Li’tiana attempted to help reload things into the bag. First folding the curtains as flat as possible without an iron hand, with corners that looked sharp enough to cut. She then attempted to add in the other items mostly in the order they had been pulled out. Enoki watched for a few minutes as Li’tiana kept trying to force the bedroll into the bag. First, Li’tiana tried to force it down with her full body weight, only for it to spring back out. Next, she carefully bent it into a U and tucked it into the backpack, making it seem to stretch out before popping out and hitting Li’tiana in the face. In a final desperate attempt, she now had it sideways and was trying to force things to the side. It was getting hard to not laugh at the entire event.

“You know I could help with that. It’s my bag anyway.”

“No, I'm supposed to help you prepare for your first free day in the world. I can pack this if it will let me.” As Li’tiana tried to slide the bag in, the rope fell out. In the attempt to catch it, the bag flipped upside down and everything fell out.

Enoki could see the frighteningly sharp teeth starting to come back. “Hey, you can help me by making sure everything is neat while I pack it. Ok?”

Defeated, Li’tiana’s ears fell a few inches. “Fine. I just wanted to make sure you were properly repaid after my. . .  transgression last night.”

“It’s ok. Really.” Enoki crawled over before getting the bag and bedroll, sliding it in and watching it disappear into the bottom of the bag somewhere. Ze could still see it, but it seemed very far away. “Well, I shouldn’t think about that too hard.”

It was a quiet few moments as Enoki tried to carefully put everything away in a way that made sense to hir. It was entirely possible it wasn’t going to matter how it was put away, but packing it nicely was a relaxing and somewhat normal thing to do. 

“I shot the arrow.” The soft confession came as rope was put into Enoki’s hand. “I shot it and realized something strange fell. I hoped the poor light meant I imagined, well, you. That you really were on the ground to start.”

Enoki hesitated a moment, the rope feeling a bit heavy in hir hands. Ze tried to find the right words. This was feeling a bit like death was trying to chase hir around. “I’m glad you missed. And it’s not like you knew what I was or anything. Even when you threw out that trap.”

As the rope was tucked away, Li’tiana picked up the bag of coins. “You could have died. Or we could have convinced you to not save my people. There are so many things that could have happened that would have been on my head.”

“But it didn’t.” Enoki looked Li’tiana in the eyes, shifting hir weight around so it was more comfortable to look up. “You didn’t mean any harm. And it worked out in the end. Like, I’m still mad at how I died before. But it wasn’t really anyone’s fault. I never had goat before. Meat allergies are rare back home so the thought that a goat could just kill me like that is crazy sounding.”

“Allergies?” Li’tiana tilted her head a bit. “What is that?”

“Like  something is normally safe for everyone to eat but someone could get sick or die from it. Does that not exist here?”

“No. Or if it is, not with elves.” She handed over the last of the items before reaching into her pocket. 

“That's nice. Anyway, the point is that I don’t blame you. You don’t owe me anything else, I promise.” Enoki gave the warmest smile ze could manage pre coffee. 

Wait. Crap. Was there coffee in this world? Hopefully there was.

The thought was interrupted by the rustling of fabric against fabric. “Regardless. Mo’ton mentioned that you lost many recipes by coming to this world. That they seemed more important to you than life itself.”

“Well, now they’re kinda important to the world itself so I guess I got my priorities straight.”

Li’tiana gave a sage nod. “The gods choose well when guiding our path, even the ones from your world if they are different. But I ask that you take this gift. Your talent and passion will save our world, but not if you are missing an important tool.”

Enoki took the cloth wrapped package and opened it. Tears nearly came to hir eyes as ze saw the quill and a small book that was bound with some sort of orange leather. When ze opened it to the first page, there was the recipe for the stew from the night before. A quick flip of the page showed the recipe for the bird feet as well. 

Without warning, Enoki launched hirself at the silent elf and hugged her. “Thank you!”

