Alya laid across the window seat in the room above the bar, cookbook lazily propped up on her stomach. "Sera, are you sure this book has cookie recipes in it?" "Sure I'm sure…kinda…maybe. Why you askin'?" Alya huffed as she paged through the book "I do not see dessert recipes of any kind in here. Did you even look through this?" The blonde elf leaned over her, peering at the text she was looking through. "You've gotta be friggin' kidding me. This is the only cookbook in the kitchen. It has to have something." Alya sighed and closed the book, placing it on the cushion beside her. "Well, maybe we should try the Library." She said as she got up, allowing her fellow elf to follow her out. Alya had promised Sera that they'd make cookies. 'The best friggin cookies in the whole universe' to be exact. Their progress so far has been… almost nonexistent.

At first, Alya tried to get her brother in on it to see if he remembered any recipes from their childhood. "You were always the one making things, esa'ma'lin. If either of us remembered mother's recipes, it would have been you." Right. While she was making weapons and armor, and learning to cook, her brother had been learning languages and training to be a hunter. She didn't regret her choices of passion, but she had always been rather jealous of her brother's knack for language. She still didn't understand how conjunctions in common worked.

And so now they had no choice but to search the library. Hunting up and down the aisles, looking for anything even remotely like something with dessert recipes in it. Finally, on a high shelf, Alya spotted a book with 'Delicacies of Ferelden' scrawled across the spine. Alya remembered earlier in the week, when she first made the promise to Sera, she asked around if anyone in the Inquisition had a good one, and Cullen shared that there was a specific Cookie that his mother used to make and claimed was a traditional Ferelden recipe. He'd forgotten the name, and had never made them with her, so he had no idea of the recipe. It seemed the Commander was on the Inquisitor's mind more and more since their heart-to-heart about passed loves half a month ago, and not in a bad way. Definitely not. Her cheeks flushed with excitement and something else as she pointed to the book. "There! Maybe that one has something" she exclaimed in excitement to get Sera's attention.

Eagerly, the raven-haired elf reached for it, but even on her tip toes and jumping, it was too far up. "hahahaaaa Shortie." Sera mocked before her attempts to grab it were also thwarted by her lack of height. "You are short, too!" Alya pointed out. Sera turned to her, a serious expression, but mischief in her eyes. "But together, Inky, we are tall. Get on my shoulders." Taken aback by both the nickname, and the request, Alya responded with a dumbfounded "what?" "Get. On. My. Shoulders. not gonna tell you twice." Sara said, squatting down for better access. 'Inky' sighed and set her legs on either side of Sera's neck. Sera then stood up and grabbed her thighs. "alright," Sera chimed, squeezing them for effect "can we reach it now?" Alya reached for the book, and the tips of her fingers brushed the bottom of the spine. "Almost. Can you stand on your tip toes?" Sera cussed "I already am!" "w-well then can you jump?" Just then, they heard footsteps approaching them from behind, and a rather amused tone of "What are you doing?" Dorian. Of course, he'd be up here. He almost never left.

"umm. We found a book we thought might have cookie recipes in it, but it was too high, so…" Dorian sighed. "Why on earth would you want to make cookies?" Sera turned around to face him, and Alya almost fell from her perch. "If you don't wanna help, then it's none of your business, is it?" Sera always got a little defensive when people asked about the cookies. Understandable, people would ask why she wanted to make them when she could just swipe some from the kitchen, and she couldn't just say 'because my adopted mom never made her own' well, she could, but she wasn't going to.

