We gathered around our pit and set our supplies beside the hole. The interior of the pit appeared to be made of bricks blackened from countless uses. I peeked into the cauldron and found it to be clean and empty. “Can we trust this enough to use it?” I asked my native friend.

  Arian nodded. “Oh yes. Everyone is required to clean what they use and anyone found to have not done so is banished from the pits for a hundred years.”

  “Wow. That’s a long time even for immortals,” I mused as I turned my attention to the woodshed. “So how much wood do we use?”

  “Only enough to warm the bottom of the cauldron.” The advice came from Dian as he strode toward us. There was a slothfulness in his step and the corners of his lips turned downward, revealing his continuing irritation with his predicament. He stopped at our pit and his eyes flickered between us. “Father told me to come here and see if you needed help.”

  Arian offered her brother a warm smile. “We will be forever grateful for your help. You have trained to use these, did you not?”

  “On the battlefield,” he confirmed with a touch of bitterness in his voice. He half-turned toward the woodshed. “I suppose I’ll get an armful and we’ll see if we can heat up these sweets.”

  He gathered the wood while Arian and I stood on opposite sides of the cauldron and tossed the chocolate into its mouth. Arian paused and forlornly studied the cute bar cupped in her hands. “It seems such a shame to melt your beautiful works.”

  I snorted and tossed another piece in. It shattered into a million pieces on the bottom of the hard pot. “I can make more.”

  “Are you so sure?” she wondered as she gently set the bar on top of the pile. Her sharp eyes studied me. “Do you feel well after performing so much magic?”

  “It’s only making some chocolate,” I countered. I grabbed a bar and my hand shook a little. I tucked the hand behind the cauldron but my action caught my friend’s attention.

  She frowned and leaned to one side. “Is something the matter?”

  “Nothing at all,” I assured her as I tossed the bar into the pot. I twisted around to look at the shed. “Where’s Dian? We’re about ready for that fire.”

  Dian wove between the other pits with an armful of wood. The place was starting to get crowded as more vendors and a few early-bird buyers strolled into the marketplace. The scent of food and the shouts of sellers filled the air as Dian knelt beside our pit and set his pile down beside the hole.

  He stacked the wood like a little log house in the pit and produced a box from his pocket. The box contained a flint and stone, and he soon had a good fire going.

  His silence was unnerving so I knelt beside him and offered him a smile. “Thanks for helping us with this. I doubt we could have gotten anything going without Dadan-I mean, without Lord Eastwei’s fire.”

  He paused in his prodding of the fire and lifted an eyebrow at me. “The Lord Eastwei?”

  I sheepishly smiled at him. “Yeah. I, um, saw him use fire magic at a festival once.”

  His eyes flickered over me. “Must be interesting living in the heavens. A lot of exciting stuff happens there, doesn’t it?”

  Too exciting I thought to myself while outwardly I shrugged. “There’s definitely a lot of stuff to do.”

  He resumed poking the fire. “Must be nice.”

  My face fell at the heavy tone in his voice. “It isn’t always nice to be busy, you know. Sometimes it’s just nice to rest on the top of a cliff and enjoy the view.” I received a bitter scoff in reply.

  Arian leaned over the pot and her eyes widened. “I believe the chocolate is starting to melt!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  I reluctantly stood and peeked into the cauldron. The bottom bars had indeed started to ooze their way over the bottom of the pot. Their sweet smell wafted upward and dispersed, spreading over the market and leading many to lift their noses. A few people followed the scent and stood to the side with curious eyes on the cauldron.

  “What do you have there?” an old woman asked me.

  “Just some treats for the kids,” I told her as I looked at where she had come from. “Are you the one selling those strawberries?”

  She blinked at me. “Strawberries? Do you mean the blood berries?”

  I tried not to wince at the name. “Um, yeah, those things. Let me bring one over here and I’ll let you try what’s cooking.”

  Her eyes lit up and she bobbed her head. “Of course! Take the biggest one you can find!”

  I scurried over to her stall and snatched one of the largest ‘blood berries.’ It looked identical in smell and shape to a strawberry, and the name did describe the luscious color. I hurried back and peeked inside the cauldron. Some of the chocolate bubbled at me. I stretched my arm into the pot and dipped the tip of the fruit in the gooey sweets. The chocolate twisted like soft ice cream and left a delicious coating on the fruit.

  I drew out the strawberry and held it out to the woman. “Here you go. Tell me what you think.”

  She accepted the fruit and studied the coating before taking a small bite. Her eyes lit up and she licked her lips. “Delicious!”

  The other viewers clamored for a taste but I held up my hands. “The children get a first taste. If there’s any left, then everyone else can have a bite.” I turned back to the old woman. “Could we buy your, um, blood berries?”

  A smile brightened her face. “You may have what you wish for the children.”

  “And us?” a man asked her.

  She wagged a finger at him. “You’ll have to pay for your own.”

  Laughter broke out from everyone and the crowd dispersed to sell their wares. We continued to receive curious glances as even more chocolatey smell wafted out of our cauldron. The noon hour was nearing and we were well stocked with strawberries.

  A woman approached with a child in tow. The young girl was maybe six and hid behind her mother as they stopped in front of us. The mother bit her lip and glanced at the cauldron. “My husband said there would be something for the children here?”

  “Yep!” I assured her as I snatched a berry and dipped the fruit in the bubbling mix. I knelt and offered the child the sweet. “Here you go. One chocolate treat just for you.”

  The child blinked at me and lifted her nose to inhale the scent. “C-chocolate?”

  I nodded. “Yep. It’s very tasty.”

  The child stretched out a tiny hand and took the berry. She examined the sweet with all the intensity adorable children could give before she licked the chocolate coating. Her eyes lit up and a smile brightened her face. She took a bit bite and left a chocolate smear around her lips. “I like it!” She took another bite and licked her lips.

  Her mother let out a breath of relief and her eyes twinkled at us. “I am so glad. She can be such a picky eater.”

  They were just the first part of a wave of curious and eager citizens. We were soon swamped by children of all ages, some old enough to dip their own and others so little their parents carried them.

  By the time the last strawberry had swiped the last of the chocolate, chocolate stained my front and my feet were killing me. The laughter and the smiles were well worth the exhaustion, but I couldn’t stop looking down the long street that led in the direction of the city entrance. My distraction became so bad that Arian nudged her elbow into my arm.

  “What has captured your attention so incessantly?” she whispered to me.

  I nodded at the winding street that led to the country road. “I was just wondering about the field out there.”

  Arian’s face drooped. “The Tianfeld?”

  I returned my focus to my job and shrugged. “Yeah. It’s just, well, I guess your story about the battle caught my curiosity, that’s all.”

  Arian wrapped a hand around my arm and her grip was tight enough that I felt a little pressure. I looked up to find her face a picture of worry and a little bit of fear. “You should not let yourself dwell on that place. Its history is too horrible to occupy your mind.”

  I laughed and patted her hand. “It’s alright. I can’t go out of the city without someone with me, remember?”

  My words caught Dian’s attention. At least, I saw his eyes flicker up to me as he stoked the fire.

  Arian didn’t look quite as convinced as I hoped but she leaned over to peek into the cauldron. “We should clean up and tell Father of our success. People will be talking about this and will not be worried about the wolves.”