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[Cosette Merryweather]

Timestamp: 15th of the Day, Winter of 513 A.V.

A small woman who looked to be in her early twenties wore a frustrated expression as she gazed into the gaping mouth of a small chimney meant for heating water. She'd sealed the leak with a bit of sand and mortar, but what was she going to do about the timber that had become moist? They needed a fire and they needed it now... but to obtain firewood she might be forced to go to the bazaar and cough up a few silvers of her own to buy dry wood.

Cosette ground her teeth, annoyed at how this had transpired. Even with the oiled cloth cover the majority of the wood had been soaked... but drying it in winter was going to be a challenge. Fire could help, but then she'd need something intense... the kind of heat from a forge to force the wood stacked up upon each other in a square-ish configuration to dry off. It seemed sometimes, no amount of precaution could prevent problems from arising.

"What do I have to do so that you'll burn!" she groaned, throwing a piece of coal into the oil doused wood that refused to ignite despite her best efforts with the flint and the piece of metal.

Some people passing by her looked at her curiously, but the anger of a small girl was nothing to keep one's attention and they left her to her own devices. Perhaps this was a lost cause... it would take divine intervention or some kind of witchcraft to bail her out of this mess and frankly, her brand of personal magic did not lend itself well to setting things alight.

[Sami]

Sami stared, caught up in her own sense of amusement at the struggles of another for a while. How satisfying it was to watch another curse and groan at their own failings, instead of continuing to listen to her own. It made a change to say the least, her eyes giving only the occasional long burn at the petite woman’s back, whilst on other times her gaze lifted to look around at her surroundings and absorb what was going on. People were coming and going, passing through those narrow corridors that made up this city, the bustle of noise reaching her ears – but there was no real sense of knowing where she was. She knew it was not the bazaar - that was below her feet and a lot bigger in size. And it also was not the docks, there was the lacking rich scent of sweat, salt and bodies moving about.

Pressing herself up against the wall, Sami released what could only be described as a wicked grin. How pointless – and pathetic it was. Could this woman not recognise a lost cause when she saw one? The Inarta gave only what could be described as a sneer. Hairs prickling, the obvious self recognition that she was indeed better and more knowledgeable on the subject of creating fire – if not for reimancy then for the common sense to know that trying to set an entire pile of wood and coal alight was far from an easy task.

Crossing her arms she released a sigh, her head shaking. Although it would have been easy to go over there, snap her fingers and sprout flames, she was not sure if the locals would appreciate such a show. That and this woman was a complete stranger, who knew what her real intentions were? So, the Inarta threw the little woman a verbal life line, “You need tinder little woman. Fire not like big chunks at once.”

[Cosette Merryweather]

Little woman? Cosette had a difficult time understanding this one's words, though the undercurrent behind the statement seemed more... rude than anything. Still, she was clearly no local and perhaps she was ignorant of some of the rules of society. There was also trust in the fact that she was of short stature. The cook decided the to give this red haired stranger the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she was only being helpful and Cosette couldn't very well criticize someone's accent.

"Thank you," she said softly, politely as she turned to look at the source of the suggestion - crude as its delivery might be. "I think I'll try that..."

She turned her gaze back to her task and from among the logs she found one that was still dry for it was hemmed between others. That she carefully skinned. The bark was scraped off the trunk by a knife she deftly wielded and the collection of thin wooden shavings fell upon a dry sheet. Slowly the thin layer of shavings became a small mound and the tinder was produced.

When it looked ready she placed it unto the stack of wood, cradling it between two logs and with a few drops of oil she set out to ignite a large fire. Flint few, red hot and fell upon the tinder immediately setting it ablaze.

It was a small fire, but still a flame nonetheless. How it would contend with the rest of the logs however, were another matter and Cosette was afraid to fan the flames just yet at the risk of snuffing it out.

"Thank you..." she told Sami, not even knowing the name of the woman - or girl - who was patient enough to help her. "I'm Cosette... thank you for your assistance, uhm... I'd like to show you my gratitude for your advice. Are you hungry? I could make you something if you'd like." she risked a smile, uncertain as to the woman's reaction.

[Sami]

Sami gave a snort of approval at the little woman. Yes, she should try that, it was a good idea after all - and foolish not to think of it in the first place. Chin lifting in defiance she looked down upon the little woman, a smirk breaking out upon her lips and a sense of pleasure at knowing she was of perhaps the more intelligent kind. At least in this situation. Arms folded, eyes sharp and hawk like upon her as the tinder was set ablaze.

"Yes. Much thanks. Like that," There was a turn of the head as once more she tried to take in her surroundings and the hum of voices barely pattering upon her ears. There was a definite point towards the flames however, "Need to give twigs now. Slow add of small pieces. Else it smother." She gave a lean down to her height, blue eyes peering out from behind her fringe. And whilst the gaze was held, so was the point - until at least she let out an ungodly sneeze.

Pulling away and wiping her nose, the Inarta gave only an approving nod to the giving of the name. Or at least until she tried to pronounce it, "Co-ss... sssssseee... tt-e." Face screwing up she spat the name in frustration, and promptly sent herself to sulk. Brow knitting she took a large stride to the woman, hands thrusting themselves into her pockets. Lips pouting she forced her focus onto her, "I am Sa-mi, Lady Hard Name." Neck clicking she continued, a defiant tone ringing out "Hungry? No. No. Food good though. Like food, meat is best, nice taste. What you make? You make well? If any. If you like trying to make wood burn though..." there was an eyebrow cocked, a wicked grin upon her face "You better not be bad. None like foul food."

