“What in the pile?” Mul said, looking around. “It’s all blue here!”

  “The crew decks are separate from the faculty decks,” Thobask explained from up ahead. “There are a few places in the ship where the two meet, but for the most part, it’s all kept separate.”

  “Why’s that?” Tuk asked, as they got underway.

  “Each to their own,” Thobask said. “It makes no sense for the crew to be tripping on apprentices, nor for apprentices to be worrying about having to clear the way for the crew and our loads.”

  As they turned around a bend, a pair of uniformed crew came into view, and they froze as they spotted the convoy of apprentices.

  “Ah, fucks sakes!” one of them said. “Again?”

  The pair of them seemed to belong to the same race, some sort of tall, buff looking, dark red, bald sapients, and they looked almost as though they were mirror copies of each other, meaning that they had to be family.

  But you never know… Nar thought. He had seen so many different races of sapients since exiting the Gates that he came to realize he had to let go of any preconceptions or assumptions he had carried with him out of the B-Nex. As far as he knew, these people’s entire race could be made up of people looking very similar to one another, and in fact, whatever race all the canteen personnel belonged to, they were all incredibly similar to each other as well.

  Or is that just my eyes, because I’ve never seen them before? Or because we’re from different races? He wondered. Maybe to them, we humans all look the same too…

  Up ahead, Thobask bumped his fist into the air. “Oh, yeah, baby! The kitchen takes the win again!”

  The pair of crew men stepped to the side to let their little train through, and they beamed at the awkward apprentices, revealing teeth of stark, and pure white.

  “You know it's not fair! You guys are the first people they see!” one of the red skinned crew members shouted after them.

  “Yeah, yeah! All I hear is butt hurt!” Gnathluv shouted back, grinning so widely his large mouth nearly reached his ears.

  “What was that all about?” Viy asked, before any of them did, glancing back at the pair of frowning and yet smiling crew members.

  Gnathluv chuckled. “Did you think you were the only apprentices to be curious about the food? Or the rest of the ship?”

  “Every year, all of the departments within the ship make a bet to see who is going to get visited first,” Thobask said. “Usually, we take the win. And it’s not because we’re the first one’s you see, but because we're awesome and food is awesome!”

  “Fuck, yeah!” Mul said.

  I mean, you are the first ones we see, Nar thought to himself.

  “But we don’t always win,” Thobask continued. “Sometimes you kids stumble on the maintenance crew doing some work around, like those fellas back there, or, surprisingly, you follow the laundry crew down to their sweat pit. And some other times, you guys go off exploring on your own, and manage to stumble onto the weapons decks, or engineering and the hangar bay.”

  “You guys just happen to be the first one’s this time around,” Gnathluv said. “And that means the kitchen takes the win!”

  The apprentices laughed at their good cheer, and as they continued on their journey to the kitchen, they went through several other similar encounters. The other crew members were dismayed at their loss, and Gnathluv and Thobask wasted no time rubbing win in their win with glee pouring down their faces.

  “Do you get to win anything in this bet?” Nar asked Gnathluv.

  “Pride!” Gnathluv replied, laughing. “And we get to batch cook the same meal for the crew for a whole week, which is a lot easier and faster! We’re about to get some down time this week!”

  “Yes!” Thobask shouted from the front of their convoy. “There will be some partying in the kitchen!”

  “The same food for a week?” Mul asked, confused. “Is that so bad?”

  “Eh, I guess it wouldn’t be for you guys,” Gnathluv said. “But that’s gonna change pretty soon, you’ll see! And if you spot any grumpy crew members over the next few days, you’ll know why!”

  After a few more corridors, the trays and carts rattling and squeaking as they pushed them ever deeper into the crew decks, and after being taken down lifts that were much wider and larger than the ones they were used to in the faculty decks, the apprentices found themselves arriving behind a queue of other kitchen staff and carts. As soon as they were spotted, the staff broke out in cheers and applause.

  “We did it again!” one of them shouted.

  “Fuck yeah! The crew’s gonna be eating chili for a week!”

