Mythran's Master Of All

Ren, Xuunah, Officer Holly and Artemis arrived in Aurora a couple minutes later and came in for a landing on top of the restaurant. Ren and Xuunah could always feel Nathalia; but, being this close made their sharing much easier. Artemis stayed with Princess and the mounts on the roof, so she could observe the people milling about and looked for threats, while Ren, Xuunah, and Officer Holly walked down off the building and to the front door, and Nathalia was there to greet them.

“You made it.” Nathalia said and gave Ren a platonic hug.

“I kind of blew off the whole Human Kingdom to make it in time.” Ren admitted.

Nathalia smiled happily. “As long as you personally don't bring it down, that's okay.”

Ren chuckled. “I could have.”

“Oh, I know.” Nathalia said and gave her mother a hug, then nodded to Officer Holly. “Please come in. I've prepped a section of the kitchen for us to use.”

“Is that a good idea?” Ren asked and followed Nathalia into the restaurant. “I mean, it's kind of a secret what you do, right?”

Nathalia nodded. “It's partitioned off and I didn't leave out the special ingredients.” She said. “There's not a lot of people in the kitchen right now because we did all the prep work for supper earlier today.”

“It saves a lot of time doing that.” Ren said, and Officer Holly touched his arm for a moment, then she diverted from their path to the kitchen to start her observation of the customers. “I kind of miss having to cook meals all the time.”

“Would you give up your sustenance ring just so you have to spend time cooking?” Xuunah asked as they entered the kitchen.

Ren chuckled. “No, it's too convenient.”

Nathalia waved them behind a curtain and closed it behind them.

“Then don't miss what you used to have and embrace what you have now.” Xuunah said.

“Okay.” Ren said and put an arm around Nathalia's shoulders and one around Xuunah's waist. He gave them a tight hug, then they turned to him and hugged him back.

“This isn't what I meant.” Xuunah smiled and held both Ren and Nathalia. “ I won't complain because moments like these are few and far between.”

“They really are.” Nathalia said. “I really miss being in your arms, Ren.”

“They ache to keep you there.” Ren responded and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I'll be stopping to pick up some parchment on the way back to my county, so I can start my letter writing campaign.” He smiled. “I'm just sorry I didn't think of doing this before.”

“You've had so much going on, I'm not surprised that some things don't come up.”

Ren nodded. “Now show me this magic cooking you can do.”

Nathalia chuckled. “I've got the things I used for the dish I made for you yesterday.”

“That meal was delicious.” Ren said. “Are you sure you want to start with something like that? It looked complicated.”

“It only looked that way, because you don't know the process to make it.” Nathalia said. “You'll learn it today, and once you apply the proper techniques...”

“We can make the temporary bonuses become permanent.” Ren said. “Where do we start?”

“It's just like normal cooking, with a recipe to follow and ingredients to add, except there's an extra step every few ingredients where you add something special instead.”

“So, the special ingredients replace another ingredient?” Ren asked, and Nathalia nodded. “Then that would mean I might have unlocked the Ingredient Substitution skill a long time ago.” He smiled. “I had to wait until I learned Expert Alchemy to get that skill.”

“Ren, I'm sorry.” Nathalia said. “I meant to try and teach you a long time ago, long before you were kicked out of the Dwarven Kingdom.”

Ren gave her cheek another kiss. “Don't worry about it. Like you said, I've always been busy. I never really have the time to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labours.”

“Is that ever going to change?” Nathalia asked and took out a sealed package.

“I'm trying my best to pare down my responsibilities.” Ren said.

“How's that working out for you?”

“I keep getting more.” Ren chuckled.

Nathalia snorted a laugh and she opened the package, and Ren saw something that he hadn't seen in a long time.

Identify. Ren thought, even though he didn't need to do it, since he knew what it was. He had used it to light his way after he had been tripped and fallen off a bridge into a not-quite-bottomless pit during his very first adventure.