The loyal citizens of the kingdom of Daxaria described their homeland as a lovable mess. The enemy kingdom Troivack that lay beyond the Alcide sea, preferred to refer to the continent as a ‘mess of fools’. This was in large part due to the tangle of nonsensical roads and villages smattered across its grassy fields, which seemed to spring up with the same amount of forethought a sheep would give to cartwheels. However, despite the majority of the land existing in geographical nonsense, Daxaria’s four cities lay sensibly along the North, East, West, and South border.

The reigning King and Queen of Daxaria primarily resided just South of the well-protected Northern city of Austice. A couple that had earned adoration and respect from their citizens during their near fifteen year rule.

It was on a particularly lovely sunny early spring day, that the King of Daxaria was meeting with his advisors regarding the rumors of an attack coming from Troivack. He was entirely unaware that the first of his new employees for the castle had arrived.

A wooden cart clacked its ways to the edge of the kitchen gardens. The short hairy driver stumbled down out of his seat with a less than pleased grunt. He then immediately began chucking the soft sacks his passenger had stowed aboard down onto the emerald green grass.

“I will unload them myself.” The passenger, a tall young man, called out as he leapt nimbly from the back of the cart and caught one of the sacks before it hit the grass.

“Make it quick then. What kind of freak brings a broom when traveling?” The driver hiked up his stained tan trousers, and leaned against his aging donkey impatiently.

“You don’t happen to live in the castle, do you?” The young man queried.

The driver squinted against the high sun as he tried to glimpse the stranger's face while scowling.

“Do I look like I live in this hoitey toitey mass o’ stones?”

“I’ve had enough unpleasant surprises in my life. I didn’t want another one.” The passenger muttered aloud more to himself than the driver as he retrieved the last of his bags.

“Now see here you-!” The infuriated retort was cut off as a plump maid in a white apron wearing a cream wool dress, came rushing down the garden path interrupting the exchange.

“Are you Finlay Ashowan, the new cook?” She bristled, slightly out of breath as she wiped her hands on her apron, and squinted against the sun to try and glimpse the newcomer’s face.

“Call me Fin, and yes I am. You are Head of Housekeeping I presume?”

“By the Gods you sound young! Yes, I am Ruby.”

The new cook hoisted three of his bags over his shoulders, and hefted the fourth in his right hand with the broom easily. There were still a couple sacks laying on the ground, but he didn't seem concerned about them as he addressed the driver over his shoulder.

“Goodbye Kip. May we never have to speak again.”

“You weird lookin’ bastard, I hope you shit bricks!” Came Kip’s angry response at the fellow’s back.

Fin’s response was the middle finger of the hand carrying three bags raised straight in the air.

Another slew of obscenities left the driver’s mouth as his former passenger disappeared amongst the muddy vegetable and herb garden patches, where only a few shoots of green had broken through the surface.

When Fin stepped across the threshold into the castle kitchens, it took his eyes a few minutes to adjust to the darkness to discern the chaos that met him.

People were all talking over one another, and everyone seemed to be performing tasks out of sync with the other occupants of the room.

There were two maids in rose-colored wool dresses and pale blue aprons filling a bucket of water with vegetables, while clutching paring knives and gossiping amongst themselves. A group of Knights were huddled around a long wooden table that was nearly half a foot taller than a dining table located in front of the hearth. All of them were simultaneously heckling the young woman who trembled as she tried to peel the pile of ruby red apples in front of her.

The squires of the Knights were playing catch with what looked like a potato, laughing and chattering amongst themselves.

A trio of elderly maids clucked to each other as they piled sacks of flour against the only wall where a large round window lit the sizable stone room. The window illuminated long wooden beams stretching across the stone arched ceiling, as well as the faces of the odd group of people. Not that the details of these faces bore any meaning to the newcomer.

It was then that Fin then laid eyes on the only still person amongst the commotion.

A woman wearing a purple sheath gown stared at him from the corner beside an arched door he assumed lead to a castle corridor. Her thick black hair was half pulled back, with the rest left to softly fall behind her shoulders. Her equally dark eyes were fixed on him as the twisted gold of her studded earrings caught the pale spring light. She was giving him a small smile, and had a single raised eyebrow as she studied him with undisguised interest. Her expression indicated she was seemingly caught between amusement and judgment.

Dropping his bags to the floor and folding his arms across his chest, the new cook looked down at the Head of Housekeeping. She turned and blinked in surprise at the man in front of her, as her eyes had also adjusted to the dimmer lighting.