  Nar couldn’t help but laugh at the good-natured cheer around him. However, he did notice that all of the kitchen staff seemed to be of the same race of sentient as Gnathluv and Thobask were. They were all a very pale white, with blue veins on their cheeks and on the visible patches of their skin, and their hair too, seemed to be centered around bright tones of yellow, brown and orange.

  But they’re not Ex-Climbers, though, are they? Nar thought as they slowly made their way into the kitchen. There was that one we talked to before, and he was an aethermancer. But then, why are they all the same race? Do they have some kind of affinity to cooking? Wait. Aethermancers?

  The kitchen staff slapped their backs and shook their hands in an awkward, to the apprentices, but heartwarming and effusive welcome, and they did so without any apparent concerns or need for protective gear.

  Maybe it's okay as long as neither of us is actually using our energy source, Nar thought, as he nodded and smiled, and stiffly shook the umpteenth pair of hot, sweaty palms.

  “Oh? What's this?” a voice boomed from inside, as they finally managed to push their carts through. “Is that victory I smell?”

  A loud cheer roared from within the kitchen, and a larger man of the same species strode towards them, daftly dodging and weaving through the chaos of carts being moved and unloaded.

  “Chef!” Thobask shouted. “Look what we got!”

  “Haha! I see, I see!” the man said, rubbing his chin. “Alright, kids, I’m guessing you want to see how food is made, is that it?”

  “You bet!” Tuk said, ever undeterred and at ease in any kind and form of social interaction. It was almost uncanny to Nar.

  “Alright, alright! Nothing could be more interesting aboard this whole ship!” the man said. “But I’ll do you one better! You’re going to make your own food! Bahahaha!”

  What? Nar thought, his sweat pooling in the heat of the place, and around them, the kitchen staff cheered again.

  “Alright, leave them with me,” the man said. “Come along, kids! Let’s start with the most crucial task in any kitchen… The cleaning up!”

  Lost and mildly confused, they wheeled their carts to where the man ordered them to, leaving them in a line with other carts, then he told them to unload the dirty trays of food and to follow him.

  “Alright, listen up!” the man said, as they dropped their loads with a growing pile of dirty dishes, trays and Crystal knew what else, and around them, staff members were busy furiously cleaning up all sorts of things in massive vats of steaming, soapy water.

  “You’ll call me chef,” he said. “And you will do exactly as I say, or else you’ll get hurt, and hurt my staff while doing so. The kitchen is a dangerous place if you’re not paying attention and following the rules, but it's also an exciting place, and we want to show you apprentices a good time. So, let’s make sure we all have some fun, yes?”

  “Yes, chef!” they shouted in unison.

  “Good. They’ve put the fear of discipline in you already,” the chef said, grinning. “First things first, then. Get in there and wash your hands, all of you! Hygiene is critical in the kitchen, and we don’t want to be spreading anything onto the food and the people eating it!”

  They all took turns washing their hands, with the chef watching them and giving them tips and pointers.

  “You should also start washing your hands a lot more from now on, especially before eating… Right, then, you, your arms and hands are bandaged, so stay away from dirty water. Or any water, really, even if that stuff is waterproof,” the chef told Tuk. “Then from you to you, you’re going to help unload the dirty stuff from the carts area. And you, you, you, and you, you’re getting your hands wet! Get to it!”

  Nar stepped forward as one of the staff washing trays beckoned to him, Mul, Jul and Viy.

  “Gloves on!” he said, throwing a pair of bright yellow, thick gloves at each of them, and splattering them in the process with hot soapy water. “Then grab a dirty tray, and scrub them with these, until everything in it is gone! I want to see those trays shining!”

  Nar pulled up the gloves all the way to nearly his shoulders, and whatever material the gloves were made of, it stretched and tightened to accommodate for the size and width of his arms.

  “There are no sharp objects in this tank,” the same man told them. “So just dive in, and get to scrubbing! Once all the food is gone, pass it on to the next sink.”

