Chương 27: Chapter 26: Cheese Later

Cooking, I found, could invoke Samu as well as sweeping could. I found ritual in the act of food preparation as I experimented with the rice. It was important that I do it right, after all - stew was hard to mess up, and so was rice, but my skill told me that an ingredient like this had the potential to make or break a dish. It was a heart-piece, something central.

I got the last of the fresh meat that Torch had harvested for me, and salted the heck out of it, leaving the salt on it on sealed orders from my cooking skill. This would help seal in the juices, and keep it tender! Then I washed the blouse I'd been using as a basket, and poured a couple cups of rice into it. The first step was of course to wash the rice. I set the water running, and started going through the rice I'd selected, focusing my mind on each moment as I let the conversations of my friends wash around me.

Gelidia stayed close to my side, sometimes watching my work, sometimes just... being near me as she talked with the others. I could see their positions in my mind's eye, and from subtle hints from their movements. I could hear the wind blowing through the ruins and across the hole in the inn's roof, and with that, my Wolf-Ren could sense the structure itself.

I could feel it through my feet, the cavernous hole and its hallways while alighting on roofs in the distance, the sparkles of the birds singing were like twinkling starlight to my synesthetic senses. How clear, my perceptions! I'd never tasted the world so... keenly as I did now. I could work with my eyes shut and miss... almost nothing. When I shut them, it was as if I hadn't. Color fled, and true definition of shape and design vanished to a kind of... outline of soft lights and colored smoke in my mind's eye.

Wolf-Ren, at rank D, was something else. I could ignore my senses, I could sort of 'switch off' this strange, synesthetic perception I had, but just using it was training for it, so I left it on and just drank it in as I worked, and enjoyed the beauty, the three dimensional perceptions, as the world moved around me. I spared a thought for the words of my friends - I didn't want to lose myself again, like I had. Samu had helped me through something, but what? The training had been...

hard, but why had I reacted like that? Would that happen every time? Next time, I'd be ready. Little impurities, under my focused mind's eye, were found. I could feel each grain of rice... not the same way as I felt my body, but... I could, if I thought about it hard and separated a grain, a tiny organic jewel, translucent and beautiful as rice actually was, and admired it... I could feel it, feel its shape and even sense the lines of how it was...

separated from the plant it came from originally, how it was threshed, each one the same, done at mass. This left some impurities - little bits that didn't resonate the same way, and which I removed. Once the rice was clean, I squeezed the basket around them and wrung out water, then pushed the grains out and down into the pot. For two mugs of rice, I almost used three mugs of water... then stopped. Wait a minute. My skill with Cookery was telling me something. Did I have any stock left?

I checked around at my pots and found that... yes, I did. It wasn't much but it just barely filled up two mugs and I added a third to the rice in a pot and set THAT to cook, salting it and placing the lid on top firmly. My cooking skill bid me place a bowl atop the lid to hold it down, too. The next ingredient was one I was eager to try. Queenslace, wild carrots! The young carrot roots were a pretty golden-white color once I'd washed them.

Nothing of the plant was unusable or inedible, from root to flower the book had said, and my cooking skill had some insights. Operating on the suggestion, I put the flowers into the oven. The seeds here were what I wanted, though I felt like the flowers themselves, fresh as they were, would be good too, so I spared some for later experimentation! For now, though, into the oven they went to dry on a tray. The stalks were good too.

I sampled one, and discovered they had a crunch of their own, rather like a delicate celery. I chopped this, made it into little discs along with some of the ramps I'd harvested that morning, using their greens the same way, and set the cleaned greens aside. This would be a nice little addition for the rice! Tea was scraped, and put in the pot. I filled it with water, and set that going. On cue, Fel, Torch, and Roxala pushed their mugs forward, and I scooped them up, set them aside on the counter.

By the time I was done cooking, the tea would be ready, My Cooking skill told me. Ready and just the right temperature! That set aside, I spared a thought for the queenslace roots - the wild carrots - along with my old friends, the fairy potatoes! Both of these little gems of the forest's earth were beautiful to my eyes, each in their own way, and I smiled at them as I cleaned them, revealing their colors and shapes more clearly before chopping them up with my ceramic knife.

