“This is nuts.” Enoki mumbled to hirself as ze looked down the list. It was made to look like a proper check list at least, with most of the lines empty for now. In total there were eight races listed.  Humans were listed first. From the information given to hir, humans weren’t considered that special other than they were a bit of a jack of all trades race and the most likely to travel far and wide for new experiences and flavors. From what ze could remember, there were times humans tried to take over areas but the other race’s strengths kept them from becoming too colonize—ish. Instead, humans tended to make treaties and trade agreements with the various other longer lived races. 

The rest of the information felt like vague stories the humans told each other. It made sense, Enoki supposed. If ze was supposed to act like ze came from this world then having information from a human lens would make the most sense. Next was the Centaurs, known for being fairly social and friendly to visitors. Some suspected that they didn’t need to eat living in the desert regions of this world. Next were dwarves, as multi—gendered as the mushrooms Enoki named hirself after. They lived deep in mountains and most visitors agreed their food was incredibly bland. Both of these races could be found somewhere near the elves. So at least it wouldn’t be too far of a trek, in theory.

The famous farmers, the gnomes, were next on the list. They were given credit for cultivating wheat and supposedly ‘taming’ the battle hungry orcs. This was where stories in hir mind got a bit mixed up, as some of those same stories claimed the gnomes were servants to the orcs. Ze supposed ze’d find out when the time came to meet them. Goblins were considered the most secretive. It was possible to find small outposts, but finding their actual settlements was next to impossible. These three were sometimes found near each other as well and had trade agreements. If nothing else, if Enoki found one ze could probably find the others.

The next to last one on the list would be harder. The Dragon folk lived along the various coastlines of the world. From what ze remembered from flying earlier, Enoki was nowhere near a coast line. It was said they could get the greatest and rarest seafood in the world. Some even claimed they raised great krakens for yearly feasts.

At the very bottom of the list were the elves. Ze couldn’t help but wonder if these people should have been met last. While being considered a very serious race, they were also considered the ones humans should be careful when attending parties for. Some humans got caught staying at the lavish events for months. Even years! The drink was so strong, guests didn’t even realize they had been gone for more than a few short days. What was strange was what was written under their name. 

Drinks to be made.

Blessed ingredient: Heaven’s Tear Fruit and Honey

Cursed ingredient: Sinner Bound Wood

This was at least a clue what Enoki was to make and bring to represent. A series of drinks. Probably some wines or meads. Maybe even a beer from the stories floating around in hir head. Enoki was glad ze had some control over what was brought to the table at least. Hopefully it wasn’t a test. Making it from a blessed ingredient made sense as well. But why would a god demand something cursed?

As if on cue, Mo’ton came back and glanced at the paper. “I would put that away for now. I can help you later. But Li’tiana said you wished to help cook. And it would be wise to make sure we aren’t adding anything poisonous to you.”

“Oh, Sure thing.” The paper was quickly folded back up and disappeared back into the bag. “How can I help?”

At this point, everyone was carefully preparing to roast or stew the various parts of the birds, having applied seasonings or local nuts and berries to the dishes. Meanwhile the wolves all sat to their own meals, looking quite pleased with themselves. Li’tiana’s ears twitched and rotated towards Enoki as ze walked up.

“Ah yes, we are trying to decide how best to prepare the legs. The wolves don’t like them as much and need the organ meat more than we do. As such, we traditionally cook this part of the bird for ourselves. Sadly we do not have any way to steam them. The leaves in this area are not big enough.”

Enoki looked at the cleaned and declawed feet as some elves carefully cut them at the joins so they’d be easier to eat. “Oh I’ve had chicken feet before. That can be amazing.”

Li’tiana arched a brow, saying nothing as Mo’ton spoke up. “We could make stew again. They’d be ready by morning.”

“Perhaps. It seems a waste though. We have the wine to make the marinade. Not to mention the Satane and rock salt.” 

Enoki missed Li’tiana’s careful gaze as ze looked at their glove. Maybe with some careful focus ze could make what hir father used on camping trips. Ze closed hir eyes, remembering those camping trips in the old beat up conversion van. He’d take out a pot and have a metal steamer tray inside that could fold up neatly. When ze was young ze loved to play with it and how it opened and closed. While picturing this, Enoki suddenly felt like they were being pulled in two, with one arm being forced upwards as ze was lifted off the ground. The other arm was dragged down by a heavy weight. When hir eyes opened, there was a huge pot that was now tipping over, and a large metal steamer dragging in the dirt like a small unwilling boat. The elves quickly grabbed both and helped ease the pot down before Enoki could be crushed.

All eyes were now on the little shapeshifter. Enoki cleared hir throat a moment before speaking up. “I ah, I have enchanted items I was given for the trip. Guess I dreamed a bit too big. Eh heh.”

It wasn’t a lie at least.

“Will it last the entire time?” Li’tiana was already tilting up the pot to make sure it was large enough.

Enoki bit hir lip a little. “I think so.”

“Then we cook. Everyone! Quickly. Bring the wine and rock salt. Tonight we will have a proper traveling delicacy!” As if ordered by a queen, everyone scrambled to the wagons. Someone pulled a barrel out from one, and a few bags from another. 

Before anyone could say anything, Enoki was picked up like a toddler and set upon the shoulders of another elf with caramel hair. Ze heard someone shout catch and thankfully Enoki saw in time and quickly got into a rhythm of catching meat and dumping it into the pot. Other elves used a bit of magic to carefully pour in rock salt, some black seeds that looked like peppercorn, and sugar.  Once everything was covered, an elf did the cleaning spell and climbed in, carefully mixing everything up and making sure it was properly marinating.

The elves got out a different pot, one of several, and brought it over to Enoki. Ze was quickly given a bag of what looked like a blue head of garlic the size of hir fist and some long purple roots. 

“Peel the sono roots and drop the skins back into the bag. Chop them into small chunks and then take the paper skin off the mir cloves.”

Enoki couldn’t help but grin. Others were taking time to crush dried, red, pancake looking fruits as others still started pouring small amounts of brown liquid ze could only assume was the sauce mentioned earlier. 

“Right!”

It didn’t take long for the pungent roots and cloves to be prepared and put into the pot. Ze had seen some elves add in rock salt and some sort of paste. One could only hope they’d tell the secrets of all these items later. Once Enoki’s tasks were done and in absence of a new one, ze started going around trying to taste the different spices and herbs and liquids all being added in. Ze watched as everything was pounded into a mash before more liquid was added and it started to cook  properly. The recipe reminded hir of one from Korea, but with some of the spices creating a warmth that went to hir head as well as hir chest. 

By the time the feet were done marinating, the elves brought the shapeshifter over to the pot again. “How do you use this folding metal disk?”

“Oh, put it in over the liquid and from there put the meat in. You can close it up if you need to but I think the pot has a lid over there we can use instead.”

Not a moment was wasted as the feet were carefully lifted out with magic hands and the metal steamer placed inside, magically cleaned before doing so after its time in the dirt. Once everything was settled, the lid was placed on top and Enoki was brought to a spot near the food to rest. Other magic users were brought to the same place, and all of them given some gathered fruits and nuts. As those disappeared into Enoki’s mouth, ze savored all the scents in the air. 

No matter where ze went, ze always felt at home when there was home cooking going on around hir. In this strange world, with beings who towered over hir and magic abilities Enoki didn’t understand yet, this was no different.