King Norman of the kingdom Daxaria rubbed his temples wearily as the last of his advisors exited the counsel room, leaving him feeling more deflated and old than ever before. His eyes were closed against the headache that pulsed against his skull, and he was on the verge of falling asleep in his chair, when the unmistakable knock of his Head of Housekeeping broke through the silence.

“Enter Ruby.” He called slowly, while drawing himself up slightly straighter.

The stout woman was brisk and forthcoming with her thoughts and feelings to a fault. She was also the best at organizing the rest of the staff, which in turn helped the castle run far more efficiently than it had before. It may have been as chaotic and haphazard as the rest of the continent, but things at least got done.

Ruby dropped into a deep curtsy, then straightened hastily with her hands already gripped together- a sign that something was on her mind.

“Did the new staff settle in well?” He asked while making an educated guess at what was troubling her.

“The footmen are young scamps, but Devon will sort them out in no time. The new handmaiden is a klutz, but that is due to her awkward feet still growing.” She explained in a single breath. The woman hesitated all too suddenly at the end of the list.

“How is the cook?” The King stifled a yawn. He sincerely hoped the new fellow hadn’t done something foolish like set the kitchen on fire.

“He acts as though he owns the place!” Ruby blurted as her round cheeks deepened in color. Norman’s eyes snapped open, and a small amused smile touched his lips.

“Please explain Ruby,” he asked quietly after a moment, clearly not taking too much heed of her agitation. While effective in managing the staff, the woman often had very rigid ideals on how things were to be done. It would not be the first time she butted heads with someone…

“Well, first of all, he seemed to be on bad terms with the driver that took him here. Which should’ve been my first sign that he is going to be an issue! Then he crosses the threshold to the kitchen and tells everyone save for myself, and a lowly maid to get out! Sirs Taylor, Lewis, and Andrews were present, as was Lady Jenoure. He barely even acknowledged them before dismissing them! He refuses more than five helpers, and insists that he picks them regardless of their previous positions. He also wants to limit who comes and goes through ‘his’ kitchen.”

By the time Ruby was finished with her summary she was even more worked up, and was clearly fighting the urge to pace in anger over her new colleague.

King Norman rested his head in the three fingers of his hand as his elbow rested on the armrest his chair.

“Is there more?” His voice was calm but he was paying closer attention. The familiar shine in his hazel eyes reappeared as his mind began to clear away the fog of exhaustion.

“He asked about your dietary restrictions, then asked many more strange questions about yourself, the Queen, the young Prince and-”

“What kind of questions?” The voice that came from Norman was no longer casual or complacent. Instead, there was commanding bite in his tone of someone with a good deal of sense and power.

Ruby balked at hearing the change in her ruler, and took a shaky step back.

“He asked about what your favorite foods were, then asked about the wine and ale you drank. He wanted to know when you drank it, how you slept, what time you rose, and more questions I didn’t want to answer but he-”

The King stood up forcefully. His mustard yellow silk coat buttoned to his throat straightened over his average frame, but the point of his beard exuded a stately aura.

He was about to speak again, when there was a soft knock on the door.

Too consumed with the conclusions he was drawing about his new cook, he didn’t realize he had allowed entry to the individual.

The door opened to reveal none other than Lady Annika Jenoure- who was exactly the person he had been about to summon.

“You are excused Ruby.” The King didn’t shift his gaze from Annika. The Lady remained as calm and cool as always. She donned her dinner gown of a deep navy blue with silver thread lining the v-shaped neckline. Sapphires that matched her dress dripped around her neck. She was a vision of dark beauty, and she smiled warmly at Ruby who passed by her, still red in the face from her rant.

As soon as the door closed, Annika turned to the King with a serious expression.

“I have been hearing concerning things about the new cook,” the monarch started immediately, his voice low and his shoulders straight.

“He isn’t a spy.” Annika stated indifferently. She was unmoved by the urgency in the ruler before her.

The King’s surprise was obvious.

“No one that looks like he does would have survived in Troivack. Even if he were a mage.” She explained with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“I have enemies that reside on this continent as well you know.” King Norman reminded gravely as he stepped out from behind the long rectangular meeting table, and took measured steps towards the Lady.

“None of them would bother having someone forge the recommendation of former cook Luca to gain access here. They would’ve sent in someone in the lower ranks such as a maid or page, and they wouldn’t have drawn so much… attention to themselves upon their arrival.” Annika folded her hands in front of her and met the King’s shining stare directly.

The King’s expression morphed to one of wonder and bewilderment.

“He truly looks and acts so strangely?”