The knapped roof shingle made hard going of the job, but it did work. Into another pot they went once it was clean too, and I set them to cook a bit. I wanted them soft! Not mushy, but... soft enough to eat, to munch on in the rice! That just left the bright red star of the show - the venison. I really needed a better storage solution than just... bits o' meat, out in the open like this.

Sure I'd dried most of it, but the meat would eventually go bad, and the stuff I was using today would need to be the last of it - it needed using up. The blood and salt had crusted together. I'd left it on about a half hour, and when I got most of the salt off it, I left it on the tray I'd let them cure a bit on. I'd use that later. After checking my other pots' progress - I took the rice off the heat - I used the iron skillet I'd used when Torch first met me to sear the meat.

Fresh ramps, chopped up fine, were added as well and the smell wafted over the room. The ramps were pungent and sharp, and the meat... ohhh the meat. As before, my Wolf requested little nibbles of the stuff as I went, and without a care I simply indulged that feral bit of myself, chewing on a cured but only lightly seared meat. The juices and taste were phenomenal, and I spared a thought for the deer who hadn't been nearly as much of a challenge for his senior.

I thanked him, and my wolf enjoyed the fruits of our hunt. AND THERE ARE BONES We like the bones. My wolf was delighted at my acknowledgement and the promise of bones to chew! In my mind's eye, I saw her wagging her tail, saw her almost prancing in place, forepaws giving happy tippy-taps that made me smile. Joy in our shared heart, I flipped the meat, and checked on the boiling veggies! She wanted to sample one too, so I brought a carrot up to my lips and nibbled at it.

Sweetness met my palate and I let out a delighted squeek as my wolf and I enjoyed the carrot's tender flesh almost as much as the meat! The potatoes had a more humble flavor, but they were plentiful and good! I only wished I had some butter for all these jewels to bathe in, like liquid gold! BUTTER SOUNDS GOOD Oh, I agree! Butter would change this - make it sooo much more than this humble fare! THINKING PART OF US, GET US BUTTER My wolf requested this with a mental whiiiine of desire, and I nodded firmly. Soon.

And cheese. Butter and cheese. Maybe cream. Oh, what wonders I could cook with these! Someday, our town wouldn't be a desolate ruin. Someday! CHEEEESE My wolf almost wailed inside me with longing for something I'd never tasted as a werewolf, but that I remembered so keenly as a girl from Wisconsin. I missed cheese! I hadn't had it since I was a girl! After society collapsed, cheese, like anything dairy, became scarce almost immediately. We'll get milk, AND cheese! And I'll make better food than we've ever had!

I promise us this! I swore, and clenched my fist dramatically around my spoon!

"One day, there will be CHEESE!" I declared, and Gelidia giggled at me, saying"You look so determined! Cheese, is it? Is that what your heart desires?" she purred, and I snagged her close by the hips as I kept cooking. I turned my eyes on her and felt my heart racing into her as her scent changed. OURS My wolf claimed the shade easily, and I pushed her nose away a little. Whoah, girl! Easy there! DONT WANT TO EASY We need to cook. And there are watchers.

LET THEM SEE US CLAIM HER THEN This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. And... that set a new record for longest single thought of my wolf, I figured! An inhuman, desire-filled growl escaped my lips, but I let her go, leaving her to fan herself. I didn't care that Roxala was watching me in that moment, she couldn't see Gelidia like I could. Not unless it was night time.

And none of them could feel her as I did, as if she were flesh and blood in my arms instead of just a spirit. She could move things, but that didn't mean she had substance to them.

"I know what I am looking at." Roxala said.

"But that looks so strange from here, seeing you make wolf eyes at empty air." she chuckled. I flashed her a smile and shrugged a shoulder.

"About that." Gelidia said, and... gained a kind of outline. Her expression was one of concentration, but she shimmered with an aura then... seemed to become even more visible in my senses. The table, which had been chuckling a bit at the spectacle of me cuddling a ghost girl, went dead silent as she... manifested herself into visibility.

"I think I should be training too." she said, and her voice was so much clearer.

"I've barely used any of my Shade skills, like an obstinate child resisting bedtime. High time that changed." she said imperiously and cast her hair back from her face. I slid my free hand to twine fingers with her, and she grasped tight as she faced our friends.

