70th of Winter 519
It seemed that volunteering to help in the kitchen was not the wisest move for Wa'Djinnabi. He figured at the time that since he had some free time he would pitch in where the Merkai needed help. Cooking was not the back breaking work of farming, how hard could it be. What Djinn failed to take into account were the two cooks that ran their kitchen like two opposing armies. One side was Ember, the woman he had made paper dolls with the previous season. The other was Keesha, Lynneah's daughter, both of whom helped with bringing in the harvest. They seemed to get along just fine, even joked and told stories while cooking but they had very different ways of doing things. There was definitely a sense of "my side, your side" in the kitchen. Ember's side was clean and tidy, with all the implements she used or owned hung and arranged in neat rows that scaled in height. Keesha on the otherhand had a bit of controlled chaos in her and had many of her things in haphazard and drunken piles. It was Djinn's job, apparently, to help facility the negotiation of peace on the two sieging forces.
He was excused from breakfast duty, the two not desiring the tall man getting underfoot while they got the meal ready for the cranky occupants of the tower. He was expected to put his six arms to work cleaning up the dishes, bringing back plates from the dining area to the wash basin. Which he more or less expected so he had no complaints. Amusingly the wash basin was set between the two sides and he got to hear Ember whistling while Keesha banged around her dirty utensils. Ember eyed Djinn as he cleaned off the plates and bowls with a horse hair brush. She seemed fascinated by the tandem his many arms worked. Honestly, Djinn couldn't fathom how these two armed beings got anything done. It was so much more efficient to get food from the plates into a bin meant for composting then washing it in the soapy water and then drying them off with a towel in a single step rather then having to do each of the steps individually. Granted it required more concentration, but he managed it just fine. Keesha sauntered over to watch Ember watching him and she smirked. "Got ourselves a catch huh? Best dish washer in all the land." She gave a smile to allay any offense from her sarcasm. Ember just rolled her eyes and went back to tidying up her already spotless work space. Keesh reached up to pat Djinn's shoulder and went back to her area.
By the time Djinn was done lunch was beginning to start. Not everyone in the Demense wanted to eat at the midday meal. Some were simply not hungry or too busy. But there was enough people that the two armies prepared for the lunch time war. Keesha was making flat breads on a hot griddle over a stove and Ember was cutting vegetables. They were making some sort of western meal from a city called lhavit, though none of the occupants of the kitchen had ever been to the city. But food had a way of travelling much farther afield then the cities that spawned it. Djinn was the mediator and spent the time preparing cuts from a hunted deer. Both cooks spent time showing him how to accomplish the task, though neither would do so in the company of the other. He learned from Ember that one needed to clean one's hands before cooking and after handling raw flesh. She said that many illnesses could be traced back to improperly handled foodstuffs. From Keesha he learned the proper way to slice the meat from the bones: cut with a sharp knife at the base of the tendons where the meet the bone. From there he filleted the meat into short strips that Keesha took and grilled. He watched her add in spices that she said were tumerick and garlic. There were other spices as well, but Djinn was pulled away by Ember to help with cutting the vegetables. Some of the vegetables like onions and these strange fruits she called bell peppers were tossed in with the meat. Combined together the smells were mouth watering. He was actually somewhat bummed out that he would not get a chance to eat any of it until everyone else had their firsts and seconds. Ember told him about Sunberth as they worked.
Djinn had visited sunberth before, the city was... unpleasant so he spent most of his time there with the Svefra he was travelling with. From what Ember told him, the city was not much better then what he already pegged it to be. Living there was a hard life. Crime and corruption was the name of the game, though since it lacked an organized justice system crime nor corruption was accurate. She went on to describe how sunberthians hated any sort of magic, blaming all their woes on it. Even those merely accused of performing magic were often lynched by unruly mobs or knifed in the back by one of the many gangs of bravos. But, people got by. If anything the constant conflict and adversity made the sunberthians incredibly resilient.
