Mrs. Chow

Mrs. Chow believed she led a good life. A hard life, but a wholesome one. After she moved to Winterfront with her husband, she devoted herself to providing her children with the opportunities she never had. Starting the restaurant was easy, all she had were a table and a couple chairs and that was all she needed. She knew that she was doing it for the right reasons, and that the Kitchen God would take care of the rest.

But that was then, and this is now. The demons came, and the demons killed everyone. Her youngest and her husband were dead in what was left of the restaurant, along with most of her patrons that day. The Kitchen God saw fit to spare her life, so she was determined to survive. She still had two children out somewhere in the world, and Mrs. Chow decided she would do everything to find out what happened to them. She heard that the mayor of Winterfront was now acting president of the nation, and that he had moved to Rudenia with the new government. He was a regular at the restaurant, so Mrs. Chow believed he would be the best place to start. There were plenty of other refugees heading south as well, and they would all certainly need a hot meal and a warm heart along the way.

Session 1

Mrs. Chow certainly didn't feel tired as she made ready for bed. The food was all put away and the dishes were done, and she got as much blood out of the floorboards as she could reasonably expect with just soap and water. It was well past midnight by now if not nearly dawn, far later than she had stayed awake since she was a girl. She had half a mind to just stay up the rest of the night through until morning, but that wouldn't do, not with still some last things to take care of for the day. Nonetheless, she found herself positively beaming as she lit two sticks of incense and placed them before the altar in her room.

"Oh, Fan!" she smiled, "So much excitement in one day! It reminds me of when we first moved to Winterfront, all the things rushing by and meeting new people everywhere. Some ruffians broke all the windows in the bakery, they were trying to kill Mrs. Faydren and Miss Seris. I know, so terrible! Who would do such a thing!"

"But Miss Seris was very brave and took her sword to fight them, along with some very nice young men who were eating with us at the bakery. Ji, I wish you could have met them, I think you would have been very good friends. Aireh and Eryk and Maurice... all very helpful and nice and good, I think your brother and Eryk would get along, he's also very hardworking and studies very hard. Aireh seems like the quiet type, but he's very kind and helped me a lot today. Mr. Maurice is a very interesting person, very friendly but I think he has secrets, too. I can tell he is a generous person, though, so I'm sure he has reasons."

Mrs. Chow stopped for a moment to stretch her arms above her head, relishing in the satisfing pop as her old joints released their tension. She took the last three of the almond cookies she made in the morning and set them on the altar before continuing.

"And your sister's old armor came in handy today! You said I should get rid of it, but it's still very good quality and useful! If we just get rid of things because they're old, I should throw myself out with the trash!" Mrs. Chow laughed quietly to herself at the joke.

"We all went and talked to the general and the constable and the innkeeper to take care of Mrs. Faydren, lots of walking today, my feet are tired. Then we went to go talk to this Snake man, who was the boss of the people who broke the windows in the morning. He had other workers with him, but we beat them all, except for one of them who ran away. But it's okay, we tied up Mr. Snake and brought him back to the bakery. He has a magic bag! I think Maurice is taking care of it right now, or maybe it was Eryk, I don't remember, too many things happened today!"

"But he's in the other room now, I think we're going to ask him some questions about why he's doing all this in the morning. His parents must be so ashamed of the things he does now, I hope he can stop all this and go back to school. He doesn't take care of his business well, just had all his money out and on the floor everywhere, so disorganized! He's not very good at business, I think he needs to go back to school, study harder."

Mrs. Chow stifled a yawn as she sat down on the bed and looked over at the small portraits in the altar. She gave a warm smile as she gazed upon their faces.

"Okay, I'm going to bed now. It's so late! I think we should skip breakfast tomorrow, just go straight to lunch. I think I'll make some egg tarts, too. Good night, my dears, I will talk to you tomorrow."

She directed her eyes upward towards a third portrait of an austere looking man and wife at the very top of the altar. She took a last deep breath and pictured Mrs. Faydren off in her room at the inn, Miss Seris in bed, probably without cleaning up first, Aireh meditating in his room without sleep ("Lucky elves!" she thought to herself), Eryk probably still reading and studying despite the late hour, and Maurice probably thinking hard about what to do and who to talk to next. Mrs. Chow smiled as she thought about all the new faces that had entered her life, and how happy it made her to have such a full house once again.

