Chapter 138: Mira Tried Cooking

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: Mira Tried Cooking

Saturday morning came with sunlight through the east window and the smell of something burning in the kitchen.

Kai woke to the smell and was on his feet before he was fully awake.

He found Mira at the counter with the frying pan in her right hand and the board in her left and the particular expression of someone who had made a decision and was now dealing with the consequences.

The eggs were black.

She looked at the wall near his shoulder.

She held up the board.

It said: I wanted to make breakfast.

Kai looked at the pan. He looked at Mira. He looked at the smoke rising from the stove.

"You cannot see the eggs," he said.

Mira held the board.

She wrote: I can hear them.

He looked at the pan.

"They are burning," he said.

Mira wrote: I know.

She set the pan down.

She looked at the wall near his shoulder.

She said: "I wanted to try."

He looked at her.

He took the pan from the stove and turned off the heat. He opened the window. The smoke drifted out into the morning air.

He looked at Mira.

She was still holding the board. Her ears were pink.

He said: "Let me show you."

---

He took her hand and placed it on the edge of the counter beside the stove.

He said: "The heat from the pan. You can feel it through the counter. When the eggs are close to done the heat changes. It gets sharper. More intense."

Mira held the counter.

She said: "I did not know that."

"Now you do," he said.

He cracked two new eggs into the pan.

He guided her hand to the handle.

He said: "Feel the pan. The weight. When the eggs are still liquid the pan feels one way. When they start to set it changes."

Mira held the handle.

She stood very still.

The eggs cooked.

She said: "It is changing."

"Yes," he said.

She said: "The heat is sharper."

"Yes."

She said: "Now."

He looked at the pan.

The eggs were done.

He said: "Yes. Now."

She turned off the heat.

She stood at the counter with the pan in her hand and the board in her other hand and the particular expression of someone who had just learned something new.

She held up the board.

It said: I made breakfast.

Kai looked at the eggs.

They were slightly overdone on one side. The edges were crispy. The center was still soft.

He said: "You did."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: It is not perfect.

He looked at the eggs.

He said: "It is perfect."

Mira held the board.

She looked at the wall near his shoulder.

She set the board face-down.

She said: "Thank you."

---

Shira came out at eight.

She looked at the eggs on the table. She looked at Mira. She looked at Kai.

She said: "What happened."

Kai said: "Mira made breakfast."

Shira looked at the eggs.

She said: "The eggs are slightly overdone on one side."

Mira held up the board.

It said: I know.

Shira looked at the board.

She picked up her fork.

She ate the eggs.

She said: "They are good."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: You are lying.

Shira looked at her.

She said: "I am not lying. They are good."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: The eggs are burned.

Shira looked at her bowl.

She said: "Slightly overdone on one side. Not burned."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: You are being kind.

Shira looked at her.

She said: "I am being accurate."

Mira held the board.

She set it face-down.

She picked up her fork.

She ate.

---

After breakfast, Kai cleared the table.

Shira went to the second bedroom. The form started at eight-forty. The signal ran clean. Thirty-four past the cutoff.

Mira stayed at the table.

She had the board face-up.

She wrote: I want to go to the market.

Kai looked at the board.

"The market," he said.

She wrote: The one from the first month. The specialty one. The old woman.

Kai looked at the board.

"You want to go back," he said.

She wrote: I want to choose the ingredients. For the specialty rotation.

He looked at her.

She held the board.

She wrote: I have been listening to the RF-7. Reading the frequency of the ingredients. I know what the rotation needs.

He looked at her.

He said: "The rotation is balanced. The market woman gave me the schedule."

Mira wrote: I know. I want to adjust it.

He looked at her.

She wrote: For the node. The frequency is developing. The rotation should develop too.

He looked at the board.

He looked at the second bedroom doorway.

Shira was still running the form.

He said: "Let me tell Shira."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: She will want to come.

"I know," he said.

---

The form stopped.

Shira came out of the second bedroom.

She positioned herself at the table.

