The maid bowed toward me, causing me to do the same instinctively.

“Oh honorable guest, please don’t do that, the master would be upset,” a mix of awkwardness and fear remained on her face.

I placed my right fist in front of my lips, coughing to it, regaining my posture.

“Yes...” My eyes began from left to right, taking a detailed look at the lightful kitchen.

There was a stand with cooking utensils, leaving the middle with a fireplace, an outdated oven with a black cauldron inside, resting on top of a metal grid. To the right section, a table in front of some benches with a pile of washed dishes. Probably the right place for people to sit and eat. In the middle, there was a large wooden table, with some knives and ingredients. Between the shelf and the walls of the chimney, there was a similarly red door, potentially leading to a storage.

The light brown-haired maid moved her hand to the right, signalling me to move there.

Without having the reason or will to contest her gentle smile, I nodded lightly and headed towards one of the benches.

“So, it is true about you having a tail and a different kind of ears.”

Her comment made me take a side look at her, having my body faced the table.

“Yes, yes I do,” I replied without being sure of what to say or add.

“You’ve been the hot topic since you arrived here yesterday.”

Noticing how chattery this one was, I adjusted my seated bum towards her.

“Really? What did they mention about me?”

Her mouth smiled briefly, having captured my attention.

“Well, before that, is there anything the young lady doesn’t like?” Her slender fingers pointed at an agglomeration of ingredients.

My eyes passed over them, not knowing less than half of them, causing the maid to giggle at my rising eyebrow and tilted ears.

“I...”

Without waiting for my reply, as the maid had obtained all the information she wanted, her hands began flowing, slowly, but skilfully. Those were not the gestures of an amateur. I, who had seen my family cooking, knew it well. Not that they were chefs, but when we do something daily out of need, there’s a routine that grants us experience.

Upon noticing my gaze, she picked two light brown eggs, each in their respective hand, cracking both. In my eyes I could swear they broke at the same time, opening them for a transparent liquid to follow, stalked by a yellow, small, orange sun. Both fell into a frying pan, a large piece of black metal, with a dark blue and long handle.

‘Isn’t that too big for two eggs?’ Back at home, there was a selection of cooking utensils, having at least 6 different sizes of frying pans, and a small one that I enjoyed using. It contained the perfect size for a fried egg.

“Depends on the recipe,” she winked at me, causing my lips to curve slightly.

With a wood spoon, the two different liquids merged together, creating a singularity. This went on till it became completely merged, giving birth to a vivid orange.

My ears twitched along with my focused eyes, who remained still on her figure, moving between her thin self and her skilled hands.

“These are... do you know what they are?” On top of her palms there laid little red balls, similar to little rubies.

“Jewels?” I questioned unsure causing her to chuckle.

“I see...” she dropped them on the frying pan, in an isolated spot to the previous ingredient.

I tilted my head to the side, waiting patiently for her answer. For the clarification I felt that she owed me.

“These are snake eggs. They’re very good!” Her face beamed with joy, a mood that I wasn’t sure I could follow, so I gave it my best, ending up on doing an awkward face with an odd smile.

‘I wonder what they taste like...’

This maid was nothing like I thought her to be, for kindness and sweetness followed her every gesture and word.

“I’m Yuki,” my eyes blinked twice, stealing a glimpse of her light brown ones.

With a mischievous smile, she returned my behaviour, “my name is Sara, one of the nightly maids.”

‘Nightly maids?’ Inside my mind, I pondered on those words for a while, coming to the understanding that they worked during the evening shift.

“Is there a need to work through the night?”

“You’d be surprised at the many mouths I feed during quiet times like these, most of them with my hands,” she blushed slightly, quickly hiding her face behind her hair.

“Hum...” I muttered, unaware of her meaning, noticing her cut a tomato in slices. Quickly followed by a cabbage, onions, and placing a bit of greenery on top of the eggs.

“What’s that?”

She looked at me, showing the ingredient stuck between two of her fingers,” this?"

“Yes!” My tail wagged at her word, feeling slightly excited about learning more.

“Salsa, a herb with a wonderful taste.”

My mouth opened, surprised. ‘This world is quite similar to my own,’ if it wasn’t for being part of the fox kin, I would have believed that it was the same one. Yet, despite not having travelled through the entire world, it was a fact that my specie didn’t exist. Perhaps it did, but solely through a folklore from an ancient tribe.

She used the wooden spoon to pass the eggs to the top of the cabbage, thus avoiding them to get overly crispy, and potentially even burnt. With the external side of the tool, she pressured the eggs for them to spread through the greenery, adding a black powder that she called pepper and a white one that I knew, salt.

With the fire growing dimmer, a piece of wood followed after the flames, being engulfed by its bright self who gnawed at it a bit at a time.

“Mhm... delicious.”

