Kat exited her room and nearly jumped in fight as she felt it start to close while her tail was still there. Then Kat thought about it for another second. *The door was shutting, and I was walking at a decent pace. I'd have probably left the area but… hmm.*
Deciding that the doors needed testing Kat opened it once again and walked slowly out. Watching her tail as the door slid shut, just as she was about to pull her tail out of the way the door stopped.
Swishing her tail from side to side she found the door followed it. Never leaving more than a few centimetres between the door and her tail, but never once did it come in contact with her. Even when she tried to quickly flick her tail towards the door.
Satisfied that she wasn't ever going to actually injure her tail because of the automatic doors Kat headed towards the kitchen to pick up some food. As she entered the dining room though she found Skye hunched over writing something.
"Hi" sad Kat as she walked past.
Skye practically flew out of her chair. If Kat didn't know any better she'd think Skye was the one who actually had wings. Returning to the chair and slamming the book shut Skye whirled around to face Kat.
"Ahh hi?" said Kat again not quite sure what else to do.
Skye pretended to cough and met Kat's eyes "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. I'd thought you went to sleep like Grace. I was just writing in my diary. Please understand I was just a bit surprised"
Kat shrugged "I'm just going to get something to eat" and left the healer to her strange hobbies. Kat rubbed her eyes as she left the room but after that they stopped irritating her.
The hallway was the same familiar boring scene, but the kitchen had a few interesting things to note. The Timmy's were on the kitchen counter with a pile of ingredients and several knives.
As Kat walked in all three turned at once and waved.
"Hello, I'm just picking something else, feel free to use the ingredients" said Kat
The Timmy's all nodded and went back to work on their cooking… whatever it was they were trying to make. Ignoring the frequent cutting sounds Kat walked over to the section Thyme had designated as dangerous.
She had a quick glance at the poisonous section which was the one right next to the entranceway. Perhaps not the safest design but Kat just ignored that fact.
Going one shelf deeper she found the two dishes for extreme heat. The first was a thick set of ribs, not with the meat on either, just a series of rib bones that looked cracked and charred but with wisps of flame that snuck out occasionally.
There was a plaque, but also a button that said press for explanation, and Kat couldn't resist. Just as she was about to press the button a Timmy appeared next to her and pressed it first before sprinting off back to the prep area.
"Ooh, the Hellflame boar ribs. Do note, this animal has never been to hell, and isn't actually related to boars at all. They are much closer to another family of steam aspected wolves much to my surprise. It seems to have been a rare mutation for a few generations that then split off.
"I was actually tasked with finding out what had happened, but I never did. I had a few good guesses but I never did confirm… Aw well, that's not what you're here for. Before I tell you any more, please know two things. First touch the plate lightly, if that burns you in anyway choose a different dish
"Second, the fork sticking out of the middle is the second test. If it burns you, you're probably not safe either, but if you have high regeneration you might be fine. Wouldn't recommend but at least it won't kill you.
"Despite the fact that these look like charred bones they actually taste a lot like a good bit of bacon… perhaps that contributed to them still being called boars. Huh now I think of it that way it makes a lot of sense. Hold on I need to go…"
The tape abruptly cut of Kat looked to the Timmy's for help. They took this as their queue and threw another tape in the oven.
"Woopsies, if you are hearing this tape it means, I in my infinite wisdom… provided a bit too much wisdom. Look I only made a limited number of these things and I burn through them fast. If your hearing this tape it means the information wasn't important so shoo, go back to adventuring or something"
*Well, at least that explains that reaction.* Still, Kat wasn't the keenest on the first dish. It was just ribs, nothing else, and even if they tasted like bacon, there was a lot of them and she just didn't enjoy eating so much bacon at once.
Looking over to the next dish, it was even stranger looking. It had three large bright red flowers that radiated heat floating in a bowl of liquid that was a cool blue colour, in direct contrast to the flowers, as well as the other ingredients she could see floating in the soup.
Once again a Timmy pressed the button for the dish. "So, first things first, if you can't touch the bowl don't eat the dish. It will melt you from the inside out and I'm not sure I'm fast enough to save you… nah just kidding I could, but I will record it and show everyone"
"This dish has a really posh sounding name that is like a paragraph long. I hate that name because it's too long though perhaps also because Earlen came up with it and that guy is a right bellend.
"I much prefer the name 'Soup of the Sun' on account of the fact is uses blazing sun lilies as the main ingredient to provide the heat and seep into the broth made of crystal mountain hot spring's water"
The Thyme on the cassette dropped his voice a bit "Just between you and me those aren't real hot springs, though I guess that's good you won't have to worry about a funny taste"
Reverting to the standard voice Thyme continued "It has a bunch of other ingredients but nobody really cares about them. It just enhances the taste. Let's leave it about that. I may or may not have stolen them from various elven enclaves, but those guys started it so I have no remorse.
"Wait should I be putting that on tape… Well whoever you are, hopefully you aren't an elf, otherwise…" And that was the end of the tap
*Thyme… did you seriously rob someone just to make good soup?* Thought Kat as she picked up the soup and carried it back to the lounge room. Skye had vanished from her seat, so Kat set herself up.
Kat tried to eat one of the lilies first and found that was clearly not the right way to eat the soup. It didn't even taste like anything; it was just a rubbery texture. Sure it was pleasantly warm when you swallowed, but it was hard to chew and rather unpleasant to swallow at first.
Instead Kat tried to mix the next Lily with a few of whatever else was floating around in the soup. Trying that yielded sadly similar results. The rest of the ingredients were a burst on flavour but the Lily was practically impossible to chew.
*I'm getting the feeling you aren't actually meant to eat the flowers.* Which, in hindsight may have been really obvious. They did look more like decorations then something you eat but considering the name of the dish Kat had assumed otherwise.
Kat happily ate the rest of the various ingredients. Once she did this though she was met with a surprise. Just as she finished the last piece, of… blue looking celery or something the final lily seemed to melt into the clear blue soup.
It turned from a light blue to a dark red and a tantalising scent started to rise from the bowl. *Ok clearly I wasn't meant to eat the lilies first.* Taking her time to sip the rest soup it was rather pleasant.
There was quite a lot of it, but the strong heat felt warm and comforting, and the soup itself was such an explosion of flavours that it didn't really bother Kat at all.
Once that was finished Kat was going to take the dish back to the kitchen but one of the Timmy's literally flew past, as if thrown at great speed and grabbed the dish before rolling into a perfectly landing and sprinting back down the hallway.
Staring after the absurd sight Kat decided it was time for bed. *Yup, whatever that was, and no matter how cool it was.. I also feel like it was a signal I should just sleep and not worry about it.*