"Thank you, Lord Zao, for watching over this home and protecting all the people here. May your warmth keep everyone safe, and especially Mrs. Faydren, off on her own right now while we take care of this matter with the Snake man and his people. Thank you for your light and guidance, and I will do my best to keep this home happy and healthy and full of food. Good night, my Lord and Lady."

And with that, Mrs. Chow blew out her bedside candle, and quickly found the sleep she didn't think she needed.

Session 1.5

Mrs. Chow roused slowly in bed as her senses slowly returned to her. Confused for a moment, she sat up and took in the darkness of her surroundings.

"Fan?" she called out quietly, not expecting a response, "Oh, what a weird weird dream..."

It was still some time before dawn, and Mrs. Chow debated internally whether it was worth it to try and return to sleep or not. Eventually, her tiredness won out and she lay back in bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"I think Mrs. Faydren had a friend come to visit us," Mrs. Chow began, unsure if she was speaking for her husband, herself, or just the gods.

"Her friend wanted some apple pie, but the one from another bakery, one that closed down some years ago after it was attacked. Very rude, I think, to ask Mrs. Faydren for another person's recipe, because Mrs. Faydren didn't even know it, it was a secret recipe! But Miss Seris and Mr. Maurice and me and I think Eryk was there too, we all went to the old village to find the bakery and find the old recipe for her."

Mrs. Chow yawned as she struggled to remember even the broadest of strokes to her dream.

"There were lots of mean goblins there, running around the bakery and we had to sneak around them to get inside. Oh! And there was magic in the bakery, knives and rolling pins and ovens all moving on their own, just always working. Not a very good use of magic for cooking, not handmade at all, just everything done automatically without any consideration for what the food needs. They did have two special rooms though, where magic kept them very cold and good for keeping ingredients."

Yawning again, Mrs. Chow turned over to her side, looking at the dull glow from the incense sticks still lit on her shrine.

"I think Mr. Eryk was looking at the magic in those rooms for a long time, I should ask him in the morning if such a thing is possible, or if it's only in dreams. We looked around the bakery a lot, and found the special recipe, but it was very hard and dangerous. We found a very nasty trap and more goblins and I think Mr. Maurice ate something bad that was just lying around, not a very smart thing to do if you ask me. But we beat up the goblins, even a special pink magical goblin who seemed very silly but also mean."

Mrs. Chow's eyelids began to droop ever slowly more shut as she recounted what she could still piece together in her mind.

"And... and then... and then we went and talked to a magic tree outside, and it gave us three magic apples, and then we went back home and made the apple pie for Mrs. Faydren's friend, and... and then we put the magic apples in it, and it was very good, but only because of the magic apples, but because we used all the apples, because the old baker was very cheap and didn't use very much magic apple in his pie, very cheap that man, I think we made it better because we want to use all the magic apples when we make the pie, and then... and then..."

The sound of Mrs. Chow's voice slowed and slurred for a moment longer before finally becoming nothing more than a long drawn out whisper as she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of apples.

Session 2

The incense was slow to light as Mrs. Chow made ready for bed. She sighed deeply as she set them before her altar.

"There's too much happening so fast," she breathed, looking up to the portraits before her, "I don't know what's going to happen next, but something big, I think."

"I wish you were here to help me fix the bakery, Ji. There is a lot that needs to be fixed, and you were always good with your hands. So much money these days for people to fix houses and windows and doors!" Mrs. Chow shook her head in exasperation, "So much cheaper to just do it yourself!"

Mrs. Chow groaned as she stretched her hands above her head.

"Ah, but I'm too old to do it any more. Your father and I used to do everything ourselves when we first moved to Winterfront! The first tables and chairs we had were made from scrap wood, you know! But it's all gone now, I guess. Have to just find someone who can do it for me. I think Mr. Maurice might help, but Miss Seris is strong and works hard, so she might be able to handle most of it herself."

Silence lingered as the old woman looked down at her hands on the altar. Her brow furrowed, first in an expression of anger, and then sadness.

"She has a lot of feelings inside her, I think," Mrs. Chow spoke softly, as if afraid someone might hear her, "She reminds me of your sister, Ji, strong and brave but also stubborn and angry. I'm worried sometimes, when I try to push her to do the right thing. She already has a mother, too, so maybe it's not my place to say these things to her. But I worry."

