Closed Catch A Falling Star & Put It In Your Pocket IV

[Tazrae]

Timestamp: 21st of Winter, 520 A.V.

Taz had a lot to think about after Duncan and Bree parted ways. She walked up to the Inn, headed up the steps to the deck, and into the kitchen. She had a full house and had to make sure she kept the guests fed. The best thing about Syka was fresh fruit. They had an overabundance of it. Tazrae loved serving it with her yogurt at breakfast. Coupled with fresh scones or even croissants, the guests tended never to complain. The Innkeeper took a moment to look around and decide what she wanted to make. She had yogurt a plenty and fruit gathered. But she’d have to make the bread items, and a lot of them.

The first thing she did was put the Twilight Star up on the Mantel in the main kitchen where it indeed acted like a suncatcher and refracted light all over Tazrae’s workspace. The beautiful crystalline star cheered up the Innkeeper and kept her humming throughout her work day since the rainbow show reminded her of happy days and seemed to promise more of them would be on the way.

The young cook then took a moment to check her sour cream batch of the night before. The decision to make scones or croissants depended on if the sour cream she’d made the night before had set up. Last night, she’d taken a large quart jar and poured a cup of heavy cream in it. Then, she’d added two teaspoons of lemon juice to sour it, and finished filling it up with a quarter cup of milk that had the cream separated out of it. All it took after that was a lid screwed on tightly, about ten minutes of vigorous shaking, then leaving it on the counter with the lid off, cheesecloth over the jar’s mouth to protect against bugs, and the whole thing secured with a bit of string. She let it breathe overnight and as long as nothing got into it, she’d have enough ready to go for scones today. A quick check validated the sour cream’s readiness, so she began pulling out the other ingredients for the scones.

Tazrae loved scones. She’d save a few for Duncan when he dropped by after his trip to the Outpost because she knew he loved them too. Bree was indifferent. She preferred rather large wiggling grubs and fresh meat to baked goods coming from Tazrae’s kitchen. The recipe was easy…

Tazrae’s Scones

• 2 and 1/2 cups flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup COLD butter or frozen butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• more cream, for brushing


Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, cut butter into the dry ingredients until its pea sized. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Dough should be lumpy. Turn out and work the dough into multiple layers until all the dough has come together. Add in your mix-ins (fruit, berries, cream cheese, etc). Shape dough into an 8 inch circle. Cut pie wedges out of the circle of dough, and bake the wedges for twenty minutes in a hot oven.

One of her blank journals had become one of her recipe books. Taz wasn’t in the habit of writing everything down, but once she had perfected a recipe, she tended to save notes on it. Taking out a big bowl, Taz rested the recipe in plain view with the book opened and weighed on the spine to stay that way.



Word Count: 602

[Tazrae]

She measured out the flour, sugar, and salt then added what appeared to be way too much baking powder fearlessly. In a smaller bowl, she combined the egg, vanilla, and creams. Whisking the wet ingredients together, she set the smaller bowl aside and then turned back to the dry ingredients. Taking butter out of the icebox where it had been resting on a slowly melting block of ice, Taz hacked it up into smaller pieces and put what amounted to a half of a cup of the all but frozen stuff into her dry ingredients. She cut the butter in with a pastry cutter and when the little balls of frozen deliciousness were pea-sized, she added the wet ingredients to the dry.

She floured her hands and began to turn the batter together until it was a luscious lumpy mess. Then she floured her countertop, turned the mushy lumpy dough out on it, and began kneading it folding it over and over and over again until the butter had actual layers to it. Then, she loosely shaped the dough into an eight-inch round thick pie shape and set the whole thing back into the icebox to chill.

Taz attacked the fresh fruit she had laying around, butchering the first pineapple, then mangos, and finally cutting the ends off bananas so she could last minute peel and slice them. She’d put all the fruit on big self-serve platters. Those would be laid out with flowers fresh cut from the garden after she’d carefully washed them free of any clinging insects. Bowls of yogurt from the icebox were next. They were laid out on a ‘serve yourself’ table in the center of the main common area.

