In the early hours of dawn the next morning, Nosal slowly strolled along the path into town with only a small backpack to keep him company. He had tried to approach the small critters in the underbrush to communicate with them, but every time they all ran away.

Why don’t they want to talk to me? He thought. With my powers I’m now pretty much a Disney princess….. what? What has princesses got to do with anything? the boy wondered as he tried to take his mind off from the day ahead.

The little boy continued on but at the same time he kept dragging his feet, for he was nervous at his first day of his apprenticeship.

I can’t be scared of Xerneg…. it’s going to be all right, the boy thought as he tried to boost his own confidence. The little Capyban then grabbed onto the front of his favorite vest before shaking it twice, slapping himself in the cheeks for another two times before shouting out into the morning air with a cheer. With his prepping done, the boy renewed his journey into Pancreedy at a greater pace that was occasionally punctuated by a burst of awkward skipping.

A while later and slightly sweating, Nosal reached the eerily quiet village. The villagers would normally be up and about as they carried their ministrations or prepared for day full of work. But Nosal had never been into the village at such an early hour after a Rarnday before. He found the silent and slightly spooky atmosphere to be a little unnerving, with the dark homesteads looming like predatory creatures waiting to pounce upon any young boy with an over-active imagination.

What Nosal was not aware was that there was quite a heavy bout of drinking last night and if he were to listen carefully, he would hear the heavy snoring of the hungover men and woman of the village. But here and there was the tell-tale smoke rising form the chimneys of the residents whom did not indulge so heavily on the previous day. Nevertheless it did not really improve Nosal’s flickering courage as he hesitantly tip-toed through town.

Eventually he did reached before the impressive villa of the great healer that, was situated on the other edge of town. It was just off the main road that lead away from Pancreedy and towards her neighbor villages.

Nosal walked with slow unsteady steps through the beautiful arch of perfectly manicured bush that also made up the hedge walls that surround the front half of the compound. He looked over the beautiful garden, that was full of hedges of mighty figures in various poses and was filled with awe.

Not a lot of usefull plants here thou, was a small note the boy made to himself before he was once again enthralled by the grandeur of the villa. He had never had a reason to come to the villa before, with his father solely being the one to come and fetch the healer if he or Kano ever got sick.

He walked all the way up to the front of the house and also noted how the path was paved with dark and slightly warm flagstones, before nerves finally overtook the boy once more as he stood just beyond the threshold into the manor.

The young boy stood in silence before the large, mahogany-colored and to the tiny boy, foreboding wooden front doors as birdsong continued to fill up the morning chorus. He was hesitant as to whether he should knock by the front, or go around and try to find a back entrance to the kitchen or something of the sort.

But with steeled nerves and ignoring the monstrous door-knock that was too high and out of reach, Nosal held his breath as he reached out a hand to knock upon the door.

Before he was able to even place his first knock on the door, the huge wooden door swung inwards with barely a perceptible creak of moaning a hinge. It opened to reveal a disinterested looking Flowing-Reeds, a young Desert-Kobold whom easily loomed over Nosal in her blue robes that had a dirty white apron affixed to the front.

“Come on in,” she demanded Nosal with a wave of her bare, hairy striped arms as she had rolled up the sleeves of her long blue robes to the elbow.

“Hi-Hello Flowing-Reed, my name is Nosal and I’m-,” Nosal began as he attempted to introduce himself with a slight stutter due to how nervous the Capyban boy felt.

“Enough of that nonsense, I know who you are and I know why you’re here!” his senior retorted as she cut of his greeting before grabbing him by the vest and into the richly carpeted foyer, before slamming the door shut soundlessly.

“We’ve much to do before Master wakes up, and I have’nt the time for silly nonsense with the scones baking away, and I still have the omelets to get back to,” she stated as Flow-Reeds quickly reeled and shot off into bowels of the building.

Nosal quickly snapped out from gawking at the gaudy interior as he sped behind the retreating figure of Flowing-Reeds through a maze of hallways. He passed by many ornate paintings hanging along the hall along with many marble busts that stood on equally fancy looking plinths, but the boy was only able to give them a cursory glance as he continued following his senior.

The Desert-Kobold eventually turned into a door that was casting out a soft glow and emanating a rich aroma of spices and foodstuffs that Nosal had never smelt before. Entering the room, Nosal was greeted by a large tiled kitchen that was furnished with an array of metallic cooking implements. Along the back wall by the door, was a whole tabletop of metallic stoves that contained roaring flames, of which he could not see any logs to feeding the inferno that raged inside. But what really grabbed the boy’s attention was the array of spices and mountains upon mountains of food that sat on the metalic island in the middle of the room waiting to be turned into Xerneg’s cuisine.

“Whooaaaa…” exclaimed the boy in wonder as he stood transfixed at the kitchen entrance.

