[The Sunken Conundrum] Swimming in Soup [Solo]

[Summer Dole]

Fall of 514AV, 69th

“Rain, rain, go away…”

Summer heard the song as a clap of thunder rolled over her. Not a moment later there was a shower of color and the drum beat of rain. It poured over Summer, a second shower, while she searched for a place to hide out. There was little in the way of cover. She tried to use her hands to shield her head but it could not last for long. She gave up, her hands fell away as another spot of color exploded. The half-Zith gawked up at the sky. She had no idea what it was but it was gorgeous, and several more lite the sky with cracks that could deafen her. The beauty of it faded when the chill of the rain reached her skin. Summer did not waste anymore time gazing up at the sparkling sky, she shook her hair out of her face then ran into the nearest building.

Like any normal person she expected the water to stop once she entered cover. Instead, Summer found water from top to bottom as if a mini ocean resided within the building. She turned but the door had shut. Summer opened her mouth to cry out or curse and swallowed water. A fizzing along her arms and legs told her she was drowning. Except…she wasn’t. Her brain told her the she couldn’t breath in the water but she was. Her hands wrapped around herself and choked her. Summer lifted her shirt.

She looked down.

She had….gills?

The half-Zith pulled down her shirt. Air escaped her in the form of bubbles. She would just have to deal with it. She could deal with it. It was just a building underwater. Summer breathed fast enough for it to her. Her eyes scrambled for something to focus on, She couldn’t read all of it but what she could made her laugh aloud.

Please breathe.

That. That she could do. As fast as it had started her breathing slowed. It allowed her to take full stock of the room. Shelves, books, and people swam around in the quiet of the water. Summer didn’t like swimming or water but it looked like Alvadas would give her both. She wondered which part of the city she pissed off.

Summer thought of leaving but it wasn’t possible to get any wetter. Decided Summer walked foreword. It was not as easy as it looked. The water left her weightless, she wind milled her arms in a terrible mimicry of swimming and her leg lifted too high. It was the most awkward walk she’d ever had and didn’t pay off till she reached a desk. Behind the aforementioned desk was an older woman. She wore glasses and was reading a book. Summer gave no thought as to how it worked; questioning how something worked in Alvadas was like questioning why the sky was blue. Pointless and without answer.

“Can I help you?”

Might as well make her time there useful. Summer nodded. It would help a lot if she could read. “Cooking. I need cooking books.”

“For what?”

“…cooking.”

“What do you want to cook?” The comforting feeling of Sunberth draped around Summer when she talked to the librarian.

“Anything. Doesn’t matter.”

“Fine. Two rows, seven shelves over then straight up.”

“Up?”

“Up!” The librarian snapped. Summer returned the glare with just as much irritation. If she could have turned and stomped she would have. Instead she was forced to wade through the water. Her hands made cups and she stretched them out fully to pull her upper body along, lest to fall (float) on her back.

[Summer Dole]

Try as she might, Summer could not swim up. Lucky for her she could climb…in a manner of speaking. It was closer to push and pull. Summer would one shelf and tug gently. Her feet pushed off the floor; it allowed her to ‘swim’ to the top of the shelf. She continued in this manner to the next shelf. Grab, pull, kick off, reach for the next shelf, repeat. It was slow going, as she had to stop each kick off or face toppling the entire shelf. As Summer reach the top she found it worth the effort. The top of the shelf was flat. Perfect for sitting. She would have no problems as long as she didn’t think to hard about being underwater.

Summer settled herself on the shelf and grabbed her first book. It was thin, well worn. She couldn’t read the covered but there was a poorly drawn picture of…food? The half-Zith flipped it open. Inside were crude drawings. Alongside each she could understand the simple instructions for making a soup. The next page had the same with different foods. Summer dropped it back onto the shelf and pulled another.

This book had soup on the cover. Vegetables, fruits or both fell into the soup in a continuous stream. When she flipped it open the letters were still but dancing soup bowls ran across the margins. It intrigued Summer enough to read the words.

”Simple Soup

You can XXX XXX in soup. Basic broth XXX XXX started.”