Then she put the scones in the oven, got them baking, and knew the smell would have all the guests up in a jiffy. That meant that while she was baking them, big pitchers of iced water, juice, and fresh tea were laid out along with ceramic mugs to fill in. When the scones came out, they were laid out on the common table as well. Taz finished off the whole sprawling layout with a big bowl of granola that she set by the yogurt so people could top their yogurt with something flavorful and crunchy if they chose.

She also had bread sliced that could be toasted in the oven upon request.

With breakfast laid out, Tazrae set aside two scones for Duncan and nibbled on one herself. She poured herself juice for breakfast and once her scone was done, ate a bowl of yogurt visiting with the guests. Once everyone was fed and sent off on their ways, Tazrae cleaned up from breakfast, did the dishes, and then started on the rooms.

Most she just made beds in, some beds she stripped to wash, and all the bathrooms got a thorough cleaning. Rooms were then swept out, anything needing laundering picked up, and she as off to the freshwater stream that ran parallel with the Inn to spend a good bell leaned over a washboard with a cake of soap doing the laundry. That was hung to dry, then the snakes were checked, fed if needed, and waters topped off.

By then it was time to see if anyone needed lunch, and if the guests returned she’d fix them sandwiches of thick bread made the night before or make up fresh thin bread on the flat iron skillet to load with greens and fried fish for a light meal.

Then Tazrae assessed her larder and decided something had to be done about dinner. All she had left were some greens and a rack of pork ribs she could butcher down further and make chops out of. Come to think of it, there was asparagus aplenty growing wild along the beach so Tazrae swiftly decided after a moment's thought that Creamy Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Asparagus would be on the menu. It was basically a one-pot meal, one that she would find a non-challenging situation.

Word Count: 672

[Tazrae]

Wild asparagus was good stuff, both healthy and delicious. Tazrae set out in the early afternoon to gather as much asparagus as she could. Wading through the tall grass with Bree frolicking beside her was Tazrae’s idea of a break. She enjoyed the sunshine, the feel of the thick vegetation under her feet and the smell of the salt and sand. The Innkeeper ranged through barren patches of stone, boggy areas of wetness spilling over from the jungle, and more tall grass before she got to the patches where she’d seen wild asparagus growing. She slipped a pack off her shoulder and opened it up, laying it out on the ground.

Then she took a small dagger and began harvesting the asparagus stalk per stalk while Bree looked on, almost acting like a guard. It was easy work, though it took time. She was used to doing her shopping in a market, not out in the wilds. And asparagus was a type of thing that let Tazrae do a lot of thinking. She sliced stalk after stalk, filling the bag up as best she could. And as she cut those stalks, Tazrae wondered what her future here would be. This kind of work was good, satisfying, and it was something she figured she could do a long time.

Half the joy was planning, working things out in her mind, and planning based on supply versus demand. Her guest count changed all the time, keeping the factors of running an Inn always different. It was a challenge, one involving meeting new people and getting to touch their lives, even a little bit day by day.

“What are you thinking so deeply about?” Bree asked thoughtfully.

“Life… here verses Riverfall. Deciding I’m happy. Glad I’m here. Thinking how challenging this is and how satisfying it is to be challenged. I’m glad to see you daily… every day in and day out. It’s worth the hard work.” Taz said, closing the carry sack and shouldering it. Then she wandered alongside Bree back towards the Inn, giving the reptile a parting hug before she climbed the steps to the kitchen and looked around setting down the sack of asparagus.

Taz emptied out the bag, and rinsed off the asparagus, and began breaking the stalks into thirds. When she was done there was a huge kettle filled with the greens. Then she dug around in her recipe book and found her Creamy Pan Seared Pork Chops with Asparagus recipe.

She started a fire in her big oven, but banked it and kept it low and slow so that the temperature was enough to keep her chops warm after she pan-seared them. She didn’t need to bake anything, only get the grill hot enough to sear meat in the cast iron pans she had. Tazrae pulled out the rack of ribs she had, sharpened her biggest butcher knife, and began slicing through the ribs breaking them down into chops.

