The Art of Potato Peeling

by **Eadon** on August 25th, 2013, 7:56 am

For as long as he could remember, Eadon had always hated the kitchens of Wind Reach. While for many they were a place filled with happy memories, as a Dek Eadon's own experiences of the place were usually less than pleasant. Countless days spent in the Kitchen under the strict and occasionally harsh supervision of Chef Davoid and the other denizens of the kitchen was hardly an idealistic existence by any measure. Just my luck that I got kitchen duty today, rather than yard maintenance or cleaning, Eadon thought glumly, eyes downcast, when Chef Davoid see's how much I mess up there's no chance I will get anything to eat today.

Pushing his pessimistic thoughts aside, Eadon switched his focus to the small paring knife he held in one hand and then to the slightly deformed potato he held in the other. Despite years in Wind Reach, and the last several of them served as a Drudge, Eadon had spent nearly all of his time on kitchen duties washing up dirty pots and pans, rather than directly involved in the preparation of the food itself. Hence it had come as something of a shock to him when a small knife and a massive sack of potatoes had been shoved in his direction when he arrived that morning. The teen knew better than to question the task he was allocated, though. If his job for today was supposed to be this, then he would do it and do it gratefully. As a half-breed, he was privileged to be allowed to contribute to even this small task by the obviously superior Inarta.

Good intentions or not, there was one small issue with Eadon's allocated duty for the day. Namely, he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing with the knife and the sack of potatoes.

Eadon glared at the knife. It was hardly his fault he did not know what was expected of him, but to ask for help would be to admit to his inadequacy in even this simple job. Whatever it was. If he was supposed to cut the potato, as seemed the obvious solution, since they had given him a knife, then he probably should know how it was supposed to be cut. Into cubes? Wedges? Maybe even slices for a potato bake.

Eadon let out a defeated sigh, slumping against the wall in the secluded corner of the kitchen he had hidden himself away in. "I need to do something with it, or I definitely won't get any food tonight," Eadon muttered to himself under his breath, "I guess if I cut it into chunks, then it will probably be fine . . ."

Bringing the knife up to meet the potato, Eadon cut the thing into a bunch of uneven lumps, putting them into a large bowl. Looking at them with wide-eyes, realisation slowly dawned on him. "Maybe I should cut the skin off first, or something."

OOC :

by **Eadon** on August 26th, 2013, 2:31 am

Eadon shot a nervous glance towards the center of the kitchen, where the chefs were busy at work and for the most part completely ignoring his existence. He was after all, just another lowly Dek. He probably looked more like some kind of dirt monster than an actual human being, though his obnoxiously blonde hair no doubt shone through the mess of soot and grime that coated most of his clothes and body. Fortunately, if he completed all his tasks he would no doubt get given a new Lontev at the turning of the season in a few days time, and hopefully a chance for a bath. That being a very big if, of course.

Eadon beat down the rather unusual surge of anger that shot through his system with practiced ease. Sometimes he wished he could be a proper Inartu, and get to wear a bryta and the beautiful glass beads that the commoners and the craftsmen and wind riders got to wear. The lontev was an ugly garment, and ne which further served to reinforce the young Dek's place at the bottom of society. Him getting to wear the bryta would never happen, though. He was an abomination. A half-inartu with funny hair and no useful skills to speak of. I guess I can dream, sometimes, Eadon mused to himself, momentarily lost in thought.

Pulling another potato from the bag, Eadon brought the knife to its flesh almost absentmindedly, his head still lost in thoughts of his place in life and the futility of any effort he might make. Sometimes, Eadon wished that all his hard-work and dedication could amount to something more. He saw the wind eagles and their Endal riders coming and going from Wind Reach, bringing the food and the supplies that the city needed to survive. To be one of them would be an honour indeed. One he most definitely did not deserve.

Turning his attention back to the potato in his hand, Eadon was almost surprised to see what had happened to it. That's what I get for losing my head in space, Eadon thought glumly, eyeing the chipped pieces of potato with distrust. Eadon had unconsciously used the knife to carve the potato into the somewhat deformed shape of a small bird, a blue wren like the one he had owned as a child, specifically.

Glancing back towards the center of the kitchen, Eadon did his best to keep the guilty expression from being too obvious. "I need to go put this in the bin before anyone sees it," Eadon said to himself in a low tone, before switching his attention back to the potato bird, "not that you aren't beautiful, little bird, but I can't really keep you. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all these potatoes, but turning them all into friends for you is almost definitely not the correct answer."