Another long silence hung in the air as she looked back at the portraits, and she suddenly smiled again.

"Oh and we went to the market today! There were some bad people that tried to take my purse while we were outside, but everyone managed to stop them and no one lost anything. The guards weren't even around for so long! I had to find one and tell him what happened! And he didn't even take notes!" Mrs. Chow waddled over to her bed and began to crawl under the blanket.

"I'll tell you, I am very disappointed in the guards of this city," she nodded as she spoke, "I hope they learn from this and get better soon, it's not good for people to have to worry about pickpocketing and thieves while in the market. How can you buy food when you have to watch out for bad people in a busy market? Too much! Too much to do!"

"Oh and Fan!" Mrs. Chow exclaimed, looking up at the ceiling, "We went to a magic shop also! There was a tree growing right up through the middle of it, very messy with leaves everywhere, and the roots growing right through the floor! It's dangerous! Old people like me can trip and hurt themselves on things like that! I told the owner, but he didn't listen very well, he seems like a not very nice person. Mr. Eryk works there, so I didn't say too much, but his boss isn't a good person to work for. I hope he finds a better job soon! But maybe there isn't another magic shop for him to work for. There might not be, because I think the Prince or someone important also came to shop at this store when we were there. It makes sense, only one magic shop, so everyone has to buy from the same man."

A loud yawn broke her train of thought as her eyelids began to get heavy with sleep.

"And Mr. Maurice bought me a magic bag with all sorts of spices in it, but he paid so much for it! This Mr. Why-me-wood charges too much for his things, it's a rip-off! I bought some herbs for healing potions, better to make it myself instead of paying him more for his. It's not so hard to do it yourself, just takes some time and experience. I think I will start them tomorrow. Maybe I'll make some spicy noodles too with the magic bag. So many spices and options now, and for free! I should ask everyone how spicy they like their food, just in case. Oh and I never got the plate back from Mr. Snake's room! I should do that tomorrow when I bring him more food."

Another yawn interrupted her, echoing softly through the room.

"Okay, okay, I think I have to sleep now," Mrs. Chow stumbled through her words, half-speaking and yawning at the same time, "Good night, Fan. Good night, Ji. Lord Zao, please keep everyone safe, here in the house and also Mrs. Faydren at the other inn, and Nu and Zhu, wherever they are. Thank you, my Lord and Lady, for everything."

Session 3

Mrs. Chow groaned as she removed the old armor from her aging body, stretching her aching back as she placed it in the waiting chest. She looked over to her shrine, the incense long expired since she last lit them. With a sigh she hobbled over and lit two more sticks, setting them in place before the portraits.

"Fan, Ji," she began, a bit unsure where to go next with her thoughts, "I know I don't say it often enough, but I love you both very much. Even though you're gone, and sometimes I forget to light the incense, and sometimes I forget to tell you..."

Her voice trailed off as she stared at the unmoving pictures, dimly illuminated by the soft moonlight from the window.

"Saying it now to you probably isn't so helpful," she smiled sadly, "but sometimes I think I just want to hear myself say it once in a while."

"We don't need to always say it, right?" Mrs. Chow directed her gaze upwards towards the stern couple at the top of the shrine, "It is our actions that show our love, not our words. Isn't that right, my Lord?"

She sighed once again and turned from the shrine, making for her clothes to get ready for bed.

"It's been so busy for these last two days," she shook her head, trying to remember all the events that transpired.

"We had to go out late late late last night," she recounted, thinking of how she was roused from her bed well after sunset, "Mr. Maurice wanted to talk to the people from Mr. Snake's work, and he took Mr. Eryk with him. Then there was someone else who was trying to interrupt him, someone bad and lied about where he was going and what he wanted. Thanks to Lord Zao, I was able to warn Mr. Maurice in time, and we were able to stop him before things got out of hand."

Mrs. Chow looked at her son's portait within the shrine and frowned.

"I know you don't like fighting, so I try not to talk to much about it," she whispered softly, imagining Ji's face looking at her with some amount of disappointment, "But sometimes we need to protect ourselves or protect those around us. I'm glad you never had to deal with anything like that, never had to worry about it until... until..."

