The house was like a maze of threads. Kaitlyn couldn’t even follow many of them through the knots and twists they took. She spent three days just trying to find one spell she could begin to untangle. The spell she found was a spell to clean the windows. She almost laughed as she carefully retied it mentally into her own shape. The two windows needed an entire spell? How lazy was that witch?

She set it aside and opened her eyes. She had several chores she wanted to accomplish to make the tavern a little better. The still was going to be delivered and she barely had seven gold. She needed to earn more, and ale would help.

She wanted to cheat a little on brewing ale. She had put some dried raspberries in a jar with some water and allowed it to turn to yeast. She had been playing with some of the yeast and she was pretty sure she had gotten it to a point where she would be able to brew ale quickly. She was going to test it today with a batch of bread.

She made the best dough recipe she knew, flour, honey, salt, water, and the only bit of butter she had been given. She kneaded it until it was elastic, then set it in a bowl and covered it with a cloth. She set it on the edge of the hearth and went outside.

In the front yard she had three logs laid out. Using her magic tools and flame she carefully hollowed them out, using magic hands to pile the sawdust she created to one side. Two of the logs were large enough she was trying to make a bathtub. The third she planned to make into a planter for the front yard, so she kept the bark on it.

On the planter, she was trying to incorporate what she was learning about magical item enchantment to add a spell to drain water slowly without holes in the log. It had a trigger of putting both hands on a specific place on the planter. The first time she triggered it, she cried out in excitement as the bucket of water she had poured into the planter began to slowly vanish. She then yelped when it began to puddle on the ground on her feet. She frowned and began smoothing the outside, carving magically a direction to point the water to the end instead of just “anywhere.”

She finished hollowing out the planter log and went back inside. The bread had already doubled in size. She giggled and clapped her hands. In less than hour, she was almost ready to bake her bread. The changes in the yeast were also her first bit of original magic. She documented what she had done, a fairly simple spell similar to the plant growth spell.

She separated out some yeast to set it to begin a fermentation. She had high hopes for the barley when it arrived, but her first batch of alcohol would have to be mead. Using honey, water, and her wild yeast she combined them in her largest pot and set it near her flame spell. Because she wanted a warm but not boiling temperature, she carefully kept the flame’s size and temperature just where she needed it.

When the honey fully dissolved she finally added some fresh blackberries. She put all of this into a large jar one of the dwarves had bartered for a meal with. She stoppered it with beeswax and cast another new spell. This was the real experiment. She used the growth spell on the jar, and for a long moment wondered if it had failed. Then she saw bubbles, foam inside the jar. She didn’t want to try to turn it into mead in a day, so she left it for the day.

When Kaitlyn went outside she was greeted by Fapallo, who was shifting nervously on his feet. She whistled, “What’s wrong?”

He whined and then whistled a little bit that she always translated to herself as, “I promise I’ll protect you.”

“Should I be worried?”

“I don’t know.”

“That isn’t very reassuring.”

“I know.”

She decided to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. She went inside and held her master’s mirror in her hand. She had no idea if she could hide in the house and remain safe, but if nothing else she could go out the back door and try to escape. It might be difficult to hide if the house fell, with the pain overcoming her, but it would give Master Garthis time to arrive and help.

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She heard, and felt, what was coming. She stared at the two creatures which approached with true terror. They each stood at least ten feet tall, but moved with a shocking grace which belied their size. They were, to Kaitlyn’s surprise, wearing bright colors of pink, light blue, and silver trim. She had never heard of well-dressed giants, only the maurading kind who were supposed to wear clothes of human skin. The man’s beard was braided half down his chest and the woman’s hair was piled neatly on her head.

“What a delicious smell,” the woman said, “we were told there was a tavern here where we could expect lunch, but I was not expecting anything with flavor.”

“May I,” Kaitlyn stepped forward, trying to hide her nerves, “offer you some tea? Bread or biscuits? Stew?”

“What is in your stew?” the woman giant said, sinking so gracefully onto the ground that Kaitlyn was jealous. The man also sat down with a grace, folding his legs under him so he sat on his forelegs, his feet tucked under his backside.