She had nine guests, all six rooms filled, so she figured she needed at least eighteen chops at two apiece plus some for her, Duncan, and whomever else wandered by. With that in mind, Taz cut out twenty-four chops from the racks, placed the rest of what was left in the icebox, and began patting the chops dry. She made nicks in the fat cap in two places because she didn’t want her sear job to end up with the fat straps constricting the pork chop and having them curl upon themselves. Curled chops didn’t sear well.

She took out a large pie tin, filled it partially with flour, added salt, garlic powder, and black pepper to the plate and stirred the contents up neatly. Then she dredged each pork chop in the flour mixture, coating them thoroughly. Meanwhile, letting them sit a moment, she laid out cast iron pans and added a spoon full of butter in each one. When the butter was melted thoroughly, she added chops to the pans. She didn’t crowd them, because if they were too close together, they wouldn’t brown but rather steam. And that would defeat the whole purpose of the sear.


Word Count: 695

[Tazrae]

She left the chops over the heat for four chimes, then turned them all and cooked them on the other side for four more chimes. When the chops were nice and brown, she took the chops off the pans and began laying them out on a sheet pan. She then shoved them into a warm oven and used the already greasy buttery pans to cook the vegetables.

Taz took some mushrooms from her icebox and chopped them up neatly, adding them to the pans along with the asparagus. She sautéed them, managing to juggle all the pans together. She scraped the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, mixing them with the vegetables. She took all the vegetables from the pans when they were thoroughly cooked and vented the oven to slow the heat down getting ready to make the sauce.

She added water to the pans, a touch of wine, and turned up the heat. She added dried thyme and then made a rue and added that to the cast iron pans. She added all the remaining flour she used to dredge the chops in, and then reduced the heat by venting the oven more. Slowly, she began to add a crock of cream to the pans, equally distributing the liquid to thicken the mixture. She salted and peppered each pan and then whisked all the ingredients together until she had a thick cream sauce.

The vegetables went back into the pans, equally divided, and then she added in the chops, making sure they were all nesting nicely in their creamy sauce. She let them simmer for the longest time, almost two hours until the pork was so tender it was falling off the bone.

When she was ready to serve it, Tazrae steamed up a huge pot of rice and plated up each of her guests with a pile of rice, two chops, veggies, and lots of cream sauce over the whole thing. The meal was delicious and all her patrons seemed to enjoy it save for the one quiet man’s wife who ate no meat at all. She had rice and fruit along with fresh bread and gave Tazrae compliments on that simple faire.

With all the guests fed, Taz finally dished herself up a meal and sat down quietly to eat. She’d feed herself then clean up after everyone while the guests lingered on the deck by firelight, helped themselves to drinks, and played some of the simple wooden games or card games. Taz loved this part of the evening… when all was quiet, and she could enjoy the fruits of her labor. She ate quietly lost in thought until there was a soft knock on the doorframe leading out to the deck.

Taz looked up, spotted Duncan, and froze. His head was bandaged, with gauze wrapped around his eyes. “Hey…” She said thoughtfully, studying his stance, the loose-hipped way he was leaning against her doorframe.

“What happened to you?” She said quietly, pushing her plate aside and rising. Her expression all full of questions intermingled with concern.

“The healer…. The healer in The Outpost. She happened to me.” He said quietly.

Word Count: 529

[Tazrae]

Tazrae rose, walked to Duncan, and carefully laid her hand on his shoulder. His arm reached out and snaked around her waist at the same time, pulling her into his arms. She found herself enfolded in his embrace which she returned gently. She held him tight for a breath that turned into ten, before she gently pulled away to really look at him.

“What happened?” She asked, reaching out to touch the bandaging above his ear where it was wrapped around his head and across his eyes. “Why are your eyes bandaged?” The Innkeeper said boldly, curiosity interwoven with concern in her voice. She ran her fingers down his jaw and across his chin. She had no right to touch him, not really, but the way he’d come and then reached for her she thought perhaps he needed the comfort.

Duncan partially released her to touch his forehead, as if he wanted to rub at his eyes but was resisting the urge. “There is a place in The Outpost called The Redynn. There is a Konti there… a master healer named Murine. She examined my eyes, felt she could help, and did healing work on them. And she will do more work on them when this healing heals.” He paused then, in a long thoughtful way before he drew a breath and continued. “She says I should be able see again.” Duncan said in a slow but strong voice. His tone was odd, almost off, as if he could barely believe it himself. He paused then, his explanation at a standstill.

