Preparations, One-Shot

On the other side of the portal, Remy, Reepicheep, Remy's brother and father, and Reepicheep's mice allies arrived at the Evenshire Camp. Remy looked around in amazement.

"Wow! You live here?" asked Remy, excited.

Reepicheep corrected him. "Actually, I live in Narnia. The King and Queen of Narnia, and their cousin, came with me here. We were sent by Aslan."

"Hm. This Aslan fellow must be pretty important," said Django.

"That's right." Aslan approached the rats and mice. "I am important, but I'm also willing to help anyone who needs it."

Remy asked Aslan, "Where's your kitchen?"

"Right this way," said Aslan. "You won't be working in the kitchens yet, due to the talking animals' contest, but you're allowed to give it a look."

"So, does this mean this was the animals' doing? The ones living here?" asked Emile, nervous.

"That's correct," said Aslan. He eventually stopped in front of one of the pavilions. "Here is the campsite's kitchen. The animals are already busy at work making the food for tonight."

Remy said, bravely, "I'm going in."

"Remy, Aslan said the place is busy," said Django. "Why do you have to go in now?"

Remy cried, "I don't know. I'm interested."

Remy entered the kitchen pavilion. Inside the enclosed pavilion, Remy looked in wonder. Yes, there were animals busy cooking for dinner that evening. But Remy's interest fell on what the animals were cooking, as well as all the equipment available. He was impressed indeed, as all the appliances looked advanced, more so than they had been at home. One of the animals noticed Remy and asked him:

"Hey, what are you doing in here? No rats allowed," said the animal, shooing Remy.

"Please, I only wanted to look," said Remy. He scampered out of the kitchen pavilion. He said, frustrated, "They're not allowing rats inside the kitchen."

Aslan huffed. "The animals here are taking things far too strict."

"No rats allowed," said Remy, repeating. "Maybe it was a mistake coming here."

Aslan said, "No, it was right for you to come." He told the animals coming towards him and the others, "Remy has come to take on your contest."

"Does he now?" asked the cat. "Well, the others have yet to bring out their chefs. I did say in a few weeks."

Remy protested, "You wanted a contest. So, let's settle things now."

The cat laughed. "You're a speedy fellow. A few weeks, nothing less. Make yourselves comfortable while you're at it."

After the cat and her animal group walked off, a Dalmatian approached Aslan, the mice, and the rats. She told Remy, "Don't mind them. Not all us talking animals here on the limbo world Peradus aren't as evil or bullies."

"You mean we're in another world? No one told us that," said Django.

Remy asked the Dalmatian, "Who are you?"

"I'm Janus. My daughter Daedra's around here somewhere," said the Dalmatian, in introduction. "If you need a place to sleep, you can use my tent."

Emile asked, "Is there any place we can eat?"

Janus pointed out. "That pavilion up ahead. There's plenty to eat there. Just be careful of the more bully some animals."

As Emile and the mice charged off, Django with them, Remy returned his gaze to Janus. "So, how did you end up in a place like this?"

"This limbo world wasn't always in control of the sinister talking animals. It used to be a free world, where people and animals united as equals. Then something happened that changed everything," said Janus. "If only things were back to the more peaceful times, we would be much happier. But still, it feels like a dream."

Aslan informed her. "Do not fear or worry. There will come a time when things will be new again."

Janus sighed. "It isn't that simple. I may not live to see things change."

Aslan told her. "You must not give up hope, Janus. You must have faith and keep it."

Janus nodded. She told Remy, "I'll show you to my tent. I have a recipe book you can look through."

"Great, but I could figure out what to make without using recipes," said Remy.

Janus chuckled. "You must have a gift, if you understand food."

Aslan grinned. "He'll do fine."

In the few weeks that followed, the talking animals brought their chefs, people and animal, to the Evenshire Camp. Remy was surprised to see so many chefs arrive just for one contest. He returned to Janus' tent often to look through the recipes. Each one was different, depending on the course, and yet Remy felt he could master them all no problem.

Before the official contest was held, there were five practice rounds each chef had to perform. Each of the practice rounds tested the chefs on their ability, skill, and so on. Most of the animals could not believe a rat was taking part in the contest. Remy, with his rat crew, performed admirably on the five rounds. The judges were amazed and brought Remy through the ranks. Only one judge questioned Remy's ability to cook, often giving him low to moderate scores.

By the time the practice rounds were over, Remy was called over by the tough judge.

"Yes, Mister Judge?" asked Remy, curious and nervous.

The tough judge inquired. "You perform admirably to the other judges, but where is your heart in the cooking?"

"What?" asked Remy. "My skills as a cook are good, and I do them by the heart."

"Do you? If you wish to test that, you'd turn out poorly. If you want to impress me, trying making food from the heart. A dish that you find you love so much to make that you can't resist it. I need to see more heart, if you want to compete in the contest." The tough judge interrupted. "No, I do not think you need improvement on your other skills. But yes, you've managed to land in the contest. Show me more heart for the next rounds."

"How am I supposed to do that, sir?" asked Remy, stunned.

"Find it inside yourself and you will see what I mean," said the tough judge. "You may go."

Remy bounded out of the grand pavilion. Put more heart into his cooking? He was already doing that… maybe he wasn't doing enough. Then again…

"Remy, can I accompany you?" asked Reepicheep, bounding towards him.

"Certainly," said Remy.

"So, how did you do, my friend?" asked Reepicheep.

"The tougher judge says I need to put more heart into my cooking. I wonder what he means by that. I'm already a good cook," said Remy.

"I see. Maybe you need to show how much you care about cooking," said Reepicheep.

"Yes, but it needs to go into a recipe," said Remy.

"Remy if you're good at something, you would put your heart into it. Maybe what you're lacking is the heart. You'll figure it out," said Reepicheep.

"I'm doing everything I can," said Remy, glum.

"Maybe you need to put more effort into your cooking. That's all that he meant," said Reepicheep.

"You're right. I know you're right." Remy darted off, "I'm going back to Janus' tent. Thanks for the talk." The second he returned to Janus' tent, Remy searched through the recipe book. He disturbed Janus' sleep a little; as soon as she went back to sleep, Remy returned to his search. He eventually found the recipe he liked. "Ah. This recipe is my favorite." He perked up, as an idea struck him. Maybe he could use the recipe to please the tough judge. Of course, he wasn't sure how it would go on the day of the contest. He would have to wait and see.