Solo You're Late

[Naiya]

50th Day of Summer, 514 AV

Darning clothing was something Rue often saw done, but she had not had much opportunity to practice the 'needle weaving'. So when she found an opportunity to try it, she jumped on board.

It was not often she regretted something so greatly as she did that choice.

Each time she thought she would have the thing right, her threads pulled too tight, or snagged in the old fabric. One time she even ripped a cross string right through the worn material she was supposed to be repairing.

She redrew the string in the spot, further from the edge of the fraying that she sought to fix. Careful only to pull until the looping ends of the string lined up, she pinched the thread between the fingers of her free hand, keeping them from tightening further.

Press the needle through, pull, line up the loops, hold. Press the needle through, pull, align, hold. Press, pull, align, hold.

"Rue." The chiding tone caught her attention right away, and she jumped at the sound pulling her needle and ruining the last few lines of progress she had made.

"Ara, what?" Rue glanced up to see her sister, lit only by that light of the lantern Rue worked beside. The sky behind her sister was dark, the first stars of evening peering out from behind a light cloud cover.

"You were supposed to make dinner, Rue. I started things, but someone will notice if you don't get home soon..." She trailed off, and Rue nodded her thanks setting aside the cloth she had been fixing. It would have to be done tomorrow, there was no time left tonight.

Quickly dousing the light, she closed up the few openings of the tent and followed Ara home.

[Naiya]

Just nearing the cookfire brought beads of sweat to her brow, and she swept her hair up with a sigh, a small scrap of purple cloth knotting the hair up and off her neck. A second scrap of fabric marred by small burns and miscellaneous food stains worn over her clothing prevented similar mishaps from befalling her own clothing. Ara had one as well, though it was cleaner than the one Rue wore, because Ara knew what to expect in this cooking thing. Each new mishap was a surprise to Rue.

"Here, wash this." Ara ordered, placing a piece of salted meat in front of Rue. She grimaced, but obliged, pouring a small dose of water into a large bowl and dropping the meat into it. She rolled the portion in the water, removing the easiest traces of salt, but it would need to soak in the water to really have any effect on the taste.

With little else to do for a while she rinsed her hands and moved towards the table of foraged plants. They were sad, looking withered and lacking the color that rain brought to the plants. Some things were hardier, staying bright even while they waited for the summer rains to come, but they would not have the crisp fresh taste they usually carried.

Most things were dulled by the lack of rain, but it wasn't something that came as a shock to the Drykas. Instead they did what they could to get by until the rains came.

So Rue filled a second, smaller bowl of water, lifting it to the table and dropping in the greens that would benefit from the soak.

"Do the roots go in the water, Ara?" Rue asked, looking at the misshapen lumps that passed for grown in the drought.

"Not if you plan to eat them tonight." She called to Rue, sparing only a quick glance over her shoulder as she shaped the fire into a more directed heat.

Right, because the water would help them grow, but not in time for the evening meal. She shook her head, scolding herself for forgetting such a simple thing.

She would have to cut them, but she still hadn't quite understood how to make the pieces the same size when the twisted lumps of starch didn't even grow evenly.

She would have to try a new method. Her previous failures showing her what not to do, but not yet a correct way. So she took a few moments to consider the shape, looking at the vegetable as she would a poorly cut fabric.

This particular one narrowed at one end, and twisted up into a lump near the middle. She cut the narrow end off where the twist ended, then moved across to cut the entirety of the twist off. She cut the remaining part in half, the thickest bit of the root becoming two more manageable pieces.

That was the extent of her plan. Not the same shapes exactly, but they were all about the same size, and as even as Rue was capable of making them.

A few more followed, varying in length, but keeping similar thicknesses in mind. Then the oddly shaped round roots. These were easier, generally speaking, because they were better soft than crunchy.

The round ends were cut thicker, because the 'tips' would be too small alone, and the middle, for the most part, was happy to be cut into cubes, a process that took little time, and only resulted in a single nick on Rue's fingers.

It was a start.

[Naiya]

Growing tired of chopping vegetables Rue placed her knife down and turned back to the soaking meat, spinning it longways through the water once more. It moved easily enough, spinning and disturbing the surface of the water, but at this point it would need quite a bit more effort to be ready to eat.

She was comfortable enough dealing with the meat, even mostly submerged in water, so it wasn't until after her hands were wet and her right hand was screaming its protest that she realized her mistake. While the nick on her finger was hardly noticeable, it hadn't even bled, but it was a cut all the same and it was not happy with the impromptu salt water soak. With a grimace she returned her hands to the water, hoping that the sting would fade quickly.