Flowing-Reed whom had rushed over towards the logless stoves before she expertly flipped the humongous golden omelet that sat inside the biggest frying pan he had ever seen, turned around with a frown.

“What are you standing around for? Help me out by prepping and cleaning some of the vegs,” she instructed with a gesture towards the opulent mountain of raw ingredients.

Nosal took some unsteady steps towards the waiting ingredients, of which he barely recognized any, before standing still as he was unsure as how to begin.

His senior whom had now rushed over towards another fancy-looking oven, opened the door before chanting a small incantation that enveloped her furry hands in a layer of ice cold water. With her protective spells in place, she opened the oven doors and reached inside to grab a scorching hot baking tray. She quickly pulled out the tray along with the sound of sizzling water before quickly placing it on the flat top of the oven. In the tray sat a dozen or so puff pastries that glowed with a golden-brown crust that released a spicy/sweet aroma. Flowing-Reed then deactivated her water-glove before quickly turning the scones over and turning back to check up on Nosal. Seeing the boy standing there and not having made himself useful in any way, the frown on her face now also included a feral grimace.

“What are you doing? The peeler is beside the Groundfrits and you should get started! Water to wash the vegs is in the sink and you just activate the tap with a bit off your mana, now get moving!” she snarled at the boy.

The little boy was startled by the angry outburst, but quickly shot forwards to find the peeler nestled beside a sack of Groundfrits on the middle island, where she had instructed. He quickly shrugged off his backpack onto the floor and was about to get started, but he still was unsure as to where to leave the skins once he hand peeled them.

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“Where can I-” he begun to ask with a musk of fear before Flowing-Reed quickly rounded on him once more. Her black and white strips and snarling face was cast in the shadows from the red glow of the magical stove beside her, and making the blue robed Desert-Kobold more akin to a demonic entity.

“In the sink-bin by the door!” she snarled whilst directing a quick nod towards a large metallic table that contained a large hole in it’s top. Her blue robes fluttered as she quickly spun back towards the frying pans as she continued to flip and stir different dishes all out once, like a mad virtuoso in the middle of orchestrating a nightmarish symphony.

Nosal quickly grabbed the sack and the peeler before hauling his heavy load to deposit it down beside the supposed bin. The top of the bin was quite tall for the boy, but he could still clear the top and rest his elbows on the edge of the counter top as he began peeling away at the Groundfrits.

Looking down inside the bin he noticed the plethora of organic refuse that looked like it was alive, as it squirmed and pulsed to the rhythm of a greyish aura that ebbed and flowed like a tide.

What’s going on in there? He wondered as he continued to peel away. Seeing his brown and dirty Groundfrit skin fall into the bin and immediately curling up and decomposing, Nosal realized what must be happening. The bin is speeding up the time inside it, so the food goes off faster… plus there isn’t any smell coming off like the stinky compost heap at home…. I wonder how much this bin costs?

He continued to stare down into the mesmerizingly pulsing and quickly decaying food bin but eventually the boy finished peeling the small sack of Groundfrits. He then placed the Frits back into its dirty sack as he cast a nervous glance towards his senior. Seeing that she was deep in concentration as she continued to cook frantically and paying him no heed, Nosal decided it was best to just wash the Frits and clean some veg without asking for any more instructions.

So he lugged the sack a few steps towards the weird smooth sink that had a curved metallic tap attached to the top before coming to a pause.

Okay.. If it’s anything like a washing vegetables, I’ll have to place the Groundfrits inside and fill it up with water… Nosal tried to visualize to himself before he emptied his peeled tubers into the waiting sink. But afterwards he was left stumped, for he did not know how to turn on the tap. He quickly turned back towards Flowing-Reeds, who was brandishing a wickedly sharp looking knife as she cut a large block of bacon into thin slivers. With the glint of the firelight catching in a way that shone menacingly too the boy, he quickly turned towards the sink with new beads of sweat on his brow.

Nosal released his musk of fear as he quickly looked over the tap, the instrument was clean smooth metallic luster that the boy had never seen before and left the boy confused. He was used to just getting buckets of water and filling up baths or tubs at home and had absolutely no clue how to activate this expensive looking sink. But upon closer inspection he found a small red circle and a blue one that contained many runic squiggles upon the base of the tap.

I’ll go with the blue, because red just seems angry, he reasoned before he pressed the blue circle using his right forefinger after having to stand on tiptoes to reach across the sink. To his great surprise nothing happened except his belly and his fingers got cold where he came into contact with the metal sink.

How do I do this? He wondered. Wait she told me I had to use mana, but I only know how to use my spells… maybe I’ll try casting on the tap?

He reached over and pressed upon the button once more, but this time he did so whilst trying to think about talking to the tap. To his great surprise the usual green glow from the activation of his spell did not occur, but he still felt a tiny trickle of energy leaving his finger. He was even more surprised to see the metallic tap shoot out small stream of water from its curved top and down into the sink. Nosal stood there in wonder at such technology as the sink began to slowly fill up and submerge the Groundfrits.

