Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Rayla bit the inside of her cheek as they waited for the Katolis Burger Competition to start. Convincing Callum to enter had been enough of a challenge, but now she had to be his sous chef. She knew the recipe by heart because Callum had developed it in their kitchen over the past few months, but Ezran was supposed to be his sous chef. Unfortunately, Ezran had come down with the flu and Callum’s other regular sous chef was in Duren on vacation and Callum hadn’t wanted to cut their time off short.
Scrunching her nose, she looked at the ingredients. Eggplant, gochujang, sesame oil, mushrooms, beef, mozzarella, and more were laying on the table. Rayla was the designated cutter and prepper and she was going to make sure her husband won because he worked hard for this. She turned over to the other four teams, sizing them up with her glare. She knew all the restauranteurs in town after having been married to Callum for five years, but there were rivalries in the restaurant circle. This competition was a chance to show off their creativity and skills and Rayla knew Callum was the best there.
“Ray, stop glaring at everyone.”
“No. Besides, Dave still hasn’t paid for hitting on me at the last restauranteur meeting.”
“Dave’s a prick. You know that.” Callum was tapping on the table, fingers close to the knives. The table was as prepped as they were allowed to be until the buzzer announced the beginning of their cooking time.
“I know he is, but I’m still pissed at him. Suggesting I would cheat on you with him. Please. If I’m cheating on you, it would be with Kylie Minogue or Sandra Oh, not his dusty ass.”
“Good to know,” he chuckled.
“Who would be your hall pass?”
Callum paused for a moment, tilting his head as he thought. “Michaela Cole because of her accent and she looks good with a shaved head or Marion Grasby because I love a tall woman. Lucky for you, you are both tall and have an accent.”
“Not gonna lie, I thought you were going to say Nigel Ng’s Uncle Roger.”
“Just because I enjoy his videos does not mean I would use my hall pass on him.” Callum sent her a serious look but humor was dancing in his eyes.
“No, but you religiously watch his videos.”
“He’s funny." Drumming his fingers against his legs, Callum looked over the audience. "I don't see Mom or Dad. The kids probably needed to go play."
"Either that or they wanted some food. There's a few good stalls here and you know how adventurous an eater Aisling is."
“Our children have excellent taste. They got a lot of that from you, I’m sure.”
Flushing slightly, Rayla reached over and squeezed his hand. “You’re getting smoother.”
“You make me want to try.”
“Just don’t lose your dorkiness. That’s one of your more attractive features.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Class.” At Callum’s confused look, Rayla shook her head. “Means ‘great, excellent.’ I’ve never said ‘class’ before?”
“You usually say ‘magic’ or ‘belter’.”
“Huh. But you’ve heard it before. I know you have.”
“I have, just not from you. They say it a lot on Derry Girls."
"You love that show more than I do."
"It's hilarious!"
The mic from the announcer's booth went off before Rayla could say anything else. "Alright, everyone. Time to start the burger cooking competition. First, we have Dave and Ian from Dave's Seafood Bar." Dave smiled at the crowd, waving at the small gathered audience. Rolling her eyes, Rayla waited for them to go through the full roster, waving when they got to her and Callum. "There will be forty-five minutes for this competition. No one is allowed to have anything on their table that is premade unless it was pre-approved by the judges. Time begins....now!"
Grabbing the knife, Rayla got to work on cutting the onion and garlic for the sauce for the steamed eggplant. Callum got the steamer going, working on prepping the sauce so it could go in the pan when Rayla was done. A generous dose of oil and a careful heat before the onions were added, along with gochujang and garlic. Moving on to cutting the eggplant as Callum started shaping the meat into patties and seasoned them with his own homemade Italian seasoning, Rayla felt her blood pumping with adrenaline. They moved as a team; Rayla long used to helping Callum in the kitchen at home and he aware of her speed in cutting. "Don't touch the stove," he murmured when she almost added the eggplant to the steamer. "I love you more than life itself, but please do not touch anything on the stove."
She would have asked him 'why' when she realized the eggplant hadn't been coated in the sauce yet. "Dammit. Sorry."