There was a definite nod as she said that, "Show, speak, tell."

[Cosette Merryweather]

After hearing the woman, little more than a girl really, speak longer it became readily apparent to Cosette that her grasp of common was perhaps poorer than the cook initially realized. Perhaps that, above all else, was the reason she found it in herself to be patient despite the heavy condescending note in her words.

The nuit was careful, not daring to smother the flames and so nursed it carefully, with the same attentive gaze she might have a piece of steak that had to be cooked medium rare and not medium or blue rare. Only when the fire picked up strength and looked stable did she give Sami her much deserved attention.

"You could call me by a nickname if that pleases you, just Coss is alright." she suggested helpfully, in the hopes that it might make it easier for this one to remember her. "Oh don't worry, I can make you something good! Meat... ah, I think we have pork to spare. Yes, you'll like what I'm about to make."

Cosette picked up a bell, rang for a helper who she instructed to mind the fire that she had taken great lengths to cultibate and invited Sami to follow her to the outdoor kitchen that they rarely used. It was much easier to start a fire here because the wood she used were hidden underneath a cupboard and there was already high quality coal for her to use.

She went indoors, excusing herself a bit and returned with a bowl of ingredients and tools. It wasn't much, only enough meat and potatoes to satiate one person but the nuit herself wasn't eating. With familiar ease she slipped on the gloves she used for cooking and got about her business. She prepared the meat, cleaning and cutting it where appropriate.

Prepared the vinegar, soy and marinade she would soak it in for awhile and she assembled an assortment of vegetables on a wooden cuttingboard. "Be a little patient with me, I'm sure you'll like this... well I hope you will, I can't really be sure." she told the crimson haired inarta before her hands started rocking the knife in a sliding see-saw pattern over the washed vegetables as she diced them into manageable cubes - she stopped short of picking up pepper. "Do you like spicy food? You know, chili?" she lifted an example up for her, a really red piece of chilli, holding it by the stem.

"What about sweet? Or sour?"

[Sami]

"But Coss sounds silly," Sami objected at first, her arms folding as she huffed rather loudly. She gave only a grin, her brow lifting as the attention was - much to her pleasure - applied and lathered on. Yes, she liked that, she also like the idea that someone was going to feed her - it meant she had less to give with coin and what not. Eyes brightening at the mention of meat, the Inarta continued her smiling - greed and gusto commanding her all the way. She gave a swivel round, following the gesture of the little woman, and watching intently for a moment from the safety of the door way.

Her head inclined with fasciations, eyes watching as Cosette prepared it. Sliding over into the chill of the outside air, the Inarta gave a close inspection to her work. Long gone was the thought of greed and food - instead it was simply replaced with that of curiosity on how something so seemingly simple could become a meal. Enough so that her fingers on occasion jerked out and studied the cubed remains carefully. Even her hands at one point attempted a mimic - in the air of course - of the motion of the cutting knife.

Lips pursed into a line, a sheepish expression upon her face as she took the chilli and continued her study of such things, "Spicy? As in... heat? No. Hot? It is... alright." there was a momentary pause as she continued her scrutiny, or at least until she gave a nod in understanding, "I prefer... hmm. Think your word is sa-vo-ury? But sour is good. Not too much. Nasty taste otherwise."

She gave an approving nod and then turned her attention to the coal fire. Raising a hand she gave a point, "Want me to start fire for food? Then, show more. Like watching things. Very interesting. Like, tell me what this is?" she gave a firm point to one of the vegetables, "But in moment. First, that." And with that she went over to the coal fire and began poking it about. The first thought was to simply use reimancy, but even then common sense over ruled that idea. So, she moved on to the idea of flint and steel, her form bending as she searched for it, "Fint, steel, where is it?"

[Cosette Merryweather]

Now she was being less rude and more, pleasant so to speak. Cosette rather liked that, it seemed one act of kindness truly could lead to another. If the girl were to relieve her of the task of creating fire then she could turn her hands to toil towards another purpose. That being the food that she was going to prepare. "That would be much appreciated, thank you very much. The flint and steel is at the edge of the table."

"The stove isn't too large, though there should be plenty of logs to use under it." Cosette helpfully pointed in the direction of the open stove as well as the wood that needed to be placed into the stone pit. "I'll need a small fire, embers really, enough to cook but not to burn."

While the nuit worked she couldn't help notice Sami making gestures in the air that were perhaps meant to mime the motion of cutting things - ingredients hopefully - herself. Cosette dared not interrupt the girl as she spoke, for all she knew Sami was struggling with the words to express what she wanted, fortunately for Cosette there was enough there for her to work with. "Moderation then."

She started with the meat first, washing them before she finally picked out the parts she would use and those she would discard. Then she cut the meat into cubes, roughly an inch in measure on all sides and then returned them to the soy mix marinade to help treat the meat.

Then in an empty bowl she placed her finely diced spices, tomatoes, a few tea spoons of sugar and a helping of dark soy-vinegar concoction. Starch based flour would constitute the volume of the sauce, corn being what she preferred to use for its price and availability.

"Just tell me when the fire is ready." Cosette told the girl as she washed her gloved hands free of the residue of the ingredients with crushed ice which was readily available. She'd need to get the oil up to the right temperature.