The Way to a Fae's Stomach is Through Their Heart

Prologue

Its Friday night at the Dal Riata, business is going well. Trick is a happy pub owner, there are approximately two dozen fae and at least half a dozen humans in the pub this evening. Many of them brought in as a trial run by Kenzi and Bo to see if the humans will enjoy the usually fae only pub. The drinks were flowing freely and the food after a lengthy delay was now being served. The recent increase in business had caused Trick to finally break down and hire some extra help. He still ran the bar but he had hired a couple of fae, a young pixie to bus the tables and a rather arrogant cook named Eric to work in the kitchen. When suddenly everyone who had eaten anything that came out of the kitchen becomes violently ill or collapses to the floor unconscious. It soon came to light that Eric used a "secret fae" ingredient to keep his rep as a hot fae cook. Problem is the ingredient had gone bad and it wasn't all that good for humans to begin with. Eric of course was fired and now in trouble with both light and dark fae for using "unsolicited magic" on other fae. This after Dyson, as a duly appointed officer of the law, threatened to have him jailed on charges of reckless endangerment of the humans.

After protracted negotiations with both groups of fae, i.e. no one was trying to assassinate anyone, etc. and even more protracted dealings with the Health Department and a very thorough examination of the kitchen. The Dal may stay open on a probationary level, provided there are no other incidents of this nature.

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Trick meanwhile, is back to square one with the cook situation, this time though he asks Kenzi for her help, for the human perspective. He also let it be known that while they still wanted a fae cook, they wanted someone who actually could cook for humans, he was very careful about his wording of the statement. When the day of the interviews came he and Kenzi came in to the pubs dining area to find several candidates already waiting. Kenzi being all business like handed out questionnaires to all the candidates. Trick barely paid attention to the soon to be employees at first, but Kenzi was making sure to observe their faces closely as she handed out the paperwork. Moving back to the table she scratched out a little note on the notepad she had brought with her.

"Two and five from the left dislike humans, not good for customer relations." the note read that she pushed toward him, and he looked at her with his brows drawn together but nodded his head. She quickly folded the paper over so that the note was covered and waited for the applicants to complete the paperwork and return it to them. The process went fairly smoothly from there. Rather than whisper which Kenzi had often been informed most fae could hear anyway so why bother, she would write the notes and pass to Trick. Some of them like the first Trick understood easily. Kenzi had detected some hint that the fae was unfriendly or intolerant of humans. Some of the notes were perplexing like "Ask him if he can make mac and cheese?" Finally they were down to the last three applicants and it had only taken a couple of hours to go through the whole process with Kenzi's help, Trick was pleasantly surprised.

They soon discovered that the first young male fae was human friendly and was able to prepare several human and fae meals but would only be able to work a few hours a week, not the many hours that Trick would need someone to work at the Dal. Trick promised to keep him in mind for a part time position. The next applicant a young woman began explaining her plans for the Dal. When she got to the part about putting a chocolate fountain in front of the fireplace and a salad bar along one wall…Trick was already nodding before he ever read the note that Kenzi gave him that said emphatically, "OH, HELL NO!"

The next applicant had reddish blond curly, cut in a pixie cut. After the "salad bar girl" as Kenzi was determined to call her for all future storytelling purposes had left in something of a huff. The woman stood up and moved towards them with a conspiratorial grin and said, "Thank heavens, I understand the "humanizing" you wish to bring to your establishment, all for it, actually. But a salad bar? You'd lose all the charm of the place…and yes young lady. I do know how to make mac and cheese and not out of a box either. Try mine and you will never go back to the box again." She said with a wink, Kenzi thought the fae woman looked to be in her mid- to late thirties, but with fae it was hard to tell. Dyson looked to be that age and he was several centuries old. "Now I understand what you have in mind sir and I have a few menus I worked on while I was sitting here. I think if we had a couple of discreet chalk boards among the decorations on the walls it would cut down on the need for a menu. I would like to try and use local goods as much as possible. That will help cut down on cost and if we do seasonal, we'll have fresher product for the customer." She said animatedly as she showed them the menus, there were four. Each she explained was for a different season. She continued that she thought the menu and shopping would be done weekly to take advantage of the freshest ingredients. Kenzi was sold when the woman told her about the mac and cheese. Trick was sold when the woman started talking about saving money.

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Her name was Anya and after a day of cleaning, studying the lay of the pub, and restocking the pantry; the Dal had its grand reopening the next day with Kenzi and Bo again inviting several humans they knew and Dyson and Hale doing the same with the fae. They had just finished putting up the chalkboards when the dinner crowd started arriving. Although it had taken a few weeks for the taint of the Eric debacle to clear, the new food and the warmer atmosphere began to draw the fae back and pull in the human crowds. They became so popular that not only did they have to start taking takeout orders they expanded their lunch menu to cover more than sandwiches. They even hired the young male fae to help out part time.

On their three month anniversary of the grand reopening, during a rare quiet spell in the Dal, Kenzi, Bo, Dyson, Hale, Trick, the pixie busgirl, Fleur, and the part time cook Rafe all sat down at one of the tables nearest the fireplace. Each had already been given a ham sandwich with a thick slice of ham on homemade bread and salad greens. Anya came into the room carrying covered crockery baking dish and several bowls and utensils. Fleur quickly stood up and passed out the eating utensils as Anya took the lid off the baking dish. Kenzi squealed, "Steamy golden goodness" as she scooped out a more than generous portion of the macaroni and cheese. "Enjoy" Anya said with a smile as she turned and headed back to the kitchen to prepare for the dinner crowd. Kenzi later admitted Annie was right though; there was no going back after eating her homemade mac and cheese.

A/N-Ok if I do a prologue I usually try to add the first chapter as well. Secondly since I usually post my story I'll Be Coming Around on Fridays decided to try posting this one on Mondays. More to love. Hope everyone enjoys and reviews. They help me write better. Thank you for reading.