Leaving my new managers to decide which apartment they want. Eliot went to fetch his fellow workers so they could all look at the studio apartments. Meanwhile, Delainey, Lemmy, Amelia, and I head for the common kitchens, so I can get started on dinner and enchanting. At least we start to when Shea and most of his family exit their new place right in front of us.

"Ah, Sorrel." He greets me with a shallow bow. "You disappeared so quickly earlier, I hope everything was alright."

"Oh, yes. I just had to speak with someone before they left." I smile back at him. "Are you all heading out?"

"Just to pick up a few things for the night." He nods. "All the kids want to get moved in as soon as possible."

"How's Gen doing?" I've been keeping a magical eye out for him just to make sure he doesn't injure himself, but all that tells me is that he's a little sore right now. "And, squeeze in here with us, we're getting off at the next floor, but I can send you all the way down."

"He's good, just a little tired." The man says with a grin for the fact that his son can now tire himself out walking. "He said that you and Cyril really put him through his paces earlier."

"Mhm, he still needs to build a bit more muscle." I nod. "We'll be working on that over the next few days though. I think he deserves a little break after pushing so hard this morning. Speaking of, I should start on Toni's eye now that I've recovered myself."

"Are you really going to be able to give them their limbs back?" Christy asks wonderingly just as the elevator doors open back up.

"I hope to." I state with all the sincerity I have, knowing that several of the guards are within earshot. "It's not going to be easy but, at least I know where to start looking. And, even if my ideas don't work out, I can still go millimeter by millimeter using my healing sap."

"I hope you can too." She says with a shy smile.

"I'll let you guys down now." I nod at her. "And, don't worry about food when you go to get your stuff; I'll be feeding everyone who chooses to stay here tonight."

"Now, that's what I want to hear." Fawne says, peeking out of the room she and Toni chose for themselves. "I tried one of those weird drinks you made for Gen, and it wasn't half-bad, but I hope dinner has some substance to it."

"Well, I was going to just do pizza, but then the entire alchemy guild showed up." I say with a grin aimed at Delainey. "And, I just don't have enough dairy for that, so it looks like I'm finally going to use up the last of that pig I caught up north."

"No idea what pizza is, but I know pork." She says with a wide smile.

"Hot, open-faced sandwich with a lot of cheese." I explain pizza as simply as possible. "Why don't you and Toni join us in the kitchen? So, I can get started on her eye while the pork roasts. And, hi, Sweetie. What took you so long? We started talking about food whole seconds ago." I tease the pixie when she comes flying up.

"Hehehe." Amelia laughs when Apricot just blows a tiny raspberry at me before flying into an empty apartment to change.

"Uh... alright." A nervous sounding Toni steps out of the apartment.

"Relax, babe, you already saw what he did for Gen." Fawne reassures her.

"You're lucky that you got to a healer when you did." I add as we all head to the kitchens. "Honestly, I'm a little surprised that they chose to save what they did. Surprised and glad, I already have to figure out how to re-grow limbs. Something like an eye would just add to the difficulty of that task."

"Mhm." She looks a little sheepish. "I may not have given him a choice."

"Look, I understand that you all may have come from checkered pasts." I say with a laugh. They are, or were, mercenaries, after all. "But, I expect a gentle approach from here on out. If that's not to your tastes then you're free to leave at any time, even after I've healed you."

"No, I'm done with that life." She states with an emphatic shake of her head. "I think we all are."

"Good to hear." I smile at her and start prepping the meal. "Now, I'd prefer a full day-long slow roast for pulled pork sandwiches, but we should have enough just enough time before dinner to get it tender enough."

"Pulled pork?" Fawne looks intrigued.

"That's right; you guys don't have barbeque around here. Well, you're in for a treat tonight." I grin. "It's a sweet and tangy sauce that is very popular back where I came from. In this case, mixed with shredded pork and served on a roll with some coleslaw."

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

After all the mixed cuts have had the rub applied, I sear them quickly on all sides before adding beer and putting the lids on the pots; I had to use more than one pot to fit everything. And, instead of just wasting mana by cooking everything directly, I use my foundry spell and redistribute the heat throughout the ovens.

"Can you watch all that while I focus on Toni?" I bribe the pixie with a mana stone lollipop.

"No worries." She pops it into her mouth and takes control of my spells. "No way am I letting dinner get messed up."

"You're the best." I give her a peck on the cheek before turning to the security guard. "Now, same as with Gen this morning, I need you to drink this for me. You're a lot worse off than Cyril was so this might take a couple of passes." I bring out an extra-large smoothie and start sucking it down to offset some of the drain from the spell.

"Yeah, the uh..." She hesitates. "The healer said I was lucky to be alive."