  They all found themselves separated into different washing sinks, and soon, Nar found himself losing track of time, as he sweat and grit his teeth to get every last shred of dried, caked in food out from the metal trays. The woman beside him urged him to go ever faster as she took the cleaned trays from him, washed them with soap one more time, and then and then stacked the trays on a new cart at her side.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Once the pile of clean trays grew to a certain level, someone would show up from the chaos to collect them, while on the other side, one of the other kitchen staff continued bringing in more and more dirty trays, in a seemingly endless procession of them.

  Crystal… Nar said, blowing the sweat from the tip of his nose. I take it back! How is this so hard?

  “Hard work, isn’t it?” the chef said, appearing again to check in on them. “Making food is a labor of love and hard work. And today, you’re going to see what that means! Come on, you’re done here, follow me! Let’s go wash our hands again!”

  Hurrying to drop his gloves and follow after the others, they got their hands washed once more, and followed after the chef. They entered a quieter, and smaller area of the kitchen next, which was kept separate from the chaos outside. Around them, on the wall, were several screens with images on them, as well as massive trays in front of each of said screens. And looking up, Nar spotted a big red number painted on the wall above each screen.

  “This is the storage,” the chef explained to them, and he dragged his finger across the screen, showing them how more and more pictures appeared. “Food is either farmed, harvested or taken from beasts and plants. Sometimes monsters too! The pictures you see on these screens are all the ingredients that are going to be going into either today’s lunch or tonight’s dinner. Each screen has a number assigned to it, and that means that the stuff you can get from it all belongs to the same cooking station, where the staff will be making a specific set of dishes. For example…”

  He pressed his thick index against the screen, and a big, long wrapped up slab of something materialized on the tray in front and below the screen. “Number 4 is preparing thaluvan beef stew for tonight’s dinner, and of course, you can’t do that without the thaluvan beef.”

  “So, that’s meat?” Mul asked, eyeing the very dark red, wrapped slab.

  “That it is,” the chef said, hoisting up and dumping it into the brawler's arms. “And you’re going to have the honor of carrying it and tenderizing it.”

  He quickly brought out more slabs of meat and distributed them amidst half of them.

  “As for you guys,” he said, beckoning Nar, Viy, Teb and Jul closer. “You’re on potato duty!”

  And having said so, he spread heavy bags of yellow skinned, misshapen spheres amongst them.

  “You can handle it, yes?” he asked Jul, without any malice in his tone.

  “Yes, chef!” she said.

  “Good. Follow me!”

  They followed after the chef and once more plunged into the chaos of the kitchen, until they reached a set of tables demarcated by a red line on the floor. Above them, a sign with the number 4 swayed from two thin chains.

  “Potatoes that way! Meat with me!” he called.

  Nar carried the potatoes over to where another member of the kitchen staff called them to.

  “Dump the potatoes into the water,” he said.

  Nar did as he was told, and found that the enormous sink was already close to full to the brim with hundreds of potatoes.

  “You two, gloves, and get to scrubbing those potatoes. I don’t want to see any dirt on them! Uh… That’s the black stuff attached to them,” he said, reaching in to grab a potato and to show Nar and Viy what he meant. “And you two, with me. You’re on peeling duty.”

  And with that, Nar and Viy got to cleaning the potatoes.

  “We were right to be worried,” Viy told him, as they huddled up and bent down over the massive sink to get started.

  Nar chuckled and shook his head. “Trust Tuk to get us into trouble.”

  “Right? It was supposed to be our rest day!” she muttered.

  Nar laughed out loud. “It was! But you’ve got to admit it, this is fun, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah…” she said, smiling as she examined her potato for any leftover signs of dirt. “Never in a million years would I have thought that this is where our food comes from, or that this is how it’s made… It’s worth Climbing just to eat this stuff.”

  Nar nodded, throwing a potato into the clean pile. “It’s… Crazy, isn’t it? All of this. Everything, really, and everyday there’s something else.”

  “I knew it would be different out here,” she said. “Pile! It had to be! Otherwise, what was the whole point of getting out? But this… Everything we’ve seen? Crystal… “

  Nar nodded, and he was too lost for words.

