10th of Frost, Early Morning
It was with a light step that Leith strode through the entrance to the Roasted Hen, nodding to the receptionist and skirting around the set of tables in the entryway where a handful of guests were reading, chatting, and enjoying breakfast. The Rathari made her way through the well made double doors into the restaurant proper and out back into the kitchens. She smelled the leftovers from breakfast, seeing the kitchen in the state of moving from one meal to prepping for it's true opening as a few hands scrubbed dishes and stove tops. She was a bit early, but she'd rather spend more time getting familiar with the menu and prepping since it was her first day. A slender woman with silver running elegantly through her tight bun flagged down Leith, eying her appraisingly and giving a single curt nod of an approval. She was Ranette, the head chef for Hen.
Ranette first sat Leith down on a bench with a large portion of their recipes to read them over and ask her any questions. She would be starting focused on the soups, at least for today. This sat well with Leith. It was simple work, but messing up a batch of stock or chowder could ruin a lot of supplies, something she was not keen on doing. One of the reasons she had been hired was her effectiveness at prepping, which after she discussed a few things with Ranette, she began on. A few more of the regular cooks shuffled in as Leith prepped and she introduced herself to them. She was met with various levels of if not friendliness at least relief. The Hen's traffic would be high in this season as fresh produce and meats became more expensive and individuals would rather spend that extra coin on meals made for them, another reason for her being hired. As Leith divvied up her vegtables in piles for the three soups she would be largely in charge of today, a sharp rapping on the back door revealed deliveries of meat and fish for the day. Leith noted Ranette's meticiulous manner as she assessed what they had been brought, turning some away, haggling on fish that was below their standard, watching with some amusement the weary and knowing look of the man who brought the goods. While she hadn't meant to Ranette caught Leith's staring eyes and gestured her over. Despite it all Leith found herself swallowing nervously.
"What do you make of these, Rathari? You are good with fish, no?" Ranette gestured to several Cod. A bit of relief washed over her as she set her knife down and approached the fish. She lifted one, peering into its dead glassy eyes, lifting up the gills and examining under them, then running two fingers along the scales of the fish. She did a more cursory examination of the others, picking one out and setting it aside. That one." She said in reference the singled out one. "Is no good, the rest are of cooking quality, the eyes are just beginning to lose their sheen, and the gills are clean and clear, they are quite fresh." Ranette gave another curt nod and gestured her back to prepping, Leith making sure to thoroughly clean her hands as she grabbed a few onions and began quickly mincing. One of the other cooks gave her a nod of encouragement and Leith smiled.
After that it was hard to say a rhythm was reached. It was Leith's first day after all and she spent about as much time trying to stay out of the way of her co-workers as she did focused on her own work, but it felt good to work in a kitchen, and the noise and hum of it comforted her as little in Kalzasi had until this point. Two hours before the restaurant opened Leith had three massive pots over two different stoves, making her broths as she turned to gut and prep the cod she had assessed as well as steaming clams in another pot. The secret to the flavor of the fish stew at the Hen was clam juice, something which she was not actually familiar with. Shucking and steaming the clams, and mixing salt in with the resulting broth would be the main flavor component that she'd be adding her other miscellaneous fish from the market too, along with the meat of the clams themselves. Ranette had given a bit of a disapproving sniff to Leith's lack of knowledge in this one area, but the Rathari caught a gleam in her eye at the speed the Rathari could shuck the clams. The cook who had given her a nod earlier, a round faced man with tattoos on his hands, showed her the ratio of water to the liquid coming out of the clams to use, and Leith filed away this information.
Things picked up considerably as the Hen opened. Wait staff began to file in and the hum became a buzz of activity. Leith tended to her stews and soups like a mother hen, tasting, chopping and adding, and checking with Ranette when the woman had a moment. Ranette gave her no compliments on them, but directed her to help with the chili, keep an eye on them, and begin prepping for the batch for dinner, claiming these would only serve through lunch. From there Leith's day became more hectic. She fussed between stoves, removing servings of soups as they were called to the back of the kitchens by servers, while continuing to tend to her depleting stores and prepare her next batches. She barely noticed when the lunch rush had died down and she was darting soup up to the prep area for the wait staff. Dishes were brought through on large trays and washed along with her soup pots as she began the broths anew, double checking the recipes and tasting, and tasting. At some point the round faced man put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump, and laughing as she did so, offering her a short break, which she took, eating a hunk of bread and meat on the back stoop, and getting a few sips of brandy from one of the dishwashers.
A slightly more hectic version of lunch ensued at dinner, broken up only by the owner of the Hen, Ozias, making his way out back into the kitchen during the pique. Leith glanced up at the Orkhan, who seemed to mostly just be checking over everyone, and he briefly made his way to her pots, taking a spoon and sipping the liquids in one, then the next, giving an appraising nod.
"How is the new hire doing, Ranette?" He called over the din, hushed since his entrance.
"Adequately." Was the response given, and Ozias revealed a wolfish grin.
"High praise, Rathari, high praise. I knew you'd fit right in." The Orkhan moved off like a storm, joking with a few of the chefs, fondly cuffing one of the wait staff and leaving as abruptly as he had entered. Leith released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
Technically there had been no time stipulated in her day. Leith suspected a normal shift was not this long, judging on certain of the cooks leaving around dinner replaced by others, but she remained throughout the entire day, eventually even the round face man she now knew was name Gremor, departing and giving her a weary smile and a promise of seeing her tomorrow. By the time dinner had finished, dishes cleaned and lights dimmed in the restaurant, Leith felt practically dead on her feet. It was a good kind of tired, one gained after a long day. Ranette, who looked the same as she had first thing when Leith had arrived, waved her over once more.
"A good first day, I like an individual who doesn't ask for breaks." Leith's only response was a wan smile, and she saw just the glimmer of an answering forming on Ranette's thin lips. "You okay with early shifts?" Leith nodded. "Good, tomorrow come just after dawn, you will cook breakfast for the guests and be with us through lunch." Leith nodded. A shorter shift, though no promise that was in any way permanent. "See you then, Rathari." Dismissed again, Leith drifted out of the Hen and back to her rooms. An early shift meant not much sleep, but she didn't and couldn't mind the work. She was cooking again, and each day of it would bring her closer to cooking for herself and no one else. So when she fell down onto the bed, head barely hitting the lumpy pillow before she lost consciousness, the Rathari did so with a small self satisfied little smile.