My ears twitched at the strange new voice, initially confused, as I didn’t see Sara’s lips moving. Thus, my face followed what felt the source of the sound, checking the fire. I couldn’t help myself but to open my mouth out of shock, upon a new realization right in front of my very eyes.

“Nothing like a good piece of wood,” the flames hugged its rigidness, not wanting to partake from its side, rubbing it softly without wanting to stop chewing it.

“It talks? The fire...” my mouth closed behind my hands, unable to control my trembled self, the excitement within me along with a hint of fear from the unknown.

“Hasn’t the young lady ever seen a fire spirit?” Her eyes spoke of a common thing, an art used by many.

“I... don’t think so,” my stare remained at the flame, who lacked eyes and body parts. Whose only signature was the mouth that opened and closed, with triangular teeth that chomped at the wood mercilessly, yet quite happily at that. An emotion that I perceived from its tone and behaviour.

“Does it ever get extinguished?” Of course, that around many thoughts, using water to end the life of a fire, quickly came to mind. Not that I was afraid to the point of doing it. But alas, the curiosity in me was grand, and it aimed towards many paths, some darker than others.

“Certainly it is possible, just like how it is possible to kill,” the fire wavered, closing its mouth unhappy from the conversation, dimming itself as if to show its weak and innocent self.

“Did it get afraid?” My ears closed in on each other, leaning to the center of my head, intrigued by this fire spirit, who seemed to be far smarter than I gave it credit for.

“Yes. This one is a lesser spirit, a weakling of the fire family, but while they don’t have a knowledgeable mind, like our own, they still perceive the basics of things,” she raised a finger in the air, “yet, there are other ones far smarter than us, and those whom you should be wary of, as their knowledge often comes with a price.”

I gulped, fearful of her response. Reminded of the folklore of my hometown, and the appearance of this little fire, but most importantly of power coming with a price. My lips danced slowly, trembling at the taboo word that my grandmother hated.

“You mean like demons?”

The maid’s body shivered upon my response, stealing a glimpse of my face, discovering but an innocent expression, one of a youngster who meant no harm.

“Yuki.”

She mentioned my name for the first time in a tone that reeked of an unnatural calmness.

“We do not speak of such fiends, they are abominations, vile creatures that lay waste to our world. They are the minions of the underworld, of the named ones.”

She pushed the cooked ingredients onto a plate, delivering it to me, along with a knife and a fork made of metal.

“How are they different from the spirits?” I glanced over at the flame,” they seem the same."

Her fists clenched, savoring the toxicity of my words, the atrocity of such a comparison. Perhaps if I wasn’t a guest, she’d have struck a punishment my way, potentially something worse. Who knows? Maybe even throw her knife at me. But in a world where I didn’t know much, any new subject felt quite interesting. In my past world, spirits and demons were supposedly the same thing. The first being the souls of the deceased that were halfway to heaven, and the latter resented ones who ended up falling on an evil path. Not that I had ever seen one, nor believed in them.

“I’m sorry,” I added quickly before she could reply, seeing as how she was shaking from fury.

“From where I came, they taught us that they were the same thing.”

Sara exhaled all her air similar to losing 100kilos while at it, becoming flat. Her grip unfolded, allowing her palm to rest on the table.

“Spirits are beings that help some humans survive. Of course that they’re not entirely good, but that’s not their fault,” she inhaled some air then sighed.

“I understand. Thank you for the explanation,” I turned around, allowing my nose to follow the scent of the food she prepared me. Something within my heart didn’t want my feet to step on another accidental landmine, causing Sara to explode on the first day we met. Not only would that feel awkward, it could even lead to her fellow workers to have animosity towards me.

With my mouth stuffed with delicious food, I voiced out with some difficulty as it was hot. So I did my best to speak while breathing the food within to cool it down, “th-is ve-ry go-od.”

“I’m glad the young lady likes it,” her haughty tone, followed by her hand, placing a cup of water next to my plate. A clank sound echoed from the force of the glass hitting the wood. It didn’t shatter, though.

‘To think they would loathe demons in both worlds...’ further thoughts roamed my mind as she walked away, while the fire grew brighter and my stomach slowly filled.

‘Humans discriminate beasts, and loathe demons, yet are in favour of spirits through the use of art,’ I nodded lightly, organizing the information calmly, finding it ironic.

Unable to hold myself back, I faced the maid once again. After sipping a bit of the fresh and clean water; holding the plate with my left hand, and fork with my right one.

“Sara, what kind of amazing art does one need to use to get a remarkable spirit like that?”

Her eyes twitched from my words, following it by her lips curving upwards. She looked at me proudly, following it up with blabbering.

“Some individuals learn spiritual arts. These are the type that allow you to get a spirit.”

After stuffing my mouth with three spoons, I grabbed the water to gulp it all down. After managing it, and coughing twice from eating too fast, I questioned her, “how do we learn it?”

“That’s no simple task,” she muttered, closing her eyes, reminiscing about the time the mistress underwent the process.