WC:888
It seemed that volunteering to help in the kitchen was not the wisest move for Wa'Djinnabi. He figured at the time that since he had some free time he would pitch in where the Merkai needed help. Cooking was not the back breaking work of farming, how hard could it be. What Djinn failed to take into account were the two cooks that ran their kitchen like two opposing armies. One side was Ember, the woman he had made paper dolls with the previous season. The other was Keesha, Lynneah's daughter, both of whom helped with bringing in the harvest. They seemed to get along just fine, even joked and told stories while cooking but they had very different ways of doing things. There was definitely a sense of "my side, your side" in the kitchen. Ember's side was clean and tidy, with all the implements she used or owned hung and arranged in neat rows that scaled in height. Keesha on the otherhand had a bit of controlled chaos in her and had many of her things in haphazard and drunken piles. It was Djinn's job, apparently, to help facility the negotiation of peace on the two sieging forces.
He was excused from breakfast duty, the two not desiring the tall man getting underfoot while they got the meal ready for the cranky occupants of the tower. He was expected to put his six arms to work cleaning up the dishes, bringing back plates from the dining area to the wash basin. Which he more or less expected so he had no complaints. Amusingly the wash basin was set between the two sides and he got to hear Ember whistling while Keesha banged around her dirty utensils. Ember eyed Djinn as he cleaned off the plates and bowls with a horse hair brush. She seemed fascinated by the tandem his many arms worked. Honestly, Djinn couldn't fathom how these two armed beings got anything done. It was so much more efficient to get food from the plates into a bin meant for composting then washing it in the soapy water and then drying them off with a towel in a single step rather then having to do each of the steps individually. Granted it required more concentration, but he managed it just fine. Keesha sauntered over to watch Ember watching him and she smirked. "Got ourselves a catch huh? Best dish washer in all the land." She gave a smile to allay any offense from her sarcasm. Ember just rolled her eyes and went back to tidying up her already spotless work space. Keesh reached up to pat Djinn's shoulder and went back to her area.
By the time Djinn was done lunch was beginning to start. Not everyone in the Demense wanted to eat at the midday meal. Some were simply not hungry or too busy. But there was enough people that the two armies prepared for the lunch time war. Keesha was making flat breads on a hot griddle over a stove and Ember was cutting vegetables. They were making some sort of western meal from a city called lhavit, though none of the occupants of the kitchen had ever been to the city. But food had a way of travelling much farther afield then the cities that spawned it. Djinn was the mediator and spent the time preparing cuts from a hunted deer. Both cooks spent time showing him how to accomplish the task, though neither would do so in the company of the other. He learned from Ember that one needed to clean one's hands before cooking and after handling raw flesh. She said that many illnesses could be traced back to improperly handled foodstuffs. From Keesha he learned the proper way to slice the meat from the bones: cut with a sharp knife at the base of the tendons where the meet the bone. From there he filleted the meat into short strips that Keesha took and grilled. He watched her add in spices that she said were tumerick and garlic. There were other spices as well, but Djinn was pulled away by Ember to help with cutting the vegetables. Some of the vegetables like onions and these strange fruits she called bell peppers were tossed in with the meat. Combined together the smells were mouth watering. He was actually somewhat bummed out that he would not get a chance to eat any of it until everyone else had their firsts and seconds. Ember told him about Sunberth as they worked.
Djinn had visited sunberth before, the city was... unpleasant so he spent most of his time there with the Svefra he was travelling with. From what Ember told him, the city was not much better then what he already pegged it to be. Living there was a hard life. Crime and corruption was the name of the game, though since it lacked an organized justice system crime nor corruption was accurate. She went on to describe how sunberthians hated any sort of magic, blaming all their woes on it. Even those merely accused of performing magic were often lynched by unruly mobs or knifed in the back by one of the many gangs of bravos. But, people got by. If anything the constant conflict and adversity made the sunberthians incredibly resilient.
WC:888
