Page 29 of From the Edge

“Let’s find you a room. How close do you want to be to the baby?”

He laughed. “You mentioned there are other rooms?”

“The rooms are all set for sound dampening. It was a gathering house, after all. No one needed to hear couples going off.”

He smiled. “There is a certain delicate music to it.”

“Right. I am putting you next to the baby.”

He chuckled.

“Yeah, well, anyway, I will show you where you can stay after dinner.”

He nodded.

“Can you use that cleansing fire? You are a little musky.”

A wave of dark fire moved over him, and he was less sweaty.

“Can I do anything?”

“Well, you can greet Yorwell. He just showed up. I invited a bunch of folks for dinner.”

She touched the wooden bowls full of bread, and they flew out and into the dining room. One by one, the food flew into the dining room and took up position on the sideboard. A heat spell kept everything warm.

She hummed and got everything ready. She heard the chimes sounding, and the ladies who were staying for dinner came in, and the others got to their vehicles and left.

The guys came upstairs, and the healer whispered. The guys cleaned up, and it got quite a bit less musky than when they had entered the kitchen.

One of them asked, “May we help, miss?”

“No, have a seat at the table, or help the new family down.”

Another orc asked, “Where do you sit?”

“Head of the table. No one else can sit there.”

They nodded as if it was fair.

The small squeaks of the baby were coming from the dining room. Mell never missed a meal if Rowan was cooking.

She looked around, and the pies were waiting. She got the ice cream containers and a scoop out, letting them warm up from rock-hard.

A gentle chiming filled the dining room, and she walked in and settled at the head of the table. There were a lot of people. She smiled. “We have water and lemonade. I don’t like the smell of beer and wine.”

The orcs barely heard her. They were staring at the buffet.

Rowan smiled. “Norecayet, please fill up plates for Mell and yourself. Then the ladies, and then everybody else unless Yorwell wants to serve Lucia.”

Lucia blushed, and Yorwell squeezed her hand, bending his head to hers.

Mik chuckled, and Norecayet got up and went to carve pieces from the roast and the two chickens that Rowan had roasted on the off chance that there were a lot of guests. She was glad she had made that call. When he brought the towering plates back to the table, the ladies got up. Lucia said, “I will get you a plate, Yorwell.”

There was some laughing as the ladies jostled for food. Rowan smiled as the guys waited and jumped to their feet the moment the ladies sat down.

Rowan gestured, and her plate filled and settled in front of her a moment before the remaining guests got to the meal.

Mell picked up one of the puddings and said, “Good job, Rowan.”