“The new cook is incredibly fine featured for a man. Though somehow… elegant. Not at all like one of the round bellied red-faced cooks that we are all used to.” At this, Annika gave a small laugh.

“Fine, fine. However, I will have my mage take a look at him to be safe. At least we don’t have to worry about eating his own food until tomorrow evening-”

“Actually your majesty, he took over the minute he walked in the door. You will be trying his food in the next few minutes, unless I am mistaken about the dining hour,” she smiled prettily as the King sighed, and slumped his posture defeated

A knock rapped on the door for the third time that evening, and Annika hastily but gracefully, gathered her skirts in her hands. She dipped herself down to the floor in a deep curtsy as the King summoned in a serving boy.

“Yes Lady Annika, I will see that your horse is prepared for a ride tomorrow morning. The Queen will sadly have to forgo the delight of your company as she is currently feeling under the weather.”

Annika thanked the King and rose back to her feet. She shot the serving boy a wink that nearly had him spilling the contents of the small bowl he was holding.

“My King, the new cook has sent this broth to you to consume before the meal, along with this glass of spiced milk.”

The King masked his expression, and while casting a sideways glance at the tray asked, “Did my tasters try this first?”

“Yes your majesty, both of them. They said the milk tasted terrible, but the cook informed them that it was medicinal. The broth they said tastes unlike anything they have had before, but that it was delicious.” The serving boy couldn’t have been more than sixteen years of age, and wore his footmen uniform of a burgundy cap and matching vest proudly. The obvious meticulous care of the items he wore stated the fact.

The King resigned himself to an early grave as the boy waited for him to consume the food.

The milk tasted terrible as he had been warned, but his tasters had not been sugarcoating their review of the broth. It was unlike anything he had ever tasted before in his life. It was delicious, but it was more than that. It was somehow… deeply satisfying. It were as though there had been parts of his stomach that had never really been sated before that moment.

As the King watched the young man clear away the dishes mere minutes later, he began to look forward to his meal with far more curiosity and interest than he had before.

***

Fin continued rolling out dough across the large cooking table in the faint light of dawn that gently smudged itself across the kitchen through the large round window.

Ruby stood towering over the table, her fists clenched at her sides. She looked as though she were about to explode at any moment as the vein in her right temple pulsed, and her clear blue eyes flashed brightly against her red face.

“Why did you rearrange the kitchen and demand ten buckets of water to be brought in?” Her voice rasped in her effort to contain her ire.

“Every dish, cloth, pot, pan, piece of cutlery- everything, is going to be washed with the soap I put in those pails. The kitchen is rearranged to its maximum efficiency for me. How is any of that your concern?” He asked calmly as he dribbled melted butter over the flat rectangle of dough.

“WHY?! BECAUSE I AM THE HEAD OF HOUSEKEEPING, THAT’S BLOODY WHY!” She screeched, pounding her palms against the table.

Unperturbed, Fin spread out a thick cream over the rectangle of dough, and then deftly began slicing strawberries over the surface.

"I need to know where everything is if I am to have meals prepared on time. I am doing the majority of cooking from sun up to sun down, and it is better if I can move as quickly as possible. Do you see the sense in this?” He explained tonelessly. He then slipped his fingertips under the edge of the dough, and began rolling it over the cream and berries until it formed a thick log.

There was a moment of silence when Fin briefly wondered if the woman had had a stroke from rage, as his eyes were glued to his work.

When he eventually spared her a glance, his eyes widened briefly at the deranged look in the Head of Housekeeping’s expression.

He waited patiently for her reply.

“I… can see… what you mean. Though,” she spat, the explosion barely contained.

“If you allowed more staff to help you, you wouldn’t need to rearrange the kitchen.”

“What a waste of workers. You now have extra help in the castle due to my reorganizing the kitchen. You are most welcome.” Fin drew out a long knife and in a blur of movement, had sliced the entire log and turned each slice on its side to reveal the pretty spirals.

He lifted his gaze back to Ruby’s who was momentarily stunned at the speed of which he had executed the move.

“So who will be washing your hundred of dishware, pots, and pans?” She demanded acidly after she regained her composure.

“Well the five helpers you insisted I have shouldn’t be completely bored this morning I think,” Fin supplied as he set the spirals on a thin pan, and drizzled the last of the butter over them. He then turned and placed them in the great oven above the hearth.

As he did so, he pulled out a skillet from the oven that held what looked like a golden pie of egg, with some leafy green vegetable mixed it.

He seasoned it with a strange rust colored spice and cut the circle precisely into eight even slices.

The cook then poured a steaming cup of tea, and placed two slices of the egg pie concoction on separate plates. He handed one to Ruby and placed the cup of tea in front of her.