Slowly standing up, doing his best to remain unnoticed, Eadon slowly crept towards the large waste bin on the other side of the kitchen, bird hidden away in his hand. Hopefully no-one would notice him. Explaining the tiny potato bird would be difficult at best, and would almost definitely get him in trouble with someone.

OOC :

by **Erade** on August 26th, 2013, 4:49 am

Erade had finished up her kitchen duties early for the day and as a reward for not messing up any of the dishes, Chef Davoid gave her two apples. She bit into one of the succulent treats and feeling pretty proud of herself, considering she was practically incompetent in all things cooking related. The apple's juices trickled from her lips and down her chin before she wiped it away with the back of her hand. The Yasi decided she would save the other for her nightingale, Noralth, who was waiting for her back in their little section of the Yasi Quarters. The young Inartan had no where in particular to go, so she lingered in the kitchen, taking in the smells of the meals being prepared and the cooks rushing about to make sure they were finished.

Erade continued to munch on the apple slowly, enjoying every crunchy bite, but even still it was disappearing faster than she liked. At this rate, Noralth might not get the other apple. she thought to herself as she stared at the other apple. A motion from the corner of her eye caught her attention and at first she had mistaken it to be a giant dust bunny, but realized it was a dek. The sandy blonde boy stood out because of his uncharacteristic color of his hair but mostly because his posture screamed 'don't notice me please but I stand out anyways!'. He was standing by the waste bin clutching his hand and trying not to look guilty about something.

Erade was curious what had the drudge so nervous about. She noticed the sack of potatoes and pairing knife not so far away. Maybe he cut too much off?, she pondered to herself. Erade was never one to pick on the deks like most of the boys she hung out with. She figured that could be any one of them at any moment, besides if she didn't bother them they won't bother her.

Curiosity won over the mental war Erade was having with herself. Find out what he was clutching onto so hard or just go about her business. Walking up behind the boy, she peered around him and pointed to his hand, "What is in your hand that got you clutching it for dear life like that?"

by **Eadon** on August 26th, 2013, 7:13 am

Eadon was about to breathe a sigh of relief, with the waste bin only a couple of paces away and the evidence of his mess up with the potato only a single motion away from being disposed of. He had managed to sneak most of the way across the kitchen without being noticed, through some bizarre combination of luck and maybe a tiny bit of practice. He should have known better than to trust to his luck, though. It had a habit of failing out on him at the very last second. Right as he was about to drop the bird away in the bin a girl, maybe a few years younger than he was, stopped him.

Freezing up, guilty expression coming back full force, Eadon stopped what he was doing and ducked his head. "Uh, I d-d-idn't d-do a-an-nything," he stuttered out, not even believing himself.

The girl was tiny, perhaps a good four or five inches shorter than Eadon's own rather pitiful height. She seemed fairly typical for an Inarta of the Yasi class, though her purple threaded braid with its beautiful beads showed that she had grown up with far more privilege than Eadon himself had. He was almost sure he had seen her somewhere before, but the young Dek made a habit of avoiding most of the Inarta around his own age. He had mostly bad experiences with them, that he would rather not repeat. Being a Dek and a half-breed at that wasn't really conducive to making friends. Eadon had long since lost count of the amount of times he had been mocked, or even attacked, for his pale hair and unusual features.

Eyes widening in surprise, he realised that she was pointing at his hand. The hand holding his monumental failure, his mess-up of epic proportions. He had been caught, after all. I guess it was silly of me to think I could get away with it, Eadon thought darkly, a thousand possible punishments for his error already running through his mind, I definitely won't be getting any food today, that's for sure.

Secretly, Eadon wished they had just given him dish cleaning duty like they usually did. It was harder to mess up when you were scrubbing out pots, after all.

Downcast, doing his best to avoid the girls gaze, Eadon slowly opened up his palm, revealing the tiny bird it held to the girl. The little misshapen lump of potato seemed to condemn him with it's carved out expression. "I messed up the potato. I'm sorry, I won't do it again," Eadon proclaimed, his voice sounding defeated.

by **Erade** on August 26th, 2013, 8:47 am

The sandy blonde boy had opened his hand to reveal a slightly misshapen wren in his hand. Erade could tell before he had clutched in his hand to hide it, it was quite beautiful even if it was made from a potato, or at least she thought so. It wasn't what she was expected to find in his hand and was glad she acted on her curiosity.

