Intimancer

Rick felt slightly bad for abandoning Daniela to her fate.

On the other hand, he wasn’t lying when he said that he needed to make dinner for everyone.  With the group of former bandits still living with them and his own growing family of five, there were quite a few mouths to feed.

Rick didn’t mind.  Their house was far too large for him and his lovers to appreciate fully, let alone keep it clean and maintained.  Rayna and her crew, while rowdy, happily helped out where they could.  He was almost sad that their time together was temporary.  But he also knew that their pride would never allow them to keep mooching off their generosity forever.

Once he finally made it to their large kitchen, Rick spotted Glaive and Faris chatting away while grabbing the dinnerware to bring out to the dining room.  Faris noticed Rick first and raised a hand in greeting.

“Evening.  So what culinary delight are you teaching us today?”  He asked with only a mildly playful tone.

“Did we ever pick up those iron skillets?”  Rick inquired as he made his way to the wash bucket to clean his hands and arms.

“Oh yea!  Jamie managed to pick them up.”  Glaive said excitedly.  He moved over to a nearby cabinet and pulled out over a dozen identical pieces of cookware and laid them on the counter.

“I’m still confused why you would want to have so many.”  Faris mused while looking at the long line his lover was creating.

“You ever have fajitas?”  Rick asked.

Both men nodded in response.  “We having dwarven cooking tonight?”  Glaive asked with a hopeful expression.

“Nope, but this dish will be something similar.”  Rick said with a chuckle.  He felt a bit bad for crushing the blonde man’s hopes.  With any luck, he would like what Rick was going to cook just as much.

“Care to tell us what it is then?”

Rick jumped as Anders popped out from right behind him.  The smaller blonde shaytoni had wasted no time in living up to his aspect and pulling mild pranks to all the people in the house.  Most of his crew were used to his antics, but Rick and the others were still adjusting.  The only person who was safe from the random jump scares was Tyr.  Which everyone agreed was a wise decision on Anders’ part.

“Ah, right… So the dish is named ‘Bò Né’”  Rick said once he managed to center himself.

“Bonnie?”  Anders asked while cocking his head to the side in confusion.

Rick did his best to hold back a snort of laughter.  “Close, close.”  He said encouragingly.  “It’s pronounced ‘baw’ with a downwards inflection and ‘negh’ with an upwards inflection.  ‘Bò’ means beef, and ‘Né’ roughly translates to evade or dodge.”

“And why is it called that?”  Glaive asked with genuine curiosity.

Rick smiled.  “Help me set the table and with the prep work, and I’ll show you.”

An hour or so later, the door to their large home opened to admit Sade and Lilie back from their day at the university.  Rick saw them when they curiously poked their heads in the kitchen to see what he and the guys were cooking.

“Ah, ah!  No peeking!”  He chided the women.  “Dinner will be ready by the time you two get changed.”

Both students merely rolled their eyes at his cagey attitude but otherwise complied with his demands.

“Oh, and try to dig Daniela out from underneath Tyr’s cuddle in the trophy room!  We wouldn’t want them to miss all the fun.”  Rick called out before the door swung closed.

Anders snickered.  “You think they can pull it off?”  He asked.

Rick merely smiled and went back to preparing the meal.  “There are two things guaranteed to make that elf change course;  Good food, and Sade herself.  I’ve just leveraged both.”

“I thought a good fight was another method.”  Glaive added with a snort.

Rick was about to comment on why that line of thinking was unwise but stopped himself.  He was curious if they could figure it out on their own.

“Yeah… let’s not try that.”  Faris said after considering it for a moment.  The other shaytoni stopped to think about what the big guy said and then shuddered.  Rick merely smiled and continued with his work.

“Good point.”  Glaive admitted and kissed his lover on the forehead.  “That’s why I love you.  You guide me away from terribly stupid situations.

“Ugh!  Get a room you two!”  Anders whined.

“Already did!”  Faris said with a sultry wink.

“Weren't you seeing that one girl?  Lucy, was it?”  Rick asked.  He remembered how everyone reacted when the infamous Anders actually managed to land a few dates.  Rayna’s reaction was almost more dramatic than her fight with Lilie up in the mountains.

Anders sighed dramatically.  “Yeah, I am.  But she’s really complicated, I have no idea what to do with her sometimes.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it all out eventually.  Just stay positive.”  Rick assured the man.  He clapped his hands to gather everyone’s focus. “Okay!  Everything’s all set to go.  Can you three make sure everyone’s at the table then come back to help me serve everyone?”

The other men all nodded and headed out to round up everyone for dinner.  All of Rick’s lovers and their guests slowly filed into the dining room and took their seats, eagerly awaiting this mystery dish that Rick had been teasing.  Once Glaive, Faris, and Anders returned, Rick told them the game plan.

“Alright everyone, we’re going to have to make this quick.  We’ll be taking four skillets out of the oven at a time and then loading them up with all the ingredients then taking them out to the others.  I’ll show you all how to do the first one and then we can all do the rest at the same time.  Ready?”

At their hesitant nods, Rick began.  He reached inside their oven and removed a piping hot iron skillet then placed it on the stovetop.  He then threw down some oil, minced garlic, and sliced onions on the hot metal, followed by cuts of marinated beef.  The whole thing sizzled and steamed as the fresh ingredients immediately started to cook.  Once the meat was seared on one side, he quickly flipped it over and then cracked a fresh egg on an empty spot on the skillet before throwing on a few fresh greens and a spoonful of pâté.