"I think that's a frightfully good idea." Fel said, and grinned mischievously. His partner, Torch, grinned like an idiot.

"I... guess you'll be haunting our steps in the dungeon, huh?" he added, and I gave him a six out of ten.

"ENOUGH." Roxala barked, but I could hear the edge of amusement in the voice of our fearless leader.

"I will of course be coming with the four of you into the keep. That is not up for negotiation - you will need me." she said, and Roxala nodded.

"We'll be glad to have a second Sage with us. You know the drill, noble-born?" the shieldmaiden asked. Gelidia nodded.

"I do." and she turned her head to me.

"When nobles are young adults, and if we are healthy and able, we are sent under guard to be trained in dungeons." She explained, and I nodded - made sense.

"There are procedures when you're Delving - that is--" I nodded "--Going through a dungeon." I said, and she nodded.

"Scout in front, sages in the middle behind the Armiger, and a Harrier in the rear, to act as the stinger." Roxala and Gelidia said together, as if it were rote tactical doctrine, something well-established. They looked at each other in a moment of silence, and Fel broke into it saying"That strategy is doctrine in the Republic of Deplia, inherited from our roots in the old Kingdom of Stormreach. It shouldn't be a surprise to us that much of what we know about the Delver's craft we share.

After all, we got our classes, primarily, from our roots in Stormreach." he said." You will be the stinger, Emily - and with your senses, you'll make a damn fine one." Gelidia added, rubbing my back gently as I turned back towards my work, scritching my back with her fingertips, making me shiver a bit, before turning to the group again with something clearly on her mind.

"The Guard of the town are mostly Harriers, specialized in polearms." she said.

"Our knights are Armigers, and specialized in the Windcuff fighting style." I pulled out the now dried Queenslace flowers, and all it took was a little rubbing to get the seeds to let go. They weren't completely dried, and thank goodness, but they were dried just right. Really, my cooking skill made clear to me, this wasn't the ideal way to do this.

Ideally, I'd harvest the Queenslace seeds when it was late summer or fall so I could get them naturally from a mature plant - then they'd have the strongest flavor, but a sampling of them gave me a minty, peppery spice and I appreciated it. It'd be just the thing! I put the greens into the rice and mixed them well, added some of the deersalt, and spooned the mixture into bowls. Strips of steak were laid reverentially over the rice, and they were juicy, tender, and delicious.

The fat from it I kept - I'd make more soap later. Come to that, I'd have to try smoking things, perhaps when we got back from the delve!

"Windcuff - that is mostly a lost combat skill for the Armiger class." Fel said with a sigh.

"I have heard stories of it."

"Windcuff is the technique of mixing wind magic with the shield skill." Gelidia explained.

"If you can learn three wind spells and get Shield to rank B, you could learn it from a teacher who has it." she explained, and I looked at her, wide-eyed!

"An evolved skill!" I breathed, and she nodded.

"Exactly. The same way your primitive knapping skill evolved into toolmaking before, remember?" Gelidia asked, and I nodded! I'd told Fel and the others about my experiences with the World's system so far. So people passed down knowledge to pass down skills. Legacy classes were passed via apprenticeship - and that was how many people learned a class! The World itself figured we had talents, and would offer you a Destiny class.

The Skills you got, I'd noticed, depended almost entirely on the things you did - like how I'd learned most of my skills - and the training you got - like my Sohei skill. If something wasn't taught, and nobody else figured out how it was done, it was lost. That knowledge... got lost. Forgotten.

"So cool. Are there all kinds of evolved skills?" I asked, and the group around the table nodded as one.

"Some of 'em are secret, kept by masters or nobles or royals, passed down through family lines. There's even cultural variants of classes - on the mainland, they don't have the Big Three like we do here, but they do have Rangers, Knights, and Archers, Pikemen, Dragoons, and others." and he grunted.

"Bigger land, more people, more ideas, more traditions from far off." Torch explained.

"the Armiger was taught by an ancient hero." Roxala added.

"Or so it is said. Using the shield how we do, it's unique." the Orc-Maiden said.

"Indeed. Even the magic traditions of our homeland differ from the mainland." Fel explained, and I brought them their bowls of food and their tea.

