[Starter Quest] Stone Soup, part 1

[Kyreen]

18 Saun 718

Ky was scrubbing down the work tables at the end of her morning shift when the kitchen door opened and the stranger slipped in. She looked up from her task just long enough to see that the strange woman had made a beeline for Lenon, and then went back to work. One eye remained on the sand-timers beside the oven, marking out the time for the last batch of desserts baking. They weren't hers, she was still on bread until she learned better, but as the junior baker in the kitchen, she tended to be left with the job of getting things in and out of the oven.

Lenon turned as the woman approached, and was immediately deluged in a torrent of speech packed around frantic gestures. Ky caught some of what the stranger was spilling.

"...and then he just ups and walks this morning saying he's not leaving his house empty for the thief to raid it again, and you know we've got that briefing dinner tonight! They're important people! We can't just leave them hungry, there'd be trouble. For me, for him...for all of us staff. But I've searched and searched and everyone's busy... please, there must be someone." She looked hopefully at Lenon, and her voice was pleading, almost panicky.

But Lenon shook her head and made a brief, almost apologetic, gesture with her hand. The stranger's shoulders slumped. "You don't know anyone who might? Please? I'll try anyone."

The last of the sand dropped through the pinched waist of the timer, and Ky picked up the wide wooden paddle and braced herself for the extra blast of heat as she opened the oven door. The heat must have hit the other two as well, because a thoughtful expression washed across Lenon's face. She gestured again, and both women turned to watch Ky ease the cocolime tarts out of the oven and onto a cooling rack.

[Kyreen]

Ky felt the eyes on her back, but she needed all her concentration to get the desserts out safely. Finally, she slid the last one onto the rack, closed the oven door, and turned. The stranger looked faintly hopeful. Lenon was impassive except for a slight lift at the corner of her mouth.

Ky felt her own mouth go dry as she put the clues together. This woman was desperate enough to take anyone. And that anyone included Ky, poor as her skills were. Did she think the tarts were Ky's own effort? Ky grabbed one of the chipped mugs kept for kitchen use and dipped out a mug of water to cover her hesitation. Besides, it was important to drink a lot in this heat. Liquid went out in sweat, so liquid needed to go in through the mouth, or you dried out. It took most of the mug, in sips, before she was up to talking.

"Me?" she got out at last. "You want ME?!" The slow kid with the raw doughy face and the figure of an unbaked loaf? The one who wasn't trusted to handle anything more fancy than plain bread?

Lenon nodded and briefly signed encouragement at her. Lenon clearly thought she could do this and that gave Ky both a sense of strength, and another rush of nerves. What if she let Lenon down? Ky swallowed and looked at the stranger. "You really want me? I ... guess I can do it."

A wave of sheer, naked, relief crossed the woman's face and she sagged against the wall.

Ky added cautiously, "It would have to be simple. I - I haven't the time to do more than that with such short notice."

The woman shook her head. "But you'll feed them. That's the most important part. I know how good Knight's Rest food is, so if you're good enough to work here..." She trailed off in her turn, and Ky hadn't the heart to explain that she was a very new hire, without the skills that Lenon had.

[Kyreen]

Ky buried her face in her mug to hide her expression. She drained the remaining water there, rinsed the mug out, and set it to drain. The woman fidgeted as she waited, and when finally finished and nodded to her, she took a deep breath and pushed away from the wall. Sweat beaded on both of them from the kitchen heat as they stepped out of the intense furnace of a kitchen and bakehouse into the lesser furnace of a Saun noon.

"I need to stop at my house first," Ky said shortly. "All my recipe books are there, and I'll need them to work out a menu." She turned in the right direction, and the pair trudged slowly along the streets, not pushing too hard despite the woman's impatience. Neither of them wanted to overdo things and succumb to heat exhaustion. Ky had known bakehouse heat all her life and adapted somewhat to cope with it, but this heat wasn't escapeable just by stepping outside. What she hadn't said out loud was that she didn't know enough recipes to make a menu or a list of ingredients without a recipe book to refer to for reminders and information.

