Chapter 9: Chapter Nine – First Quarter

Chapter 9

"Wow, this is great, I never would have thought to use a neutralizing plate as a cutting board!" I shout over my shoulder to Lina, sunbathing behind me. 

I adjust the strap of my blue sundress as I continue to chop chilis. I changed into it to let my wetsuit dry in the hot late morning Moroccan sun. 

"Yea, it seasons your food while you chop!" Lina smiles as she sits down next to me. 

"Oooh smart!"

"Just wait until you learn about kitchen magic!" Lina says.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Exactly what it sounds like! Some food can hold aether, so it can be used as a channeling artifact. You push a spell into it, a mild one mind you, then when you consume it, you slowly extract the benefits as you digest it." Lina grins at me. 

"Wow, that's brilliant!" I giggle. "I really feel like I missed out on so much knowledge by not going to a magic school before the Federation shut them all down." I say with a hint of sadness. "Where did you learn that?" I ask.

Lina frowns. "Yea it really is a shame about the schools, but that knowledge will never be lost. There will always be people preserving the traditional magic practices of their culture by passing them down from generation to generation, especially outside of Europe." 

Lina smiles as a distant look washes over her face. "I first saw kitchen magic practiced by Šā̊merīm tribeswomen serving as cooks under my command in the combined army of Canaan, during the vampire civil war. Their earth channelers would push healing spells into vegetables to cure disease and minor ailments. Their water channelers would infuse teas with spells for comfort, to lift the morale of soldiers. The fire channellers would channel spells for strength into logs, burned in meat smokers, that fed our archers. And the air channelers offered moral support." Lina laughs. 

I giggle with her. "Poor air channelers, I guess they always had a reputation for being a little useless, huh?" I say as I pour some olive oil into the pot and hold it over the fire. 

"Hey now, they did their best!" Lina laughs, holding her sides.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m sure they did.” I giggle. “Chama always says that as long as you do your best, and have fun, whatever happens is ok.” I drop a few diced onions into the pot to test the temperature, but I’m disappointed with a lack of sizzle. Not hot enough yet.

Lina grimaces at me. “Well, nobody was having much fun back then, but they certainly did their best. Everyone did. I just wish it was enough…”

I feel a wave of sadness wash over Lina through our connection. “Hey, it’s ok. We’re here now.” I say, placing my hand on Lina’s shoulder to bring her back to the present.

“Thanks.” She weakly smiles at me.

“It’s soup time!” I joyfully declare, as I drop all the diced onion and garlic into the pot with a satisfyingly loud hiss and sizzle this time.

“Soup time!” Lina echos.

I feel a rush of joy build in my friend. Aww, she really does love my soup! I rush over to wrap Lina in a one arm hug, stretching to keep the pot over the fire with my other arm.

“I felt that!” I beam up a big grin at my vampire.

Lina raises an eyebrow as she returns my hug. “Felt what?”

“You, silly! You do love my soup!”

“Aw, of course I do Lua. I love everything you cook.” Lina wraps her strong arms around me.

A feeling of safety and comfort envelopes me as I relax into Lina’s arms. I look up into her eyes, and she looks down into mine. I forget about the soup for a moment as my breath slows and my heart rate quickens. Her eyes quickly dart to my neck and back, and I can't help but tilt my head back slightly as I release a slow deep breath I didn't realize I was holding. Lina gently tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.

She's so strong. She makes me feel so small…

A look of panic appears on Lina’s face. Oh no, she definitely felt that! I feel an explosion of embarrassment erupt from both of us as we both quickly jump away from each other. 

I nearly drop the pot, but Lina quickly grabs it from my hands. 

"Here, why don't I hold the pot while you cook." Lina says, unable to meet my eyes. 

"O-ok…" I stammer, still flustered. "Oh no! The garlic is about to burn!" I shout. 

I quickly grab Lina’s water bottle and deglaze the pan just in time to save the dark brown garlic with a loud hiss.

