Kitchenhand

Megan came too from a deep sleep to the sound of a light knock on the door.

She stood and stretched leisurely, feeling more refreshed than she ever had before. She approached and opened the door to her room and looked once again into the eyes of Tau, the young Zafreen who she had learned last night was about the same age as her being twelve of the planets full revolutions of the twin suns that it orbited.

He grinned at her and said, "Mam told me to bring you around, and you'll do what I do every day except for the evening when you're going to be workin' the kitchens, and don't worry cause in the evenings I work in the stables so you're not missing out on anything exciting there."

Tau grabbed her hand and dragged her away down the hallway and some stairs and through a small door that led into a courtyard enclosed by the back of the main building and three stone walls, about 12 or so feet in height, the wall they faced as they exited had a large double gate constructed out of dark wood planks. On top of the walls on either side, balconies could be seen that would allow people to look down into the courtyard, making it feel more like an arena surrounded by spectator seating. There were also two heavy looking wooden doors leading somewhere under these balconies as well.

In the middle of the tiled courtyard, there was a large muscular Zafreen with scales of light green mixed with pale blue who was doing the oddest dance that Megan had ever seen. The Zafreen appeared to almost float around as they spun and flung their arms and legs out at angles that seemed almost impossible for a bipedal being to execute.

Both Megan and even Tau stood transfixed on the Zafreen, who looked like they were in a trance, their eyes tightly shut, breathing in time with the movements. Megan was mesmerised by the actions the Zafreen was doing, and for a few moments even felt like she could hear faint music building in her head to go along in time with every move the Zafreen made.

Before she was able to really catch the notes in her mind, however, the Zafreen came to a stop and regarded them calmly, panting lightly after the exercise.

Tau took a deep breath and knelt down on the ground, waving to Megan to do the same. "I greet Master Zanik and humbly ask if I may bring the slave Megan, " he gestured at her. "To the lessons at your convenience?"

Tau stayed with his head bowed and she did the same, thinking that this Zafreen must be someone special considering Tau's respectful attitude had tinges of awe and she had never seen him look like that when talking about anyone else, then again she had only known him for a day.

The Zafreen, known as Master Zanik, walked over to stand in front of Megan and studied her intently. He reached out a hand and asked, "Take my hand and squeeze it as hard as you can." She did as they asked, and they nodded. Master Zanik then proceeded to poke, prod, and apply pressure to her arms, legs, and back while asking strange questions like what she regularly ate for breakfast and how many days hard labour would she do in any given month. After a few minutes of this Master Zanik stated, "Your biology appears very similar to that of the Zafreen, so I believe with practice and some preliminary training you may benefit from the martial arts I teach."

Staring wide-eyed at Master Zanik, it wasn't until Tau whispered some instructions into her ear that she realised what was needed. Megan fell to her knees, placed both palms of her hands on the ground in front of her, bowed her head down so her forehead almost touched the ground as well then she pronounced, " Disciple Megan greets Master Zanik."

The proper respect shown, Master Zanik nodded and said, "Good! Now, let us get started," He looked at both Megan and Tau for a few moments then, speaking to Tau, "Tau, it has been a while since we reviewed basic stretching and callisthenics so I want you to show Megan these things now and every lesson until I am satisfied you both have it memorised, then I will show Megan what she needs to do before she joins in official training."

Tau stood in front of her and bent their knees and extended his arms behind their head, "Okay Megan, the first position is like this..."

Tau then went on to show her postures and stances, stretches, all seemingly designed to cause maximum pain and torment. Afterwards, even though she expected to be really sore, she was actually feeling quite warm and her muscles supple.

Master Zanik then had her running the periphery of the courtyard while Tau and Master Zanik practiced with fists and kicks at first, then moving on to long spears Tau obtained from behind one of the doors not leading into the main building.

After running for a few minutes Megan realised she really didn't have the stamina to be maintaining a fast pace and gradually was slowing as her breath started to puff in and out of her lungs quicker and with more force. She felt a burning in her chest, and her heartbeat was making her feel like her heart was trying to beat out of her body. She heard Master Zanik call out, "Rest when you need to Megan, it does the body no good to continue past the point at which exercise becomes torture unless you have the time to heal or a rare healer on standby, which we do not."

Wondering what Master Zanik meant by 'rare healer,' Megan stopped where she was and sat down to rest until she felt ready to go again when she stood and started running again. This pattern continued for a while until Master Zanik appeared to randomly decide they were done for the morning.