"I messed up the potato. I'm sorry, I won't do it again," he said, trying to avoid eye contact, which was awkward to do since he was taller than Erade.

Ignoring how uncomfortable he was, the short girl picked the small sculpture up from his hand and replaced it with her half eaten apple, so she could get a better look at it. Turning around and facing away from the shy boy, she lifted it above her head and into the light, every once in awhile twisting it so. The little wren was simple in nature but had enough detail to make sense of it. Unfortunately it was starting to turn slightly brown from the heat of his hands.

After a few chimes, the yasi turned back around. "Interesting, you did this all by yourself?" Erade asked as she tried to make more sense of him.

He clearly was a half breed taking after his mother because there wasn't an ounce of red in his hair. Erade couldn't really tell past the dirt but she was pretty sure he was older than her by a couple of years. She tried to recall on her memory if she had seen him before, but with no luck. The young Inartan decided if he could carve this simple bird out of potato, he should be holding a higher status than mere dek, half breed or not. She kept that thought to herself though, wasn't her place to question caste judgment.

Not receiving an answer from the older boy, Erade tried a different approach, "Hi, my name is Erade." Introductions are always a good start and waited patiently for the dek to reply.

by **Eadon** on August 26th, 2013, 10:18 am

When the Yasi reached towards him, Eadon had to fight back against all of his instincts yelling at him to cringe away and avoid her hand. In his subconscious mind, he knew that this girl probably meant him no harm and was merely curious, but his heart and his thoughts told him that it was all an act and that he should get as far away from her as fast as he could. That was, if he didn't want a new array of bruises to add to his existing motley collection.

When her hand closed around the bird he held in his own palm, he slowly realised her intent. She wanted to inspect the damage he had done to the potato. Grudgingly, he relinquished his grasp, letting her take it into her own hand and examine the oddly shaped little bird. When Eadon looked at it, he could see all of the countless little flaws that decorated the things surface. If he had access to the proper tools, no doubt he could do a much finer piece than the one the girl currently held, but even then he knew he would make more mistakes than actual progress in carving out the shape of the thing. A paring knife was hardly a proper tool, after all. Maybe for a potato, but then again he really shouldn't be carving birds out of potatoes.

Eadon stood awkwardly, trying his best to shrink down smaller than the bold Inarta girl who had confronted him. A hard task, seeing as she was so much shorter than him. Running a hand through his grime streaked hair, the boy let his eyes fall closed, his thoughts running away with him once more. I was found out. No doubt she will inform the chef, and I will be punished. There is no need to keep stressing about it. I made this mistake, after all.

Noticing a weight in his hand, he looked down to see a half eaten apple had been placed in his palm in the birds place. It was strange, he thought. It had been a long time since he had been able to eat an apple. He dare not let it drop, though. It was the girls and he needed to look after it for her if she had entrusted it to him.

Startled, he realised she had said something to him. Eyes widening further, he shook his head vehemently. "No. I did it. No one else did it. You need to punish me, not the others," Eadon said rapidly, not wanting to get the other Dek in the kitchen in trouble.

While he was pretty much at the bottom of the ladder as far as the Inartan caste system went, Eadon was not about to go and let the others who shared his fate suffer for his wrongdoings. No, he would own his mistakes. It was not their fault he was incompetent at completing the tasks he was assigned. He should have known what it was he was supposed to do from the start, this was the fault of his own ignorance.

Eadon was further surprised when the Yasi in front if him actually introduced herself. Before he could think better of it, he stuttered out a reply. "Uhhh, m-my name is Eadon. It's n-nice to m-meet you."

by **Erade** on August 27th, 2013, 1:27 am

Erade wasn't expecting the boy to answer so when he did it slightly shocked her. His voice spoke of distrust and timidness but the shorter girl didn't let that get to her though. She figured in due time, he would come out of his shell and see that she meant no harm to him. Erade would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't fascinated by the dek and his carving skills. She has never quite seen anything like it.

Erade let out a big grin when the older boy finally responded to her. "Nice to meet you as well. I'm not going to tell on you Eadon, or punish you. Besides the cooks have plenty to worry about than a potato bird." She looked around to confirm her statement and she was right. The cooks were still fussing about the next up coming meal.

The teen took back her forgotten half eaten apple and returned the little bird back to Eadon's hand gently. "However, I dont think Chef Davoid will take the bird as lightly." Erade stated, looking at the sculpture again. "Best to dispose of it, sadly. It was rather pretty though."

