"You can find most of the ingredients here," said head cook Donatien in a small pantry outside the kitchen.
Elora looked around. Sacks upon sacks of flour lay on the floor along with a few firkins of butter, barrels of salted meat, and a big bag of barley. Skyhold was certainly much better stocked than the Singing Maiden had been, harboring many different kinds of spices and produce, some of which she'd never even seen before. She slid her hand across a flour sack while Donatien continued talking, and examined the bit that had stuck to her fingers; it was much finer and softer than the flour she was used to. A somewhat sad half-smile crept to her lips.
She remembered the last time her fingers had been dusty with flour. It was actually more than her fingers, it was her apron and half the kitchen, including the other kitchen hands in it. She thought of their joyful faces and mischievous grinning as they tried to bop each other's cheeks with dusty hands. How they managed to make such a mess while baking pies had baffled everyone. Flissa hadn't been too happy about it, but considering how elves were treated elsewhere, she figured they had it pretty good.
And she'd never see any of them again.
Elora quickly wiped her dusty fingers in her apron and focused on something else. It seemed like the packets of nuts had been taken off the shelves to make room for a plethora of strange looking liquor bottles. She squinted to read the label on one of them. "Ant... Antivan.. sip-sip?" she muttered to herself. It looked almost empty.
Donatien noticed her staring at the bottles. "Ah, this is lady Lavellan's private collection, thus off-limits to anyone else. Turn to the wine cellar if you need some for cooking."
She nodded, prompting Donatien to continue introducing the pantry. She felt a little dizzy, how should a simple tavern maid be able to cook with all these ingredients? Despite her fear, she kept nodding at Donatien's words. Whichever strange dish she'd be ordered to make, she'd give her best to be worthy this second chance at life. There'd been so many skilful and talented cooks in Haven, who would've deserved this chance more than her, but who were just… unlucky. She tried not to think about it too much.
After telling her to start preparing oatbread, Donatien disappeared upstairs and Elora walked into the kitchen, where the few servants were scurrying across the room as if the fate of the world lay in a delicate balance which could be tipped by serving overcooked meat or rubbery mushrooms.
Elora gathered the necessary ingredients and, following an excessively detailed recipe Donatien had left for her, mixed them together to make the dough.
Add 12 finely sliced dates, 3 peeled and diced apples and stir until they are evenly distributed throughout.
The apple peels and cores are to be made into apple cider vinegar. Separate instructions to follow.
As she moved to get a jar for the vinegar, she noticed an unfamiliar cleaning servant sneak in from the back door and crouch next to an elf peeling potatoes on the floor, who she recognised as Paimen, or Pim, as he had asked everyone to call him.
They produced a lot of snickering and loud whispers, as they seemed to be gossiping. Elora tried to linger around the jar cabinet long enough to listen in, but not seem suspicious; inspecting the cleanliness of the glassware, trying to shine them with her apron and whatnot.
"Remember when they sent me to clean the rookery yesterday?" the unfamiliar servant said in a low voice, his smile turning into a mischievous grin. "Well, I saw a note on that woman's table—"
"Aand?" Pim leant towards him, impatient for the news.
"She has… you'll never believe it… pet nugs! Can you imagine?"
Pim burst out laughing, raising his hand to his mouth to try and stifle it. "What would SHE of all people do with pet nugs? Train them for espionage?"
Elora been in Skyhold long enough to know who they were talking about, but she couldn't help but imagine nugs running around with daggers in their mouths, ready to slice enemies' ankles at a moment's notice.
Gossip had always been a welcome distraction; perhaps being around Pim would turn out to be fun.
She returned to the dough and let her eyes wander across the room while kneading. By the stove, fidgeting over her numerous pots, stood a young scrawny woman, Lily. She was wearing a pink faded serving dress and her hair was fixed to a tight bun. Lily tried to stir and taste the contents of all of the simmering pots simultaneously, but two hands were seemingly not enough for this task. Elora watched her struggle for a bit, but since the dough needed time to rise anyway, she decided to head over.
"Oh… ah –no, this is not supposed to be that thick… ahh!" Lily mumbled to herself, stirring one pot with her left, and trying to taste the contents of another with her right hand.
"Do you need any help?" Elora offered.
"Uh, no, I don't think so."
Elora started to back away slowly, but Lily spoke again. "Uh, wait, maybe, if you could find some thyme… and add a bit here?" she said, pointing to a small copper pot.
Elora got the herb and started adding it to the contents of the pot, tasting it frequently. It contained milk, a plethora of other herbs, and was seasoned beautifully. Now that she thought about it, everything Lily had made smelled and looked fantastic. Elora was in awe, Lily's cooking had such finesse, such refined flavors. And she'd done it all by herself.
"This smells wonderful, where did you learn to cook?" Elora asked her, the tasting spoon still in her mouth.
Lily didn't turn her gaze from the pots, but Elora could see her blushing. "Oh… thank you, I… I grew up at my mistress'— uh, Miss Guillou's house. She made me cook for her since I was little. I had to be good to please her."