As they walked, she quizzed the woman, whose name was apparently Leshli. What was the budget for food? What was the pay? How many was she supposed to provide food for, how soon did they need it, and what kind of food had they been expecting from the cook that walked out on them? Did they know about the substitution?

According to Leshli it was a "small" gathering, about twenty people in total. Ky tried not to grimace. That was twice the number she was used to cooking for, and the family she had practised on had been bigger than most of them.

The cook who had abandoned Leshli's bosses had apparently been intended to provide appetisers for socialising beforehand, and then a three-course dinner for the business side of things. She didn't go into detail about the sort of business and Ky didn't ask. What the people eating her food talked about was none of her own business. She did learn that drinks were already provided, all that was needed from her was the food. Leshli also laid out the details of the time, budget, and pay for Ky, who tried to absorb them as fast as she could, and wished her brain wasn't such a plodding one. In the heat it was even slower than usual, as if it wilted like a heat-struck plant, and she needed every moment and scrap of information that she could get.

[Kyreen]

Ky struggled to work out how much practical time she would have to work with, if she was going to deliver the food at the expected time. The amount of available cooking time limited her options almost as much as her limited skills did. Or as much as the weather did. No one, she was sure, was going to want a pile of hot heavy food placed in front of them in this heat. Heat sapped hunger and increased thirst. She should probably include a sauce or a dressing somewhere in there to add extra moisture.

She looked up to see that they had reached her house. It was wooden, mostly, and reminded her of the houses at home in Darbyton that way. It didn't do much to reduce the heat though. Once they were inside and at least sheltered from the suns beating down on their heads, she poured cups of water for both of them and dug out her battered recipe books. She slid into one of the chairs at the table and pored over them, hardly noticing Leshli take the other chair and look around with awakening curiousity. If she had, the nerves might have come roaring back to life.

Beans, she found, were out of the question. They needed to soak overnight and even after that they needed breaks of simmering, and you couldnt skip any of it. Plain wheat was the same, so she couldn't use that as a side dish. She didn't have that kind of time available. Millet, however, was much quicker.

A simple roast, either of bird or beast also took longer than she had available, at least for these numbers, as did yeast bread. Flat bread was within reach though. That left her with fish as her most likely protein source, or possibly bought cheese. Or both.

Gradually a menu came together. She took up a piece of charcoal from the cold hearth, pulled a much re--used piece of vellum towards her, and worked out her list of ingredients. She pushed the list over to Leshli. "I need these items. Is that doable?"

Leshli scanned it between mouthfuls of water. Ky waited, sipping from her own mug, and wiping stray charcoal off her fingers. At last Leshli nodded. Her smile softened the tension in her face, making her look younger, almost Ky's own age. "We can do this."

Continues here

[Woe]

Name: Kyreen

Knowledge:

Endurance: Keep drinking to avoid dehydration from heat.
Endurance: Acclimatization helps.
Mathematics: Calculating time available.
Cooking: Suiting a menu to the weather.
Logistics: Some foods need advance preparation.
Research: Consulting books for fine detail.

Loot: n/a
Injuries: n/a
Renown: Slight renown reward: doing a good deed, taking a gig for somebody at the last moment (+5). (Perhaps when the event/party gets hosted, it will net a small reputation gain.
Renown system for your reference )
Magic XP: Nope just a bit of baking magic.

Points: 10 points for a solo.

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Comments:

Good writing here. I found it easy to follow, and your writing comes through very clear and detailed. I really enjoy down-to-earth threads where people are doing an ordinary job, it's a refreshing change of pace from the usual combat/adventure/intrigue, although there's certainly still room for elements similar to that in everyday baking threads. Have fun with the rest of your starter story.

If you feel I've missed anything or if you have questions about your review, please don't hesitate to send me a quick PM. Thanks!