"Well I can tell you it won't be easy."
Dirk arrived back at the camp with Briar in his arms, ready to finally make breakfast. Alba was awake and sitting next to the fire with her blanket wrapped around her, watching the water boil. Dirk crossed the camp in a few quick strides and set Briar in her little mound of blankets. He gave her a rare smile before he stepped away to fetch his bag. He reached in and pulled out a little card. It had come from Libra Station, and he was sure it had no real imprint on it for Briar to get a sense for.
"Take this," Dirk said, handing the plastic to Briar. "While I cook, I want you to hold it and concentrate on drawing out whatever you can from it. I don't know how you do what you do, but this should be so faint, you'll have to dig deep to draw it out." With that Dirk turned toward their future, and that future was food.
Dirk's cooking equipment was still standing around the fire pit from previous meals, and so he went to quick work. The eggs went into the boiling water, and as they did he pulled a sand timer from his bag and set it nearby, grains sprinkling down from the top. He quickly stripped out of his gear, and donned his apron, as well as the trinkets that would enhance his perception and speed his hands. He first cleaned and prepared the hare, setting its skin aside for later.
Out of Dirk's bag came jars of herbs and oils and he used them in different combinations to rub different cuts of meat. They went into a griddle or onto a grill, and some he skewered and hung over the fire. Potatoes were cleaned and cut in a blur, sunchokes followed suit, and pole beans were simply cleaned. The sweet potatoes were grated, and after mixing them with various other ingredients, pressed into cakes.
Everything went into different pots and pans, and they were all moved around frequently. The eggs were taken off the heat when a chime emanated from the sand timer, proof that it was magical. The assortment of vessels would have been too much for any one normal person without magical enhancement. As everything was beginning to come together in their final stages, Dirk pulled the eggs from their shells and cut them in thin slices. The food he began to serve, putting in on plates in an orderly fashion. Sweet potato pancakes, fried potatoes with sunchokes and other vegetables, rabbit meatballs, rabbit skewers, other slices of cooked rabbit, slices of hard boiled eggs, and a bowl of mixed berries for each of the women.
Dirk served Alba first, and she meekly accepted the tray with her plate and bowl. Then he took a tray to Briar. He could serve her food, and check her progress all at once.