“Okay, so next up is the garlic powder and garlic salt. It’s just right over there.” Claire pointed behind her at a spot four tables over. With the mass of bodies all festering around, Momo couldn’t see it, but she and Servi just trailed behind Claire as she charged ahead.
A few minutes later, Claire handed two simple wooden bottles filled with spices, the corn, and the peas to Momo, who safely stored them in her bag. “It’s better if you can make it yourself, but we don’t have the time to do that. And since Canary is surrounded by a bunch of gas, there’s no harm in taking the easy way out. Besides, it’s still going to taste delicious.”
“Okay, Instructor Claire, what’s next on the menu?” Momo asked.
Claire smiled and announced their next conquest would be mushrooms of the portobello variety. Those delicious, white or brown colored delicacies were at the same table as carrots, so Claire bought both at once. She picked up seven medium-sized mushrooms and five sticks of carrots. They were long, about 19 centimeters, but they had a bit of brown dirt from where they were pulled from the ground.
The broccoli and bell peppers were next on the list. Like the former two, they were at the same tables. Momo didn’t think there was anything odd was about it, but Claire had something to say about it. “Unless there’s a table with a sign, like that onion place we stopped by earlier, the same items won’t be in the same spot. But they’re usually in the same area. But as for picking bell peppers, just mainly go for the one that looks the best. Make sure the skin shines, and it’s a little bit firm. And the stems should be a vibrant green. If it’s not, it can still be used if the skin is firm. If it’s mushy, just throw it away,” Claire said when they were at the table. She picked two green, one yellow, and one red.
“Grampy used different-colored bell peppers in his dishes all the time, but they tasted mostly the same,” Momo. She glanced between the different colors as if she was looking for the perfect flower to pluck. It was like she stared at a rainbow with how they were organized by hue.
Servi was right beside her, joining in with a cheerful chorus. “Colors!!! Colors!!!”
“The green ones are actually unripe. That’s why they’re more bitter than the yellow, orange, and red ones, which gradually get sweeter. If you use too many spices or other things, you can drown out the flavor. That’s why they probably tasted the same.”
“That makes sense. Grampy was a good cook, but even he had some culinary problems. But what about the broccoli?” Momo asked. She moved her gaze from the sea of reds and yellows to a sea of green. They came in groups of four, but they were kinda small.
“It’s generally the same,” Claire said as she picked four packs and paid the Koena behind the counter. “The florets should be tight, and the stalks better be firm. And green. The greener, the better. Oh, and it needs to be heavier than it looks. That’s basically the rule when it comes to veggies and fruits. And with that…” Claire walked away with Momo and Servi in tow. Once they were out of the way, she gave the items to Momo and finished her sentence. “We only need the noodles, tomatoes for the sauce, the meat, salt and pepper, and a roll of bread.”
“What kind of meat?” Momo asked. She gave the broccoli and peppers to Servi to sniff and stored them in her bag.
“Beef is a good option. I’ve heard of chicken pasta, but I’ve never tried it. You can also use turkey and pork. Really, as long as it’s meat and edible, it’s bound to work out if you adjust the recipe,” Claire explained.
“I guess we’ll go with beef?” Momo asked. She had just finished storing the food and turned back to Claire. Servi was right there, hugging Momo’s arm and acting like an adorable little sister. She matched Momo’s footsteps sound for sound to the point where it looked like she was a shadow.
And again, Momo didn’t mind at all. She did feel the sickeningly, judgment-filled stares from those around her. However, her newfound confidence and love for Servi fought them off, and she strutted around with her hand wrapped around Servi’s fingers. Even as they browsed while Claire haggled her Elven heart out, Momo drew circles on the back of Servi’s palms. She did see a guard or two who were out on patrol, but she didn’t shy away from her love.
As soon as the guards laid their eyes on Momo, who lovingly stared at Servi as her attention was caught by a wave of colorful fruit, they turned and walked away. Their movements were rough, rugged, and uncanny, and once they had reached a nearby bench, they sat down and promptly drifted off to dreamland. “Thanks, Itarr,” Momo whispered. The Goddess replied by using Pixie Gust to swirl a stray gust around the pair’s connected hand.
“Beef it is, then,” Claire announced, too distracted by the forthcoming dinner to hear what Momo had said. She set off towards the meat side of the market while explaining. “Obviously, meat has to be cold. That’s why there’s a community freezer back here. You tell the shopkeeper what you want and how much of it, and he’ll go back and grab it.”
“Does he have like a menu or something? What about if the meat doesn’t look right or something?” Momo wanted to know. She raised a good question. There were probably some rotten merchants out there who’d rather sell unsavory and unappealing beef as something gourmet.