“Eat. Drink. Then please allow me to view your staff so that I can select my mandatory five helpers.” The request sounded more like an order, and were Ruby not staring confused at the food in front of her, she would’ve remembered she was angry with him.

“What is this?” She asked as she slowly took the fork he was offering her.

Fin rubbed his right hand over his face, and leaned his elbows down onto the table wearily. He hoped he wouldn’t have to battle the woman every morning. She was more wearisome than his mother, or at the very least, just as much.

“It’s good food. Enjoy.” He ordered again as he himself began eating and sipping from a cup of black liquid.

After a few bites of food and downing half of her cup of tea, Ruby finally spoke again, this time her voice far quieter.

“What are those spirals for?”

“Tea time.”

“You haven’t prepared breakfast?!” Ruby straightened immediately in alarm.

“I will. Breakfast takes me an hour to make for everyone. Meat and fruit are easy. Speaking of which…” He walked over to a sack leaning against the wall under the window and returned carrying two pears.

Ruby sighed as she watched him cut both pieces of fruit in less than a minute.

“How did you become so talented at such a young age?” She asked half to herself as the young man fanned the pear slices artfully on her half-empty plate.

Fin raised an eyebrow surprised. It wasn’t a question he was used to getting. Or lying about for that matter…

“My mother informed me I just always had this skill. A few lessons helped me fine tune some recipes and techniques, but mostly I am self-taught.” He drank deeply from his cup.

“What are you drinking?” Ruby queried as she drained the last of her tea.

“Something you shouldn’t ever have,” he muttered so that she couldn’t hear while he finished the drink.

“Pardon me?”

“A special medicine for… for my heart,” he lied lamely, not having the energy to be more convincing.

He was not one for early morning conversations before his second cup of coffee.

“Now Ruby if you could from now on please refrain from interrupting me in the mornings, I will be able to prepare the meals without delay.”

The Head of Housekeeping frowned darkly. “Do you not care for any company?”

“I like being alone.”

Fin cleared both their dishes over to the buckets and dropped the plates in. He pointedly ignored the ‘tsking’ sounds his visitor was making.

“Shall we go look at the staff now?”

“What about preparing breakfast?” She demanded bewildered.

“I will be able to prepare breakfast after selecting the staff. The royals won’t be up for at least three more hours.” He added as he headed to the door and opened it, then gestured for Ruby to exit.

The Head of Housekeeping shook her head as she strolled over him.

“You are the strangest man I have ever met.”

“I’d rather be the strangest than the worst.”

“You might be that too.”

*

In front of Fin in the servants dining hall, stood four long rows of maids and footmen. Many of them still had sleep crusted in their eyes, while others were barely stifling yawns.

None of that bothered Fin though.

“Everyone I want your hands out, palms down,” the redhead ordered, his voice ringing out clearly.

The entire staff shared puzzled expressions as they all obeyed, and ogled the new striking new cook that everyone had heard about.

He perused each set of hands carefully, and occasionally would then study the rest of the person.

When he reached the end of the final line, he began walking back through them. He proceeded to point and beckon three women (one of them being Hannah from the day before) to follow him, and two men.

“Wait a moment! You cannot take Claire! She is one of the best seamstresses in the entire castle!” Ruby grabbed the woman’s arm, and jerked her back sharply.

“Then I will make do with these four.” Fin shrugged and turned to exit the servant’s dining hall. It was a short passage that would take him a few feet down to the end of the hallway where the kitchen door stood on the right hand side.

“You chose her on purpose!” Ruby snapped angrily crossing her arms over her chest ready to once again square off with him.

“Of course I did. You saw me point at her face.”

“No! You knew I would never part with her, and wanted me to put up with you having only four helpers!”

Fin had finally had enough resistance for one morning. He turned and walked with his hands clasped behind his back, until he was directly over Ruby staring down at her. “I chose the people with the cleanest fingernails, and who appeared to bathe regularly. I do not know who they are, or what their duties have been before. If you continue to make demands that make no sense, then throw a fit when I compromise, I will walk out of the castle before lunch. I do not tell you how to run the staff unless it affects my work. I know how to run my kitchen, just like you know your own job.”

Ruby’s breathing was coming out in small gasps, but she didn’t say another word. Satisfied, the cook turned back around, and lead out the five servants.

“Claire will only work for you part-time! She will continue being the Queen’s aid during her hours of-”

“Great!” Fin shouted back swiftly, too irked to turn around.

From outside the hall leaning back in the shadows, stood Lady Annika Jenoure. She listened to the entire scene with growing interest. Her arms were folded across her chest, her ankles crossed, and a small smile grew on her face.

“That is quite the arrogant ass.”