“It’s done!  Now I got to hurry and take the pan to the table along with a fresh roll of bread!”  Rick exclaimed.  “Here we go!”

He quickly dashed out the kitchen doors with the sizzling pan.  Everyone in the dining room looked on in amazement at the show he was putting on before he placed the steaming plate down right in front of his betrothed.

“Careful!  It’s still hot.  Just let everything cook to your preference and enjoy while we bring out the rest.  You can use the bread to make the meal a sandwich or as a way to clean up the skillet, whichever you prefer.”  He explained before dashing back into the kitchen.

With his enthusiastic assistants, Rick swiftly served the delighted diners their steaming portions before sitting down between Sade and Tyr with his own meal.

“You weren’t kidding about the name.”  Anders said between a mouthful of seared meat and bread.  “It was almost as bad as cooking bacon without a shirt on!”

“What is this about an odd name?”  Sade asked with a raised brow.

Rick chuckled before swallowing his own mouthful in order to properly answer her question.  “Roughly translated, the name of the dish is ‘dodge beef’.  Servers have to dodge the flying grease as they’re delivering the food after all.”

“Fitting.”  Rayna commented.  Rick recoiled in horror as the redheaded woman grabbed the handle of her skillet, brought it up to her face, and started to lick the remnants of her meal still clinging to the scalding hot metal with her bare tongue.  The small bit of saliva still sticking to her taste buds hissed and evaporated as she lapped at the final crumbs with relish.  From right next to her, Lilie was gleefully doing the exact same thing.

“What?”  The healer asked when she noticed the odd looks aimed at her and her sister.

Sade, who was also stunned at the sight, shook her head to center herself before muttering.  “Damned monstrous fire resistance.”

“You’re just jealous!”  Rayna said with a smug grin.

“Yer damn right I am!”  Tyr suddenly cut in.  “Would love ta pull that party trick in front of me Da!  Could ya imagine the look on his face?”

Rick groaned and palmed his face.  The last thing he wanted to do was imagine what kind of shenanigans his elven lover would do with an absurdly high resistance stat.  Hopefully she would at least wait until the baby was born before she started to jump into fire just to see how long it took for her to burn.

“Anyways…”  LIlie segued.  “Sade, care to explain why you were grinning like a madwoman the entire walk home?”

Sade coughed slightly and did her best not to look embarrassed.  “My apologies.  I felt the matter would be best discussed as a group rather than explain myself several times.”  She momentarily paused to make sure all eyes were on her before continuing.  “Right.  So Ariwyn confronted me today in the halls.”

There were more than a couple groans from around the table, Tyr’s of course being the loudest.  Sade held up her hand to forestall any further comments until she was finished.  “Yes, well, she was not there to taunt or goad me, but rather to issue a challenge.  I have confirmed it with professor Armondo and the official announcement will be next week.  It seems Mya University will be hosting a magical duel tournament next month.”

While many of the murmurs in the room suddenly became excited at the news, Rick’s brow furrowed.  “Why do I get the feeling this will be more trouble than it's worth?”  He asked to nobody in particular.

“And why do you think that?”  Sade inquired.  “This is a prime opportunity to hone our skills in a relatively safe combat environment.  Plus, the winner would receive a private lesson with one of the greatest magical minds in the entire kingdom.  This is not an opportunity I can afford to squander.”

Rick had to admit that those were solid points.  But at hearing her enthusiastic tone when describing the grand prize, that niggling feeling at the back of his mind only intensified.  Rather than brush them aside, he felt it was prudent to tactfully voice some of his concerns.

“You say Ariwyn personally challenged you to participate?  And knew about this before it was made public?”

“Yes.  She said her family was co-sponsoring the event.  Hence she was privy to the details outside of the staff.”  Sade confirmed.

“Ariwyn.  A high elf noble.  The very same type of person you have repeatedly warned us to be extremely wary of, invited you to this event?”  He asked with a pointed stare.

Sade’s own confidence seemed to waver as her wonderfully wicked mind seemed to reassess the facts from new angles.  “Yes… she did indeed.  I did not think it that odd when she also told me that all the top students in each year would be offered to participate.”

“Ya suspect a trap, don’t ya?”  Tyr asked, giving Rick a curious stare.

Rick shrugged.  “Nothing quite so concrete.  I just have a sneaking suspicion that this whole event is more than it seems.”

“Should I simply refuse?”  Sade asked.  Rick saw the brief flash of disappointment in her eyes as she said those words.  He couldn’t fault her for getting herself a bit too excited at the idea of snatching victory out from underneath her haughty rival.  It seemed her opponents had chosen their bait well.

“I didn’t say that either.”  He said quickly.  “We don’t have any proof that this whole event is some sort of set-up, just my suspicions.”  He patted the woman he was engaged to softly on the knee.  “I know how much an event like this means for you and your goals.  I say we hold off on playing most of our cards until we find out exactly how this plays out.”

“You really think this is a good idea?”  She asked in a soft, hopeful voice.

“We got a month, right?”  He asked with a smile.  “That just means we got several weeks to prepare for whatever they throw at us!”

Sade’s own smile turned predatory.  “Excellent.  I look forward to seeing the look on their faces after all is said and done.”