The village elder Vanessa seemed to be the most lax individual the party had ever met so far. Vanessa stood from across the trio with a blank expression on her face. She eyes them without blinking before finally turning to Karta, who now stands beside her.

"Who?" She asked in a monotone cadence.

"These are... guests... I found them by the water supply. They would like to inquire about one of our tomes."

Vanessa turns her head to them and raises her hand in greeting while keeping a straight face. 

“Hey.” 

Rhea, Row, and Lucerna are all rather surprised. 

“A-another Kotka?” Row stammered. 

Rhea crosses her arms. 

“I… figured the leader of the Kroliq would be… ya know… another Kroliq.”

Vanessa shook her head. 

“Nnnope.” 

Vanessa was not one for small talk, replying only with one-word answers. Rhea found herself getting rather annoyed. 

“Do you only respond with one-word answers?”

She shook her head.

“No.”

Rhea’s frustration is growing, causing Karta to interject. 

“F-forgive her. Vanessa doesn’t enjoy much small talk, and can be particularly cold to people she does not know."

"Can you tell us a little about her then?" Lucerna asked.

"Of course. I found Vanessa wounded and outside the cavern close to home one day; she was near the portal, mostly beaten and barely alive from the monsters inside, I could only assume. Loathe to leave someone to an early doom, I carried her back to our home and nursed her to health.

“Oh," Lucerna interjects. "I remember hearing stories about a lady who wandered into the Loot Cavern during our current time. That must explain why the Super Senior stopped letting us play around or go in there all willy-nilly,” Lucerna looks over at Vanessa. “Does that mean you’re from Miasto?” 

Vanessa nods. 

“I was.” 

Rhea is a bit surprised. 

Oh! She said two words!

Karta continues. 

“When she grew healthy, Vanessa brought with her much knowledge from this Miasto village, and we adapted some of their information into our magics, culture, and some infrastructure, and expanded our village a bit. And in this revelation, did the other Kroliq deem to claim her as the Elder... that and apparently, she is quite old, despite looking so young. However, with how much she provided in terms of information, the promotion is not unwarranted. Otherwise, the title of an Elder would have gone to the most helpful of Kroliq, and it's a bit difficult to bestow such a title when everyone is on equal footing."

“It sounds like Vanessa’s a really smart n' sweet girl,” Lucerna adds. 

Rhea sighs. 

“Sure, but it’d help if she was willing to talk more.”

Vanessa looks at Rhea, and with the straightest face, insults her. 

“Bitch.”

Rhea reacts viscerally to the word, leaping forward, yet held back by her two allies. 

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!”

“S-stop it, Rhea!” Row struggles to hold her back. “We’re guests in Fiolet! Let’s not put our sudden relationship with them in shambles!”

“R-Row is right! Remember, Rhea! There’s no fighting here! Rrrrrgh,” Lucerna uses more of her strength to hold the built woman back. “C-calm down!” 

“Er… anyway…” Karta attempts to naturally sway the conversation. “In the meantime, may we have a look at the staff for a moment? We may be able to pull from some helpful information if we inspected it.”

Lucerna nods.

"Sure."

Lucerna hands over the Shifting Arm and Karta and Vanessa make their way to the back of the tent. 

“Please, have a seat, and we will return momentarily," Karta says.  

Later, when the fever pitch of the group settled, the group of three settled in the small hut. While Karta and Vanessa were talking in the back of a secluded area, the others were waiting patiently atop some thick logs. 

“Achoo!” 

Rhea expels a cute, tiny sneeze followed by a sniffle. She looks around the hut, it's rather small and dirty. 

“Tch, what’s with this place?” Rhea sucked her teeth. “Do the Kroliq not know how to clean stuff? This whole place is filthy!” 

Lucerna looks around.

"You sure? It doesn't look that bad to me."

"It's really dusty," Rhea swats at the air. "The place could go for a bit of cleaning."

Soon, Karta and Vanessa come out of the backroom.

“Vanessa is willing to part with one of the tomes needed to practice. It is not a tome specifically related to this staff, merely a general rule of thumb when it comes to casting. However, she wants something in exchange?”

Rhea crosses her arms and frowns. 

“Oh? And what might that be?”

Grumbllllle...

Vanessa’s stomach starts to growl, and Rhea whittles herself down on her strict attitude. The Kotka lays a hand on her stomach and pouts. 