"You're fine. I cook eggplant a lot of different ways at home; you might have been confused for a second. Just, please, put it to the side for today. Normally I can make it work if we make a mistake, but not today." Rayla moved the eggplant closer to him and focused on the mushrooms. Callum leaned over and kissed her on the side of her head. "I'm not mad."
"I know you aren't; I'm mad at myself. I've seen you make this a hundred times."
"Exactly. You've also seen me experiment with different methods." Taking out some gloves, Callum took the sauce off the heat and put the eggplant in and began to coat it in the sauce with the spoon and then his hands. "There were a few times I steamed first and then added the sauce. Your onions were perfect, small and diced just right. You're the best cutter I've got, I think."
Chuckling, Rayla bumped his hip with her's. "Nah. Ez is getting really good. What's next?" she asked as she finished cutting the mushrooms.
"I'm gonna heat the grill for the buns and the patties. Please watch them closely. When I say to, you'll add the mozzarella." Setting the grill to his liking, Callum added the six burger buns and the three hamburgers, leaving them for Rayla to watch as he finished up the eggplant and got to work on the brown sugar and soy sauce for mushrooms
Time flew by, the forty-five minutes feeling like almost nothing as a last minute call led to Callum and Rayla scrambling to layer the bun, the leftover sauce from the eggplant, some lettuce, the patty with melted cheese, mushrooms, and finally the steamed eggplant before topping it off with the other toasted bun. Taking off his gloves and tossing them, Callum sighed and wrapped Rayla in a hug. "How you feeling?"
"Exhausted," he admitted. "You?"
"Same. I am not built for this." Chuckling, he parted from the hug but continued to hold her hand as the judging began. Two others did quite well, though Dave's didn't fare so well due to a lack of balance in seasoning and sauce. When the judges got to their's, he squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
The first judge chewed for a few minutes, a contemplative look on their face. "Hmm. You can taste the spice but it's not overpowering the cheese. There's seasoning in the burger, too. Quite nice."
"I normally am not an eggplant fan, but I like this," the second judge sent them a cheery smile. "Everything goes together really well."
"The bun is toasted well and the sauces and spices compliment each other instead of fighting. That requires a lot of skill," the third judge finished, writing something down on their scoring sheet.
The judges talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, giving no hint as to how they would go. "They seemed to really like it," Rayla whispered, squeezing Callum's hand. He was sweating and looked nervous for all the world to see.
"They liked Lisa's, too. And she runs a burger place."
"All the more reason why you might have an edge. You go for the unexpected, she went classic."
"It's not about what's unexpected; it's about what tastes good."
"Take the compliment," Rayla hissed, pinching him.
"I will never accept."
"Take it," she whispered in his ear.
"No," he whispered back, grinning a bit. Rayla leaned her head on his shoulder, pleased that he plan to get him to relax had worked. His shoulder's were more relaxed and he seemed to be breathing easier. "Do you really think we have a shot?"
"Yep. But I believe in you. I fell in love with your food first, remember?"
"Yeah, you did."
"Everyone, we have our winner." Standing straight, Rayla looked at the judges, her heart pounding. "In last place, Dave and Ian from Dave's Seafood Bar." Dave groaned to the side, making Rayla smirk. They went through the other places until they got to second place. "First and second were only separated by three points. In second place is....Lisa and Orla from Old Fashioned Burgers. That means, Callum and Rayla of Sarai's Place, you are our winners!"
Callum's jaw went slack. "We won? We...we won?!"
Rayla grabbed his cheeks, smiling ear-to-ear. "We won! I knew you could do it!"
Gathering Rayla into another hug, Callum gave her a searing kiss in front of everyone. When he pulled away, he smiled. "We did it." Rayla wasn't going to dispute him; after all, she had chopped all those veg and kept an eye on the meat for him. Still, the pride burning in her chest wasn't for herself, it was entirely for Callum. As Callum talked to reporters about his restaurant and how much she supported him there and at home, she found herself falling in love with him all over again. She'd fallen in love with his food, but everyday, she chose to stay because of him and it was the best decision she continued to make.
Post-TTM Callum finds a Startouch elf to help him learn where Rayla is.