“Oh! I ah, yes. Well. It was the least I could do. The quill will write while you talk when you give it the command.” There was a gentle head pat as Enoki squeezed tightly. “Now, let’s get breakfast. And we can see what supplies we can send you along with. If nothing else, perhaps we have some things you can sell or trade at the elven cities.”

Enoki scrambled up to hir feet and grabbed the pack. “Right. Is there anything I can help cook?”

“Perhaps you are wanting to fry something?” Li’tiana glanced at the pan and spatula that had formed earlier. 

“Oh right. But still. I can make a good fried egg. Or bacon. Or pancakes.” Hir voice came up an octave with each item mentioned, getting bouncier as ze spoke.

A soft chuckle came as ze was ushered out with the tools in hand. “Maybe. Let's go, little chick.”

Enoki looked around the dismantled campsite, only hir own tent remaining. All ze could see was the few remains of fires and a couple of pots out now. Well, that and a slightly impatient elf who huffed as he started to finally deconstruct it. 

Near the embers of the fire elves were getting something that resembled congee, but much darker in color. At a distance, it was hard to tell if it was the liquid from the stew that caused it or not. Up close, however, the grains had a purple tinge to them. It reminded hir of the multi grain rice from the Asian markets back home. Another elf quickly sat Enoki down and got hir eating before any questions of preparation could be asked. 

“Hey can someone— How do you—” Enoki tried to no avail to get someone to explain the dish. The smell became too intoxicating for hir to resist any longer and ze started to dig in. The stewed items from the night before were definitely in here, now cooked down to be soft and easy to digest. There was a creamy and velvety texture, the grains toning down the spice from the night before. The smoky flavor of the roasted and slightly greasy thigh meat was mixed in, along with some fresh mild onion tasting pink herbs. The perfect meal for someone that was about to do a lot of travel and maybe ate too heavy of a meal the night before. 

Well, meals.

Or would it be one long snacking session?

A thought for later, Enoki supposed. 

Just as ze finished, Mo’ton came over with several elves. “We have many spices and things we can give you to start. Small packets but better than nothing. We also have a large amount of cooked meat and left over food that will not keep past our next meal. So anything you wish to take would be fine with us.”

Enoki looked at the small pack. While it was deceptively large inside it wasn’t going to hold much. “Guess it’s time to see how big those curtains are inside.”

Mo’ton looked with curiosity as ze pulled out the gray curtain and put it on the side of one of the wagons. Ze closed hir eyes and pulled back the curtain, hoping it was at least a little big with some shelves. When the elves gasped behind hir, ze slowly opened one eye and looked in hirself. The room was as big as a house, with rows and rows of shelves. Ze carefully stepped inside and looked around. Nothing was labeled but there were places to put the labels if ze desired.

Several elves were crowding around, half pushing Mo’ton inside. “Enough, all of you!” He turned to Enoki, trying to hide his annoyance. “Well, it seems we have a good amount of space to work with.”

“And time. Anything put in here won’t change. That’s what I was told at least. So I guess whatever you guys don’t need or want, I can take.” Enoki looked at the other elves, wondering if they’d all disappear to grab things like giant ants again.

“Well then, let's start helping you stock up before we help you plan your route.” He gave a small wave and a few of the elves came in bringing various small bags of herbs and vegetables. More than once Enoki nearly was run over by the giants who didn’t notice hir. When they were done, the shelves were far from being full, but there was certainly a decent amount of spices and meat for a few days. Hopefully.

No matter how long this would last, the plethora of spices now at Enoki’s fingertips was very enticing. The spice rack at home getting low, trips to flavor town had been delayed. Ze went to grab the spices to better look at them, before realizing at some point the pan and spatula returned to hir hands. Again. They really wanted to cook something. Ze felt a bit bad for them. Enoki quietly whispered to them.

“Sorry guys, maybe next time. There’s still lunch.” Slowly the tools melted back into the palm of hir hand.

Oh great. They could get depressed.

***