She dabbed her eyes on her sleeve and waddled back to the shrine, clearing her throat and taking a breath.

"Anyway! I spoke to your sister the other night!" Mrs. Chow put on a big smile as she changed the subject, "She's doing well, helping people with your brother in Star Lake. I will try and make some arrangements to go north and visit them, maybe try and bring them back here to Rudenia. It would be good to have everyone together in the same house again."

"The next morning we all went to the big church," she continued, "I think Mr. Maurice needed to meet someone there and then arrange another meeting somewhere else later in the day. So much running around! I don't know why they couldn't just talk there and sort everything out. Instead we had to wait all day- All day! At least it gave me time to make some good medicine from the herbs we got from the magic store."

Mrs. Chow crinkled her nose as she thought of the rude Mr. Why-me-wood at the shop.

"And then we went back to that empty village after dark again, it seems like we go there so much! In the day, in the night, in the dreams; everything always happens there!" she chuckled as she thought about it, "Maybe the village isn't so empty as I thought, huh! We needed to wait more, but then we found some kind of magic cake in one of the houses. I think he likes me, keeps following me around everywhere! I named him Cakey, I think he was meant for someone's birthday, but I don't know what happened. Maybe they didn't want to feel bad for eating a flying cake!"

"Finally someone came to meet Mr. Maurice outside, I think it was one of the princes!" Mrs. Chow's voice suddenly grew soft and unsure, "And I think he was Miss Seris's father..."

She shook her head, thinking of the expression of righteous fury and anger across Seris's face as she strode across the square.

"I know not all families are happy, not all parents are good to their children," her voice tightened, "but I never thought I would live so long as to see something like that. Her father, the prince of Hohenburg, the head of the church here! He was not a good man; maybe not even a man at all, really. He had some kind of dark magic inside him, something terrible that he had taken for himself. Still..."

Mrs. Chow looked to the Kitchen God and his wife, still staring down silently from their portrait.

"I'm glad Miss Seris didn't have to finish him," she said to the pair, "I know she might be upset with me for not letting her take her justice out on him, but I'm still glad she didn't have to do it."

She cast her eyes downward once again, looking at her hands resting on the shrine.

"It's a terrible thing for a child to lose a parent," she started, trying to form the words, "but I can't imagine how much more terrible it would be for her to be the one to... to do it herself. Even if she wanted to. Maybe especially because she wanted to."

She paused again, as if anticipating someone listening at the door. Holding her breath a moment, she sighed and decided it was too late to be jumping at shadows.

"I'm just happy she won't have to worry about him again after this, and she can put her sword and armor away and never deal with any of this business ever again," Mrs. Chow climbed into bed as she muttered to herself, "And Mrs. Faydren can come back to the bakery and we can fix everything back to the way it was. Or maybe better! I should ask Mr. Eryk about that cold room spell and see if we can get it working. And I think we might have enough people to start fixing the doors and windows and floors in the dining room. Oh, I should probably ask and see if anyone knows where Star Lake is, how far it is to walk there!"

Mrs. Chow stifled a yawn as she nestled into her pillow.

"Good night, my darlings," she mumbled, closing her eyes, "Good night, my Lord and Lady. Thank you for keeping everyone safe, and please continue keeping everyone safe. This home is warm and happy because of your guidance. Thank you."

Session 4

Mrs. Chow paced back and forth, wringing her hands to give them something to do.

"Oh Fan, there is so much, I don't even know where to start," she spoke quickly, trying to speak her thoughts as soon as they formed in her mind, "Things are getting very hard to keep straight and clear."

Looking around her, it took a moment for her to remember that there was no proper shrine here, leaving her with just the sticks of incense placed on the ground at her feet.

"We were so busy just working and getting the bakery all nice and fixed up," Mrs. Chow paused, unsure what to talk about next, "How did we end up here? How did it become like this?"

"Prince Gunther was on the side of the demons," she breathed, still processing the revelation two weeks later, "He betrayed his family, his country... and he was planning some kind of invasion against Starlake, where... where..."

Mrs. Chow could feel her heart beginning to beat faster, a rapid pulsing beginning to form behind her ears. She swallowed and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. All homes face hardship, she reminded herself, and the only way to keep everyone safe was to face it with a clear and focused mind.