“I thought you sounded young!” She gasped slightly as she finally saw the man’s features.

Her exclamation effectively silenced the room, and every eye swiveled to stare at the new arrival.

He had bright red hair that was only a few inches long, and half swept to the side. His slanted bright blue eyes with flecks of gold, surveyed everyone levelly before he began tapping his index finger on the faint freckles on his forearm.

He was tall, lithe, and not even thirty years of age.

“There has to be a mistake, you couldn’t possibly be-” Ruby started, clearly flustered that the cook for the King of Daxaria could be so young and… pretty.

“I will show you the letter signed and sealed by your former cook. Then I want everyone but the Head of Housekeeping out of my kitchen.” The words were ground out as though he were fighting the urge to shout.

This tone resulted in everyone gaping at him with a mixture of awe, and humor.

With a grunt, he reached into the sack in his right hand and pulled out a scroll.

“Now see here young man, you can not order around my staff, or the Knights for Gods sake-”

He wielded the scroll in Ruby’s face and waited as she spluttered to a stop, and snatched it from him.

She unfurled it in angry silence-, her mouth moving as she read. Her face paled as she perused the former cook’s positive reference on behalf of the young man, and adamant declaration of his hire.

She rolled the scroll closed again, and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“My Lady, and Sirs, This is Finlay Ashowan, our new Royal Cook.” Ruby turned, and curtsied to the woman sitting near the window, then to the Knights.

“Welcome cook. Let’s see what you can do about the piss poor ale here, hm?” The largest of the Knights stood up, his barrel chest donned in plate armor. As he tilted back his mug, ale trickled down into his black and white beard.

The young maid who was still trembling at the table stood to his left, and she visibly shrunk away from him as he stood.

Fin frowned, but bowed his head first to the mysterious Lady in purple, then to the Knights.

“If you could all leave the kitchen, I need to confer with the Head of the Housekeeping to begin preparing his majesty’s meals.” He remarked tersely eyeing the knight. “You there,” he pointed at the maid who was about to slice her finger open while peeling the apples.

“Please go out to the garden and fetch me peppermint, sage, and chamomile.”

The maid dropped the knife and apple with a clatter, and scurried as quickly as possible around the table. She flew past the new cook, and out the open door behind him without a second glance.

There were no plants past sprouts this early in the season, but no one thought to point that out.

The Knights all laughed and teased one another about the maid’s obvious distress as they paraded out of the kitchen with their squires thanks to the lack of their ‘toy’. The maids began to leave while casting uncertain glances towards the Head of Housekeeping and whispering hurriedly amongst themselves.

The Lady was the last to stand, and once it was only herself, Fin, and Ruby in the room, she floated over to him.

He was surprised to see that though she had been introduced as a Lady, she didn’t wear a scrap of finery other than her earrings.

Her olive toned skin was smooth and flawless, her dark eyes intense, her smile mystifying, and she was beginning to prick Fin’s already sensitive nerves.

As a result, he only remembered to bow when she stood nearly toe-to-toe with him.

“I am Lady Annika Jenoure. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” She explained giving a regal nod of her head.

Fin said nothing, and was wondering why she was still hanging around, when the woman suddenly smiled brilliantly up at him. Instead of becoming dazed as most men did when faced with her beauty, Fin frowned.

“Have I said something to upset you?” She asked lightly, her eyes sweeping over the coppery red of his hair.

“No. Not to be rude my Lady, but I need to begin immediately if the King is to have a proper dinner this evening.”

The Lady’s face became momentarily shuttered before she smiled in a far more restrained manner, and gave a small nod before turning and leaving.

Once her footsteps had faded from earshot, Ruby rounded on him.

“What on Earth is wrong with you?!” She demanded noisily right as the young maid burst in through the door behind Fin. He didn’t move despite the noise, and continued to stare down at the Head of Household with narrowed eyes.

“Cook, I’ve retrieved the herbs for you- though they were from some sacks on the back lawn!” The maid gasped, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders.

“Good. Please take the peppermint and chamomile, and brew a pot of tea. We will now begin discussing the King’s dietary preferences, and numbers of nobility and staff within the castle.”

The two women glanced at each other before turning to stare at him.

“W-What of the sage you asked for?” The young maid asked tentatively.

