“Draden Varsk, your presence has been requested by his Lordship Macron Parvieu,” The man at the door demanded.
It took Draden a moment to recognize him as the head of Macron’s personal guard. As soon as he did, and the words he had spoken to him finished clicking into place, a stormy expression came over his face. The city lord was already on his bad side, and now the man was daring to simply request his presence like this!
No, he didn’t care how stupid it was; he was not going to play ball with this man. He had crossed the line by involving Leah. If he had just focused on him from the beginning, that would have been one thing, but no, the man had involved his daughter!
Draden slammed his palm on the door and snarled angrily at the man. “I live outside the city. I am not beholden to his whims, especially ones that would force me to drop everything for no given reason.”
The man’s mouth opened and closed several times, a flicker of anger flashing across his face, followed by shame. Both were gone in an instant.
Before the man could say anything, Coradine came up behind Draden and glared at the annoyance. “Is there a problem here?
It seemed like the man recognized her as his spine straightened, and he took several steps back. “La-” He coughed and tried again. “Lady Coradine, I wasn’t aware that you were back in the area.”
“Is there any particular reason you should be?” She spat angrily. “I wasn’t aware that I needed to inform your master whenever I came and went.”
He paled and vigorously shook his head. “No, no, nothing of the sort. I am merely concerned about your meeting with Master Marcus.”
“Who Do You Think Invited Me Here?” She asked him, enunciating each word carefully. She turned back to Draden and gave him a quick wink before turning back to the guard. “Macron was invited for a polite dinner and then proceeded to put a target on the daughter of his host. Tell me, is that the act of an honorable man? Is that something someone who is in charge of a city should be doing? IS THAT SOMETHING A MAN WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR HIS CITIZENS' BEST INTERESTS WOULD DO?” She roared?
The headguard looked away from them, no longer able to hide his shame. “I…” He ground his teeth, unable to continue speaking for several moments before his shoulders slumped. “I apologize. I know that this isn’t appropriate. Just as I’m aware of what happened during that dinner he was invited to.”
Draden sighed, unable to keep his anger going in the face of the guard’s new attitude.
“Do you have any idea why the city lord wants to see me?” He asked.
“Only that something apparently happened here last night — that’s all I know.”
Draden folded his arms in thought. Alice was the one who had originally alerted him to the food’s ability to finish a connection between a person’s dantian and their core. However, he knew she wouldn’t have gone home and started blabbing about the change. That left either the two juice merchants, which he doubted as they knew it would affect their future relations, or the same thing had happened to someone else the night before.
It irritated him that people were causing issues for him like this after he had helped them out, but he doubted that they had done it on purpose. More than likely, they had simply mentioned what had happened to a friend, and the tale had grown wings as tended to happen. If that was indeed the case, then the restaurant that night would be even more packed than the night before.
He clicked his tongue in irritation. “Tell him that I’m too busy to meet with him. If he wants to talk, then he needs to come out here on his own. Moreover, I’ll be expecting an apology from him if he actually does so.”
The head guard nodded, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “He won’t be willing to do that. I actually don’t have any idea how he will react when I tell him this news.”
“How long has his personality been this way?” Coradine asked him. “Last time I was here, Macron wouldn’t have dared to sully the rights of his host in that manner. He has his pride, but he wasn’t downright foolish like this either.”
The man leaned onto his back foot and stared up at the sky as he thought. “That’s hard to say; the changes have been gradual. It’s not like he woke up one day and was simply different… The changes have been taking place over several years.”
She frowned, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she thought of questions, only to then dismiss them. “I need to speak with Marcus about the matter later when he arrives. I have an idea, but since he has been here longer, I want his input before I say anything.”
Seeing that no more information would be forthcoming, the still unnamed head of Macron’s personal guard gave them a shallow bow and then left.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I don’t suppose you caught his name, did you?” Draden asked Coradine as they watched the man leave on his horse.
She rolled her eyes and went back inside to continue what she had been teaching Leah before they were interrupted.
***
When Marcus arrived sometime later, Coradine pulled him to the side and began talking to him quietly.
Meanwhile, Leah skipped into the kitchen and started helping her father with the cooking. There were only a few things he was willing to let her do since he didn’t want her playing with knives just yet. She wanted to help though, so that meant stirring things, kneading dough, or shaping the donuts. All you really needed to do was use the circle cutter on them; it even came with a smaller circle for the donut hole.