The sides of the meat felt odd against her hands, somewhere between squishy and firm, rough with salt and now added to that was wet. All the same it wasn't a task she could ignore, so she continued to brush the loosened salt from the outside if the meat.

When all the salt was gone, or at least seemed to be gone, Rue set the small roast aside and took the water out side to be dumped in the grass. A quick rinse of the meat, to rid it of leftover salt, and a second trip to dump the water and Rue was left to soaking the roast again, which meant she needed to see to chopping more vegetables.

The greens she had tossed in the shallow water had brightened up, in fact they had nearly soaked up all of the water in the bowl. Feeling rather pleased with herself and with the newly crisper vegetables, she set to chopping those as well.

[Naiya]

"Bring the salted water here, Rue. We can use it to flavor the stock." Abashedly, Rue turned to face her sister, guilt clear in the shape of her body. "What, why are you looking at me like that? What did you do, Rue?"

"I threw it out." Rue replied despondently, regretting her action immediately. "I though, because it was so salty, and the meat had sat in it.." It had made sense, dumping the overly salty water, because who would use such poor water.

"Because the meat sat in it?" Her voice held defeat, disappointment, "Rue." Her name was drug across four lengths of time it normally took to speak, stretching out into both a complaint and a sigh all at once. "It was salty, and had the meat in it? Like a stew? Or did it seem more like the base of a soup?. Both of which start with salt, water, and meat."

Rue began to speak, but Ara made an impatient sound, "It's fine. Are you finished chopping the vegetables?"

"Almost." Rue answered, pleased to have a better response to this question. Her pleasure was momentary, though, because she was quickly faced with another disbelieving look.

"Rue, what takes so long in chopping vegetables?" The question was more the result of exasperation, than actual interest, but Rue answered anyway.

"I put them in water so whey would crisp up." She answered her younger sister.

"If we are going to boil them, do you really think they needed to crisp up first?"

Once again, her plans had been riddled with holes by the words of her sibling. Without further comment, Rue turned to finish chopping the greens, the pieces becoming less carefully sized in her haste.

"Here." Rue snipped, shoving the pile of cut, green vegetables towards her sister.

[Naiya]

Rue watched her sister toss the vegetables into the stew, leaving aside some pieces that were too large and chopping those herself.

Rue moved to the pot, stirring the vegetables where they sat on the bottom. She was going to do nothing more but stand and stir. She couldn't mess that up. She was being petulant, she knew, but her feelings were hurt and anger was easier than hurt.

She stirred the pot again, but Ara called to her "Let those vegetables sear, Rue, or they won't be any good." She dropped the spoon, waking away from the pot to fetch more water from their stores. She filled a bucket and returned it to her sister, finding salt and a basket of herbs as well.

She brought them all back, digging through to find what she needed. Before she could pick things out, Ara called, "Rosemary and thyme for the roast, lavender too if we have it."

She didn't answer, just pulled the requested herbs, trusting that her sister knew what was best for the stew. She plucked the small thin leaves of rosemary from the branch, making little bundles to chop. She put her knife close to the tips, the tip touching the wooden board as she lowered the rest to the base. One cut down, she moved the blade a bit, and repeated the cut, over and over until the first bundle was done. She didn't bother to remove the thyme from the soft green stems, just chopped them as they were.

Ara had salted the new water and aded it to the pot, so Naiya just tosed the herbs in too.

"All done," Ara told her, "Stew will be ready in twenty chimes, although it'd taste beter if it cooks for a whole bell. Since we were late, we'll rush."

Naiya nodded, accepting the words without further comment.

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Let me know if I missed anything Naiya!

 

Naiya Dawnwhisper

XP

• Cooking: 5 XP
• Socialization: 3 XP
• Cleaning: 2 XP
• Planning: 1 XP
• Sewing: 1 XP

Lores

• Cooking: clean the meat
• Preparation: soak the leaves only
• Cutting: slice the roots larger than the leaves
• Cuts do not like salt water
• Cooking: vegetables crisp with water
• Cooking: use salt water to flavor stock
• Cooking: sear vegetables while making stew
• Cooking: use rosemary, thyme, and lavender for roast
• Cooking: Chopping vegetables into approximately the same sizes
• Cooking: Cutting vegetable sizes by how long they take to cook
• Cutting: Rough chops