Sweet Potato Fries
Chapter 28: Dragon Spy
Well, if Vlad was going to find out Svend’s secrets, he must spend a little more time in this despicable human village, much to his chagrin. Since Svend and Mirabel were officially married, and they had built a little home for themselves in the woods just outside the village, they must be planning on staying around for a bit. Vlad figured he could go to Svend for some ideas on employment, tell him some sob story about how he wants to get to know the pathetic, or rather, precious humans while he is stuck here at the behest of the council. Svend would eat it up, on account of his ridiculous human sized blind spot, and then Vlad could integrate himself in Svend’s life quickly and watch him inconspicuously.
Svend, as it turned out, was perhaps a little bit too naive. He was also deliriously happy and ready to see the best in all those around him, even the grumpy human hating dragon. So Svend offered to let Vlad set up a new smithy with him; he had learned enough from Leoric in his last village that he was reasonably confident he could support Mirabel through his efforts. If all else failed, he had a significant stash of treasure back in his family dragon cave that he could dip into, but he wanted to embrace the human experience and give Mirabel as much of a normal human life as he could.
Mirable, on the other hand, maintained a healthy dose of skepticism in regards to the ornery dragon. Determined to keep an eye on him, and find her own place in her childhood village, she decided to lean into the heat and open an adjoining bakery with Svend’s smithy. It was, perhaps, an unusual combination, but they were an unusual couple. And, as Mirable pointed out with a wink, being a blacksmith was hard work and it never hurt to have snacks nearby.
Vlad was extremely pleased with this set up as it allowed him to spy on both abominations at once. His only struggle was in keeping the sneer off his face when he interacted with them. He was successful maybe 30% of the time. So far, the only secrets he had unearthed were that Svend used his dragon fire to keep his forge hot. While this might be disturbing for the neighbors, it wasn’t exactly earth shattering. He needed something truly scandalous to turn the humans and the dragons against each other.
There was something off about Mirabel. Vlad couldn’t figure it out. Sometimes she almost smelled like a dragon. But that could easily be explained by her frequent appearance at the potent smith, or her own bakery, or obviously her marriage and cohabitation with an actual dragon. But still, even if Svend wasn’t around, Mirabel smelled distinctly smoky. It could be something, but Vlad had met Mirabel’s family at the wedding and they were as human as you can get so he was probably just picking up on Svend’s residual stench.
Vlad was wondering if Mirabel was aware of Svend’s alternate form, and if she was, how had Svend gotten past the blood oath of silence? He was sure the council would be interested in that little maneuvering, but Svend probably just got Gregory to tell her or something. Not exactly war worthy. It’s not like Svend could have turned her into a dragon to get around the blood oath. That was impossible. Everyone knew dragons were born, not created, and Mirabel was most definitely not born a dragon. Right? Plus Mirabel was way too good at human cooking techniques to be a dragon. She was utilizing the heat of the forge to do something called “air frying”? No dragon would ever think of cooking like this, which is unfortunate because she made some truly delectable sweet potato fries. These are the fries that she made.
Recipe: Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients:
2 medium Sweet potatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
Seasoned salt
Garlic powder
Paprika
Onion powder
Pepper
Cayenne pepper (optional)
2 Tbsp Cornstarch (not optional)
Method:
Cut the sweet potato into fry length strips
Toss the sweet potatoes in the olive oil and seasonings (seasonings can be adjusted however you want, the above combo is quite tasty)
Toss in cornstarch
Cook in an air fryer- 385 degrees for 12 minutes.
Crank up the heat to 400 and cook another 3-6 minutes until they are crispy enough for your liking.
Enjoy immediately!