Setting off on the Journey.

Even though Luna was the last to sleep, she was the first to wake up. She’d taken it upon herself to attempt cooking breakfast for me.

Attempt is an understatement. The princess was using a fork to flip an intact egg. To make it worse, the egg was just sitting on a pan with the burner turned all the way up.

I had an emergency water scroll ready incase she set anything on fire. I didn’t try to correct her though, simply because I was curious what she would create here.

“Okay…if I remember correctly, it's at this point that you flip the egg one more time.”

The egg made a funny sound as it justled around the dry pan.

“Walden, how long must I let the egg sit here before it is edible?” She asked me.

She hadn’t even broken the shell. So we’d be here for a while before the whole thing was cooked. This was a clear sign that she’d never cooked a thing in her life. I’d expect no less from royalty.

“You might wanna try getting the yolk out first.”

“How do I do that?”

I’m pretty sure this was the first skill a chef learns before cooking anything. How to break an egg. Even people who take levels in cooking usually don’t do anything until they’ve mastered this. Can you imagine how many dishes use eggs? It would be a nightmare if they didn’t know how to handle them.

I gave her a few pointers. Unfortunately, her first attempt to break the egg got a lot of pieces of shell in the yolk.

“It looks done…?” She turned to me with a dopey smile.

“Was that a question?” I chuckled.

The egg was super runny. And she still didn’t put oil or butter on it, but it was edible.

“I…guess so.” I told her.

“Great. Your breakfast is ready then.”

Did…did she expect me to eat this? Oh no…

This egg didn’t even have a shred of cheese, or salt on it. The only thing peppered across the yolky surface was chunks of shell.

“Now you can make my breakfast.” She smiled.

“Oh, great…” I sighed. “How about I teach you how to make something simple?”

I taught her how to make scrambled eggs. She was amazed how I turned such a simple recipe into a “fantastic dish.” Her words over exaggerated the finished product.

Meanwhile, I had no choice but to munch down on the quarter done egg. I wish I didn’t have to eat it, but I couldn’t offend her.

“Excellent! Now comes the best part of breakfast. Tea!”

She found our equipment to make tea. I thought I saw it out earlier, but I figured I’d forgotten to put it away at some point.

Contrary to her cooking skills, she brewed tea like a pro. She’d even managed to sling together a few tiny sandwiches out of some extra meat and bread we had in storage.

Where’d she get the candles and decorative trays? Did we have these around here? This was getting fancy.

“Alright.” She clapped her hands excitedly. “This is splendid. You had everything to make a perfect tea party.”

“You can do all this, but you can’t cook an egg?” I snickered.

“Oh yes. I’m expected to cater tea parties all the time. It’s part of my duty as the princess. My father is very impressed with my skills.”

He had every right to be. This tea, and everything around it, was fantastic. The flavour was unexpectedly sweet, but also had a hint of savoury to it. And the sandwiches were quite tasty as well.

“This is great, Luna.” I smiled.

She blushed, and looked away.

“I’m pleased to hear you say such a thing.”

She’d probably really like some of the cafe’s in town. The mage college was littered with them everywhere. If we weren’t so strapped for time, I’d have taken her today. But we did have a mission to get to.

Maybe when we get back from the moon, I'll take her to one.

***

Zumi asked me to wake her up early, but I let her sleep in since she hadn’t slept much the last day or so. Around the time she finished breakfast, Charlie showed up at the front door with a giant backpack.

“What’s all that stuff?” I asked him. He could hardly fit it through the door.

“It’s all my equipment.” He said. “What? Did you not know we’d probably have to do some hiking and camping?”

That was a great point. I kinda assumed we’d just make it a day-long trip, but based on how Luna said we had such a short timeframe, and Zumi's studies on the size of the Fairylands alone, we’d probably want to treat this like a week-long hike.

To add to it, we had very little idea what the terrain in these ring realms would be like. Best to get as prepared as possible.

“Zumi, do we have any camping gear?” I asked her.

“Brother, do either of us look like we camp?”

She was a intelegent bookworm, and I was a level 3 pre-mage. Not exactly the camping types. I liked gardening, but I'd usually come back inside after I was done.

Before we left, we stopped at a shop to get some equipment for the trip.

***

We finally set off for the Fairylands. Charlie had called upon a personal servant of his to take us via dragon carriage.

The interior was roomy, comfortable and smelled a lot like flowers. Luna felt right at home in this luxury.

"I'm sure this is the first time any of you peasant folk have ever been in a magnificent dragon carriage before." He leaned back in his seat, stretching his arms out as if this was some gift to us. "Normally I wouldn't be so generous, but you may feel free to praise me for this kindness."

"Not gonna happen, Cougar Killer." I shook my head.

"How dare you insult me?!" He growled. "Driver! Stop this carriage!"

His servant refused.

"What!?"

"Master Charles, do we not need to get to the Fairylands to save the world?"

He told his servant about the mission? I don't know if that was a good idea.

His servant continued, "Wouldn't it be a better idea to keep going so you may soon be a hero to the world and these wonderful young ladies?"

I don't like how this servant guy said that…

"You're right!" Charlie started clapping his hands. "Very well. I will hold my tongue against this defamation."

I hated the way he talked. It was so frustrating. Even his servant had that same tinge of ego to him. I'm glad I totally got back at him yesterday.

"Zumi, how far away are we from the Fairylands?" I asked.

Zumi estimated it would be about 2 hours at this rate. That meant 2 hours of being locked in a carriage with that man.

At least Luna was mesmerized by the scenery out the window. She was pretty content with the ride. At least one of us was. Focusing on her curiosity gave me something else to obsess over.