“Crazy day today, huh, Chief,” Bob said. All customers had been served, and the Orcs and imps were taking a break. “What was the deal with the blessing?”

Rose spoke up, “That was the goddess Seareaz. I had heard of her but didn’t know she was the goddess of breakfast and coffee. I thought she was the goddess of ending fasting or something like that.”

Bob laughed. “There is a god for eating after not eating? Like what we do in the spring after a hard winter? Is that her fault?”

Chief Richard held up his hands. “Bob, don’t blame the gods. We have enough trouble.”

Rose interrupted, “True, Chief. In this case, she’s the bringer of food after a long fast. Her followers eat once a day, wear red, and chant ‘OMAD.’"

Bob was shocked, “They eat once a day?”

The Chief shrugged, “Sometimes we eat once a day or not at all.”

Bob shook his head, “Yeah, Chief, but that’s not on purpose.”

Rose smiled, “Not anymore; we have plenty of food. Besides, she’s the goddess of breaking a fast. Why was she here?”

The Chief thought hard and said, “She’s the goddess of breaking a fast. Break a fast.” He looked around at the others. “Breakfast!” The others suddenly understood.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Rose said, “So, coffee?”

The Chief shrugged, “It's good. I think she claimed that today.”

Bob frowned, which made the Chief nervous, “Uh, Chief?” Bob raised his hand.

“Shut up, Bob,” the Chief growled.

“No, really, Chief?” Bob began again.

“Shut up, Bob!” The Chief shouted.

Bob drummed his large fingers on the table and, against his better judgment, asked, “Um, do we need to make a sacrifice to her?”

The Chief let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“I’d sacrifice some bacon to her,” said Betty.

“Too bad we're out; I’m hungry,” said Ben.

“Time for a supply run.” Richard said, standing up, “Mick, Rick!” The imps jumped to attention and saluted the Chief. “Let’s go.”

A loud voice came from the tent's entrance, “Hello?”

Bob turned to the voice and said, “Sorry, we're closed. No food left.”

“Good thing I brought more,” Said Sam as he and Alice entered the tent, “Thought I’d save you a trip. The sisters sent more bread and muffins. We brought more coffee, too.”

“Oh, yes, I’d like to try that Vanilla Latte everyone keeps going on about,” Alice said, looking around, “My, I like this place. Harriet was right, very rustic.”

The Orcs unloaded the cart and paid Sam. Alice chatted with Rose and Batty as they made her first Vanilla Latte.

“Dears, this is amazing,” Alice said, taking more sips of her drink. “Well worth coming out here.”

The Orcs, the humans, and the imps all sat down for a late lunch together. The day had been busy, and all were hungry.

“Well now, this is the best late breakfast I’ve ever had,” Sam said, then quickly added, “Outside of Alice’s cooking, of course.” Alice laughed and gave her husband a dismissive wave.

“Chief, we are set!” Bob exclaimed. The Chief, looking confused, responded, “Everything is being delivered to us daily. No more supply runs.”

“That’s too bad,” Rose said, “I wanted to hear the elf sing.

“We can go into town and have dinner at my dad’s place and hear her sing,” Batty suggested. “Maybe tomorrow.”

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“Hey, Chief,” Betty said, “we have one problem. Me and Ben can hardly keep up. We need, uh, 1, uh, 2—oh, I can’t count. We need more campfires.”

Ben interjected, “Yeah, we need six more.”

“Six?” Betty said, “That’s not a real number.”

“Is too!” Shot back, Ben.

“No!”

“Yes!”

“Shut up!” Bob shouted, “Six is a number. I know, I can count.” The twins stopped arguing and glared at Bob.

“I guess we need to expand our cooking area,” Richard said. “But fires could get away from you. I don’t need the tent burning down.” He glared at Bob for good measure, and Bob shrugged.

“Maybe I can help,” came a deep voice from the tent's entrance. An enormous, shirtless, muscular man with long red hair walked in, causing all the Orcs to feel a sudden urge to run. Ruby stepped from behind the big man, giving everyone a large smile.

“Ruby!” Shouted Rose.

“Hi, dear; Sootie and I thought we should stop by and see how things were going,” Ruby said.