However, Leah, in her infinite wisdom, had decided that the donut holes ‘wanted’ to be shaped. It was odd, but at the same time, it was cute, and he wasn’t going to say no to his daughter over something so simple. Instead, he separated all the small pieces for her and covered the actual donuts with a damp towel for later use.
He would pre-fry these, lightly cooking them the first time around, and then, after they had cooled off, he would cook them properly. It was similar to how you cooked French fries, and ensured they had a crispy exterior and a fluffy inside. While he didn’t necessarily want the crispy exterior, that could also be modified with other techniques. He had stumbled across the method as he was trying to speed up his overall process and had then made the connection with French fries.
The result was a slightly different style of donut than what he had been making up to that point. The inside was still melt-in-your-mouth fluffy, but it had a crispy exterior now. He preferred the Krispy Kreme style, where they were soft inside and out and seemed to melt in your mouth. However, this did offer people another option.
While he kept cutting and preparing ingredients for the dinner rush, he watched as his daughter worked on the little dough balls. The tip of her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on what she was doing.
Under her ministrations, each donut hole gradually became something else. Some were vaguely recognizable, while others were completely odd, and he assumed either misshapen or just out of her imagination.
There were three though that were different.
They were still pretty ugly, but she had used her magic to color portions of them.
He reached over and wiped the tears from her cheek. “Are those us? You, me, and your mother?” He asked her softly, pulling the sheet with the three special donuts on it closer.
Leah sniffled and nodded. “I can’t remember what mommy looks like,” She cried. “All I can see is her hair.” She tugged on her own long strawberry-blonde hair as she said that.
Draden’s heart broke as he heard his daughter admit to no longer remembering what her own mother looked like. She had only been taken a little over a year ago, but for someone as young as Leah, that might as well be forever.
His eyes were wet as he gently took hold of her hair. “She looked just like you, sweetie.” He told her, having to swallow around the lump in his throat. “She had the same beautiful color of hair, and the same brilliant green eyes. You look almost just like a little miniature her, save for one difference. Do you know what it is?”
She blinked at him, her tears drying up as happiness overtook her previous melancholy. She shook her head.
He lightly flicked the tips of her pointed ears. “These. These ears mark you as my daughter, as well as hers.”
Leah covered her ears. “They do?”
“A full-blooded elf’s ears will be a little longer and more pointed.” He held back from telling her the rest. Some elves didn’t like half-blooded elves and treated them terribly. It wasn’t as prevalent as it used to be, but it was still something he wanted to protect his daughter from.
If there was ever a race that believed in their own supremacy, it was the elves.
“Leah? Mommy looked like Leah?” As soon as she started speaking in the third person again, he knew that the crisis had passed for the moment.
That didn’t help his own feelings that bubbled up at the reminder of how he had failed his wife and daughter. He needed to try harder to regain his previous cultivation and strength so Lorna could come home soon. Her daughter needed her.
With that thought in mind, he gave her a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. Behind her back, he quietly opened the fridge and grabbed an almond snack ball, popping it into his mouth.
No matter how much it hurt his insides, he needed to push himself and continue fixing the damage that had been done to his body and prime meridian.
No matter how many of these snack balls he needed to eat, he would. That didn’t mean it would be a fast process, only that he could finally start making progress.
Draden kept working on preparing all the ingredients, his hands moving on autopilot as he quickly chopped, diced, and minced one herb or vegetable after another.
Every once in a while, he would pause and make a note of which items he could do the night before and which ones weren’t suitable for being cut or mixed that early. He wanted to keep everything fresh, and having stale-tasting or wilted-looking vegetables didn’t go along with that.
As for the meat, he had already prepared everything that needed to be marinated the night before. That included the meat for the street tacos. The meat for the chili was simply ground beef that was then broken up.
With his preparations the night before, everything was going much faster, and he was able to prepare far more food than the day before. Though he still only made one large pot of chili, simply because of how much room it took up. It didn’t take long to cook, and he could make more if needed now that everything was prepared.
Really, everything was ready, and he now had some extra time to spend with his daughter.
Meanwhile, Marcus and Coradine had finished their discussion a few minutes before and were inspecting the little donuts that Leah had formed. More specifically, the ones that she had modeled after her family.
“Her subconscious use of magic is rather incredible,” Coradine said loudly enough for Draden and Leah to hear.
“Leah wasn’t responsible for making those pretty,” She said, suddenly piping up when she heard her. “Leah’s magic friends did that when she asked for help.” The little girl told them with a wide grin.
The two mages shared a look and nodded in exasperation.
(The recipe I use in this chapter can be found on my Patreon for free.)
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