"Yes, I can see the chipping on the bone behind your eye." Any more force behind whatever dagger blinded her and she wouldn't be here today. "I hate working this close to the brain, it just takes so much more effort. Luckily, the blade just missed the optic nerve itself. But, the back of the eye is basically all nerves, so I've still got a hell of a job ahead of me."

There's not a lot that the basic healing spells I know can help with here either, so I'm relying almost entirely on the sap. Still, I have a somewhat greater understanding of healing and how the body works than I did when fixing the balance problem of Amelia's Aunt Carmen.

"Come on, just a little more." I coax myself and what's left of the sap after restoring her retina. "Nng, you stupid lens, you were all that was left." I sit back with a sigh and materialize a fresh smoothie. "Sorry, Toni, you're gonna have to wait just a little bit longer."

"I-I... I can see." The hardened soldier breaks down crying and Fawne holds her as best she can. "Everything is all just light and blurry colors, but I can see. Fawne, baby, I can see again." Tears stream out of her as she hugs the beastkin tight while looking all over with her nearly functional eye.

"Give me until after dinner, at least, and we should be able to do something about that." These smoothies do help with the drawbacks of using that spell, but not nearly as much as they do when I over-exercise myself. "And, quit with that look, Amelia, I know how far I can push myself." I try to ignore the looks the others are giving me.

"Mhm-hmm." She purses her lips before shaking her head with a sigh. "I'll trust you there, but I still don't like it when you use that spell. Not when you take it right up to the edge like that."

"I always leave a little buffer, even when I was working on Myra." I reassure her. "I can't heal anyone if I hurt myself."

"Just how does that spell work?" Delainey questions.

"Think of it as a vitality transfer." I explain. "I poured my strength into that liquid you saw her drink before guiding it to restore what regular spells couldn't. But, never more than some good food and a night's sleep can recover. Speaking of, I should get started on the sides." He lets the matter drop and no one else picks it up again.

Some of the sides from fried-chicken night make a comeback; it just wouldn't be pulled pork without coleslaw after all. And, biscuits, of course, you can never have too many biscuits. I also add some cheesy jalapeno cornbread, deviled eggs, a veggie-filled pasta salad, fruit salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, even a regular salad salad.

"Quit storing stuff away as soon as you make it!" Apricot growls as I hide the food from her.

"I'm trying to keep it fresh for when the pork is ready." I smile knowing that she knows that's not why I keep doing it. "I have plenty of licorice left if you need a snack. Oh, fine. I was just about to start on dessert; I'll let you sneak some of that if it'll make you happy."

I grill up some peaches to tide her over while the cobbler, lemon meringue, and chocolate brownies bake. Then, I finally get started enchanting some lights.

Most of our guest have filtered into the common area by now, drawn by the scent of cooking food, and Amelia has been teaching them how to play all the different board games.

"Sorrel, company." Apricot announces and I send my magic questing out and down.

"I'd better go greet them, don't mess with the food." I say after picking up Elise's mana signature first, and then the rest of the noble family plus Gran, Seymour, and the Colonel. "I bet a copper that this is Gran's idea. He probably overheard a guard telling Erick about the food smells coming from here."

"Hah! No bet." She barks out a laugh.

...

"Why, Baron Pepi, what brings you here today?" I say while grinning at his chef who is discreetly trying to sniff the air. "Well, whatever did, I hope you'll all join us for dinner. It should be ready soon; the whole alchemy guild showed up unexpectedly, so I made more than enough to go around."

"Thank you very much." The man nods to me with an equally wide grin. "I was planning to ask for an invite after lunch, but that little invention of yours drove the thought right out of my head. Oh, my!" He and his family react to the lobby just barely better than most people have so far.

"It's not too much, is it? -Apricot, get your ass away from that cobbler!-" They get startled by my shout echoing down the stairs, the tricky pixie thought to sneak a bite while I was distracted, but I left my speaker box behind just in case. "Sorry about that, you have to watch her like a hawk around sweets."

"Hahaha!" Erick busts up laughing. "You never fail to surprise me, Sorrel. And, the building is gorgeous, I wouldn't change a thing."

"Well, I'd offer you the tour, but I'm afraid there won't be any dessert if I don't get back up there." I walk us over to the elevator. "I'm afraid there's not enough room in the lift for all of us at once, but it shouldn't take more than two trips. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe." I add when some of them look at the small room questioningly.

"Uh, Ladies first." Reinholt gestures for his wife, Dulcette, to enter with their daughter, Rebecca.

"Come on, girls." She rolls her eyes at him and motions for his mother and sisters to join her, along with Elise and her family.

"Sorry, I don't have the elevator music installed yet." I smile and send them smoothly upwards without closing the doors. Little Rebecca marvels as the floor starts moving while her older family members panic just slightly.

"Oh, gods, she's going to get me back for that." Holt says with a sigh that quickly turns into a soft, nervous laugh.

"Yes, yes she will." His father agrees.

***