“There are menus on the table with what’s in stock and how much is available. Meat comes in three different grades. Select is the cheapest, choice is the middle of the pack, and the best and most expensive is prime, which you can only get at the noble market.”
“What about the meat stores in the shopping center next to the noble district?” Momo asked. “What meat grade thingies they have there? And wouldn’t it have about the same if shopped there?
“That’s probably a question for Dineria, but I’ll do my best. We could have gone there, and it would’ve been tastier, but expect to pay for the better flavor. And I’m not talking an extra ten or fifteen percent… I’m talking about double or triple what you gotta pay here. But hey… Sometimes the best things are in places you don’t expect them to be. That goes for food and friends.
“Besides, the distance from here to my house is much shorter than that shopping center to my place. By my count, it’s something like an extra hour and a half. We wanna be cooking as soon as we can, right?” Claire looked back and smiled.
“Yep! I want to cook for Servy as soon as I can.” Momo looked at Servi.
“Cook!!!” she adorably repeated.
“This is the first time she’s been this happy for this long.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Claire turned a corner, and Momo felt the temperature drop. She felt a cool chill on her thighs and wished she had worn full leggings.
“I believe it is. I like Servy altogether, but I’d rather spend it with a happy Servy. But really, as long as it’s Servy, I’m happy. She’s my hero, after all. And who wouldn’t want to be next to their hero?” Momo blushed, not even aware of how her kind words could be understood as an expression of love.
But Claire knew. She knew just how Momo felt about her friend. She wouldn’t reveal that. Not now, at least. Her positive thoughts on that would wait until they were at her house. To change the subject, she mentioned that the merchant they were going to see had a table nearby.
As the friends walked, Momo took note of how many Kobolds there were, and that reminded her of Feral. She enjoyed his company and hoped he was doing well. He had a history of working different jobs to pay for his meals, and no doubt it was expensive to feed him. He stood taller than most Kobolds his age, and his appetite matched his height. Feral had a kindness that couldn’t be matched. He was gentle as a kitten when it came to new people and children.
He also had respect for all things, living or dead, and he wasn’t that smart in the head. He talked slow, but Momo felt it only added to his charm. She was very glad to have met him, and she wanted to always be his friend. And the pink Singi felt the same about all the people she came to know and care about. Other than the incident in her home village and Arcton, she thought she was living a rather fantastic life. She had hopeful, lifelong friends, a friendly rival in Srassa, a mentor in Dineria, and Momo had clearly grown stronger. She even won a tournament, beating out all of the other Rank 10s in Canary! Even with a few setbacks, her life was good, and she was happy.
“Alright! Here we are. After we get the beef, we’ll swing by and get the tomatoes, bread, butter, salt, and pepper,” Claire said. She reached for one of the many books on the table and began to flip through it. They contained drawings and descriptions of what was available to buy. Claire handed it to Momo, who sat it on the counter and flipped with her one free hand.
“I don’t really know what I’m looking for here. How can you tell which one is worth getting?” Momo asked. She read the words and stared at the prices but didn’t know what determined ‘tastiness’ as she liked to call it.
“I mean, you can’t really go wrong. That Koena back there is a good man who doesn’t trick his customers. Everything on page 4 is what I recommend. It’s tasty and pretty cheap. If you can’t decide, show it to Servi and see which one she points at,” Claire said. She leaned back on the table and hugged her jacket.
Since they were in close range of the freezer, the cool air felt amazing on her sweaty neck. As an Elf, Claire was expected to enjoy the season of spring the most, but she preferred winter. The pretty white blankets of snow, the hot chocolate, and the delicious soup her mother cooked always made for the perfect evening. When she was younger, Claire would always stare off at the reindeer and watch them sniff around. If she was hanging out in a tree, she watched and hoped to spot a pack of coal wolves. Their pitch-black coats were always visually striking against the cold and powdery snow.
Claire shook herself awake, returning to the present from the world of her memories. While her childhood was more or less something she considered ‘good,’ an Elf could live for over a thousand years. There would be time to relieve the best parts of her life after they were over and while she was facing the end. Until that time came, however, Claire wanted to truck on ahead with her life since she had over 900 years left to go.
“Okay. Servy, pick something on this page, and that’s what we’ll get," Momo said, turning to Servi. Her cherry-red eyes were so full of life, but the same couldn’t be said about anything else. Neither Momo nor Claire understood Servi’s happy times. Was it a fragment of her happiness coming out to socialize? If that was true... Did these experiences influence her inner self when the blessedness faded away? There were far more questions than just that, but the only one who knew the answer couldn't say a word about it.