Summer tried to fit in the missing words. Her body reclined back to lay upon the top of the shelf. Above her feet kicked, just missing her head. For an instant her gaze flickered to finally see the several other people within the library swimming, books in hand, from shelf to shelf. Summer returned her eyes to the page.

Summer re-read the first words. She thought they had to mean a basic soup. But what could she put in soup? She could put blank in the soup? Summer looked over the title again and again. Her brain flitted back to the cover and the assortment of foods falling into the bowl. A self-satisfied smile crossed her lips, the word was anything, she could put anything in the soup.

”1) XXX a stock/base

Your soup base can be made from XXX XXX anything. The first XXX XXX always be the base. XXX are some XXX to make it.

Vegetable/Fruit: XXX one part fruits or vegetable XXX, one part water. Add water, boil XXX simmer for an hour. Cool XXX XXX.

Chicken: XXX 5lbs of XXX neck and back, 2lbs of vegetables, spices as XXX. Add water, boil XXX simmer for two hours. Cool XXX XXX.

• Notes: XXX off foam XXX.

Meat: XXX 5lbs of XXX meat and bones, 2lbs of vegetables, spices as XXX. Add water, boil XXX simmer for four hours. Cool XXX XXX.
[list][*]Notes: Stir XXX and XXX XXX XXX stay XXX with water.

Fish: XXX fish scrap, bones, shells, and XXX. Vegetables not XXX. Spices as XXX. Add water, boil XXX simmer for an hour. Cool XXX XXX.
Notes: Butter, tomatoes sauce or milk make creamy soups when added to stock.

The book fell on her chest while Summer made sense of the words she knew. She’d never made soup (besides the stock on the ship) before but like the majority of recipes, the instructions were simple. Summer could guess what she didn’t know.

Soup stock, it was telling her how to make it. Judging from the list it told her how to make the stock for each group. The first she re-read was chicken. It was the easiest to read. Summer made a mental note of it: boil her fruits or veggies (perhaps she could do both for better taste) then cook it for an hour. It was the last part she couldn’t understand.

Chill it then what? Summer thought of soups and how they’d been when she’d eaten them. Still she couldn’t think of what she was missing. At least, not at first. She skipped ahead a few steps and read the word “filler”, “together”, and figured it out. If she were making the base she wouldn’t need the bones (who ate bones in a soup?). That meant she’d have to separate the water from the food after boiling. Summer still didn’t know exactly what words went there but she felt it was right. She’d have to strain it then.

Reading it, soup seemed the easiest thing to make. Boil foods for flavor, then put more food in for the filling parts. It was too bad she didn’t like soup anymore. It was something quick to eat. Summer sat up with a shake and skipped ahead to another page.

”2) XXX your filler

XXX soups XXX be made from any stock, you XXX put XXX anything in it. XXX are some XXX that do not taste good. XXX are different types of soup:

Chunky
Creamy
Noodle
Dessert

Chunky soups use XXX cooked then put in with the stock, XXX as: Meats, fruits, fish, vegetables or eggs.

A XXX on eggs: Eggs work XXX with vegetables and XXX eggs have XXX flavors. For XXX, an Ixam egg and a chicken egg taste XXX alike.

Creamy soups used XXX or crushed food. Potatoes & breads XXX thicken soups.

A XXX on creamy soups: Flour is XXX used to thicken but XXX browning first for flavor XXX.

Noodle soups use any filler and noodles.

Dessert soups are XXX on page 12. Do not use XXX stock for dessert soups.

Summer read over the information twice. Unless the other pages showed otherwise, soup would be something she would try as a last resort. It was simple, so simple there had to be a catch. The half-Zith couldn’t think of what and was distracted by the idea of eggs in soup and dessert soups. How would you eat an egg in soup? And what in the Gods name was Ixam?

She’d never heard of either. Casually she flipped to page twelve, the book used fruit juices as stock rather than other foods. Honeys and mashed fruits were listed down the page and waving in the margins. Summer noted it must be a smoothie, warmed to be eaten on colder days. Her eyes returned to the page with the eggs. There was no glossary to the book so Summer replaced it on the shelve then floated down. Summer would just have to find out herself.