Amara's Recipe

They all saw him, but none of the sous-chefs or dishwashers of Chez Valentine looked up for even a moment. They went about their business as if he wasn’t there. When he was in the way they simply passed dishes around him. His surprise when they did so was the only thing that seemed to surprise them. 

Leo’s heart was desperately trying to escape from his chest. He could barely breathe, but he also couldn’t stop. Not after what had been revealed to him. Not when he was so close to being able to heal Amara.

As two sous-chefs passed dishes close behind him, he felt himself flinch. For the first time someone met his eyes. Leo quickly broke eye contact and sped to the corner of the kitchen where the head chef worried over a sauce.

He looked for the cutting board. Not the heavy one to her right, stained with the residue of several vegetables—the gold one in the corner. Completely impractical, until you knew it wasn’t for chopping. Leo reached into his pocket and felt around for the two remaining mushrooms. 

“The truffle first, save the cremini and the button last,” were the only words of guidance he had gotten. The last words Amara had said before her last seizure.

Leo placed the cremini mushroom on the gold cutting board. The head chef paused. Surprised by his choice, he guessed. The last ones had been surprised he had wasted the treasured truffle and portobello so early.

The chef called her sous-chef over to witness the exchange, handing him the cremini along with her own shiitake. She then led Leo towards the walk-in fridge. She pushed aside a shelf of yet-to-be-prepped vegetables and slid open the secret door. 

Leo’s heart kept a steady beat. A half smile fought its way onto his lips as he and the head chef of Chez Valentine descended the steps. Leo tried to picture what the space beyond would look like. The first one had been pure gold from ceiling to floor. The second: pure light.

The stairway opened into a desert. The walls and ceiling were translucent blue glass. The crimson sand under Leo’s feet was firm but shifting. At the far end of the desert there was a familiar mural. All challenge areas featured a painting of a lakeshore.

The sous chef from earlier had followed just behind and now handed each person their weapon for combat. The head chef stripped off her apron and took a complicated-looking knife from him. Leo tried not to look surprised when the sous-chef then handed him an ordinary staff.

“We have our witness.” The head chef stated formally, “I am Basile Valentine. I accept this challenge.”

Leo nodded and the sous-chef stepped back into the stairwell doorway. 

Chef Valentine leaped first, viscous but sprightly. Leo’s staff was the perfect defence. Despite his inability he was able to keep her at bay with sheer reach. Finally, she had to admit defeat. Leo didn’t have the power to kill her, but nor could she damage him with his range.

Laughing, Valentine sat in the red sand and began to teach Leo as promised. She urged Leo to follow using his prize chunk of carmot and the pure gold he had won in the previous trials.

“You stir crimson sand, grated gold flakes and water until thick,” she demonstrated, correcting his stirring technique. “Now glaze your carmot in the mix and let it cool for an hour.”

Alchemy was cooking not chemistry. Just as Amara had guessed. The recipes Leo had learned so far, along with the stone, would pay for her medical bills.

The philosopher’s stone was not a complicated recipe, Valentine explained. However it’s main ingredient was rare. She taught him how to identify and find carmot while his stone cooled. Once it had, she wished Leo luck on his mission and sent him through the exit.

You never knew where you’d end up after each trial. Leo had now been all over the world. He stepped out of Paris and into a live version of the mural he had seen so many times.

On the shore of the lake Leo faced, a lone man tended a fire below a sign that read: “The Lakeshore Cafe”.

Leo wandered into the “cafe.” The chef smiled at him and glanced to his right where the gold cutting board sat on a log.

Leo took the hint. He put down the button mushroom. The chef burst out laughing.

“I’m Chef Alastair Crowley, of the Lakeshore Cafe,” he said formally.

“I’m Leo Accardo,” Leo answered, “I’m here to challenge you.”

“And your challenge is successful.” Chef Crowley smiled. Then he explained, “Up ‘til now, mushrooms of higher quality have given you more powerful weapons. This final trial is determined by what mushroom you value now that you have learned more. There was no better choice you could have made. Alchemy best serves those who value versatility over power.”

Chef Crowley pulled out a saucepan. Before Leo could say anything he started the last recipe. The one Amara needed.

“This lake is the last of its kind. A fountain of youth. Its waters are the perfect mixture to craft an elixir of life.” he said, spooning water from the lake directly into the pan.

“Add a generous slice of your philosopher’s stone to the pan,” Crowley instructed. “Once it melts, decrease heat, add melted gold, liquid light and…”

Crowley picked up the button mushroom from the cutting board.

“This. Then simmer.”

Over the next ten minutes Crowley explained how to administer the elixir of life to Amara. He invited both Amara and Leo back to learn more about Alchemy. And finally he explained how to prepare portals of the type Leo had passed through.

Finally, when the mixture released a puff of gold steam, Chef Crowley bottled the elixir and sent Leo on his way.

Leo stepped through his freshly cooked portal and into Amara’s hospital room.

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originally written for an NYC Midnight challenge with the prompts: cooking, action adventure, a lake

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reflection: Written while re-reading fullmetal alchemist and watching Masterchef and it definitely shows...

I remember struggling with how to do action and adventure in the wordcount. Still trying to make the plot complete instead of making the emotional theme work. This ends up feeling pretty empty because of it