But soon he started to panic again once he realized that the stream would not stop and was slowly encroaching upon the top lip of the sink and soon would spill onto the kitchen floor. With panicking thoughts he activated the blue tap once more, to find to his utter horror that the stream was now shooting out water with even more pressure than before. He then fumbled about before deciding to try the red circle and as soon as he activated it, the stream stopped and the water began to recede and leaving him feeling very much relieved.

With his Groundfrits washed and feeling quiet pleased with himself, Nosal was left with the question as to what to do with the cleaned tubers. He looked around him and found no containers so he turned back to look towards his senior once more.

Behind him, Flowing-Reeds was currently encased in a shield of water over her front and along one arm that held a tong. She was using the implement to turn the rashers that sizzled and bubbled away in a frying pan full of hot angry oil like some torturous device from some hellish realm.

“Uhhh… Ummm…” he asked in a tiny whisper even as he was mesmerized by the bravery of the Desert-Kobold who courageously fought the spitting geyser before her.

“Hmmmm, what is it?” she asked as he turned to face him with a crispy rasher held up at the end of her tong.

“Where, where do I put these?” Nosal managed to fumble out as he quickly began to look down and inspect the tiled floor nervously.

“Ohh yeah.. just find a bowl in one of the drawers inside the island, and you can leave it on this table here,” she instructed as she gestured towards another tabletop that was laden with cooked foods and multiple chopping boards on her side of the kitchen.

“You can grab a small knife and a board of your own to use to trim the roots and dead leaves off any vegetables you find as you clean them, and put the trimmings in the bin,” she concluded before she turned back to renew her battle against the spitting bacon rashers.

“Oh ok,” Nosal replied lamely before he walked on over towards the island. Why’s it even called an island? It’s just a fancy metal table in the middle of the room, he questioned to himself as he began pulling upon random handles that he presumed was for the drawers. Upon his third try he was able to find a whole drawer filled with wooden and metallic bowls. He ended up choosing a particularly large shiny bowl because it looked mesmerizing, before walking back to the sink.

In front of the sink, Nosal couldn’t help himself as he looked into the concaved surface of the shiny polished bowl to find his inverted reflection inside. The boy softly chuckled to himself as he pulled his head back and forth to produce amusing images of his own face. But he quickly stopped playing as he heard his senior cursing behind him.

He had assumed that she had cursed him for his tomfoolery. But after peeking a glance backwards, he noticed that she was preoccupied with her other arm and presumably a burn. But still feeling suitable chastised, he quickly filled up the bowl before marching across the kitchen in his dirty work boots before depositing it on a free spot on the instructed table.

Having completed his task, Nosal stole a sideways glance towards his senior to find that she had resumed in tackling the bacon and was now picking them off the pan and onto a metallic plate. Nosal once again stood there, paused in indecision before he remembered the rest of his instructions. So he grabbed himself the smallest wooden chopping block for himself and with it under one arm he then equipped himself with a tiny knife with a brown handle.

Nosal then proceeded across the kitchen with his newly acquired kitchen implements before dropping it on the table beside the bin where he felt less nervous, being far away from his scary senior. But then the little boy turned back with trepidation as he looked over the mountain of food that sat upon the “island”. He couldn’t even fathom the names or how to prepare most of the ingredients, but quickly he was able to identify some of the vegetables that they grew in their own bronze garden back at home.

There was a small open satchel of Mend-Peas there, a tied up bundle of Stopnips beside a huge slab of meat, the small hairy husks that concealed the Burst-berries inside in a bowl along with a gigantic dirt-covered rectangular tuber of Cyclerot. Seeing these ingredients hidden amongst all the other unknown ones, gave the boy a small measure of confidence as he marched towards the island to quickly pick these up to prep first.

He ferried them between the island and the countertop beside the bin, before the boy quickly began preparing the familiar vegetables. Maybe these came from our farm? He thought as he scraped away at some roots from a very familiar Cyclerot. He was quickly lost in his work as he quickly and efficiently cleaned and prepared his first batch of vegetables, having done so many times at home.

But as soon as he turned around to grab some new bowls to hold his cleaned batch of vegetables, he was greeted with the barely diminished mountain of food that still waited for him to process. More alarmingly was his senior who stood just behind the pile. She was currently holding a large bulb of some unknown vegetable over an open flame as she charred it. She did so with her blue water shield enveloping her hand that she constantly renewed as she chanted away whilst deeply concentrating. Her furred faced was absolutely soaked in sweat, for it must be extremely hot where she was as her shield quickly boiled away into water vapor and was constantly renewed.

Standing in the nightmarish kitchen, Nosal wondered what in the Realms did he get into with his apprenticeship. The boy then sniffed back the boogey which was the precursor to the tears that would soon follow.