Morning Preparations [Leith]

[Hui Ming]

Morning Preparations
9th of Glade 121 AS

Every puff of breath left clouds of steam float away in the early morning air. The crystalline nature of the frosty morning making even the laborers loading up the expedition's covered wagon steam from their heads and their muscular bodies. All the while excited researchers flitted about the cheerfully working hired hands like nervous birds, getting underfoot and directing crates of supplies and gear before changing their minds or contradicting another's orders. The bustle was entirely intolerable for a one Hui Ming, son to the expedition's leader Huong Ming. If those workers or researchers had anything to say about the young alchemist who was holding up the side of the laboratory and watching with glowering eyes and puffs of steam from either nostril, they kept it to themselves. The young man was bundled up in a warm, if simple coat that was entirely incapable of performing the task it was meant to perform. He shivered his thin and short frame and grumbled something incoherent to himself as he watched the workers.

Huong, a tall and stately woman strolled from the large warehouse door of the laboratory seized up the progress. Something of an imperious woman, she immediately took charge and shouted orders. Her personal assistant gave a passing glance to Hui before he strode up to the leader of their expedition. "We are loading up the gear now, we are waiting on our guards, their horses and their supplies and the cook. Lets see here..." He trailed off as he flipped through notes on his clipboard. "A certain Rathari named Leith. She came highly recommended to us by your husband." That drew a scowl from the lead researcher and nodded. "Fine. Have Hui get her situated, we should have everything ready by the time she shows up. It's early yet, I hope she makes it here on time. Go check to see if the guards are here yet. I don't want to be held up by our protection" Dimn, the personal assistant, glanced back to Hui, who naturally nodded his understanding. "Very good honored mistress." Dimn bowed to his employer and went about searching for the missing guards.

Hui, on the other hand, was reluctant to move. There was little wind, but the building he was leaned up against provided excellent shielding from what little wind there was. With a sigh and a slight grumble he made his way across the well tended courtyard and to the wrought iron gates. He would be unsurprised if it snowed at this rate, with the overcast sky blocking out even the romance of winking stars in the darkest part of the night. Only the light of braziers and thick candle like torches beat back the evening light, with the hints of magical lights keeping the nearby streets free of the threat of the dread mists, should they come back.

Cold hands met icy black iron that sapped what little warmth was left in his hands as he tugged open the gates. They would need it open to get the wagon through later but for the moment he only needed to be able to flag down the hired hand who would prepare their meals for the week that they were gone. He peeked his head around the stone walls to the compound and peered about. Quiet and empty, as it should be at this ungodly hour. He posted himself outside against the wall and jabbed his fingers into his pockets and shivered. He should not have agreed to this, he wasn't even going to get paid for the trip. He causally blamed his roommate and companion, Dauntless. "Oh, spend some time with your mother, go camping for a few days, it'll be grand. Trust me." The mechanical man didn't even have the good grace to join him on the trip to the Wildking's Forge that he himself suggested Hui went on. Hui grumbled to himself as his gaze went into irritable introspection.

It was perhaps a little amusing that an ageless machine would have concern about Hui Ming spending time with his family. But Dauntless did not know Huong like he knew Huong. The woman cared about only one thing. Not Him, not Xian, her husband, she barely cared about herself. The only thing that concerned her was her Work. The great work that Xian and Huong were rivals over, the work that led them to marriage and his Hui's birth. Hui did not even know what the work was, it was top secret. All he knew about it was its ties the natural sciences and magic. Or as his father called it, the supernatural sciences. As wrapped up as he was in his own grumpy musings as he was, he failed to notice a figure coming closer and closer.

He looked up to the newcomer, owlishly blinking his eyes and asked, "Yes?"

