Chapter 42, Breakfast

Chapter 42, Breakfast

Morning came around quicker than Kreig expected.

He knew it because of two reasons. The first was the knocking on the door, and the second was that the sun was only barely peeking over the city. A voice at the door, most likely Georges, informed Kreig that if he wanted to continue acting as the cook of the house, he might want to get up and make some sort of breakfast even though the hour was early. Mostly because they had a lot of things to do that day and the both of them didnt take two days off for nothing, and partially since Sam would likely throw a fit if she didnt get her morning fix.

Those were two explanations Kreig could understand. Within five minutes, he had peeled off his pajamas and dressed in the clothes hed arrived in. Still tight, still somehow better than his overall.

Oh, youre awake! George said as Kreig pushed open the door into the hall. Your hair is Wed better have you take a shower. After we buy you new clothes, that is. George nodded wisely and Kreig mimicked him, mostly since he had no better idea.

And now, for breakfast.

Strangely enough, the kingdom he was first summoned to didnt have breakfast eating as anything important, while people of the Empire constantly told him it was the most important meal of the day. Since Kreig had spent 15 years in the kingdom (later to become a theocracy), he didnt consider breakfast any special, and even though hed spent more of his life in the company of people of the Empire, he had somehow never lost his belief that breakfast just wasnt that important.

George seemed to lean closer to the Empires views in this regard. It was alright, though. Hed learnt several dozen recipes for Empire and Reignia-styled breakfast foods. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

He just hoped his siblings would enjoy it, even though it was hardly modern to them. At least, thats what he thought. It was easy to tell right off the bat that these modern people surely hadnt tried anything from the otherworld, although many such foods were found inside the Other Island prison hed been in. The only notable distinction would be that the food he recieved down in his cell had been much different from what was served to the prisoners as a whole.

Still, he cracked his knuckles and got to work. By the sound of it, Sam was still asleep. And by the way he looked, George was about half-asleep. Kreig himself wasnt tired in the least.

But he knew just the kind of breakfast that would get them on their feet again. From what he could smell, all the ingredients were in the house, although a few spices seemed a little off. Might have been their manufacture or preservation process.

Either way. As he did last night, he moved through the kitchen like a whirlwind, some paprika there, some (non-fungus) flour there, eggs there Swept up in his own work, he barely noticed George staring at him, silently enraptured by Kreigs pure expertise. And at the very end, when it was all in the oven and Kreig knew itd be ready in ten minutes (just enough time for Sam to wake up), George tapped him on the shoulder.

Kreig used to get around it by simply never eating that meal since he couldnt eat the mushrooms, but as he grew used to spicy foods, he found it more nostalgic than anything. Sam didnt seem as enthusiastic.

WhatthefuckwhatthefuckjesusSHIT my tongue is on fire-, she spat out between gulps of water.

George took another bite of his breakfast. Wuss.

He wasnt wrong. Though, then again, the old which-kind-of-breakfast-is-it trick used to make even the hard-assed pikeman burn his throat, so it was less so a weakness on her part and more so that George was strange.

Sam growled something horribly immature in return, and chose to just cautiously eat the bread instead of the entire thing. A sensible approach. The ranger usually threw it in the river after he realized what it was, but by then, it had already served its purpose of waking everyone up before the Empire advanced further on them.

Okay, alright. Im done. My tongue is less charred now. Fucking hell. Lets just-, lets just go. Weve got a time and a place and the time is 9:00 and the place is the police station. If you two arent ready in five minutes Ill shove a boot down your throats, Sam said as she advanced on the front door. Neither Kreig nor George could deny her.

Both were ready within the allotted time-span, and off they were.

Kreig realized pretty quickly that he recognized the path they were walking. Only barely, of course, much of the city was still unfamiliar to him, but they were walking the same road he had arrived on. The same hed been guided through. It felt quaint, finally recognizing something about this world. About this city hed once grown up in.

Sam and George talked a lot. Or, rather, Sam talked a lot and chattered up a storm while George replied with single words and short sentences. Kreig barely said a thing.

And then, they arrived at the police station.

Hed been there before, hadnt he?