Tasty food is the spice of life. Though on the road heroes and adventurers alike must know how to make a good campfire meal.

“I’m here to help with the cooking,” said Brad as he knocked on the kitchen door. It swung inward showing the two ladies in charge of running the area.

“Head to the back and get started on the stew. We are running late so hurry up,” said the closer lady.

Brad nodded and ran past. He paused at the sink and washed his hands thoroughly with the bar of soap at his side. The process had been rung through him several times so he wouldn’t forget while helping in the kitchen. As he washed his hands he looked over the kitchen. The smells of half-finished meals hit him, and the heat of the stoves and oven had started to warm up the slightly cramped space.

Once he was done getting ready he went down to the end of the kitchen where a pot was starting to boil, and a familiar girl was working. She turned to him.

“You are late. Hurry up and help me. I’ve needed a stool for this pot. You can be in charge of adding the food and stirring it all. While I will get things cut and prepped,” said Ash.

“You have dinner duty as well?” asked Brad.

“Of course. I try and get it regularly. It is fun, and relaxing, and I can snag extra portions of food after everyone else has been served. I can also poison my enemies,” Ash said with an evil grin.

“Sure,” he said ignoring her final statement and moving on. “What step are you on now?”

“I’ve already peeled the onions, started to boil the water, and added salt, and the cloves. Now we need to add the beef.”

“I’ll grab it.” Brad moved the stool away and brought the beef over. It had been cut into a few pieces and was ready for the pot. He carefully lowered each piece into the large copper pot while being careful not to get burned by the bubbling water.

“Put the lid on it. We’ve got to let it boil for a minute and then simmer for a while. It is a long recipe.”

“What are we working on next?”

“We’ve got plenty of vegetables I picked from the garden that need to be cleaned, peeled if necessary, and then cut up. Why don’t you take care of the carrots and potatoes, and I will do the rest.”

Brad nodded. “OK then.” He gathered up the potatoes and carrots and set them in a strainer in the sink. The peeler was set up on one of the shelves and he brought it over to his spot where Ash was doing a similar thing.

Brad felt the cool, damp earthiness of the potatoes as he washed them, the water running in a soothing, rhythmic cascade. There was a comfort in these simple tasks, a grounding effect against the backdrop of Ash’s words. He found himself lost in thought as he wondered about the day’s earlier events. The smell of food grew, and a bit of hunger started to grow in him. The kitchen was warm and filled with the rich, savory scent of boiling beef and cloves, that spilled over him.

Ash, on the other side of the kitchen, moved with a grace that belied her jesting nature. Her hands, skilled and confident, danced through the air as she prepared the rest of the vegetables. The sharp knife in her hand glided through the flesh of a ripe tomato, the juice beading on the cutting board like tiny rubies in the soft, golden light filtering through the kitchen window. As they worked Ash occasionally looked over at the pot careful that its ingredients weren’t burning. She kept checking on them occasionally as she moved on from tomato to lettuce, leek, and then turnips.

Brad peeled the potatoes, each strip falling away in a satisfying curl, his thoughts wandering. He considered Ash’s quip about poisoning, how the shadow of a smile played on her lips as she said it. There was an art to her humor, dark though it might be, a kind of release valve for the pressures of their lives. He chuckled to himself, a low sound drowned out by the bubbling pot and the slicing of vegetables. “It would be a fitting taste of their own medicine.”

After placing all of the finished potatoes in a bowl while waiting for them to be placed in the pot he moved on to the carrots. Ash in the meantime had doubled his pace and was working on parts of what he suspected was part of the salad for the evening. He was not a big fan of salads and was happy to let her prepare that on her own. Throughout their preparations, the pair of kitchen ladies checked in on their work. They smelled the soup and made sure that the sizes of their cuts were appropriate.

“Hey, Brad, earth to Brad. You’re with me, right?” Ash’s voice, teasing yet tinged with a warmth he had come to look forward to, pulled him back from his reverie.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Always,” he replied, meeting her gaze with a smile. “Just lost in the Zen of peeling carrots.”

Ash laughed, a genuine, infectious sound that filled the kitchen. “Weird. Well, don’t get too lost. I need those carrots and potatoes ready for the next step. We’re making a stew that’ll warm the soul. It is one of my favorite recipes.”

He focused on his task, peeling, and cutting with renewed vigor, the mundane action now imbued with a sense of camaraderie. The kitchen, with its simmering pot and an array of vegetables, felt like a sanctuary, a place where the outside world, with all its complexities and dangers, could not reach them.