She moved and tasted the mixture Elora had just added thyme to, and threw several pinches of dried elfroot leaves there as well. This was certainly high tier cooking, Elora felt she could learn a lot from her.
"Elfroot? I didn't even know it was used in cooking! This is so interesting! I only knew about its healing and… other interesting properties." Elora said.
"That was elfroot? Oh no!" Lily panicked, fumbled with her spoon and tasted the mixture. She fell silent and kept staring at the pot, deep in thought, sliding her tongue back and forth across her teeth.
Elora took a spoonful, and couldn't believe what she was tasting. "This is even better than before!"
"I… I know." Lily said, still staring the pot, mesmerized. "I can't believe this keeps happening." She let out a nervous laugh and her blush deepened. She still didn't look up, but continued talking. "You'd be surprised how much this happened at Guillou's house. This is how I learned what many unfamiliar spices do. Although, once, I put salt instead of sugar… into her pudding, she didn't like— oh, sorry!" she gasped. "I didn't mean to bother you with my rambling."
"Don't be sorry, you're not bothering me," Elora said.
Lily looked up from her pots and gazed at Elora as if she was unsure if she really meant it, but a small shy smile graced her lips when she finally looked back at the stove. It made Elora wonder what kind of a mistress this Guillou lady must've been.
After she had helped Lily for a while, she strolled back to her station and inspected the dough. It had almost doubled in size, she'd have to bake it soon. She imagined what it would feel like to press her face into one of the loaves. The round, pillowy loaf looked so tempting. She could even shift the blame on to some divine occurrence… Andraste manifesting in a loaf of bread? Imagine the scandal.
Eyes still drilling into the loaf, she heard light footsteps enter the room.
"Hello," a soothing voice said.
"Yes?" Lily greeted the visitor, voice uncertain, yet steady.
"You serve tea here, do you not?"
Who comes to the kitchen personally to order tea? She lifted her eyes to see the mystery tea enthusiast.
It was an elf. A bald one. She'd seen him walk around Haven before. Her fellow kitchen hands had whispered that he was an apostate, but these were all just rumors. What would the Inquisition want with an apostate anyway? She'd also heard that he and lady Lavellan had supposedly had a fight, something to do with her being an elf. But he was an elf too, how could he dislike his own kind? She unthinkingly ran a finger across her ear: still pointy. Would he dislike her too? She'd got used to the hostility, but it didn't mean it stopped being unpleasant. Her heart began to beat a little faster as she observed the unfolding situation.
Lily seemed to be relieved by the seemingly simple request. "We do! What kind of tea would you like?"
"I have specific requirements. May I have look at your inventory?"
"Um, I… I guess most of the herbs are on these shelves," Lily said, scurried towards the wall by the door, and started to fumble through the dried plants.
"Please, let me," the man said, strolled beside her, and started inspecting the wares. He moved with such grace, Elora couldn't stop staring. So couldn't Lily, who looked at him with wide eyes, apparently shocked by not having to find the herbs herself.
After a few minutes of careful inspection, he asked "I cannot seem to find any Felandaris. Do you know if there is any in the storeroom perhaps?"
Lily started twiddling with her fingers. "Uh… I don't think so. This is all I was told about… but, um, I could run to the garden and see if they're growing any—"
"Please, you do not need to do that. I will simply think of a different recipe."
"Uh, are you sure?"
"I am. You have all the other ingredients I require. First I need you to boil spindleweed for twenty five minutes—"
"I-uh wait! I'll have to get out my notebook!" Lily scurried over to a nearby table and fumbled in its drawer. The man watched her patiently, hands clasped behind his back. Finally, she pulled out a worn notebook and headed back, gripping the pencil so tightly, her knuckles were white. Hands shaking, she scribbled the instructions down at lightning speeds, brows furrowed in concentration, mumbling aloud to herself, "Spindleweed… boil… twenty five…"
"When this is done, add exactly 15 drops of Black Lotus seed oil and a few bits of dried ghoul's beard." He waited for Lily to catch up and added, "Please bring it to the rotunda as soon as you finish."
The man sure had... strange requirements for tea. He also appeared to have a nice overall build… well-toned thighs… broad shoulders… a lovely jawline… lips that looked so soft... and grey eyes... which were now looking exactly at her. Her mind went completely blank, but she couldn't look away either.
He gave a small smile as he addressed her. "Excuse me, are you the baker?"
She wasn't technically the baker, but since she was standing next to dough with her apron and half of her face covered in flour, it was an easy assumption to make.
"Er..." she had lost any ability to form coherent speech. The man's gaze was both gentle and demanding.
"Do you, by any chance, know how to make those little frilly Orlesian cakes they sell in Val Royeaux?"
She managed a slight nod
"If it's no trouble, I would like to have some. If you have time."
"I ...yes," she managed, voice barely above a whisper.
"Thank you." the man said and smiled the warmest of smiles she had ever seen. He left the room, but Elora kept staring at the space he had stood in, heart hammering in her chest. She was taken away by how nice this man had been, but…
Shit.
She had no idea how to make Orlesian cakes.