After a significant pause. Dorian said, "well I never said I didn't want to." Sera stuck her tongue out. Those two argued constantly, but Alya could tell they were good friends. "which book is it?" Dorain asked. Alya pointed up to the one she wanted. Dorian scoffed. "Alya, that's way to high. I think even Bull would have trouble reaching that. Two elves forming a totem would never work. You should have grabbed a ladder. Or, you know…" Dorian trailed off as the book glowed blue, then floated down into his hand "Used magic? You could have just used magic, Inquisitor, you're a mage." Alya felt a little silly for not having thought of that. "Right, well, weird glowy book trick aside, we got it down. Let's have a lookie." Sera said, letting the woman on her shoulders slide off. "OoOOOooh. Delicacies of Ferelden. Wonder why you chose that one." Sera said, "Perhaps she's trying to impress a certain Ferelden Delicacy within the Inquisition~" Dorian added to the teasing. Alya's face burned, and she puffed her cheeks as she said "I-it is nothing like that, I just remembered Cullen said-" "-Cullen? Not 'Commander Rutherford'? Interesting."

Sera cackled as Alya snatched the book from Dorian's grasp. Flipping through the pages, she found a cookie recipe easily enough and dog-eared it before stomping past her two companions "We should get to the kitchens, yes?" The impish pair were left to snicker and walk along beside her. Sera and Dorian had ceased their teasing as they approached the bottom of the stairs, mostly because in the doorway leading to the rest of the castle, they'd run into Cassandra. "Ah! Aly-Inquisitor." The Seeker greeted awkwardly. She'd been avoiding Alya since the rejection. "Cassandra." Alya greeted back. It was painfully awkward for a few seconds before Alya meekly added "we were about to go make some cookies, would you like to join us?" Cassandra looked conflicted before she answered with "n-no. Not this time, I'm afraid. Perhaps some other day." The Elf nodded, and the three left Cassandra in the stairwell.

They'd reached the door to the kitchen when Alya next spoke "You two go ahead inside, I will be in shortly." Dorian patted her arm and took the book before they left her outside the door. Alya shuttered and let more than a few tears leak out before she to wipped them away, and decided she was alright to enter the kitchens. She loved her friends and would happily confide in them about her hurt feelings twoards Cassandra, just, not today. They were supposed to have a good time today, and Alya wasn't about to spoil the mood.

Cullen noticed her by the stables. He always noticed her every time she was within eyesight. It was like his eyes gravitated to her form. This would be the second time in a month he's found her crying. Before he can bring himself to approach, she wipes her tears, and enters the kitchens. Odd. What business would the Inquisitor have in the kitchens? His mind immediately came up with images of her crying into a pie and attempting to console herself with food over Cassandra. He sped walked to the kitchen door only to hesitate before opening it. What if she wanted to be alone, and he'd be considered an intrusion? What if he was completely off base about her needing consoling, and he's about to make a fool of himself? What if she isn't even in the kitchen anymore, and was simply passing through to get to another part of the castle? No. she's in there. He can hear a conversation going on. Is she in there with someone? Who? His immediate thought was Ronnin, but no, he'd just finished sparring with her brother. So then Dorian, maybe? Well now he really didn't want to go in. That mage has already caught on to Cullen's growing feelings for the woman and would undoubtedly tease the daylights out of him for entering the kitchens for obviously no other reason than he must have seen Alya enter. But wait, there was another voice…Sera? It was hard to hear through the door, especially when he was attempting to seem nonchalant. Soon, the voices turned heated. Alya said something in a sharp tone before she cut herself off with a scream. Alya! Was she alright? He had to check!

Things were quiet when Alya entered the kitchen. Dorian was flipping through the book, reading off tools and ingredients to Sera who'd fetch them. Cole sat on the counter, swinging his feet and giving Sera hints when she didn't know where to look for something. "Cole. What are you doing in here?" Alya asked, happy to see the boy who was so endearing to her. "Helping." He answered simply. Alya nodded and began to help Sera in her search for a big enough bowl. Cole had given a hint, but it was vague, as usual. "Cassandra doesn't mean to make you sad." Dorian looked up from the book and said Cole's name in a warning tone. Cole, ignored it. "She hurt you, so she hides, but the hiding only hurts you more." "Stop it you friggin' demon! She doesn't want to talk about it, so just stop it!" Cole disappeared, most likely retreating to the rafters of the Herald's Roost. "You did not have to yell at him, Sera." Alya sighed. "Yeah, but this was supposed to make you feel better, and he was ruinin' it. It's no fun doing things with you when you're all crying. You get all sniffy, and then you can't say words right. Not to mention, you're prettier when you're smiling." Sera said, pinching Alya's cheeks "you know, for an elfy girl." Dorian scoffs "That's a rather rude way of putting it, but I have to agree. I've missed that signature grin of yours." Sera freed her friend from the grip she'd had on her face. "Yea. Don't worry so much about Cassy. She'll stop being stupid soon. You're her best friend. The dynamic duo, Seeker and The Herald. She'll come 'round, believe me. As your second-best friend, I know these things."

