position and adjacent positions for three turns.

Warriors could move twice.

Healers could return lost soldiers and repair damaged knights.

Chief allowed for the command of soldiers: without chief, soldiers would remain in place. They also could move once per turn, thus making positioning for attack difficult behind walls.

Each turn, with the exception of warrior, every piece could move once, a certain amount of spaces.

While the game was simple in concept: certain rules allowed for the game to move faster and more strategically, ‘Sneak-attack’ could be used by Assassin, to move two turns in one move, but no moves in the next turn. Thus it was easier to capture Chief. ‘Rally’ could be used once per game, once a piece crossed the halfway point on the board- allowing every soldier to move twice in that turn. ‘Siege’ could destroy all blockades, at the cost of four soldiers. ‘Fortress’ could move all knights and warriors within two squares of ‘Chief’. There were assorted variations, rules, pieces, boards that had adapted to different regions making the game much more elaborate.

The three boys were absorbed in a battle of wits looking intently at the game board when the smell of something amazing came through the doors.

While Mika ran off to take a look – Narika was intent on finishing the match.

Somehow or another he would see it through to the end. Venu had outsmarted him twice with seemingly idiotic movements that would leave ‘Chief’ vulnerable and then a crazy offensive the next turn.

This time Narika kept his eye on ‘Chief’ and possible offensives that Venu could come up with. He would have to come up with his own strategy of offense at some point, rather than react to Venu’s movements. Narika was sure that he had a good strategy this time. An unwitting Venu would be no match for it.

Venu, placed a piece down however and used ‘sneak-attack’ to recapture crystal and regain a soldier in the position that Narika was about to attack. Then he used soldier to cast ‘blockade’.

Narika’s heart dropped.

“That was a good move…” Venu replied, “Since I regained crystal to defend, I can’t make an offensive this turn. We’re about even now.”

On the plus side, Narika looked at the vulnerable assassin- by taking it, it could break Venu’s constant offensive and finally give him the lead.

Venu looked up, “hmm, that was a bit too aggressive though. You should’ve positioned yourself better before trying to take Assassin.”

Venu followed up by positioning his own side in a manner similar to Narika’s attack. Now that Narika had positioned himself to take Assassin he’d left his opposite side open to advancement. Even though Venu could no longer make aggressive plays like the last match, he could use soldiers to make an almost impenetrable advancement in the next few turns.

Narika repositioned himself, but once again, he’d put himself on the defensive.

“Oh supper?” Venu said as he looked up just now noticing. He finally ended the game by moving a warrior into ‘net’ and winning the game.

Narika sighed and shook hands with Venu. Three games- three losses.

“You’ll get better…” Venu replied, “…You have a lot of potential.” Venu really did mean it, but Narika couldn’t tell if it was just out of sympathy.

Narika still felt a sting at losing so easily, but it just meant that he’d have to try harder next time.

Meanwhile two doors moved as Sari came out of the kitchen, “it’s done!”

They looked at Sari strangely- because there was no food in her hands.

“It’s at the table!”

—