Hounds Rising

The kitchen felt like the one at Weary Hearts Respite, her family-owned restaurant, but everything was immaculately clean. A fire oven was already lit and blazing, and many different cabinets were along the one wall. A large preparation table stood clean and empty, ready for whatever was needed. Behind her was a larger table and chairs that could seat all of them comfortably. Ana could feel the excitement take her. She felt Sir Nibs moving around in her hair, and she picked him out and placed him on a small hanging basket with a small blanket inside for comfort, then started pulling things out of her bag.

Meats, rice, and other items filled one side of the preparation table as Ana thought about the many meals she could make. She never had dragon meat to work with before, but she thought it looked similar to venison, so she planned around that idea.

Within the next half an hour, she quickly prepared the items. Her first worry was that she would have to go back out and grab knives and other utensils, but in checking the cabinets, any time she thought of what she needed, it would be in the first cabinet Ana opened, empty except for that one or multiple items she thought of at that moment. Leaf and Lyla joined them as she started cooking, and Mr. Muffins had already managed to cause bottles of rum to appear from the cabinets. In her excitement, Rhokhishi had also conjured a small sack of dried and ground leaves, which she placed into a pipe from her pocket and smoked. They drank, relaxed, and watched Ana cook for another half an hour, then she conjured plates from a cabinet and placed the food on them.

“There we go, guys, pan-seared dragon steaks on a bed of rice with a chimichurri sauce. I’ve never cooked dragon meat before, so let me know if you like it!”

They all dug in, exhausted and starving. For the first time since she met them, they all ate quietly, taking bite after bite, stopping only to take a drink. Ana was happy with her meal, and the visual of empty plates made her ecstatic. While she always made good money from cooking, seeing an empty plate meant they enjoyed it all or were too hungry to care. Either way, she helped someone somehow, and that was what she wanted.

Ana sat in silence with them, relaxed and slightly bloated from all the food, letting digestion have its turn. Half an hour later, the talking started back up, and drinks were poured again.

“We should play a drinking game. Here,” Lyla said, pulling out a small set of cards. She took six cards out, numbered one through six, and shuffled them before sliding them across the table to each person.

“Super easy drinking game, especially since we don’t all know each other. We’ll shuffle the cards, then give one to each player. Whoever has the high card asks a question of the person with the low card. The person with the low card takes a drink and has to answer a question from the person with the high card. Got it?”

Everyone nodded, then turned their card over.

“Looks like I’m first!” Rhokhishi exclaimed. She looked over and saw that Ana had the low card, so she leaned towards her in her seat, stared into her eyes, and asked her question.

“Ana… Ana, Ana, Ana… It’s amazing that you came in and helped us with the dragon, but you’re hanging out with us now. What’s up with that? Who fights dragons willingly?”

“Oh, wow. Big question. Well, I’ve been traveling for about six months now. My family owns a winery and restaurant in Calimshan, and my father wants to buy out his business partner, who lives in Aramore. I got to see a lot of great places and meet some fun people, but I’ve never seen someone fight a dragon before!”

“So your goal is to head to Aramore, then go back?”

“Pretty much. There’s not much of a rush, though. Just taking care of things when needed.

Rhokhishi took a drink at the same time as Ana, then added on.

“I understand that. I’m also taking some time to eventually take care of some of the more sinister parts of my past.”

“That sounds… dark.”

“Yeah, but for now, everything is going well. I have some great friends and have made a decent amount of money.”

Rhokhishi poured Ana and herself another shot and looked around.

“Well, who’s next?”