“Get!!!” Servi had made her choice, and she furiously tapped the page. Momo told Claire, and Claire alerted the shopkeep. He walked away towards the freezer and returned with two packs of delicious beef. Momo took a single glance, and her mouth started to water in response to her carnivorous desires. She needed to do whatever she could to guard it, and that was why she took care when storing it in her bag. Claire thanked the merchant and walked away with her two friends in tow.
The red-haired Elf told them that they could grab the other ingredients on the way out of the market, so they did just that. After stopping by a table filled with clumps of dried noodles, Momo listened as Claire lectured her on picking the best ones. She went over the thing she thought was vital but left the choice up to Momo. Momo searched, gazing like a cow at pasture until she finally decided. The noodles were long and thin, but there were a lot of them.
“Like with the garlic salt and powder, the best tasting noodles are the ones you make yourself. I do know how to make them, and they aren’t hard, but you have to leave them out for a couple of hours to dry. Besides, you’ve made an excellent choice,” Claire had said. Momo’s mind was focused on Servi and the love she had for her, so she picked the one she thought her friend would enjoy the most.
After that, they went and bought a few tomatoes. Juicy and red, those fruits made the list of Momo’s top five things to eat. Again, she took the advice Claire said to heart and asked if she could pick them out. Claire nodded, and she was happy to say that Momo picked the right ones.
Bread, butter, salt, and pepper were the very last items they needed before making way for Claire’s house. Even Momo knew how to pick the perfect loaf, so it was easy to finish off the shopping list.
As the trio walked out from the canopy-covered market, they felt the warm sun warm their cheeks. Servi smiled and stared at the clouds, Momo was staring at her best friend, and Claire started to feel a rumble in her tummy. Momo overheard that, and she started to laugh.
“Most of the time, it’s my stomach that starts to growl. It’s good that it happened to someone for a change. Hehe!!”
Claire smiled and patted Momo’s head. “Can you blame me? I only packed a sandwich and a cookie for lunch, so I’m about to starve.”
With that, it only took about thirty-five minutes for the friends to arrive at Claire’s house. Even though Momo had seen it before, she couldn’t tell which of the identical houses belonged to her. “Didn’t you have something hanging up?” she asked.
Claire nodded. “I did. It was a wreath, but it dried out. I haven’t had the time to make another one.”
“But how can you tell which one is yours? They’re all the same color, and I think they’re the same size. Even the windows are identical,” Momo said. Then the realization hit her. “Oh, never mind. Ignore my stupid question…”
Claire chuckled and patted her embarrassed friend on the head. “I had that problem when I came here. You should’ve seen the look on my neighbors face when I walked right in. I was afraid the old woman was gonna attack me, but she welcomed me in without a second thought. Unfortunately, she left to go live with her family, so I haven’t seen her in about a year. But my house is number 139. It’s both on my door and on my keys,” Claire said. She pulled a keychain from her skirt pocket and showed it to Momo.
She didn't have a lot on there, considering she only needed a key for her front door, a small safe she had bought, and one for the backdoor. Three in total, and she really didn't want anymore. She grabbed the one for her front door and unlocked it. She opened it, allowing Servi and Momo to enter first. Following up the rear, Claire hung her jacket on the coat rack. “My friends, make yourselves at home!”
“Now, I think it’s time for a tour before we start cooking,” Claire said. She was really excited to show her house to her friends, and that excitement spread over to Servi, who bounced up and down like a black-haired rabbit.
“Okay! This is the entry hallway. I’m sure you can tell the front door is behind you, so let me close that real quick. If you follow me a few steps forward, you’ll come to the living room,” Claire said. “I have two floors, so the steps you see in the corner go up there. There are two bedrooms and one bathroom up there. The bottom floor is an odd design because it doesn’t have many walls.”
“I see that. It looks like one giant room separated up into different sections. And are these the support pillars?” Momo asked. She tried to wrap her hands around one of them, but it was too thick.
“Yeah. Without those, this place would just fall apart. The kitchen is over there, near that side of the wall. You can see the stove and other gadgets from here. And all of this on the other side is the living room. I have a few chairs and a couch. And you can see that dinner table I have there next to the kitchen counter. I don’t use it that often, but it seems like that’s gonna change tonight.”
“Wow… This place is like the opposite of grampy’s house. It feels kinda odd… Oh! I didn’t mean anything by that, Claire! I’m sorry!” Momo stammered.
Claire laughed and walked towards what would be the kitchen counter. Other than the actual walls of the house, that was the closest thing to a separator. She took a seat, and Servi and Momo joined her. “I felt the same thing when I moved in. Heck, I still think this place is odd. Maybe that was why it was so cheap? It’s a weird design that puts freedom first, but the second floor doesn’t follow that design philosophy.
