Carrying stacks of dishes stacked from below his waist to under his chin, Zaofan walked into the kitchen and hefted them into the sink and started scrubbing in silence. With Ronin Kai and Eva swiftly busied, though it would take a thought, he'd insisted on staying to see this done.
There were no fires lit, but the kitchen was hot with steam. Whatever had transpired here with Auroc's spiteful episode had been swiftly cleaned up. Counters were clear, spotless, and the drawers undisturbed, and the air was filled with the scent of suds instead of simmering.
Without any heat lingering it was picturesque. There was not a single pan touched this night; and wouldn't you know it, there were no leftovers this time, either, for a change, and left alone to the sponge and brushworks, this tugged at a feeling he'd felt nagging while the hours that melted away into pandemonium.
But he had to face one fact: when the meal was concluded, there was no conversation. Everyone just ate and then left, just as they had countless times before, leaving the mess behind as thanks for their hospitality. It was possible a number of them though they were doing Evangeline and the Lookout and the Earth a favour, a surcharge of sorts in exchange for protection. These days it seemed as if it was only acknowledgement that they offered until it was inconvenient, then they'd show up through one of those many portals everyone seemed to have and neglected to mention or use when it would have been useful.
When the last corningware dish was scrubbed, Zaofan had set it aside to dry, and it was then that he felt the weight of his final decision sink in. Fighting and the struggle, they were on the same page once. Yet even with his ki channels restored from Efrideet's intervention, Zaofan still carried the weight of what he could not do today.
And so with his task complete, he undid the apron, hung it up on the hook, and walked out to the plaza.
"My decision's final, I'm closing it down" Zaofan said, "When we first discovered this place, it was because there was a threat to the world, and we needed help. All of us. That was the first thing that brought us together, and it's kinda fitting it's also the last. There needs to be something more than just power, revenge, strength....these are all fruitful paths to get what you want, sure, but too often we'd forgetten what we needed past the reach of our hands."
Smiling lightly to himself, he turned the ring over upon his finger. He made a promise on Reshlan he had every intention to keep.
"In order to find that, nobody has any reason to stick around here if that's what they're after."
They'd all leave the moment they thought up a reason to anyway, and the Earth, they proved they could stand on their own. If there was trouble, he wouldn't be hard to find, but as an M-Fighter...
"I don't think I can call myself that in good conscience anymore. Not if everything we've done will leave everyone's memories in an instant."
Surely nobody would forget what had happened this day, these long six years, but how and why, that began to recede.
So until the day that warriors were needed once again the Lookout Kitchen would remain closed, because if all was right in the universe, they wouldn't need it anymore.
"Unil we meet again, farewell, friends!"