Book 2: Chapter 24 (1/2)

“I think you’re supposed to wait for the water to boil before adding those…,” Tafel said as she squatted over the pot in the campfire. The water was still, and the ladle was cold to touch.

“What do you mean?” Alice asked as she dumped a plate of carrots into the pot. “The water’s boiling.”

Tafel stared at the motionless water. She raised her head and inspected Alice’s face. The guild master was serious. “Uh. Do you know what boiling means?”

“When the water starts to bubble,” Alice said with a nod. She rotated the ladle’s handle, causing a bubble of air to surface from the depths of the pot. “See? Boiling.”

“I don’t think that’s right…,” Tafel said and scratched her head. “Like, at all.”

Alice snorted. “Who told me they wanted me to join because they liked my cooking? Are you going to question how I do things?” She whirled around and grabbed a few potatoes from Tafel’s bag before smashing them with the edge of her shield, whistling while doing so.

“Usually, bad cooks have a problem with burning food,” Tafel said and sighed. “Not undercooking them.”

“Your face is undercooked,” Alice muttered as she finished mashing her potatoes. She dumped them into the pot. “Quit messing with the fire!”

“Okay, okay,” Tafel said, raising her hands and backing away. The flames dancing on her fingers dispersed. It looked like she was going to eat fruit for dinner. Again. She sighed and sat down on a log while Alice ‘prepared’ some stalks of celery. Tafel shook her head and looked around. Their carriage was parked by the roadside, and a forest that reminded her of the wilderness was shrouded in darkness across from them. A rustling noise caught her attention.

A creature with the head of an eagle and body of a lion with two wings appeared at the edge of the forest. A fairy was sitting on top of its head, and Vur was carrying it on his shoulders. “I brought the meat.”

“Throw it in the pot,” Alice said without looking up. She continued to dice the celery with the sharp edge of her shield.

Vur stared at the tiny pot sitting on top of the fire. He raised his head and inspected the gryphon on his back. “…Just throw it in the pot?”

“Yes! What? You think it’s not boiling too?” Alice asked and snorted as she applied too much force and broke the plate underneath the celery stalks. She cursed and cleaned up the clay fragments.

Tafel kept her mouth shut as Vur approached the campfire and glanced at the fire again. He raised his head and blinked at Tafel. “She’s a bit grumpy and doesn’t like being told how to cook,” she said and shrugged. She rolled her eyes. “Even though she’s terrible at it.”

“Just throw it in the fire!” Alice yelled as she rummaged through Tafel’s bag, looking for more celery, her back still facing Vur.

“You sure?” Vur asked, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t think—”

“Am I the cook or are you!?” Alice shouted as she retrieved a tomato and frowned at it.

Vur shrugged and unceremoniously dumped the gryphon’s body on top of the pot. The fire hissed as it was extinguished, and the loud crack of metal breaking echoed through the night. Vur scratched his head. “I thought the pot would expand automatically or something.”

“Why did you think that?” Tafel asked.

“Well, her shield expanded during the fight, didn’t it?”

Tafel glanced at the crushed pot. “It looks nothing like her shield though.” She squinted. “Maybe if you look at it at just the right angle…”

“My hard work!” Alice screamed as she dropped the just-found celery in her hands. “Gah! A gryphon!? Where the hell did you find a gryphon!?”