She looked at Kai.

She looked at Mira.

She said: "The market."

Kai looked at her.

"You heard," he said.

"I hear everything," she said.

She looked at Mira.

She said: "You want to adjust the rotation."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: Yes.

Shira looked at the board.

She said: "You want to choose the ingredients."

Mira wrote: Yes.

Shira looked at the board.

She said: "You want me to come."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: Yes.

Shira looked at her.

She looked at the table.

She said: "The old woman. The one from the first month."

Mira wrote: Yes.

Shira looked at the table.

She said: "She helped you. Before the filing. Before the verdict. Before any of it."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: She helped Kai. She helped all of us.

Shira looked at the table.

She said: "Then we go."

---

The cab arrived at eleven.

The market was forty minutes away. The same block between the pharmacy and the herbalist. The same smell of dried things and old wood.

Kai pushed Shira’s chair. Mira walked beside them with the cane and the board and the particular quality of someone who had been mapping the route in her head since the morning.

They reached the shop.

The old woman was behind the counter.

She looked at Kai.

She looked at Shira.

She looked at Mira.

She said: "You are the young man from the first month. The one who bought the Sun-Moon fruit."

Kai said: "Yes."

She looked at Shira.

She looked at Mira.

She said: "These are your wives."

Kai said: "Yes."

She looked at them both.

She said: "The specialty rotation."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: Yes.

The old woman looked at the board.

She looked at Mira.

She said: "You are the one who reads frequency."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: Yes.

The old woman nodded.

She said: "Come to the back. I have something."

---

The back of the shop was warm and cluttered.

The old woman led them past shelves of dried herbs and jars of powders and roots wrapped in cloth.

She stopped at a cabinet.

She opened it.

She took out a small box.

She set it on the counter.

She said: "This is a node herb. The kind that grows near frequency deposits. It is not in the standard rotation."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: How did you know.

The old woman looked at her.

She said: "My husband was a dungeon assessor. Thirty-one years. He knew the frequency patterns. He knew what grew where."

The table went quiet.

Shira looked at the old woman.

She said: "Your husband."

The old woman looked at her.

She said: "He filed complaints. Four of them. They were returned."

Shira looked at her.

She said: "You are like Dorothy."

The old woman looked at her.

She said: "I am like Dorothy."

She opened the box.

Inside were small dried leaves. Purple and silver. They shimmered faintly in the light.

She said: "This is the herb he found. Near the northern B-rank. Before the classification was changed."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: The northern B-rank.

The old woman said: "Yes."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: The secondary resonance.

The old woman looked at her.

She said: "You know about the resonance."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: I am the frequency analyst for the reclassification.

The old woman looked at her.

She looked at the box.

She said: "Then this is for you."

She pushed the box across the counter.

Mira held the board.

She wrote: How much.

The old woman said: "Nothing."

Mira held the board.

She wrote: I cannot take it for nothing.

The old woman looked at her.

She said: "My husband kept it for thirty-one years. He said someone would need it eventually. Someone who reads frequency. Someone who knows what to look for."

She looked at Mira.

She said: "You know what to look for."

The table was quiet.

Mira held the board.

She set it face-down.

She reached for the box.

She held it.

She said: "Thank you."

Out loud.

The old woman looked at her.

She said: "You are welcome."

---

They left the market at noon.

Mira held the box. Shira held the board that Mira had set face-down and picked up again without looking at it.

Kai pushed Shira’s chair.

Nobody said much.

At the cab, Shira said: "The old woman."

"Yes," Kai said.

"She knew about the resonance," Shira said.

"She knew about the node," Kai said.

Shira looked at the box in Mira’s hands.

She said: "Her husband filed four complaints."

"Yes."

"He ran out of time," Shira said.

"Yes."

Shira looked at the box.

She said: "Mira has the herb now."

Kai looked at Mira.

Mira was holding the box. She was looking at the wall near Shira’s shoulder.

She held up the board.

It said: I will use it.

Shira looked at the board.

She said: "I know."