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The Gift

Edward's Storyline, Chapter 4.1

copyright comidacomida 2018

Although I'd awoken that morning well earlier than usual I didn't feel tired or sleepy. It was barely 5:30 and the sun was on the rise but, apparently, so was I. The Ancient One in all their personalities kept me company within my head but none of them manifested around me. It was a little eerie hearing them inside my mind but they were content to casually chat to me about strangely simple topics.

Ch'upikaq was eager to see me go through the motions at the junk yard again; considering it was a work day I had about two and a half hours until I needed to go in, but the Serpent was excited at the prospect of seeing me stay busy. Red, on the other hand, found my job to be incredibly boring and had a large number of ideas as to how I could spend the evening once my shift was done and I was free. Green, rather than voice his opinion of what to do with my day reminded me that inheriting money from my grandparents meant I wouldn't have to work. The other two shut him up after that.

Medved and Tom were awaiting me when I got out into the kitchen and Treboada offered me a hearty-but-respectful "G'morrow, Lad." as I opened the fridge and began to figure out what it was I wanted to make for breakfast. Usually I wasn't up early enough to actually consider anything filling so I was used to coffee or, if I was ahead of schedule I'd swing by a fast food joint and grab a breakfast sandwich of some kind. Suddenly liking the idea of bread and eggs and some kind of meat I decided to make my own.

The eggs and a loaf of bread ended up on the counter along with a sealed plastic bag of bacon. I sifted through the different pre-sliced cheeses I had, tossed two mostly-used packages that were growing mold, and found a still-sealed pack of American Cheese singles. I wasn't about to object and announced my decision with a clearly stated. "Good enough."

Medved watched from the divide of carpet and tile between the den and the kitchen while Tom made his way in and picked up the bread loaf. The bread came up in his hand and remained on the counter at the same time; while it was always a surprise to see Spirits take the essence of an object and leave its physical body behind I'd since grown used to it and I recovered quickly. "Hey... I'm making everyone a sandwich Tom, so make sure it gets back in place before I need it."

The Rhino nodded absently as he rotated the bag to look at either the ingredient label or the nutritional table-- I wasn't completely sure which. Once he satisfied whatever curiosity struck him, Tom set it back down exactly from where he'd picked it up and the spiritual version of the bread seamlessly rejoined the physical. He watched me intently as I began to gather the various ingredients and I suddenly realized why he provided me so much extra attention. "Uh... so... Tom...?"

He looked to me calmly. "Yes, Nehed?"

I grabbed a pan from the cabinet and set it on the stove. "You... uh... do you eat kosher foods and stuff?"

A smile slowly spread across his wide snout. "If I eat food then I would follow the basic principles of kashrus and keep a separation of meat and dairy products... but if you make it I will not decline."

The statement got me to actually pick up the bread loaf and look at the ingredients; I saw powdered milk on the list so I glanced to what I'd pulled out and put on the counter. "Okay... so no bacon because there's milk in-- oh. Wait. Bacon isn't even kosher anyway."

Tom chuckled and Medved joined in. The Bear provided an overview. "If you remove the bacon then the rest of your ingredients will be fine, Edward."

I nodded, and began readying the first sandwich which, by default was Tom's because-- well... bacon. As I cracked the eggs into the pan I asked over my shoulder "Eggs and cheese are okay then?"

Tom grunted to the affirmative and followed it up with an explanation. "Eggs are Pareve-- a neutral food. If you combine them with dairy then they belong to dairy and if you combine them with meat then they belong to meat."

It still didn't make a whole lot of sense but at least I knew I was getting it MOSTLY right. I toasted some bread and once the egg was done I slid it onto the toast and topped it with a slice of cheese then slid it across the counter so that it sat in front of Tom. He bowed his head. "I thank you for your Gift, Nehed."

"You're welcome."

Once I had Tom's meal prepared I started frying up some bacon. Keeping the grease in place I cooked up four more eggs but, as I was preparing them, a stray thought caught my attention: The Ancient One had fallen silent in my head and there was still no physical body presence. I flipped the eggs (I've never been much for sunny side up and breakfast sandwiches required at LEAST over medium) then looked around before calling out "Hey! Ancient One? Are you still here?"

Red's voice spoke up from off to my left. "We are."

I turned and saw the red Dragon floating near the sink. "Okay... so... do I make one sandwich that all three of you share or am I supposed to make one for each of you?"

The furry Dragon's dangling tendril-like whiskers quirked up in what almost resembled a faint smile. "We share one body and one pool of essence, Edward. You may prepare us three meals if you wish but if given but one it will be the same as any share you provide to the others present."

I nodded, looking back to the bread as I readied more toast. "Okay."

Green's voice spoke up from the same direction as Red's had originated. "Except for the Rhinoceros. He will have received more Spirit energy for the Gift you have given to him because of the extra effort with which you prepared it."

Once the bread was in the toaster I glanced back toward the sink and I saw Green looming over it, poking his claw down in the drain as if taking a sudden interest in the garbage disposal. I asked for an explanation. "What do you mean Tom? Tom gets more spirit energy because he didn't get bacon?"

Treboada called out from the living room. "Yeh spent time thinkin' 'bout what yeh were gonnae serve 'im, Boy-o. Spirit Energy t'season 'is plate in th' form o' takin' 'is needs an' wants inta mind."

I remembered some details that they'd mentioned before about that and I nodded to myself. Thinking quickly, I went back into the fridge and pulled out some microwaveable pre-cooked sausage, wrapped em in a paper towel, and tossed em into the microwave. "Okay... well I can work with that."

My sudden flurry of activity caught the attention of all spirits and I felt everyone's eyes on me as I went back to the toast, which had just popped up, and I began to put together a series of sandwiches. For Medved, I grabbed some honey out of the cabinet and squeezed a light circle on the bottom layer of bread before I put the bacon and egg on then slid it to the Bear. "Bears like honey, right?"

Medved smiled. "That is a stereotype but, in this case it is true. Spasibo, Edward."

Having got my first experiment right I waited for the microwave to go off and I opened the door, grabbing the sausages and loading them onto the next sandwich with the egg, bacon, and cheese and slid it onto the counter. "Yours is ready, Treboada-- extra meat fit for a Wolf."

Laughing, Treboada got to his feet and padded the short distance over. "Yeh donnae gotta think too 'ard 'bout what makes me tick, do yeh, boy-o?"

Taking that as a good sign and acknowledging to myself that I was two for two, I readied my own sandwich as I considered what I was going to do for The Ancient One. Unlike the sandwiches for the Spirits I decided to cut my own and, grabbing a knife, I pushed it down through the bread-- and cut my thumb. "Damn it!"

I set my sandwich off to the side and went to the sink to wash my hand but, for some reason I still can't explain I paused and went back to the final pair of bread slices. Glancing over to The Ancient One I saw that Ch'upikaq was watching me intently with scintillating purple eyes and, barely even thinking about it, I pressed my thumb to the bread and wiped the errant blood off on the toasted slice. From there I went to the sink and gave my cut a quick washing. It wasn't a deep cut and the blood flow was already stopping thanks to the cold water.

Turning back the sandwich I almost ran right into Green, who was looming in front of me. I'm pretty tall but, of course, the Dragon still had almost a good two feet on me. He surprised me with his next action, leaning down to press the end of his scaled snout to my forehead. His split tongue brushed out across my skin in what almost resembled a kiss, and he spoke softly. "You continue to surprise me, little man. This is a good thing."

I--