“Hungry…” She groans. 

“Hmm... You’re hungry, huh…” Rhea rubs her chin with her fingers. “Okay… how about this… I’ve got a few recipes under my belt. If I cook you up something nice, could you exchange that for the book?” 

Rhea could see Vanessa's eyes light up.

“Oh!” Karta is rather excited. “You are perhaps a proficient cooker? In that case, that may be something I would look forward to as well. I’ve been working nonstop today and would like to settle down with a proper meal.”

“Oh! Oh!” Lucerna giddily raises her hand. “Me too, Rhea! I haven’t eaten all day!” 

“Y-you too?” Rhea stutters. 

“Me too, if you don’t mind,” Row nervously laughs, scratching the back of his head. “I haven’t eaten at all since you got here, now that I think about it…” 

“Great,” Rhea rolls her eyes. “I went from having to cook for one person to cooking for four. May as well add myself into it since I haven’t eaten either.”

“But…” Lucerna scratches the side of her head. “How’re you supposed to cook with ingredients that you’ve never seen before?” 

“Hmph,” Rhea smirks. “Don’t underestimate me, Lu! I’ve been cooking for decades! I’d say I’ve got a pretty good meal repertoire under my belt! Just show me the kitchen, bring me the ingredients, and I’ll have your food out asap!”

Vanessa replies with the tiniest smile. 

“Yay.”

“I must admit,” Karta adds. “This does sound rather promising. Come with me then, Rhea. I shall show you to the cooking quarters.”

In the room over, Karta and Rhea are inside the makeshift kitchen. The room included various cabinets, drawers, and many foreign foods exclusive to this realm. The Kroliq designed a magical-looking oven that mimicked familiar knick-knacks and knobs from Rhea's previous life. Rhea was looking a bit nervous, an emotion Karta swiftly spotted.

"Are you sure you'll be alright with all of this..?" Karta asked.

Rhea smacks her face with her palms and hypes herself up.

“Yeah, Karta, I got this!"

“Alright then, I will leave you to the task.” 

Karta disappears back into the previous room.

"Don't keep us waiting for long!"

Once Karta disappears, Rhea immediately starts to break down in a heavy sweat. 

I have no idea what I’m doing…! What is all this crap?! It looks like some stuff you’d see out of a science experiment!

Her eyes hover frantically from one jar to the next. All of them seem to have labels over them.

Three-eyed Quirrel? Fermented Blatypus?! A Kooka-Chooga?! What is all this stuff?! What am I supposed to do with all this?! 

She reaches over and grabs a small jar. The label on the front reads ‘Spices’

And what kinda spices are these?

Rhea opens the jar and dips her nose inside. Her head is assaulted with the most unholy stench that combines rotting lemons and sewage. Her face turns blue, her vision blurs, and she nearly throws up in her mouth. 

That… HYURK… that does not smell like it should go on any food. 

She closes the jar and puts it back on the rack. 

What should I cook then? I don’t know what the heck Kroliq likes eating, but if it’s anything like I just smelled, they either don’t know what good food tastes like, or they purposefully love bad food. 

Rhea eyes the wooden stove. She throws on a nearby kitchen apron and oven mitts. 

Well, if I can’t think of one thing they would like, why don’t I give them something everyone back home used to love?

Rhea ties the knot to her kitchen apron and prepares herself to get to work. 

Let's see what Mama's got!

The older woman spends a decent amount of time in the kitchen. She fumbles between cabinets, drawers, jars, and bottles of liquid to see which ingredients in this realm may equate to the recipe she is trying to replicate. She makes dough, gathers what she thinks is supposed to be cheese, and in about ten minutes, the food is ready to be baked. 

After preparations were done and the waiting game had begun, Rhea peeked her head out of the curtain and saw Kotka and Kroliq chatting at the living room table, enjoying company and minor banter and merriment. And just for a brief moment, did Rhea see a glimpse of her past. 

She saw the picture of herself when she was but a mere child, her family gathered at the table, eating food, bonding, and having a lovely time. 

“Wow, Rhea,” her mom said. “You have such a big appetite! Make sure you save some for the rest of us, okay?”

“Okay, mom!”

“My baby girl sure got her appetite from her father,” A bigger, older man says, laying a hand on Rhea’s head. 

“Say, Rhea,” her mom starts to ask. “What do you wanna do when you grow up?”