“I will take care of that later.” Finally uncrossing his arms, he gestured to the cluttered cooking table. Both women wordlessly drew around the surface despite having thousands of questions and thoughts.

*

An hour after the conclusion of the castle staff meeting, Head of Housekeeping Ruby had rushed off to greet three new footmen and one new handmaiden for the Queen. The other new staff members had arrived nearly an hour after Fin had.

The young maid that had sat in on the new cook’s instruction was Fin’s first recruit, and was named Hannah. The young woman was sent to polish the goblets for dinner, and did so with a small skip in her step thanks to her workspace being cleared of certain Knights.

Fin was in a decent mood himself. After arguing for nearly half an hour, he had won the debate on how many servants he would require as aides. Cooking for the two hundred staff members and one hundred royals that lived in the castle, he required no more than four. Yet had conceded to five helpers when he began growing tired of hearing Ruby’s dubious exclamations.

Fin would not however, back down when it came to who was allowed in his kitchen, or how he would pick his aides.

Hannah would be one, that had already been decided, and he would pick the rest by the end of the week.

The dinner for that evening had been nearly completed upon his arrival, and so he declared that he alone would complete the meal. Ruby had left muttering a slew of grievances and the occasional curse word. Hannah had followed nervously her while shooting the new cook apologetic looks.

Fin began lifting pot lids and checking pans to stare at the food already on its way to completion, and wrinkled his nose in dissatisfaction.

Turning to stare at the now empty haphazard kitchen, he sighed.

There was a lot of work to do.

“Best get going. The coast is clear!” He directed the order towards his bags. With a shudder, the broom suddenly rose straight up, and began sweeping up the dirt that had been trekked in by the numerous people only an hour earlier.

Fin turned to the open kitchen door and shut it firmly. Should anyone touch its surface, all magic would cease in the room. He commanded this of the door with a small poke of his finger on its wrought iron handle.

When he turned back to the disorganized and grubby kitchen, he placed his hands on his hips and grit his teeth. He hadn’t anticipated this level of inefficiency.

With a snap of his fingers every knife in the room sprang to attention, and began peeling the abandoned pile of apples with inhuman speed. Fin strode over to his bags, and pulled out an armful of carefully wrapped dried herbs.

He placed the majority of them on the ledge that ran along the entire kitchen where some cooking bowls and plates resided. These dishes hurriedly rose into the air in their piles, and clattered off to the shelves down below their previous resting place. They did so of their own volition after a stern eyebrow raise from Fin.

He laid out the remainder of the herbs, selected two of them, and then turned to a cast iron pot that held a bubbling mystery stew. After giving another disgusted sniff Fin wielded a wooden spoon. After a few perfectly timed stirs, he turned his attention to the window, and gave his head a firm shake.

He should’ve charmed that when he had done the door.

Why was he being so forgetful of his precautions?

With another small prod against the cool glass; Fin commanded it to darken should anyone try to peer in while magic thrived in its presence.

He nodded in satisfaction, and turned back to the kitchen that was rapidly gaining the order he preferred. His broom had suddenly sprouted two long splinters from its shaft that then wrapped around his bags that had remained on the floor, and moved them to the corner of the room.

Soon there wasn’t a single item out of place, and the most wondrous smells began filling the kitchen as Fin began creating more and more dishes. Despite the sky darkening outside, the kitchen began to look cozy and welcoming with the fire well stoked, and the food nearing completion.

With a flourish of his wrist, Fin sprinkled the last garnish of chives over the soup, and just as he had anticipated, the first of the serving staff entered the kitchen.

The sight that befuddled them wasn’t floating dishware, or self-sufficient brooms whisking about on their own. It was the transformed kitchen that had become so unrecognizable, that for a moment they all believed they had entered a different building entirely.

Instead of the lovable mess of permanent stains on the floors and tables with mystery smells hanging in clouds of smoke, the staff walked into a clean kitchen. The room had an inviting warmth, that could only be compared to the feeling one got when walking into the arms of a loved one. The sight and feeling alone was baffling, but then came the most mouth-watering aromas any of them had ever smelled before.

Each person stopped in turn upon the threshold. They were all dazed for a moment as the waves of comfort washed over them soothingly, lulling them immediately into a relaxed state.

The overwhelming knowledge that they were home settled over them, and there were several moments of prolonged silence before Fin broke the spell.

With a clap of his hands he drew every eye to his crisp clean white tunic, and glittering eyes.

“Let us begin with the first course, shall we?”