-----------------
Callum stared at the Startouch elf before him. The woman was ageless and looked at him with eyes that held such wisdom but also a sense of playfulness. Were all Startouch elves like this, he wondered. Lujanne had sent him to Najma to start his quest to find Rayla after he had gone after her. Callum still didn’t understand why she had left him behind, but he couldn’t leave her on her own when there were still people loyal to Viren’s cause out there.
“Are you Najma?” he finally asked. She had gestured him to come in when she had opened her door but they had yet to exchange a word as they had sized each other up.
The woman smiled again, moving her hand to tuck back her white hair that lay under a loose veil. “Yes.” Even her voice portrayed a sense of being far older than even the castle back in Katolis but also as young as a teenager experiencing their first love. “How can I help you, Prince Callum?”
“You…you know who I am?”
“Yes. Word has travelled fast and far of a human prince who can use the Sky arcanum without a primal stone. There has been no one like you in a very, very long time.”
That gave him pause. “Wait, there were others like me? I thought-”
“A handful of select humans were capable of figuring it out before you. I could probably count the number on my hand and I never met them myself.”
“Oh.”
“But that’s not why you are here.” Raising a glass to her lips, she watched him with warm eyes. Callum shifted in the chair she had gestured for him to sit in when he had knocked on her door. “I rarely get visitors, you know. Who sent you?”
“Lujanne.”
“Ah. We met twice. Once when she was starting her mage training and was getting in all kinds of trouble. The second time…well, Lujanne had failed one too many times and was being sentenced to guard the Moon Nexus.”
“I thought,” Callum furrowed his brows and licked his lips, “I thought that it was an honor for talented mages to go guard the Moon Nexus.”
“That’s what they say, but it’s a punishment. There are no other elves around and the Cursed Caldera, until recently, had to be guarded with visions, so little interaction with humans. Also, the only real source of sustenance is grubs.” Putting her chin on her closed fist, Najma observed him for a few moments. “You know how Moonshadow elves put such value on pride, but there’s also a strong element of secrecy and tradition in their culture.”
“Isn’t all of Xadia like that?”
Humming, she nodded her head back and forth. “Yes and no. There’s degrees of it depending on the culture. Tidebounds are more secretive than Sunfires but not as secretive as Moonshadow elves. At least, not intentionally. Startouch elves are more about observing the celestial bodies, science, mathematics, applying it to art and the world around us. Startouch mages have to learn for many years how the universe bends and twists and how to do so to our bidding without breaking the rules of the arcanum. And then there’s time, which doesn’t flow quite as straight as people think it does. It goes backwards and forwards and twists and turns. We cannot control time, but we have to understand it’s place in the universe in order to properly understand the stars.”
Captivated by her words, Callum leaned forward in his chair. “Do you think it’s possible for me to learn?”
“I don’t know. Of the few human mages before you, to my knowledge, they never got star magic. It takes work and theory and it’s a far more applied science than moon magic is, for example.”
“Would you teach me?”
“Is that why you are here?” There was humor in her voice, but also distrust.
“No. My girlfriend, Rayla, is a Moonshadow elf and she left in the middle of the night. We entered the space between life and the other side and she didn’t see people there she thinks were supposed to be. So, she left and only told me she was getting answers. I want to find her.”
“I can do that for you. As for teaching you Startouch magic, I don’t know. We can certainly try, but you will need to study quite a bit before we even attempt star magic.”
“How will you help me find her?”
“I cannot give you an exact location, but I can give you a projection of her by calling on the stars. If your connection is strong enough, as long as you focus on her, you should be able to see her and get a rough idea of where she is. If she is connected to you, she might be able to see you.”
“So, it’s like my body is moving towards her?”
“No, a projection of you. Your body and your spirit will not be moving anywhere.”
“OK. What do we do?”
“Just focus on her. Let me do the rest. Come with me.” Callum followed Najma to a round, empty room. “Focus, Prince Callum.”
“You can just call me Callum. Please.”