“It is a stew of pheasant, carrots, leeks, and herbs,” Kaitlyn said, “I also have some green beans I could cook for you if you’d like.”

“Let me have some biscuits and stew,” the male giant said.

“I want to try the bread I can smell,” the woman said with a nod.

When Kaitlyn brought out the food, using two of her larger cooking bowls to serve them, she said, “It will be five coppers each for the food, if you would like tea it I’m afraid I don’t have any cups which you might find comfortable, but I would be willing to offer it for free.”

“Do not worry the size of the cups,” the giantess said with a serene smile, “We can use human-sized things when we must. Bring us your best tea.”

Kaitlyn put her hands in front of her and said, “I choose the herbs and flavors I think will best fit my guests. Do you prefer sweet or tart?”

“Hmmm, with this I think I would like tart,” the giantess said.

“One more question,” Kaitlyn said, “would you like earthy or floral?”

“Hmmm, a tart floral sounds intriguing,” the giantess looked at her companion, “would you agree my dear?”

“I would indeed, can you manage a tart floral tea?” the giant asked Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn bowed her head with a slight smile. She knew exactly what she was going to brew. She brought out marigolds, blackberries, licorice root, and ginger. She carefully ground the licorice root and ginger, then added a generous helping of blackberries and marigold petals.

When the giantess took a sip of the tea she closed her eyes and made the slightest sigh. Kaitlyn couldn’t hide her smile of pride when the giantess opened her eyes again, a look of delight in the large woman’s face. The giantess said, “This is truly delightful. I did not believe Haytham when he said you were a witch of culture and class, but he was right.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” Kaitlyn bowed slightly.

“We can not pay in coin, but I can offer you this,” the giant said and reached into a pouch on his hip. He pulled out a pair of kid goats. Kaitlyn had to fight to suppress the most delighted squeal of glee. A pair of goats would improve her cooking infinitely. She bowed and said, “Please, this more than covers the cost of the stew, could I offer you something else? I can make an array of simple potions as well.”

“I will think on it,” the giantess said, “Thank you for the tea mistress tavern witch.”

“Thank you for the compliment you paid me when you drank it,” Kaitlyn bowed again, “please call me if you need anything during your meal.”

Kaitlyn picked up the two goats and carried them around the back of the house. Cilvic was weeding the garden and stood up when she appeared. He saw the goats and his eyes went wide.

“A pair of giants gave them to pay for their meal,” Kaitlyn said, “can you set up a pen for them?”

“Not today, I am going this afternoon to visit my mother, but I’ll make sure they can’t destroy the garden,” Cilvic said.

“Oh,” Kaitlyn blinked, “Good. Have fun with your mother?”

“Yes,” the brownie said.

Kaitlyn returned to the front yard to see a silver elf sitting at the second table, eyeing the giants a little. Kaitlyn brought out a bowl of stew and the elf put a sack on the table. Kaitlyn opened it and grinned at the salt inside.

Between tending to the guests, Kaitlyn worked on her bathtubs. She was using sand to polish them down to a smooth finish, adding occasional water to keep it moving. She was also concentrating on setting a spell which would maintain water temperature in the tub. This tub would stay warm or cool or just shy of boiling if she added water at that temperature.

She turned the tub over with her magic hands and stopped when the giant man stepped over and said, “You are making large tubs, how will you fill it with water?”

Kaitlyn lifted two buckets with her magic hands and doused her magic flames in them. The giant laughed and said, “A practical use for magic. I like it. You should use equal parts beeswax, linseed oil, and pine tar to seal it. It will also add a lovely shine to the wood.”

“Thank you so much,” Kaitlyn bowed her head, “I knew beeswax and pine tar, but not linseed oil. I will gladly try this combination.”

“It will be nice to see a kind witch in the forest,” the giant said, “we have long argued that everyone needs a place to rest, relax, and talk. I hope you can be boon to all the folk here.”

“That is my hope as well,” Kaitlyn said.