When Marron woke up, sothing was already sizzling in a pan, and the sll of pancakes filled her nose. It wasn’t the angry sizzle of a too-hot pan. Instead, it was the confident sizzle of soone who knew how to cook.
Mokko’s gotten really good at this. Maybe that’s part of his skill as a culinary guardian?
She shuffled out from under the covers and found Mokko at the stove, apron on, flipping pancakes that could double as shields. Lucy slowly oozed on a stool, watching him flip with the kind of amazent most people reserved for fireworks.
"Good morning," Marron mumbled, half-yawning.
"Sit," Mokko said, without turning. "First batch is almost ready."
She sat. "What’s the occasion?"
"We’ve got a supply list to make. Fuel for the brain."
Lucy raised a shiny tendril. "And paint. Bright colors. Candy colors."
Mokko slid a pancake onto Marron’s plate. "Lumber. Nails. Hamr. Paint goes last."
Marron cut into the pancake and sighed in approval.
"Okay, yes, lumber and nails first makes sense. But paint’s not last. We also need rope, a barrel for the well, sacks for grain—"
"Pie tins," Lucy said.
"We don’t have an oven at adowbrook," Mokko pointed out.
Lucy tilted just enough to look tragic.
"But if we did..."
Breakfast turned into a full negotiation session.
Marron scribbled on the back of an old envelope while trying to keep syrup off her fingers. By the ti they were done, the list read: barrels, nails, rope, hamr, sacks, pie tins, paint, candy jars, possibly oven? in progressively ssier handwriting.
The salt air and coastal wind hit them as soon as they stepped outside. Beyond the Seaglass Lounge’s balcony, the market was already in full swing. She saw bread stalls with open baskets, fishmongers yelling prices, and, best of all, the unmistakable tail wag of a wolfkin vendor selling spices.
"I’ll be surprised if that’s the only wolfkin I see today. Let’s get going."
At the market, a snakekin baker waved a steaming loaf under Marron’s nose.
"Fresh from the oven, chef!"
Tempting. Especially since she used a lot of seeds... But Marron kept moving.
She had a mission, and made a List.
But then--
"Seeds!" Lucy shouted, pointing at a stall stacked with little paper packets.
"Grow in adowbrook! Like candy plants!"
The seed seller blinked. "Like strawberries?"
Lucy bobbed decisively. "Yes."
They left with a few seed packets, a coil of sturdy rope, and a bundle of nails from a blacksmith who threw in a jar of wood polish "for the cause."
Every seller wanted to know what Marron was building, and she tried to keep it vague without sounding suspicious. While she was at the cooper’s stand, Marron ran her hands along a smooth water barrel. That was when she heard voices from a nearby stall.
"Yes, so...human from the feast. Got the Snake Queen and the Jackal Lord to eat at the sa table."
"ans she can pull people together," the other voice said. "And if she’s fixing up that old commons... so might see a free bed and a place to take from."
Marron didn’t look up. She pressed her palm to the barrel’s curve like she was checking for leaks, and waited until the voices blended back into the noise of the crowd.
Yeah. That was what I wanted for adowbrook Commons. Just a place for people to rest. It’s okay Marron. It’s okay.
She reminded herself that they weren’t going to talk her out of building for adowbrook Commons, they were just...talking. So Marron picked the barrel and gave the seller the Seaglass Lounge as her delivery address.
The snakekin imdiately got excited. "So you’re--"
"Mmhm. Marron. Chef who hosted the Feast."
"O-oh my, please take the barrel, you don’t even have to trade anything!"
Marron looked at the hyperventilating snakekin with concerned eyes. "Are...you sure?"
"Are you kidding ? The re fact that Chef Marron herself is choosing a barrel from my store...such an honor! My trades will more than double!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, about five people turned their heads to look at them.
"Oh! It’s her, the chef! She bought sothing from that vendor? They must be really good...might be worth picking up a few things before I go."
Marron thanked the seller and quickly left the stall.
Even in another world, people could still be influenced into trading sothing.
By the ti they got back to the Seaglass Lounge, she and Mokko were both carrying armfuls of supplies. Lucy bounced ahead, sohow carrying nothing but managing to look like she’d contributed the most.
They wedged the barrel into the kitchen corner and unpacked the rest. Marron took out her copper bowls and set to work on dough for simple rolls. Lucy helped by poking the flour to "check its quality," and Mokko kept declaring himself the official taste-tester.
The sll of warm bread and lting jam filled the kitchen. They ate the first rolls straight from the tray, jam running in shiny red lines down the sides.
"So first," Marron said, licking jam from her thumb, "we patch the roofs. Then fix the well, set up the barrel, maybe add a bench. Paint cos after."
Lucy sighed. "Fine. But I’m choosing the color."
That night, Marron sat on the balcony with the enchanted lantern glowing steadily beside her. Across her lap was a scrap of sanded pine, painted a dark blue, thanks to Lucy.
She dipped her brush in white paint and with slow, careful strokes, she painted:
Welco, Traveler.
Rest up before continuing your journey.
It was a small sign. But the mont the letters dried under the lantern’s light, adowbrook Commons felt a little more real.
Like it ceased becoming a village she saw on her virtual map and beca a place of possibility. Where soday people could walk into and just knew it would be your ho.
Maybe it’s a little delusional to think about all that from finishing this one sign, but...I have a good feeling about this one.
And now I have a sign to put up the next ti we’re there.
She looked up and saw Lucy, fast asleep in her glass jar.
Across from her, Mokko had fallen asleep sanding so more planks. In the future, they would be used to repair the rundown houses and maybe even a food stall or two.
She stretched, and, placing the brush back in its water cup, decided this was a good place to stop.
Each day, Marron was inching closer to ’We’ve done all that we can in Snakewater Cove. It’s ti to repair one house in adowbrook.’
And yet, the whole thing still felt strange.
All this montum, all these people offering help, because of sothing she still saw as just serving a dinner.
In her head, she was still the cook with flour on her cheek, not the woman who got two rulers to look each other in the eye without drawing weapons.
Maybe she’d figure out how to be that person later.
For now, she was just Marron. And Marron had work to do.
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