Arek’s cleaver flashed, slicing the huge chunks of meat faster than the eye could follow. He transferred them into the bowl of lime juice to allow them to marinate as soon as he finished. People watched eagerly as the minutes ticked by.

When they were ready, Arek took them out of the juice, which had almost been completely soaked up. He held his hands over the meat, drawing the moisture out with another gentle yellow glow, and then tossed them into the spice mixture in another mixing bowl. He rubbed it in thoroughly and put the meat into his roaring wok once he was done.

Someone cleared their throat behind Arek. The orc turned to see the large man that had loaned him his tables. The man had a small cloth sack in his hands. He glanced at the roaring fire, then pointedly looked away from it and handed Arek the bag.

Arek took it and peered inside. It was full of red onions. The orc blinked and the man gave him a small grin.

“I don’t have much left, but nobody wants to eat raw onion on its own. I think you can put this to better use.”

“Thank you,” Arek said, a smile crossing his lips. “This will help a lot.”

The man just nodded. He took a step back and joined the crowd. Arek glanced at his cleaver, which was still covered in blood from the wyrm meat. A small frown crossed his face and he reached into his bag.

Arek shuffled around for a few moments before pulling out a knife. It hadn’t been used recently, but it was better than using a bloody cleaver. He set the onions on the table and diced them into tiny chunks, pausing to turn the steak over midway through.

Once the meat had finished cooking, Arek warmed another two dozen tortillas in the wok. He chopped the steak into bite sized pieces and laid it within the tortillas. He then topped them with cilantro and red onions before handing them out to the crowd.

If anything, the line growing in front of Arek grew longer as the smell of delicious food stretched further into the surrounding city and word of what he was doing spread. The small crowd had broken the double digits and was pushing on one hundred with no signs of stopping.

Ming and Malissa emerged from the outer city, both carrying large piles of carved meat in their hands. The two women set it down on the table that Arek indicated. Ming reached into the pouch at her side, revealing several limes and an orange.

“Do you need help cooking?” Malissa asked, glancing out at the huge crowd. “It might be growing faster than you can cook.”

“We need more meat,” Arek said, shaking his head. “And flour as well. I’m almost out of tortillas. If we can’t get more flour, the dish won’t be complete. Of course, we can still feed people with just the meat, but it would be better if we had the whole thing. We want to take them away from the present, and a reminder that we can’t find the proper ingredients would weaken that fantasy.”

“We’re on it,” Ming said, darting off. Malissa gave Arek a small nod and followed after her. The orc returned his attention to the new meat, repeating the preparation process and placing as much as he could within the bowl of lime juice. He carved the a few of the new citrus fruits that Ming had brought and squeezed them into the bowl, refilling it.

Arek heard a thunk off to the left of his fire. The man from the bar had brought out another table and set it on the other side of Arek’s cooking station. He returned to his tavern and came back out a few minutes later with several mixing bowls and a large knife.

The man wordlessly took one of the unprepared cuts of meat off Arek’s table and brought it over to his own. With five powerful slices, he cut it into strips. The man picked up one of the mixing bowls and looked over at Arek. A smile crossed the orc’s face. He tossed the man the remaining two limes.

“Thanks,” Arek said.

“No. Thank you,” he replied, pulling out a new knife and slicing the limes in half before squeezing them into his bowl. He put the cuts of meat in as well and turned to Arek. “What’s your name?”

“Arek. Yours?”

“Vinny,” the other chef replied. “Arek, am I right in assuming that those women will be bringing more Wyrm meat?”

“Absolutely,” Arek replied. “And flour as well. They’ll find some.”

“Then please give me a moment. I’ll return shortly,” the large man said. He slipped off into the crowd before Arek could respond.

The orc shrugged. A few minutes passed and he took the meat out of the marinade, drying it with magic again before rubbing the spice mixture in and tossing it into the wok. Just as he was about to flip it, murmurs rose from the crowd.

Vinny appeared, followed by eight other men and women. All of them carried large pans or woks. They paraded past Arek and into his tavern before coming back out with several new tables. The chefs set the tables down around Arek.

The group smashed several of them, forming three new piles of firewood. Then they quickly grabbed what meat remained on Arek’s table and brought it to their own to begin preparing it.

Several of them revealed ingredients from extradimensional bags. Within moments, they had enough oil and citrus to begin the preparation.

“I don’t suppose you mind making more of your spice mixture?” Vinny asked, giving Arek a coy smile.

“No, I don’t think I would,” Arek said, reaching into his bandolier and grabbing several vials. An invisible line of strength appeared in Arek’s weary back as he demonstrated the ratios of the spice mix, using up almost all his spices to put some in everyone’s bowls.