When morning came, Enoki rolled over to a face full of fur. As ze opened hir eyes, Noodles’ body came into view. The critter had relaxed so much its big mouth was now open. Its tongue lay on the sheets as a soft growling escaped its maw. Enoki carefully sat up and looked down into its mouth. It definitely looked and smelled like it led to a stomach somewhere. But given the mouth went down over half its body, Enoki couldn’t figure out where. Ze carefully scratched it behind the ear, letting it slowly wake up and close its mouth. Enoki smiled and carefully rubbed along the side, curious if the lips were anywhere to be felt. No. Not even a scar.

“I guess that’s magic biology for ya. Are you really 10 times bigger and this is like your toe or something, Noodles?” Enoki quietly asked, putting hir head against the animal’s.

Instead of answering, it used it's little tongue to lick Enoki’s face, then squirmed off the bed and onto the marble floor. Enoki sighed and looked at the blue pajamas that had formed just before bed. “Come on guys, something easy to cook in today.”

Quickly, the pajamas shifted from a soft blue night set to an orange, but otherwise classic, American chef's outfit. Complete with an orange chef's hat. Hir gloves even turned into something that looked more food safe. 

“Nice, guys.” Enoki grinned before looking at hir palms. “Bob. Mcstabby. Wait till we see what we need, ok? Everything will be elf sized so I might just need a step stool.”

A small shiver in the silver disks seemed to show them being ready. Enoki took about three steps outside before seeing a very excited En’mat hurrying hir way.

“Enoki! It’s all set up. We’ll do the sanitation spell, but the room is completely set up. We just need the supplies and we will be all set.”

“Got it. I’m all ready to go.” Enoki put hir hands on hir hips. “How do I look?”

En’mat blinked for a moment. “...you look like a child pretending to be a lord on a budget.”

“I look like a chef, thank you.” Enoki folded hir arms, feeling a bit offended. “I always wanted an outfit like this.”

En’mat sighed and lightly squashed the hat down with her hand. “There, there. I’m sure the chefs of your world would be proud.”

“Good. Now. Let’s go make the best melomel the gods ever had!” Enoki started down the hallway in the direction En’mat had come.

The elf looked mildly relieved. “You have made one before, then?”

With all the confidence of a 5 year old on a sugar high, Enoki put hir finger in the air as ze kept walking. “No, but it was on my to-do list back home.”

En’mat froze. “This had best be the only melomel they ever had, then.” She started walking with Enoki, trying to keep up with the shapeshifter’s pace instead of setting it herself.

“If I start doubting myself, I’m going to have a panic attack and stop doing anything. That’s not an option. Besides, I’m not stupid. I have you. And even if I have to make it myself or something, you can tell me what to do. Besides, I do know the basics.”

En’mat nodded. “Then you know the trick is to make sure everything is as clean as possible before you start. And to make the mash.”

“Technically yes on the mash but we are skipping that. We’re going to take the dried-then-frozen fruits and boil them in the honey and water to help them break down and become easy to strain out later. It’ll be fine. I just need the other stuff.”

“Alright. We can do it your way. The gods chose you for a reason.” She bit her lip. “But I worry what the reason is.”

“Honestly?” Enoki slowed down. “Me too.”

The former Blaze knelt down, looking Enoki in the eyes. “You have no idea why the feast has to happen?”

“No. Just that races will be destroyed if I don’t succeed. I can’t help but feel like there’s more to it. Like the whole tree thing with Father Heaven and Daugther Tear.” Enoki’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t want to accidentally lead everyone into danger, but we have the old stories that show…” 

As ze trailed off, En’mat held Enoki straight up. “Well, Daikon and I are with you. And we will help you no matter what. And if anyone can think of something crazy to get out of this, it’ll be you.”

Enoki nodded and started walking again. “You know, back home I wasn’t this crazy. For the record.”

“You were a frail human before, yes?” En’mat stood up and started to follow, this time keeping a hand on hir shoulder to help guide hir along. “I can’t imagine you wanting to risk too much harm to yourself. Especially since humans can’t seem to easily wield magic.”

“There was no magic back home.” Enoki paused for a moment. “At all that I knew of.”