  “And now that Tuk knows he can wander around without worry, we’re never going to see him again!” Viy said.

  Nar laughed with her. “He’ll know everyone on the ship in a few weeks!”

  “And by name!” Viy added.

  Still smiling, Nar looked over his shoulder, and found the others hammering down on chunks of meat amidst raging fits of laughter. It was good to see everyone having fun. While cooking was undeniably hard work, and he noticed they were being kept away from any aethertech, it was a welcome reprieve from all the worry and harshness that had consumed them during the past two weeks.

  This was probably their first time fully relaxing for a good while, and there was no denying that going straight from the Ceremony of Final Atonement and months of Climbing, onto their insane training hadn’t done a number on them. So, Nar smiled at their antics, happy that Tuk, Mul, Jaz, Lim and Raf were having fun, and were safe after everything they had been through.

  And speaking of…

  He cast his eyes about for Jul and Teb, and spotted them nearby. They had been seated on stools, surrounded amongst piles of cleaned potatoes, and they were furiously peeling off the yellow skin of the things. Surprisingly, they were both chatting and lightly laughing with each other. There was some awkwardness there, but Nar sensed it would soon dissipate.

  “She’s come a long way, hasn’t she?” Viy asked, following his gaze.

  “She has,” Nar said, unable to look away from the sight of Jul’s joy.

  “Most of the Climb is more nightmare than memory for me,” Viy said. “But I remember how she was in the beginning. So quiet. So scared… You’ve done well by her.”

  Nar shook his head and focused back on his potatoes. “She did it herself. All I did was believe in her.”

  Viy smiled at him, but didn’t try to correct him, and a moment of silence passed between them, punctuated by all the other craziness and shouting going on across the massive kitchen.

  “You know…” Nar eventually said. “I… I figure that Gad and Cen, and probably Kur too, already asked you but… How are you doing?”

  At his side, he felt Viy stiffen against him, and for a moment he regretted his words. However, even nearly two weeks later, he still found himself thinking about her affinity from time to time, and on impulse, he had decided to just ask her about it.

  Viy sighed. “You know, after that time, you’re actually the first one to ask.”

  Nar fumbled the potato in his hands and it plopped back into the tank, splashing his face with cloudy water.

  He stared at the spear woman. “What? Really?”

  She nodded, grimacing.

  “I think Gad and Cen have been wanting to ask, but at the same time, I think they don’t want to pry. They were probably waiting for me to bring it up… When I felt ready,” Viy said.

  Nar kicked himself internally, but Viy laughed at him.

  “Don’t make that face!” she said, and looked down at the water. “I’ve been waiting… Hoping, that someone would ask me. I know Gad and Cen are always watching me, always worried, and always ready to talk and intervene if it looks like I’m about to slip back into my old self, but, at the same time, I think they don’t know what to do, or are hoping that I will improve by myself…”

  She chuckled. “At least none of you has run off to the faculty or the healers about it! I… I don’t think I would’ve liked that, you know?”

  She looked almost embarrassed as she said the words, and as he stared at her, he felt a pang in his heart.

  “And are you alright?” he asked her.

  She exhaled a long, drawn out breath, and leaned her hands on the edges of the sink.

  “I… I don’t know,” she said, her voice low, but even. “I-I guess I’m trying to be… The affinity was a shock, yes, but I can’t say I was that surprised. I know what I am. I know what I did…”

  Nar considered the woman next to him, her long dark hair tied up in a practical way, so as to not hinder her, and her ashen pale features pained, but as beautiful as ever, her dark eyes so similar to his, though haunted, rather than whatever his were. She had been haughty at the start, yes, and then more and more unhinged as their Climb went on. However, he just couldn’t imagine what Viy could’ve done to earn such an affinity.

  Actually, he could imagine several things, each worse than the last. After all, a lot of bad stuff went down in the cubeplant, and as an Unclean, his mind conjured plenty of possibilities. However, he just couldn’t imagine Viy committing any of those things. She just didn’t seem like that kind of person… Unless, it was something related to the Unclean. Plenty of “good” people hurt them, knowing they were allowed and justified in doing so.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Nar asked, shooing the terrifying prospect off his mind, for it would be a hard thing indeed to forget.