“When I grow up,” A little Rhea is smiling from ear to ear. “I wanna-”

Lucerna is looking at Rhea. The older woman seems to be spacing out, so the Kotka calls to her. 

“Is everything okay in there, Rhea?” 

Rhea shook her head, bringing her back into this reality. 

“O-oh! Y-yeah! All good here," she smiles and waves dismissively. "Don’t you worry!” 

Vanessa robotically turned her head and looked up at the head peeking from the kitchen curtain. 

“Food.” 

“A-almost done, Vanessa!” Rhea laughed nervously.  

The waft of a thick, bread scent hovers over the air, causing their appetite to grow stronger. 

“Wow,” Karta says. “That smells impressive.”

Lucerna smells the savory air. 

“Mmm, something smells pretty good in there,” Lucerna smiles, rising from her seat. “Can I see?” 

Rhea wags her finger.  

“Nuh-uh-uh! Sit back down! It’s a surprise. The food will be done in about thirty minutes, so just hang back and relax.” 

Lucerna sadly plants her butt onto the chair and slouches down. 

“Phooey…” 

Later, Rhea comes out with a massive circular wooden tray. Rhea presents herself in a show-off fashion, extending her arms while balancing the food on one hand. 

“Ta-da!” She smiled. “Pizza time!” 

Everyone at the table seemed confused. 

“...Pizza?” Vanessa asked. 

“Yep! Pizza! It was a delicacy back where I was from. I didn’t know a single soul where I lived and for how long I lived that didn’t like pizza!”

“Oooh,” Lucerna licked her lips. “Smells good and sounds tasty!” 

“And…” Row lifts a slight in the air and inspects it. “What is this ‘pizza’ composed of?” 

Rhea scratches her head.

“Er... Bread, cheese, and sauce?” 

“That’s it?" Row questioned. "It’s rather simple…” 

Rhea put her hands on her hips. 

“Not all recipes need to be a project, Row.”

Row shrugged. 

“Got me there. Now, let’s give this ‘pizza’ thing, a try-”

Glorp.

A silent Vanessa consumes half of her slice in one gulp, then sits stoically. Karta is rather surprised. 

“V-Vanessa? How is the food?”

Vanessa stares into space. She puts down her slice, walks over to Rhea, and looks her dead in the eyes. Rhea looks left then right, and finally at Vanessa's bright green irises.

“Y-yeah…?” Rhea asked. 

Vanessa lays a hand on her shoulder and tilts her head slightly. Her eyes squint, almost uttering in a threatening tone.

“I’m gonna need you to cook more.” 

Vanessa gave me a whole sentence!

“Wooooah!” Lucerna gasped. “If Vanessa likes it then…”

Lucerna looks at her slice and takes a small bite, immediately she is smitten by the savory sauce, the pillowy cheese, and the crunchy bread, all fuse into a heavenly taste.

“Mmmmmm,” Cheese is dripping down Lucerna’s lip. “This is sooooo gooooood!” 

Row takes a bite of his food and is elated. 

“No way!" He shouted. "I’ve never tasted something like this before,” Row moves his hand to grab another slice. “Don’t mind if I do!” 

Vanessa runs over to Row and slips his wrist.

“Bad Kotka!” Vanessa calmly exclaims.

Row reels back holding his hand. 

“Yeowch! You coulda told me not to take it.”

Karta finishes swallowing his food. 

“It’s quite impressive, Rhea. More importantly, if you’ve managed to impress Vanessa, then by all means, you have earned the tome.” 

Karta gets up, goes into the other room, and comes out with the tome in question.

“Take it, Miss Evanthelle, it is yours.” 

“Great!” Rhea smiles, taking the book. “Thank you!” 

Karta stands from his seat.

“I’ll show you to the Playground where you can read and study how to use the staff. In the meantime, er…"

Karta looks over and sees Vanessa gorging herself on multiple slices.

"I suppose you can finish the rest of the pizza, Vanessa…”

“The rest of it?” Lucerna asked, "But there are still four slices left. I can't have an extra one?” 

Lucerna reaches for a slice, but as she does, Vanessa’s tail goes straight up, and her sharp eyes are glaring at the dark-skinned Kotka. 

“Sh-she’s dangerous…” Lucerna murmurs. 

Rhea gathers her allies to the exit of the hut.

“C’mon you two, let's see what this staff can do!"