“Sootie?” Rose asked, peering at the giant man.

The colossal man laughed, “That’s me. My dragon form sometimes scares people, so I go out in disguise. Pretty good, uh, I’m just like a human.”

Sam and Alice released a jolly belly laugh, making Sootie glare at them. Ruby giggled.

“Sootie, old boy, you radiate dragon even when you almost look human,” Sam said. “Have a seat, old man, and have some breakfast.”

“Oh, Ruby, dear, have a sip,” Alice offered her cup to Ruby, who took a quick sip.

“Oh my, I’ll have one of those,” Ruby said in her mousey voice.

More gold was exchanged, and more food was delivered. Sootie ordered three times more than a normal human.

“By the gods, this is good.” Sootie's voice boomed throughout the tent.

“Oh, my, yes, this is quite good,” Ruby said.

“So, how can you help with the fires?” Richard said.

“Well, I brought four of my firestone ovens with me. I thought you’d be the perfect customer for them.” Sootie said.

“Sootie makes them special. They are metal ovens lined with firestone. You add a touch of magic, and it heats up and stays hot all day.” Ruby added.

“The sisters use them for baking,” Said Alice, “They love them.”

“Yes, that would help.” Richard said, “We’ll buy them!” He felt good saying that. He liked buying instead of stealing.

Sootie and Richard haggled over the price and soon came to an agreement. The twins cleared out the kitchen of the fires. Sootie brought the ovens in two at a time. The twins learned the simple magic spell and began playing with the ovens. Richard smiled, listening to them laugh as they got used to their new toys.

“Say, Chief Richard?” Alice got Richard’s attention, “Did a woman stop by and, uh,” Alice seemed to blush a little, “cause any commotions today?”

“Well, a woman and some humans were protesting, but Mayor Hamilton and the Battleaxes stopped it,” Richard said.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Alice said, “My sister is a bit odd. I’ll talk to her and see if I can get her to stop for a bit. Unfortunately, she’s, uh, determined, to, uh,” Alice stopped and looked at Ruby and Sootie, “Well, you know.”

“Get rid of us,” Ruby said with a tinge of anger in her voice. “We have run-ins with her too. She tried it with Battleax, too. She said barbarians aren’t human enough. Battleaxe changed her mind.” Ruby winked at Batty, who laughed.

Everyone looked at Batty, who said, “Dad told her that dragons, elves, dwarfs, and humans all bleed the same when cut in two by a battleaxe,” Batty paused, adding, “Well, in the nicest way possible.” This elicited chuckles from everyone.

The evening found the Orc Cafe staff resting. They had a long day. Dinner was made with the new stoves, and everyone loved how quick it was.

“Well, Chief,” Rose said, “Looks like this is turning into a good venture for us.”

“True,” Richard said, “When the village gets here, we can expand our tent, make more tables, and have more help with the restaurant.”

“Good,” Bob said, “I’m getting tired.”

“How long do you think it’ll take the village to get here?” Rose asked.

“Well, we were always ready to move out quickly, even though we haven’t in a while. I’d say a few days.” Richard said.

“I hope Thorn is well. I miss her.” Rose said, “I’ve prayed to the gods to let her make the trip. She has been frail lately. I’m worried she will be gone soon.”

–

Steve stood in the middle of the village, gasping for air. He felt he had done this recently, but it was hard to tell anymore. He had quickly explained that Chief Richard needed the village to come to him, and he did his best to explain as much as he could. Thorn stood glaring at Steve.

“He started what?” Thorn sneered, looking down at the shorter Orc.

“A restaurant, an, uh, Orc cafe,” Steve said, huffing for breath.

“A restaurant?” Thorn said. “What?

“We serve breakfast to imps and humans,” Steve said, getting frustrated with the older Orc.

“Serve? Humans? Imps?” Thorn’s anger burst as she grabbed Steve by his tunic and lifted him off his feet, “HE DID WHAT? I’LL TAN THAT PUPS HIDE!” Thorn dropped the flabbergasted Steve. She turned to the other Orcs in the village and shouted, “WE LEAVE NOW! DOUBLE TIME!”

All the Orcs ran; even Steve didn’t care that he was exhausted. His fear of the shaman overrode fatigue. The village was moving.