[Leith]

Leith had a clear and decisive plan for Glade. She needed to continue her work at The Roasted Hen, maybe receive a promotion or two and catch Ozias’s eye to ensure she got good hours. In a way she was several steps towards this goal. Having served a traditional Kinousa dish for the innkeep, she had convinced him to serve it to customers as a special the nights she worked. It couldn’t interfere with her preparing any other restaurant meals, and she couldn’t involve the other cooks to help her. Most nights this wasn’t an issue. People came to the Hen for comfort foods, the drinks expertly mixed by Ozias himself, and few tried anything besides their favorites. Yet more than a few nights Leith had all but asked for aid from her closest co-worker Gremor with demand for her largely seafood and rice dishes. Ozias had come to her on the first day of Glade, a strange combination of pride and condescension in his voice when he said he had hired her out to an expedition because a man who was patroned by the Zatrian house had requested her services specifically after coming to the Hen to look for the Kinousa specials.

In a way it was everything Leith had dreamed. Her cooking of Southern dishes was unique to Kalzasi. She had no doubt she could make a name here, it was why she had been so confident in her plan, her plan to find those that had sent her away as just an egg all those years ago.

Thus began a series of events and work as Leith endeavored to make sure both the Zatrian House and Ozias himself would not be disappointed with the services she rendered.

The first event was a woman in rich clothes that were somehow specially tailored to look plain, finding her and informing her that the food stuffs for the expedition would be taken care of by the organizing body of the expedition.

The second was Leith going into enough depth about her meal plan for the duration of the expedition that she was given full leave of the allowances for food as long as she was accompanied by an attendant that denoted her purchases.

The third was spending as much or more time than the attendant notating her own purchases and reasoning there in that she was given full leave of the funds on said expedition as long as she had a paper trail to turn over to a scribe for the expedition.

The end result had been funds Leith could only ever imagine having for her own business at her disposal. Not to betray the reluctant trust given to her by her zealous meal planning, any time off of the Hen in these past days was spent bartering, bickering, and trading to gain her supplies.

So it was that the figure that emerged out of the hazy cool air happened to be lycan formed seal carrying two barrels of rice under each arm trailed by a couple gangly youths from the Kalzasi docks pulling carts of fresh produce, fish, a small tittering collection of chickens, and various other supplies. The odd procession paused just before the gates with Hui Ming at their center. Leith couldn’t quite be certain the young man in front of her was real. He seemed to fade into the misty morning, thin, but elegant with a somewhat hollow expression to his countenance.

“Good morning. I’m the cook. Not late am I?” Something between a conspiratorial grin and a worried expression appeared on the seal's face as her mouth split open a bit too wide, gleaming white down the length of the grin. She turned, tail sweeping around and dark back to Hui Ming as she set down a barrel and fished something out of one of the carts, a handful of coins as well as what looked to be several round balls of rice. She split them evenly among the two children.

“Don’t let your father take the coin for drink. If you have to, spend it on some dried meat and cheeses at the market so he can’t, you hear?” The voice was deep and rumbling, but both of the children just scowled petulantly at the hulking creature.


“I am not an idiot and you ain't no mother of mine, Seal, he won't be touching my money.” The seal in question gave a half hearted shrug muttering a quiet, "Kids these days," to herself as the two children dashed off, disappearing into the mists with their payment.

Slowly the deep grey and white creature turned back to the gate, gazing over and past Hui Ming and assessing where she needed to bring her supplies.

[Hui Ming]

Hui's mind was stuck in the ruminations of his own devising and could only blink at the cook and her small parade of people. The first thing that stood out as her obvious non-human traits. He wasn't even sure what to classify the woman as. A hybrid between a human and something with a round, bewhiskered face, a perfect button nose with short dense fur and round liquid eyes. She was... like a dog, kind of, but lacked ears and sported a much shorter snout. The creature towered over him, a fierce grin revealing many sharp teeth. It was perhaps unsurprising that she had such a deep voice for such a small frame but she was most definitely female, something about the way she carried herself or the way she talked indicated her gender. He could do naught but stare, the sleep addled young man unable to come up with the proper response by the time she turned back to Hui.

He blinked a few times before shaking himself out of his stupor and gave a nod to the giant. "I am Hui Ming. You must be Leith" He said, introducing himself. "You are right on time." He peered up into the sky, completely unable to divine if he had been right or wrong, but he knew that it was a better social nicety then saying they were late or that they were waiting on her. "How was the, uh, walk over? Those children, where they friends of yours?" He asked awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. Hui shrugged after a beat and turned to open the gate. The alchemist paused and gave the giantess cook a sidelong look before he pushed open the gates. Why did everyone have to be so mist forsaken tall. He waved to Dimn who gave one look at the towering Leith and before shouting orders to the workers to go retrieve the carts. They still were waiting on the mercenaries, hopefully by the time that everything was loaded by the time they arrived.

