The bread was crispy and golden. Smelled of the onions I fried it in. But I was not done.
I needed something to turn this orc from a would-be lumberjack to a dear friend.
It was time for the cheese to enter the world stage.
The orc's eyes were wide, as I began to grind the mozzarella. Pure white, like freshly fallen snow. Falling on the two slices of bread so, as if it was meant to be together with the bread.
A love story which was going to end up in the orc's stomach.
The fire under the pan crackled merrily. I placed the other slice of bread over the one with the cheese. Joined them together in a tasty union.
"Sylvan," Mael said, his hand hovering over the pan. "I'm hungry."
I had him! His soul was mine to do with as I pleased.
"Let the cheese melt," I told him, gently slapping his hand. "Let it melt and stretch. Let the bread soak up all the aromas of the onions. Let them… be reborn. Reshaped!"
Mael whimpered.
"And while we are waiting for that," I had no mercy for him. He had come here with a two-handed axe. His intention towards my old girl clear. "Let me just see if I have some apples."
Mael closed his eyes, his hand going to a medallion around his neck.
Man… I was beginning to like this.
Maybe…
No! I had to see what would happen with the orc after he ate the food, before taking such a big step!
Before I began to defend my tree with campfire cooking!
I already knew I had apples. Golden ones. So sweet, they didn't even need sugar. They were for the dessert. Best eaten when warm.
I busied myself with goring them. Then I took some walnuts and crushed them. Some honey went in with the walnuts.
Soon, the holes in the apples were filled with walnuts and honey. Just in time, too because the grilled cheese sandwich was done.
I smiled at Mael.
Mael smiled back.
"I am not done yet," I told him. My eyes were probably twinkling. They always did so when I was torturing people with food porn.
"Sylvan, if I don't get anything to eat in the next five minutes, I will swing you over my shoulder and carry you to my tribe. My wife will kill to eat like this every day!"
I resisted the urge to breathe out a sigh of relief. Sometimes, the romancing with food backfired.
I was not interested in such things anymore. Sure, I looked young, but there was something wrong about a ten-thousand-year-old nymph getting together with people, not even a tenth of his age.
"I can pack a little something for her, if you'd like?" What can I say? If bribing is the name of the game, one had to play it.
"Sylvan… I'm hungry," he looked at me so, as if he was considering really carting me off to become his personal chef. I really needed to be careful with this one.
"Give me a minute," I told him, as I took the grilled cheese sandwich, and then placed the pan with the apples in its place. Soon, the lid was on and burning logs were placed on top of it.
Now, for the finishing touch.
I cut the grilled cheese sandwich in half. I placed some of the meat on top, and then because I was evil, I cut up some cabbage.
This sandwich was not for me. There was no way it would fit in my mouth.
But Mael was twice as tall as me, and his head was massive. Besides, if the noises his stomach made were any indication, he'd polish the sandwich in a minute.
"Mael," I said, as I placed a single mind-altering mushroom on top. It looked like a normal white one.
I had created it during my early years, while I still cared that my old girl was a dungeon. Back before the barrier.
"Yes? Is this all for me?" The orc reached out; I gave him the sandwich.
"Yes. I'll just eat some apples when they are done," because I was a dungeon core and ate the mana produced from my tree. That is not to say that I couldn't eat food.
I did. I liked it too.
It was more of a comfort eating thing. It did nothing for my hunger.
I watched on, as Mael ate half the sandwich in one bite. He closed his eyes, some of the cabbage fell on the ground.
As he chewed, I considered my options.
It was important that I placed my order as soon as possible. The mind-altering mushroom was on the half he was chewing now!
"Mael, would you like to learn how to cook like me?" I asked him because an orc would be dead useful in chasing tourists away. That two-handed axe had enough scratches on it to prove it was well-used.
Mael swallowed, his eyes glazed over. I could see he was considering it.
"Can I bring my wife too?" He asked.
"And your children as well!" He looked like the type to have children. Small orcs grew up to be big and strong orcs.
And with the food I planned on feeding them, they were going to end up just as strong as their father. If not stronger!
Mael looked at my old girl behind me, then at the half of the sandwich he was yet to eat. Did he not eat the mushroom? Or maybe he did not chew it?
I ran a hand through my blonde hair. Darn it, did I mess it up?
"Let me eat some of the apples, and then we can talk," he ate the other half of the sandwich, closing his eyes and forgetting all about me.
I was sweating bullets. The sandwich was not enough! What if he cuts my tree? My immortality was in danger!
I stared at the pan with the apples. Prayed to the heavens that I had not put too much honey.
But as I served one apple to Mael and looked on as he all but swallowed it whole, I knew that I had to go back to being a dungeon core.
Food alone was not going to cut it.
Not in the quantities I could produce by myself.
And I… wanted to live at least to one million years, darn it all! To see my old girl covered with blossoms and leaves once more.
Just like in our youth.