AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe you’d like to help me?” I said, ruffling his hair. “Then you can eat what we make.”
Trevar jumped to his feet. “Me too.”
“Let’s go see what the gods can offer for ingredients.”
With the boys trailing behind me like I was the Pied Piper with a perfectly tuned flute, I walked over to the dining building and went inside.
At the counter, I wasn’t sure how to handle this. Aizor said the gods didn’t spy on us, but they must’ve heard me lamenting about the loss of pancakes in my life. I hadn’t asked them to make them for me.
“Hey, crystal gods,” I said as I stood in front of the counter. “I want to make chocolate chip cookies.” I knew many recipes by heart, so I listed the ingredients, using the measurements from back on Earth, unsure how this would work out.
Miraculously, an empty bowl appeared first, followed by shortening, sugar, and all the rest of the ingredients, conveniently dispensed by the counter in the proper amounts.
The boys clung to the counter, their eyes widening with the presentation of each item.
“How can I bake these babies once they’re ready?” I asked them.
Their eyes only widened, and they shrugged.
“I need an oven.”
“I believe I can help with that.” Aizor strode across the kitchen, coming up to me and giving me a kiss on the cheek. Truly, he was a sweetie. No wonder I was seriously contemplating staying.
He took my hand and led me outside, the boys still following, chattering about cookies and speculating what they’d look like, let alone how they’d taste. Brulon was skeptical while Trevar was excited about the idea—a boy after my own heart.
We walked down the hillside, leaving the small village and crystal homes behind, taking a trail weaving through a long, scruffy stand of purple trees. The trail emptied out in another meadow with a rectangular block built of stone with mortar.
Aizor led me over to it, a sly grin on his face. “I built this for you.” He patted the structure and took me to one side with a hinged crystal plate in the center. He unlatched and opened it, revealing a crude oven. The pile of wood nearby should’ve given it away. “You’ll be able to make your peeza here,” he said proudly. “You said it’s often cooked with a wood fire, and I started thinking . . . I don’t know if you can make anything else here, but I wanted you to feel . . . at home.”
The boys nodded, suggesting they’d been in on the surprise.
I burst into tears.
Chapter 30
Aizor
I’d distressed my pretty mate, and I didn’t know what to do about it. The younglings took one look at her and shrieked, running up the trail, disappearing into the woods. I suspected they wouldn’t stop until they’d reached their mother. They’d tell her my mate had . . . I wasn’t sure what had happened, but she was crying.
“Are you sad or happy?” I asked, tentatively touching her arm. “It could be one or the other, and I need to know which.”
She latched onto me, pressing her wet face against my chest. “Happy. So happy!”
This was a relief. “I’m sorry.” I patted her back. Should I hold her tighter or . . . I wasn’t sure what to do.
“Why are you sorry?” Leaning back in my embrace, she looked up at me.
“I’ve made you produce water from your eyes again.”
“No one’s ever built an oven for me before.” More tears tumbled down her face. Should I take her to the healer? They might be able to fix this or at least tell me how to make this right. She said she felt happiness, but she didn’t sound joyful.
“Then they should’ve.”
“You’re so nice and handsome, and I shouldn’t be sobbing about it.”
“It’s kay-kay to cry. Emotions have value, no matter what they are.”
“Kay-kay?”