Tau then brought Megan back into the main building, through some more hallways and stairs and finally into a large chamber that was full of Zafreen and a few other beings rushing around three large metal tables that had huge shelves in the middle of each reaching to the ceiling in some places with pots, pans, and other kitchen paraphernalia adorning every surface, shelf, and spare space. Around the edges of the kitchen she noted a door leading outside on one wall, a set of double doors on another wall that appeared to swing both in and out on jointed hinges that allowed this movement, seeing a Zafreen carrying a large tray with multiple plates of food on top push through the double doors using thier hips she realised why they opened that way. On the other two walls, more metal tables, ovens, strange metal cabinets, and sinks with multiple faucets were located. The middle long table in the middle also had sinks and stovetops with flames used for cooking on either side of the thin shelving. The sounds and smells that emanated from this room were almost completely overwhelming, and Megan found herself almost swooning with the bombardment to her senses. Feeling a tug on her sleeve, she looked over to see Tau offering her some kind of foamy flexible material and showed her how to put them in her ears so she could block a majority of the noise but still leave some room for her to hear raised voices if she needed.

Not being so overwhelmed now, she looked around the room with interest and noticed Mam who strutted around the kitchen like a queen surveying her demesne, talking here, tasting there but always with the attitude of the one in charge, the absolute boss.

Seeing Tau and Megan, Mam signalled to Tau, pointing to a few spots in the room with a nod. Tau led Megan over to a dual-tub sink in an area with textured concrete for a floor that was slightly inclined toward a large drain. What she was now taught to be 'benches' were covered in piles of used dishes and cups/mugs of differing sizes. Tau showed Megan where everything was and started her on washing dishes. Once this was under control, they finally had something to eat for breakfast. Finishing eating, they moved on, and Tau showed her all the duties of a kitchenhand. Washing dishes, food prep, cleaning, and general gofer for everything and anything, some hours later, a little before midday Tau turned and said, "Time for lessons."

Megan looked up with concern. The only 'lessons' she was given usually involved pain and was something she was not expecting considering her experiences so far. Tau just smiled and grabbed her hand and led her out of the kitchen and into the residence section of the inn. "It's okay, they're a little boring but nothing to worry about, plus sometimes the subject is interesting."

Tau walked down yet more hallways and opened a door into a small room that was set up as what Tau told her was a classroom. There was a large blackboard at the back of the room hanging on the wall, and six desks with chairs were set up in two lines of three each in the centre of the room. Under a window that took up half the wall from the top of a shelf to the ceiling, there were cupboards with labels clearly indicating the contents. Megan could read some of the labels and saw things like 'paper' and 'pencils' on them. On the opposite wall, there was a bookshelf that was over half full of books of all colours and sizes.

Megan stared in wonder at the number of books on display. Never before had she seen so many books in one place.

The room had one sole occupant, and Megan was surprised to see a being that was not a Zafreen. The being sat in a chair behind a desk and stood when they walked into the room and Tau sat her down at one of the desks at the front and in the middle.

The being stood at least seven feet tall, lanky, thin limbed, having two longer arms but surprisingly normal looking legs, its skin was a pale blue like the sky and the upside down drop shaped head was bereft of any hair and the eyes were sunken pools of black darkness. She had trouble making out any other facial features until it opened its mouth to talk, "Ah, Tau and the new kitchenhand have finally made an appearance."

Tau perked up and spoke, "Her name is Megan, Professor."

The being stood there and studied Megan for a few moments and stated, "Megan, huh? Okay then, now, lots to go over, but first, I have to figure out where to start with you."

The 'Professor' or Professor Ayn'welk, who was a Kroa'tal, a semi-aquatic species that usually resided in areas closer to the ocean he explained as he proceeded to ask question after question, some of which she could answer, most of which she couldn't. This went on for what felt like hours to Megan as she struggled to satisfy the professor's curiosity. Finally, the Professor made some notes, grabbed a few books down from the bookshelf, then took out some stationary and notebooks from the cupboards and placed everything on the desk in front of Megan.

Turning to Tau, "Okay Tau, I'll need to spend the next few lessons getting Megan caught up on a few things before we continue with more advanced lessons again, although thus would be a good chance for you to finish that book, huh?"

Tau rolled his eyes and nodded reluctantly, "Yes, Professor." He then dejectedly pulled out a thick book from under his desk, opened it from a bookmark stuck in between some pages, and started reading.

Meanwhile the Professor leaned down, opened one of the books on Megan's desk and pointed to a page that Megan saw held the characters for the common language spoken by the majority of the planet, English, she was told it was called. "Now, lets start with the basics."