"That was close!" I say, turning to where I left the neutralizing plate in the sand. 

I use the last of Lina's water to rinse off the clams and mussels, and scrape off the barnacles with the back of the knife.

Once the water in the pot comes to a boil I stir in a vegetable bouillon cube. Once that's fully dissolved I crack open a can of tomatoes. I use the handle of the knife to crush the whole tomatoes in the can, before dumping them into the pot. 

I start dumping in spices, handfuls at a time while Lina stirs the soup, pulling it off the flame when needed to hold it at a simmer. After a few minutes I decide the vegetables are cooked to satisfaction. I drop in the shellfish and a handful of rice, then cover the pot with the neutralizing plate. 

"There! Once the rice and clams are cooked we can eat!" My enthusiastic smile is quickly wiped away by a yawn. 

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Lina smiles sympathetically at me. "We can get some good sleep today, there's no rush now that we are this close to Gibraltar. Once we are in the Med our pace won't matter anymore." 

"Good, swimming at that speed really takes a lot out of me." I say with another yawn.

"We'll go slower than." Lina says with a quick peek into the pot of soup she's holding. I feel her excited anticipation for the hot, spicy meal rise inside her, quickly reviving my smile. 

I look out into the bright blue ocean. "I'm so excited to see the Mediterranean! I never could afford to travel. Could we make stops to see things?" I ask. 

Lina smiles back at me. "Sure! I think we'll need to buy more spices at the rate you're using them!" Lina nods to the pot..

I giggle. "I like it spicy. I want my food to hurt me!" 

"Phhhtt!" Lina laughs at my antics. "I bet if your food tied you up, and called you dirty names you'd be into that too!" Lina smirks down at me. 

"Uhhh wha-what?" I stammer out, with the faint trace of a whimper in my voice.

Lina's smirk is quickly shoved aside to make way for a look of embarrassment. "Sorry, sorry! I was just joking!" She stammers. 

I can tell the damage is already done. I know exactly what Lina felt through our connection. 

My brain scrambles to think of an excuse, but Lina lets me off the hook. "We'll stop for more spices." Lina says, as if nothing happened. "But we should do it on the African side. We still don't know how much heat we attracted from the CRB. We should probably stay out of Federation territory until we find out." 

I quickly compose myself. "That's ok, I've got plenty of time on my hands now, right? I'm sure I'll get to see Italy and Greece someday. I'll just be happy to swim in a new ocean!" I say. 

I feel Lina's embarrassment be replaced with happiness for me. "You're going to love it! There's certainly plenty of water out there for you to swim in. Good water too! Very wet, very blue, very… moist water." A mischievous smile rises on Lina's face. 

"Ewww, Lina! You know I hate that word!"

"Haha sorry, I couldn't resist." My vampire giggles, elbowing me in the ribs, before taking another peak at the soup. 

I pout up at her. "Looking at it won't make it cook any faster. You're letting all the steam out!" I say.

"Sorry, sorry! I think it might actually be done though." Lina holds the pot out to me.

Suspiciously, I remove the lid for inspection. Surprisingly, the shellfish do look done. I scoop out some rice with my spoon, and blow on it a bit before taking a bite. 

"Hmm, that is done. Did you use some otherworldly vampire magic to make it cook faster? You know I can feel how inpatient you are, right?" 

Lina laughs. "Wow, you sure figured out that whole emotion sensing stuff quickly. No, there's no shadow magic spells that I know of to make soup cook faster. If anything, soup is in the realm of your aspect. It is mostly water after all." 

I look at the soup in confusion. How long was it actually cooking for?

"Well, I'm too hungry and tired to complain about it." I say. I scrape some salt off the surface of the neutralizing plate and let it fall into the pot.

I give the soup another taste, then toss in another handful of chili powder, give it a few turns of black pepper from a tiny grinder, and another small scrape of salt. My next taste test leaves me satisfied. Wow, that's really good soup. 

"Let's eat!" I shout.

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