Erade really did like the bird, even if it was made of a potato. It sort of reminded her of Noralth when he was a chick.

Not waiting to see if he threw it away or not the little tomboy made her way to where Eadon had left the potatoes and pairing knife. Sitting on the floor next to the sack, she picked up the knife and began cutting off chunks of the apple and popping them into her mouth.

"So what were you actually suppose to be doing with these potatoes?" The yasi asked with her mouth full.

OOC :

by **Eadon** on August 27th, 2013, 1:21 pm

The soot covered teen blinked stupidly for a few seconds, brain taking more than a few seconds to catch up with what Erade had just said. He had been absolutely sure of punishment. That this Yasi was going to let him get away scot free seemed somewhat surreal.

Mouth opening and closing a few times in a way that was hardly attractive and more reminiscent of the antics of a goldfish, Eadon let out a breath he had hardly noticed he was holding. Glancing nervously at the chefs once again, the blonde Dek reassured himself that they were still more than occupied with their own tasks. Not that they would be for long, if he continued to stand around looking vacant.

"Th-thankyou," Eadon said, voice sounding somewhat underused but with gratitude shining through in his tone, "I-it m-means a lot that y-you w-won't tell on me. I never m-meant t-to ruin the f-food, I s-swear."

Eadon looked away in embarrassment. He really needed to work on this stutter he seemed to develop whenever he said more than a handful of words to people. Not everyone was out to get him, supposedly. Or at least that is what his mother had kept telling him. He was yet to see evidence of this theory, so was withholding judgement for a later date.

When the potato was handed back to him, Eadon's eyes widened again, if it were possible. Not wasting any more time, he quickly dropped it into the waste bin as though it were scalding hot. I definitely learnt my lesson this time, Eadon thought to himself, grinning bemusedly.

Eadon followed the girl back to his corner with his bag of potatoes and the little paring knife, as though in some kind of dream. Usually by now people he met would have hit him or yelled some kind of abuse or caste-based slur at him. The fact that this tniy Yasi had not was an odd thing indeed. When she asked him what he was supposed to be doing with the potaotes, Eadon's cheeks flushed pink from his embarrassment of not knowing the answer, his eyes glancing away.

"Uh, well... Y-you see," he mumbled lamely, trailing off obviously without having answered her question, "I. W-well, I m-mean to s-say, Umm. I d-don't know?"

by **Erade** on August 28th, 2013, 2:03 am

The blonde boy stood there for a moment, clearly in shocked that Erade wasn't going to rat him out. Even went so far as to gape like a fish for a few seconds, Erade had to hold in a giggle because she didn't want to embarrass him further. "No need to thank me, I understand your little predictament alot more than you think." Erade stated with a slight grin on her face. Erade remembers her fair share of "troublemaking" in the kitchens.

When Eadon finally came out of his daze he made his way to Erade and the sack of tubers. The yasi had asked him what he was suppose to be doing with the potatoes, so when the older boy started to blush and look away she was unsure why potatoes made him blush.

"Uh, well... Y-you see, I.. W-well, I m-mean to s-say, umm... I d-don't know?" Eadon managed to stumble out.

Erade couldn't help but just stare incredulously at the dek," They gave you potatoes.. and no instructions?" Eadon only blushed more.

The little girl quickly thought over if Chef Davoid had mentioned if they were going to cook anything with potatoes and nothing came to mind. Erade looked down at her apple and stared at it for a moment before she got an idea.

Smiling from ear to ear, she got up, set her apples down, and ran off to the opposite side of the kitchen. "Be right back and you're welcome to eat that other apple if you want!" She yelled over her shoulder. She didnt want Eadon thinking she was abandoning him or really was going to tell on him.

She stopped in front of the little rack the kitchen crew kept various pots, pans and other bigger kitchen utensils at. Jumping up and down a few times and maybe knocking over a few other things she managed to get a big bowl. She next stopped for another pairing knife and to filled up the bowl half way with cold water. The tiny girl tried to rush and be careful at the same time so she didnt spill any of the water but had minimal success. By the time she got back to Eadon it was less than half full and she was quite wet, but she would dry soon enough in the warm kitchen.

She set the bowl on the floor next to the sack and sat down cross legged next to it. "Come sit, I have an idea," Erade managed to huff out, because she was out of breath. The younger girl patted the floor next to her to further prove her point.
"Welcome to potato peeling class 101," she smirked.

Open The Art of Potato Peeling