Next to them the sound of bubbling water added to the background noise, the atmosphere, and his actions. As they worked, the air between them filled with more than just the aroma of cooking. Seeing Ash finish up Brad hurried his work while not ruining the carrots. Soon he was finished and had a second bowl of vegetables ready for the pot.

“Alright, what’s next, chef?” Brad asked, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel, ready for the next step in their culinary adventure.

“We’ll be adding these vegetables to the pot, but the meat still has some time left on it before we do so. The meat has to make a broth of the water. Until then it won’t be ready. What do you want to do until then?”

“What do you usually do? I don’t usually get stuck with the long meals. It is usually lunch or breakfast for me if I get kitchen duty at all.”

“We usually trade stories about our day, but we already spent the interesting parts together. Do you have any gossip?” she asked with interest.

“You mean do I have any gossip about the new priest that has joined the church and orphanage? No, I do not. I’ve avoided him so far. Today was only the second day that I have really interacted with him as you saw. I guess I can tell you a bit more about the first if you would like.”

Ash nodded eager to hear the story.

“The new priest, Grant seems to be in charge of dealing out punishment. Unless one of the others catches you in something more problematic. They seem to know that they are unliked, so they have pushed the responsibilities onto the new guy. We had to do a bunch of extra cleaning and listen to him talk in preparation for today’s lesson. It wasn’t the worst. If you do something wrong try and get him to notice before the others. With him entering the picture our previous offenses if you have any don’t matter as much. They are just stories told to him by the other priests. We will of course need to watch him to see what changes, but it has been decent from my experiences so far.”

“Got it. I’ll pass the word to those I know don’t know already. I’ll try not to stir the pot too much until then,” she said with a wink,” But I will have to test the waters.”

“Do so at your own risk.”

Ash looked over the pot bringing over the stool so that she could peer over the side of the thing. “It looks like it is ready. Been long enough at least. Bring over the vegetables.”

Brad followed her instructions and let her add the pieces one by one. First was the carrots and potatoes he had prepared. He watched them fall in with a plop. Next was Ash’s ingredients. The turnips and leeks were added with a few stirs. With the motion, he could smell the meat and his hunger grew even more.

Ash stepped off her stool and put a lid on the pot. “Almost done. Just got to soften up the vegetables. We should be done just in time for the dinner bell to be rung.”

“I’m glad I can relax now.”

“Not quite. We’ve got to assemble the salad.”

Brad sighed. “I’d rather that you do it.”

“It is easy. More so than the stew. We don’t even need to prepare the dressing. One of the older girls already did it this week and there is plenty of extras. Get the big bowl for me.”

Brad followed her instructions. He had already seen the bowl she had indicated earlier. It was hanging by a handle on the other side of them a bit high up. He grabbed the stool from her and reached for it. Once he had it in his hands he slid it over to her. The large bowl was almost as wide as her reach. She needed the stool back from him, so she started to add the prepared vegetables to the bowl.

“Grab two of the big spoons as well.”

Brad knew which ones she was talking about and already had them ready. With the big spoons she began to toss and mix the salad ingredients while Brad added the last few ingredients. The salad mix was a simple one but healthy and filled with nutrients. Not that many of the children cared. It was just the standard salad that they all had been eating for their lifetimes in the orphanage.

“Check the pot for me,” asked Ash.

“Already on it,” Brad replied.

The lid of the pot had slid and shifted around drawing out the aromas of flavor and bringing the taste to his lips. Outside of the kitchen, the sound of the dinner bell rang and children eager for dinner were hurrying to find a seat in the cafeteria.

“I think it’s done,” said Brad.

He poked a carrot and then the potato wedge with a fork. The metal instrument sank into the softened food.

“Good. I’ll let the others know and they will bring it out. This salad is ready as well. Do you want to pour the dressing on while I mix it?”

“Sure,” he answered without hesitation.

Brad brought the jug of dressing over to the side of the bowl. As he tipped it the dressing poured out in waves. Ash was quick to mix it and make sure that none condensed in one place for long. With one of the serving spoons, Brad scooped out the last of the dressing as he tipped the jug all the way over. Brad caught a whiff of the dressing. To him, it smelled weird, but the other kids seemed to like the salad.

“All done,” Ash said with a finality that hit Brad differently than his usual times in the kitchen. He was glad that he had swapped jobs with Greg even under unfortunate circumstances.

The pot was taken by both of the kitchen staff. Each had a hand and hot pad on the handles as they carried it out to be served. Next went the salad bowl and a few other side dishes. By now Brad’s hunger was peaking and he was ready to leave. He and Ash set the kitchen supplies to the side and rushed out to get servings of the food. After dinner, another set of orphans would help with the cleanup of the kitchen.

Later that evening a bout of hives erupted between a few of the older kids.