"Ours regards the Elements themselves - Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water. Our faith in the World Tree, our benevolent mother, is woven into the craft of magic itself." he said, then he and Gelidia both spoke something that was obvious rote, they said,"There are only so many ways you can ask for rain!" and they smiled at each other.

"Roots indeed. The skills of Stormreach are alive and well in us to this day." Fel said, and I wondered at how that must feel - knowing you had skills that were taught and refined over generations. Then I kicked myself - of COURSE they were, dummy! That was how it was done in my world too! This one just gave things class names and skill names and put rank and requirement on it! It just kept track, that's all!

Once I had my bowl of food and mug of tea, I pushed the bowl of deer salt and queenslace into the center of the table. I got some bones for my Wolf to enjoy with the meal, and set them beside my plate. Once I had my goodies, I joined them and found them waiting for me, as was the custom around here, I figured. Even the gruff Roxala waited!

"So what's this?" Roxala said, motioning towards the Queenslace. I nodded.

"Queenslace seed. It's a spice with a slightly minty, peppery flavor that should go well with the salt on the rice and veggies. It's out of season, but it is still good." I explained, and inspected the meal. Venison Sage Pilaf with Queenslace, Ramps, and Fairy Potatoes, common, good quality. Cooked by Emily Goldtail Awesome! I took a bite, and the flavors... OH, the FLAVORS! The stock had been a good idea - it added a little extra flavor!

Once I had, as tradition at my table it seemed, so did the other three who ate food and drank tea. Gelidia just kept me company in her place at my side, visible to all with the help of her skill.

"Oh, World preserve us Emily... this is amazing." Fel said with awe in his voice after washing down that first bite with tea.

"Even the tea... it is better than I make it." he said. The other two GRUNTED loudly and pointed at their food with widened eyes and a wiggle of their spoons.

"Oh dear, they've gone non-verbal." Fel commented dryly.

"I'm afraid you broke them." he teased.

"World... me too, almost." the wizard breathed. Your [LIFE] Cookery skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank C costs 1 Peasant skill point. Oh, heck yeah! Awwww heck yeah! I felt my lips draw into a big stupid grin and wiggled a bit in place, enjoying the skill up and my first peasant skill that got past D, combined with the flavors of the Pilaf I'd cooked. It really was top stuff - I'd never cooked something so good in my life. Heck, I'd probably never had something this tasty before, not ever!

Not even in my homeworld with its spice racks and exotic ingredients I could buy in the store. This was just plain better than any of that. [LIFE] Cookery, Rank C: 0% - The ability to cook hearty and delicious meals. Dishes you cook offer additional benefits, and go farther than before. Wow! I could make food buffs?

"I got a rank up! I just got Cookery to rank C!" I said, and Roxala wiggled a spoon at me as she chewed, and once her mouth was clear, she said"That means you can give food buffs now. In a tavern, that's a premium service - any tavern cook worth a damn will have that at least, and it'll keep adventurers, guards, soldiers, anyone like that coming back for more. Those buffs are a big deal." Torch nodded emphatically.

"You're something else, Goldtail. You level quick, you learn quick, and you're not just capable - you're helpful." he said.

"I think you'll fit in on this world just fine." he took another bite and said "Just fine." thoughtfully as he munched.

"So... what do food buffs do?" I asked, and Fel was the one to answer.

"Mostly they help with recovery." he said "They can help you resist one element or another, keep you warm or cool you down, and other things based on what's in what you cooked with. It's an art in and of itself - you'll get the hang of it, but there are books and books on the subject." he explained.

"Won't kick in this time, you just ranked up after the meal was cooked, but next time? Yeah. We'll catch a buff for tomorrow before we delve." he said.

"Damn right we will. I want us going in there at our best." Roxala growled, and thumped the table with a finger to emphasize her point. I nodded!

"I'll gladly cook! I just wish I had flour - I could make some bread!" I said, taking one of the bones into my mouth to chew on it as my wolf requested this. The three adventurers and myself around my bone, sighed wistfully. Bread sounded so good. It'd really make everything so much better. Bread. Butter. Milk. Cheese. I wanted these things and more! EAT THE MEAL WE HAVE AND BE GLAD OF IT. CHEESE LATER THOUGH.

My wolf had broken the record again with a long thought, and in the concept of time and I let myself do just that! She was right.