  She shook her head. “One day, maybe. Not now.”

  “Alright,” Nar said. “But will you be okay with your affinity?”

  “I will, don’t worry about that!” she said, offering him a brave smile. “The Master of Polearms and the Master of Emotions are both talking to me, though they’re very split on it. The Master of Polearms wants me to face up to whatever it is, while the Master of Emotions seems to want me to embrace my affinity, and fully explore its potential… “ she sighed. “And I don’t know what I want yet. I guess we’ll see… The Master of Polearms got first dibs on me, apparently, and we’ll see what comes out of that.”

  “Well, I guess you caught the attention of two masters as well,” Nar said, grimacing. “That makes three of us.”

  She threw her head back in wild laughter, and bumped against him.

  “That’s what you take from this? Crystal, you’re going to be such a model apprentice, aren’ you?” she said, grinning at him. “But for now, yeah, it’s fine. And I’ll do great! Just you wait for it! You’ll see!”

  “I don’t doubt it,” Nar said, smiling back. “And, you know… We're here for you, you know? You don’t have to go at it alone, or suffer in silence, or anything like that.”

  “Yeah… Thanks, Nar, I needed that,” she said, and quickly rubbed her eyes with her arms. “But anyway, enough with the depressing shit… So, have you seen any pretty girls? Or guys? Apparently, that’s all good up here.”

  “Wait… What?” Nar asked, as shocked by the revelation as much as by the sudden change in topic. “But then… Then…”

  “How do you make babies?” Viy finished for him. “You don’t, from what I understand. That kind of stuff doesn’t matter so much to them. The ONs, I mean. Different people have different preferences and they just love whoever they want to love. No kids needed, even between male and female, or whatever many genders and races there are out there. I don’t really know why it’s so different for us in the cubeplants… And there’s that whole thing with all the races being able to match up as well.”

  “Crystal…” Nar breathed, still stunned. “Why did everything have to be so shit for us?”

  Viy shrugged. “Beats me… But yeah. What a shithole we lived in, eh?”

  They were still talking about how bad they had it in the cubeplant, when the chef came and collected them, grouping them all up once again.

  “Right,” he said. “You cleaned. You prepped. Now, you get to the good stuff. The cooking!”

  “Yeah!” Jaz cheered.

  “Follow me!” he said. “Now, none of you are blind, so you've all noticed by now that everyone in the kitchen is of the same kind. We are fanutle-seid, and we have been feeding the Scimitar for over ten thousand years!”

  “Ten thousand years?” Tuk echoed, just a beat before the rest of them.

  “Yup,” the chef said, as he guided them through a station filled with bubbling pots, steam and the noise of sizzling and banging metal, roaring heat searing the side of their faces. “The Scimitar has been in Tsurmirel’s service for a lot longer than that, but it was at about ten thousand years ago that the first fanutle-seid came on board, and slowly hired her entire family to work the kitchens! The Head Chef is still related to her!”

  Nar ducked in between quick moving cooks, avoiding the sudden columns of billowing steam and sparks of flame bursting out all around them, as the chef guided them to their next location.

  “Tonight, the Scimitar is going to jump through the gateway, and you will all finally arrive at the Endless Labyrinth,” the chef said, motioning for them to join up around an empty station. “To mark the occasion, and without spoiling too much, you kids worked hard these past two weeks, and you’re just barely out of the Climb too! So the fanutle-seid of the Scimitar are putting on a show for your palates!”

  Nar smiled as the others erupted in loud cheers, drawing smiles and laughter across the busy fanutle-seid.

  “Of course, you’ve found yourselves in the bowels of the beast,” the chef said, grinning at them. “And we aren’t the kind to turn away idle hands when they so willingly wander into our midst!”

  Oh no! Nar thought, and exchanged a worried glance with Viy.

  “So! We’ll turn on the fires! And you are going to do the cooking!” the chef said, roaring with laughter.