Dorian paused from skimming the recipes for a second time. "You're her second-best friend?" he asked dryly, clearly insinuating that he believed that title was his, if first-best was going to Cassandra. "Well, yeah." Sera challenged. "You're her third-best. Unless you count her brother which I know you do, then it's fourth-best." Sera had begun reading over Dorians shoulder and mixing ingredients in a bowl. "I am much more important than fourth-best. I'm second, you're the one who's fourth." He said as he began to mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. "Please, you two." Alya asked weakly, trying to search for the brown sugar. She was ignored. "oh really? She didn't promise to make cookies with you, did she?" "Well I'm here, aren't I?" "Guys please, please not today." They stared each other down as Alya added the brown sugar into Dorian's bowl and then went off in search of the salt and elfroot extract. "Well let's ask her then, shall we?" "Fine. Let's. Inky? Who's your second most favorite person in the whole wide universe?" Alya sighed as she scoured the shelves. Without thinking, she said "probably Cullen."

"WHAT?" "I knew it-wait, seriously?" Alya flushed and quickly added the ingredients she'd found to their respective bowls and refusing to open her mouth again. "I thought we were just teasin' in the library. Are you seriously starting to go that wild for 'im?" Sera asked, enunciating with a flick of her spoon. In doing so, she got a little bit of the liquid ingredients in Dorian's mustache. They all paused to stare before Sera started to giggle.

"Ahhahahaha. I got eggy stuff all over your 'stache. Snnnhahaa" Dorian huffed and reached into his own bowl before flicking some powder into her face. Some got in her mouth and she coughed before looking back at him "Oh it's on, Vint." They began to flick ingredients from their bowls at each other as Alya watched on in horror. They were making a mess! How was she going to explain this to her kitchen staff? "Alright!" Alya barked sharply, stepping in between them just as they were about to toss their whole bowls at each other "I have had quite enou-" the contents of both bowls were accidently dumped all over the Inquisitor and she gave a rather loud shriek.

Just as she did so, the kitchen door burst open as Cullen ran into the kitchens. "What's happening?" he bellowed as he entered, before he began to take in the room. The messy walls, the even messier companions, the rather upset looking Inquisitor, all covered in what seemed to be baking ingredients. "What's…happening?" he asked again, slower. "C-Commander Rutherford…" Alya stuttered a greeting. Both of the Inquisitor's friends seemed to have the same thought as they smirked at each other. "Oh my, Alya. You're quite a mess, aren't you?" Dorian cooed, grabbing his friend by the chin and beginning to wipe off the side of her face with a towel, and giving sideways, smirking glances at Cullen. "Dorian, I can clean myself off." Alya complained. "Not by yourself, Inky." Sera added grabbing one of Alya's fingers and making uncomfortable eye contact with Cullen as she sucked the ingredients off it "Gross, Sera! Do not do that! Ignoring the risk of eating raw egg, it is incredibly lewd." The Inquisitor chided, yanking her hand out of her friend's mouth.

She then turned to the doorway to apologize for her friends' sudden odd behavior, but Cullen had already turned around and started to walk away, and her friends were beginning to laugh. "What? What are you laughing at?" Alya demanded. "I don't think you're in an emotionally stable mindset to know just yet." Dorian explained honestly. "But believe us, if you were, we'd tell you." Sera added. "Because it's friggin' funny."