"I told Nu and Zhu about the attack, so they can help prepare everyone at Starlake," she found herself speaking more slowly, more calmly, "We managed to find a special magic bird coin at the magician school, it allows us to travel across the continent much much faster."

She paused once again, thinking about the heist they pulled at the Academy, and the part she also played in stealing the magic token. She reminded herself that the Academy had plenty of other relics, many far more valuable than just a magic bird for flying great distances. It was in service of saving her family and the city of Starlake, after all. This thought quelled her conscience somewhat, but not entirely. As long as they returned it when everything was over, and accepted whatever punishment that came of it, she felt that it would be alright for them to use it at this time.

"We thought the skies would be much safer than traveling by foot," she whispered, "but even on the bird we were still attacked by a gang of pirates. They wanted our bird for someone called Sir Aurus; I don't think any of us know who that is, though."

Mrs. Chow stopped pacing and kneeled down in front of the incense sticks, their dim glow illuminating the lines on her face.

"We managed to fight them off, but Mr. Eryk..." her voice trailed off as she thought back to that moment, "Mr. Eryk was so reckless, he jumped off the bird while trying to stop them..."

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

"We managed to save him, thanks to the Kitchen God," she kneeled down, pressing her forehead to the floor, "Thank you so much, Lord Zao, for allowing me to save him from such a terrible fate. He's still so young, and it was just one mistake. Thank you for taking pity on us and this family."

Hot tears dripped off the tip of Mrs. Chow's nose as she tried to keep her voice low and steady.

"Thank you, my Lord; thank you, thank you, thank you..."

Session 6

Mrs. Chow woke up in a daze, trying to sort out her dreams from her memories. It was still dark out, likely hours until even the faintest hint of sunrise.

"Fan?" she called out, remembering only half a moment after the name left her lips that he would not be able to answer.

"I wish so much for things to go back," she whispered, "So much for things to go back to the way they once were. My Lord, please tell me this has all be a terrible dream."

Silence hung in the air, and Mrs. Chow sighed as her wits slowly returned to her.

"Of course, my Lord," she spoke, breaking the silence, "All things that have happened cannot un-happen, please forgive an old woman for gazing too deeply into the past."

"We have had two new friends join us recently, did I tell you?" Mrs. Chow sat up and smiled, "Aenon and Ignis; such interesting names. And very interesting people too!"

"They were at the barracks, and they joined us when we had to go look for some group of orcs that attacked a ranch," she continued, falling back onto her pillow, "Big Allan, I think it was, Big Allan Kala-something was the ranch. We found some of their horses at an old empty village, and there was a shrine there too. I tried cleaning it up a little, but we were attacked by a big pile of gold and treasure!"

Mrs. Chow laughed to herself as she recalled the strange monster, then chided herself for making so light of the dangerous beast.

"Ignis had such a strange machine with him, such a clever thing," she thought back to the device that spewed flame from its metal mouth, "I wonder if it could be used to cook a lot of things all at once very quickly. Seems like that would be a better use for it than fighting monsters."

"Aenon has some curious magic as well, although I don't know if I understood it very well," Mrs. Chow yawned as her tiredness began to wash over her, "But it was all very helpful for fighting the gold monster-thing. Then we also found a magic key, I think, and another one of Mr. Allan's cows. I think Mr. Wolfe and his group dealt with all the orcs by the time we got to the ranch, but we all helped getting the animals back and fixing the fence that got damaged."

She closed her eyes and relished an old memory of repairing walls at the restaurant back in Winterfront. Seeing Fan and Ji hard at work patching water damage while Nu sawed boards and Zhu studied his books. A small tear welled up in her eye as she remembered that day, one of the last that they all were under the same roof together.

"My Lord Zao," she whispered, "Thank you for continuing to take care of this family. I know my own time is slowly drawing to a close, but I hope you will keep looking after everyone here even after I join you in the next life. Nu and Zhu still need looking after in Starlake as well. I will do everything I can while I'm here to protect everyone here, so please help everyone else I'm not able to reach for now. Thank you, my Lord and Lady, for hearing my prayers."

And with that final prayer, Mrs. Chow thought of her daughter and son at the frontlines of this terrible war, putting her faith in the Kitchen God to keep them safe.