En’mat nearly stumbled upon hearing that. “I’m sorry. Enoki. That’s a joke right?”

“I mean, no?” Enoki scratched hir head, trying to think of how to best explain this with everything ze had on hand knowledge wise. “Just science.”

Her eyes went wide. With a trembling voice, she asked. “How did the elves hide their forms?”

“I dunno. Never saw an elf.” Ze started counting off races on hir fingers. “Or fairnot. Or gnome. Or orc. Or troll…just humans.”

The elf went quiet for a moment. “You know, maybe that is what will happen here if we don’t make the feast properly.” She turned to make her way down the stairs as Enoki started hopping down them three at a time, hir backpack bouncing up and down as ze did. “Just no magic. Just humans. Maybe magic runs out without the feast to sustain the gods.”

“Well then, we better make sure we get this right.” Ze didn’t even fight when En’mat got tired of the jumping and grabbed hir midair. “We do not need a world with crypto bros and AI prompters trying to run things.”

“Could you make sense for five minutes, please?” The elf sighed. “I do rather like it when you make sense even if you are being crazy at the time.”

Out came the big grin again. “Where is the fun in that?”

“Yes, well. You would think that.” Her ears twitched up, as if trying to hide amusement.

As soon as En’mat stepped off the bottom of the stairs, she set Enoki down and they headed to a room at the end of the hall. Based on the equipment sitting outside of it, Enoki assumed it was the work space. Several elves were starting to sort the equipment and bring the pieces in. As one elf went through with a pot, blue and orange sparks flew off of them.Ze got a bit closer, and saw a thin field of energy inside of the heavy dark oak door frame. Enoki watched for a moment before running up to the sight as fast as hir legs would take hir. 

“That is so cool! It’s like a disinfection field in Space Wars Journey or something!” Ze squealed and carefully poked at the door. “How does it work? Does it know what is and isn’t allowed in? Is that room germ free? I bet it’s the cleanest room around.”

It took a moment for En’mat’s strides to catch up to the little shapeshifter. Chuckling, she walked through. “It’s perfectly safe. We identified all beings that are to be in the room. So only those authorized can enter.”

Enoki noticed Bob and McStabby shaking, as if scared. They probably didn’t count as “people” for the spell. 

Without looking up, ze spoke. “McStabby and Bob will be ok, right?”

“I- I do not know.” She tapped her chin, looking at the two disks from the other side. “Perhaps it’d be safer for them to be left outside if you can. It should just push them off, but you never know.”

“Right. Come on, you two. Become some chairs or something.” Ze pointed hir hands downward, allowing them the chance.

Bob quickly turned into a small silver stool. Nothing too comfortable or big, but nice enough if Daikon came over and needed a place to wait. Assuming he ever woke up from his drunken stupor. Bob, on the other hand, became a rocking horse. One with about 50 blades sticking out from the seat and handles. And it was pointedly facing away from Enoki. Ze sighed and knelt down. 

“I know, buddy. And I know you are super clean. But I don’t wanna hurt you. So now I’m gonna go in and get started ok? Only authorized people.”

Ze walked through the barrier. There was some more resistance than ze expected. Maybe it was because Enoki had been brought back to life? Or the weird gold blood thing? Ze was pretty sure En’mat was telling hir to stop, but Enoki needed this done now. Not later. So ze pushed forward, fighting the force. Ze could feel what was maybe a tail dragging out behind hir on the other side. Shit. Had something grabbed hir? Now? 

Before ze could look, Enoki fell forward. En’mat caught hir, and Enoki looked up at the silver and gold blushing elf. “Oh hey, thanks and-” Enoki paused. “En’mat?”

“Yes?” She squeaked.

“Why aren’t you making eye contact?” Enoki looked around, realizing how cold the room felt.

With a clearing of her throat, En’mat spoke. “You, ah, left your clothes out there.”

Enoki looked behind hirself to see a tail had formed. It was a long smooth tail that had a small tuft of hair at the end. And holding onto it was the outfit zei was wearing just moments before, waving to everyone in the room. 

“Oh. Right. Sentient underwear.”