Hui considered what he should tell his charge. The problem was that he did not know who this person was, what her background was and what her involvement was up unto this point was. "So I am not sure how much you've been told so far." He said, addressing Leith, "But we will be gone for around a week and will be going into the forest known as the WIldking's Forge. There will be you, me, a few mercenaries for protection and a handful of researchers. I am sure I don't have to tell you your own duties, but the rest of us will be seeking out flora for study." They came to the wagon and Hui stopped, looking her up and down. "We originally intended on having you in the wagon to keep track of the supplies but..." he paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to phrase what he had to say, "I think that you might be too big for the oxen to haul along with the supplies so you'll be walking like the rest of us." He felt a bit of pity for the creature, she wouldnt even be able to take a turn riding the wagon with the rest of the researchers He opened his mouth and closed it a few times before his curiosity got the better of him, "Pardon, but... what exactly are you?"

[Leith]

Dark oily pools took the long assessing stare with the patience of an ocean predator, nodding in greeting when Hui introduced himself. “A pleasure to meet you Hui Ming.” She wasn’t precisely sure how the young man factored into all of this, but got the sense his role must be of some import the way he stood like a slightly sleep deprived sentinel in front of the entrance.

A chuffing snort escaped the seal’s mouth as Hui asked her if the children were her friends. “More like reluctant employees.” She paused, wondering if she should elaborate, but glancing at the face which seemed focused on things beyond her, decided that it probably wasn’t necessary. A shrugged response and he led her into the camp proper where a sort of muted bustling was taking place, and her suspicions were confirmed when a wave from Hui sent people scuttling to grab her supplies, someone even offering to take the one rice barrel still under her arm which she bemusedly relinquished, making sure to only pass it on gradually until the individual realized the weight of their burden and waved over another man to help them. All the while she scanned with careful eyes her stock and how it was being handled.

Focusing back on Hui he explained the purpose of the mission as they followed the supplies to their wagon. He explained the outline of the trip, and Leith gave the occasional grateful nod as he did. She had only known the duration of the journey, the amount of people she needed to feed, and that it was an expedition of some type. She didn’t mind the lack of knowledge, she was just a cook after all, but she seemed to perk up at the mention of flora. Leith suspected there would be much information to glean on this trip even if she was on the very outer ring of its surveyors.

They had arrived at the wagon being loaded up and she watched Hui’s disparaging gaze flit from her to the carriage and back again before explaining she would have to walk. A toothless smile spread across her features, cracking into the flawless white once to speak, but waiting until he had gotten to his question.

“I am a Rathari.” She rolled her shoulders. “I have had much need of this form in coming to Kalzasi, but I can certainly fit on a wagon if need be, these hands aren’t meant for prep work.” She grimaced and waggled her meaty stubs. Leith then peered around the wagon and snaked an arm in, removing a large clay jar and rummaging around her voice slightly muffled as she continued.

“That being said I don’t mind walking if there is limited seating.” She popped back out fingers clutching four cups as she waved back the men who had just finished unloading the carts, uncorking the jar and pouring out a deep amber liquid slowly into the cups.

“Tea for anyone? I find it very helpful on a morning like this, though I apologize, I suspect we don’t have time to heat it back up.” She inclined her head to the men who nodded in thanks and accepted two of the cups, then turned to Hui Ming, pouring him a cup if he felt so inclined. It was black tea she had added just enough honey to give a tad of a sweetness to balance out a bit of a bitter aftertaste and an otherwise pleasant earthy flavor. The caffeine had been enhanced by the longer period she had steeped the leaves, and she filled one cup for herself as well.

“You classified yourself apart from the other researchers, despite saying you would also be studying the flora. Do you serve a different role from they?” Leith asked, sipping her tea as she continued rifling through the supplies and found some feed and water for the chickens.