She smiled, the twinkle that was ever present became stronger. “Alright. Callum. Focus on Rayla, on your relationship, the good and the bad. Also, don’t be too shocked by what you see.” Callum emptied his mind of everything except Rayla; her smile, her laughter, how crazy she drove him, but also how much he loved her.
He heard Draconic coming from Najma, eyes growing wide as the center of the room grew a bright dot before expanding out. Suddenly, what looked like dust was moving around before swirling and forming spheres of light and colors he would never have guessed were in the sky above him. He heard music, something that sounded like an old instrument he couldn’t place and another he had never even heard before, but in a rhythm he both recognized and knew he had never heard before.
Najma was doing nothing but holding out her hands and watching him. Callum tried to keep his mind focused on Rayla, but the longer time passed, the more he realized he was watching the birth of the universe occur in front of his eyes. The spheres moved and expanded all over the room. Finally, a small blue and green sphere was in front of him. An image about as large as a mirror came forward, cloudy with wavy edges.
There was a forest before zooming forward and he saw her: Rayla. She was leaning on a tree with her arms crossed, glaring at the ground. A hand was on her shoulder, attached to a muscular arm, and what looked like a masculine shape. Callum bit his lip, but stamped down the jealousy welling in his stomach. There were other figures present, off to the side, and Callum could not deny that there was comfort in knowing Rayla wasn’t alone. If she had help with whatever she was trying to find, maybe it would help guarantee she would come back to him.
He felt a breeze ruffle his hair and his lips parted, holding his hand out as he whispered Rayla’s name. To his shock, she looked up. Those lavender eyes he loved so much went wide and he knew she saw him even though no one else in her group seemed to notice. He could see her mouth his name and her hand slowly lifting up to him, as if to grasp his own. Before she could, the image faded and Callum was left with the universe in miniature around him. The projection continued to expand before he saw the spheres exploding and eventually, everything went dim. “That was…incredible,” he whispered.
“I’m assuming you know what that was.”
“The life of the universe.”
“Very good. As I said, Startouch mages can bend and twist the space and magic that the stars give us, but we also have to understand time and space. All things are made up of star stuff, so we can give you visions of the here and now, but we cannot teleport you to someone’s side or even show you visions of the futre. There are limitations. Do you know where she is?”
“Xadia, for sure. I think she’s in Earthblood territory.”
“Will you go after her?”
Callum paused, looking at Najma before looking at his hands. He could have a chance to at least learn about the star arcanum even if he never was able to use star magic and he now knew Rayla was safe. Ezran and Soren had promised him that if they needed him back home, they would contact Lujanne and she would find a way to contact him. “I…I want to be with Rayla, but if she really thinks she needs to do this without me, at least I know she isn’t alone now. I want to learn from you, Najma. Please, teach me about the star arcanum.”
“What if you can’t use star magic?”
“At least I’ll have learned more about magic and the universe we live in.”
“Hmm.” She regarded him for a few moments before finally nodding her head. “I’ll give you a trial period of two weeks. If I don’t like how you act or if you don’t listen to me, I’m kicking you out.”
“Deal.”
--------------------------------
Rayla ignored Liam as he continued trying to flirt with her, focusing on her internal crisis. She had seen a vision of Callum and she knew it had not been her mind playing tricks on her or any of her compatriots. They didn’t know what Callum looked like and none of them were Moonshadow elves. She had come across a band of two Skywing elves and three Sunfire elves a few weeks ago and had joined them on their quest after they promised to help her find Viren. They didn’t know she was the Moonshadow elf that was now famously engaged in courtship with a human prince or that she had been at the Spire. They didn’t ask questions as long as she didn’t ask any either.
‘I promise, I will find a way back to you,’ she whispered in her mind to Callum, wherever he was. ‘Just give me time. I have to do this, for me, for my family, for us. I love you, My Heart, and I am sorry I left you. Please, be safe.’
------------------
If you can guess the song the title is a reference to, I would be amazed. When that particular lyric is used, that's roughly what I think Callum was hearing in the projection.
This fic also has my personal theories on why Lujanne is solo in guarding the Moon Nexus and how Startouch magic works. I believe that Startouch elves are based on the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula who advanced math and astronomy and their magic involves understanding science and how stars work.
