Several stressful minutes later, Malissa removed the pan from the fire and let out a relieved sigh. Eight sandwiches rested on the stone before her. The eggs had been fried to varying degrees of darkness, and some of the bread was crisper than it should have been. Despite that, the food didn’t look bad.

Her back ached a little from having to hunch over the campfire. Malissa rose to her feet and stretched her hands into the air, groaning in relief as her back popped. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Arek heading back towards the camp. He had become an orc once again.

The orc’s nose twitched as he approached the campfire. His gaze moved from Malissa to the sandwiches, and a smile tugged at the edges of his lips. He picked up his bag, which still laid on the ground, and stuffed the red patch inside it.

“You made us breakfast?” he asked. His face was hard to read, but the hopeless tone from when he’d transformed into Warchief had faded. “I didn’t realize we had any food to work with.”

“Ming had some stashed away,” Malissa said, shrugging one shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you to come back. I wanted to try my hand at cooking on my own.”

“And how did you like it?” Arek asked, setting his pack aside and sitting down on the ground.

“It was harder than I expected,” Malissa said. “I thought eggs would have been easy to cook.”

Arek chuckled at that.

“Easy to cook, hard to cook correctly. Thank you for making breakfast,” Arek said. He paused for a moment. “And for everything else.”

“There’s nothing else to thank me for, Arek,” Malissa replied. “We better get Belmont and Ming before the food gets cold. You had good timing on getting back.”

“I smelled it,” Arek said. “We’re surrounded by grass, so the aroma of fried eggs and bread is quite strong.”

“Huh. I don’t think I would have noticed much if I were far away,” Malissa said, standing up and making her way over to Ming’s tent. “I suppose that’s just your superior sense of orc smell.”

Before she could step inside, Ming’s head popped out.

“I smell food,” Ming declared. “Give it to me.”

“That’s what it’s for,” Malissa said, rolling her eyes. “You get two pieces. No more.”

Ming made a beeline towards the campfire as Malissa approached Belmont’s tent. She cleared her throat.

“Belmont? The food is ready.”

“Is it trapped?”

“Why would the food be trapped?” Malissa asked. “And if it were, why would I give it to you?”

Belmont let out a weary sigh. He emerged from his tent with Magus’s book tucked under one arm, his lips pursed and his brow furrowed.

“I am attempting to think of unorthodox traps,” Belmont explained. “If my current ones are so obvious that you can just guess them, then our numerous enemies can too. Therefore, I am seeking to challenge my mind by discovering new varieties of defenses. I meant no offence towards your cooking.”

“I see,” Malissa said as they walked back over to the campfire and sat down beside Arek and Ming. “How would trapped food even work? You poison some cookies and then leave them by your windowsill in hopes that whoever is attacking us gets the munchies midway through and stops for a snack?”

“Brilliant!” Belmont exclaimed, his face lighting up. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“It would probably work on me,” Ming said, grabbing a sandwich and pushing the entire thing into her mouth in one bite. She gave Malissa a chipmunk grin.

Malissa rolled her eyes. The Happy Sunflowers all grabbed their food before Ming could start getting any ideas.

Arek took a large bite out of the sandwich. The egg was just bordering on crispy, with a yolk that was just barely runny. The mayonnaise had just enough heat to it to make his mouth water for more, while the bread was well toasted on the outside and velvety on the inside. He finished the sandwich off in one more bite before grabbing the second one and devouring it as well.

The bread on the second sandwich was slightly too toasted, but it still tasted delicious. Arek licked his lips and gave Malissa a wide grin. She finished chewing and glanced at Arek for approval.

“What do you think?” She asked nervously.

“You did very well,” Arek said, smiling. “Was this a recipe?”

“No,” Malissa said, shaking her head. “I just made it up.”

“Then you did even better,” Arek said. “This was delicious. Thank you. It was hearty and warming. The eggs were rather well done, although you could have cooked them on a slightly lower heat by setting the pan higher over the fire. If we had butter, that would have been a better seasoning than oil. I quite enjoyed the mayonnaise in conjunction with the eggs – it’s not something I’ve tried before, but I believe I’ll keep the combination in mind from now on.”

“Thank you,” Malissa said with a proud smile.

“You should write this down,” Arek said. “It’s your first recipe, so it’s important. In addition, include what you can improve on it. The next time you make this, it will be even better!”

“Food is good,” Ming said, sending a pointed glance at Belmont, who still hadn’t finished his second sandwich.

“Eyes off my food, you goblin,” Belmont snapped. “Just because I don’t inhale my meals like the rest of you doesn’t mean I’m sharing them.”

“What else do you think I could have improved?” Malissa asked Arek, laughing as Ming started to scoot towards Belmont.

“You tell me,” Arek replied. “You’re the chef this morning, not me. I suppose I should be giving you part of my weekly pay.”

“Don’t act as if you’ve been collecting your pay,” Malissa scoffed. “Ming still owes you most of it. You’ve only asked for your money once, and Ming will keep spending everything on more food if you don’t get the rest of it. As for improving the recipe… maybe some garlic? Garlic seems to go good on everything.”