Tazrae didn’t know what to say. It thrilled her that he might be able to see again. But if she said that, would it make him feel less than he should feel being blind now? She pulled him closer and hugged him again briefly. “I had thought you’d been hurt.” She said instead, her voice filled with relief.

“No… though the procedure was not painless.” He admitted, shaking his head. “She was confident she could help. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I can see again. Sail perhaps? I’ve missed the sea. I don’t know how to live in a world with sight anymore. It will be… interesting.” He said thoughtfully, then smiled at her.

“One thing at a time. Let’s see if this works first. You are worth ten of the men I usually come across even being blind. I don’t know what I would think of you sighted.” She said thoughtfully, offering him a smile she somehow knew he could sense. This was an awkward conversation to have. “I know you want your sight back and I want that for you too. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be blind in a world full of sights. But I think you are pretty terrific as you are now, you know.” She said, tilting her head and smiling at him.

He reached for her face, running his hand up her jaw and across her forehead. Then he tangled his fingers in her hair. “I look forward to seeing your face, Taz.” He said, his voice rich with feeling. “I have a picture of you in my mind and I look forward to seeing how the two images meld together.” He admitted.

“I am going to hate to disappoint you. Ugliness runs in my family.” She laughed, took his hand, and lead him to the table. “Hungry?” She asked, having more of the creamy pork chops left after feeding the horde at the Inn. “I’ll fix you a plate.” She said, doing so without him answering her. She made him up a plate with two chops, the cream sauce and all the rich vegetables then served him and poured him a drink to go with the meal. Then she set a basket of bread and a small dish of butter next to it, knowing if nothing else Duncan’s nose would lead him to the additions.

“Of course. I appreciate your cooking. And I haven’t eaten all day.” He said, reaching out to gently probe his plate with his fingers, exploring what she’d put before him. He found a slice of bread, managed to butter it and was chewing thoughtfully. She cleared her now empty plate, refilled her drink and sat opposite of him. She buttered bread also and nibbled on it as he ate. It was hard to talk with his mouth full, but it was also nice having company at a meal.

“If you get your sight back, would you go back to wandering like most Svefra do?” She asked thoughtfully, the worry foremost in her mind. “I would miss you if you did. A lot.” She added, and broke off another piece of bread and nibbled at it.

Duncan grinned slowly and slyly. “You don’t want me wandering off?” He asked thoughtfully, tilting his head at her and leveling his gaze somewhere over her right shoulder. He sobered then, thoughtfully, and shook his head. “That’s what people have done to you right? That other man… the one you still think of.” He said suddenly.

Tazrae would have nodded, but she learned such gestures sometimes were missed by a blind man. So instead, she said thoughtfully. “Yea… it has happened.” She intoned almost silently. “I want you to be able to see again. I want you to have any kind of life you want and deserve…” Tazrae said sadly. “Even if that means taking back to the sea… sailing wherever the wind blows you.” She said thoughtfully. Then after a long long pause she repeated… “I would just miss you.”

Duncan slowly nodded, sat down his bread, and reached out and touched her shoulder, running his hand down her arm and out to capture her fingers in his. He linked his with hers and grasped her hand in a truly meaningful way. “He was a fool, Tazrae. There is no sun, no sea, no wind that can blow me away from something that has given my life true meaning. I’ve lived in the dark so long… in that cave so long… and I told myself it was enough. It wasn’t enough. It’s never been enough, no matter how much I told myself it was. My enough is right here, captured in this hand. I don’t care what you look like Tazrae. I don’t care if loving you means being here for the rest of my life. It will always be enough.” He said quietly but firmly.

She brought the fist he had captured her hand with up to her mouth so he could feel her smile and the small damp trails that slipped from her eyes. “Thank you.” She said softly knowing full well she didn’t deserve Duncan… but that she’d try to make sure every day that he didn’t regret his words.

Word Count: 1139