“In the contract I signed, it said I was forbidden to paint over the gray walls or replace the wooden floors. I could hang pictures or paintings, but only in certain spots. The same goes for the stairs. It did state I could buy appliances like that stove and refrigerator… If it wasn’t as cheap as it was, I’d probably be living in an inn. But it does make lighting up the house easy. All it takes is a few well-placed windows, and the whole house is as bright as if you were outside. I do have a few candles if it gets dark. I want to get a few of those fluorescent lights and install them, but that’s a bit of a wait for me.”
“I guess you were lucky when you found this house?” Momo said.
“I was very lucky. Now, what about the second floor? Who wants to see?”
“Me!” Momo said. Servi repeated right after her.
Claire stood up and walked her friends up the stairs. “It’s more like a traditional house up here. There are two bedrooms, one of which is for me. The other is a guest room, but it’s kinda dirty. The bathroom has a toilet and a Drip Stone I can move around.”
“Wait, what’s a Drip Stone? I’ve heard of Wash Stones, but…”
“Think of it as a tinier, weaker, much cheaper Wash Stone. It has its limitations. Like, you can’t control if the water comes out cold or hot, and it’s limited to ten uses a day. We have a water pump out in the backyard for all of the houses on this street to use, but I don’t like it. It’s cranky in a way because it’s stubborn, but my arm can’t take the constant pumping. There’s nothing more depressing than coming home after working all day and wanting a bucket of water, but nothing comes out.”
Claire then led them through the second floor, showing off all the rooms. In the bathroom, Momo saw the Drip Stone. In terms of appearance, it was a dead ringer for its older brother, but it wasn’t even a quarter of its size. The toilet was just a toilet-- nothing special was going on there. The pole attached to the Drip Stone came with a white plaster base. The water assumedly went through the grated hole, but Momo didn’t know where it went after that. Did it get absorbed? Was it connected to a pipe that went outside? The answer was probably the latter.
“That little blue stone does make bathing a lot easier. Even if it is a gamble of if the water will be the right temperature,” Claire had said before moving on.
The guest room, as per Claire, was filthy. It was filled with clothes and boxes of stuff that took up most of the bed and floor space. Claire’s personal room was the neatest, but she had three baskets full of dirty clothes. When the Elf realized that and her panties were in full view, she closed the door and nervously giggled.
“I do have a closet in my room, but that’s about it. I wish I could change that gray bed... But again, it was in the contract. I’ll have to wait until I outright own the house to buy another one.”
“What if it breaks?” Momo asked as she followed Claire down the steps to the open first floor.
“Then I can get another one, but it has to be the same model. It has to have the same colored pillows, sheets, blankets… Pretty much, everything has to be the exact same.”
After retracing their steps and reaching the first floor, Momo and Servi followed Claire to the kitchen. Placing her bag on the dinner table meant for eight people, Momo started to take out the food they had bought. Claire excused herself for a moment to run upstairs. A few minutes later, she came down wearing clothes that were far more suitable for a lazy Saturday morning. She had forgone shoes for simple white socks, the skirt for a pair of loose beige pants, and the blouse for a black tank top. Claire also got rid of the ponytail, choosing to let her gorgeous crimson locks flow free. The red straps of her bra peeked out a little bit, but that was fine. There was nothing embarrassing about wearing one, especially since she was with two other girls.
“Wow! It all looks good, doesn’t it?” Claire smiled. She walked over to the table of food and sat down. Servi was sitting across from her, and she was cautiously touching the tomatoes. Momo was just finishing removing the meat when she sat down with an adorable sigh. Her brow was filled with sweat since it was a little bit toasty.
“You two want something to drink? I think I have a few cups of juice in the fridge.” Claire stood up and walked over to a mysterious object near the stove. Momo had thought it was a decoration, but that wasn’t it. That was when she also saw that Claire had no shoes on. She hastily removed her boots while asking Servi to do the same.
“What’s a fridge?” Momo asked. Her pink socks stared at her, and she stored her shoes in her bag. She went to take Servi’s black boots, but Itarr had already absorbed them when she realized what was going on.
“It’s the opposite of a stove. You put things inside of it, and it keeps them cold. See?” Claire opened it up. Momo stood up, grabbing Servi’s hand, and they walked over. A frigid chill could be felt even from a meter away, and it only got colder the closer one got.
“I bet that feels good when it’s hot,” Momo said. She giggled and wagged her tail. Claire said she was right and pulled out a wooden container full of apple juice.
“Hold on, I’ll get us some cups.” Claire sat the juice on the table and walked over to the stove. She reached above it, opened the cabinets, and came back with three wooden cups.
“Claire, how does the fridge work? That’s the first time I’ve seen one of those things,” Momo innocently asked. Her tail wagged in a soft, inquisitive pattern.
