Xiangling: The Last School of Magic

Cooking was hard enough to the eyes of many, and to be good enough to be an artist about it to learn about what could be done with food and transcend to what should be done or even what could be done all with the idea of bringing out flavors and experiences that the people would want more of or rave to their friends to try the same and see if it registered in a similar manner.

Food was something that every culture needed and every recipe almost shown a little bit to the chefs who could see the reasoning behind it. After all before visions and catalyst there was the magic of food. Despite her age she had been one who had fallen in love with the practice and joined her father in the kitchen learning all that she could in the restaurants of Liyue before going out to gather more intel, in her case it was something about finding that had been forgotten or something that was completely new.

What was one to do when they could learn more about the food of cultures they were exploring and help those cultures often too boot. Learning the detail oriented from Inazuma had been a godsend and the flavor of bold dishes and aromatic additions. All of it was another chapter of foods she had to spend a lot of time to learn how it worked food wise. To specialize in food was something like how a person would try to specialize in music, while instead of a single style, it had to be all of them that could be found. Cooking had been something that had its own challenges but with it had a unique set of prizes.

It brought about amazing moments, as the competition at her age she had been able to represent her family and their cuisine well. She bounded about the landscaped and had hoped to find either something new, or something so old it was new, as the tastes of the people were often cyclical. Her chili cornbread rolls were the best example. Something that came from the time where Guoba was a powerful god helping the people. After making the dish she had found they had been popular with the people again, and almost like in honor of her friend they would be come a weekly special.

People enjoyed the flavor and texture enough that they came back to it again and again, which made her happy as people would remember something about her friend. When something could be taken from the past so long ago and people can still be found enjoying it like they did so many years ago. No matter the generation the people were still happy.

She had learned many things in her studies of the kitchen, and even learned about the cultures from it. When the Lavender melon in Inazuma was pickled properly it made a wonderful wrapping to the sushi. It was a unique idea that had gotten her to think how it could be done with other things further down the road. Despite not being able to grow Lavender Melon there were other things that could be manipulated to something like that. Chili pepper could be pickled and cut thin into tying stems and she wrote in her notes that it would be a great tie for some potstickers or other steamed dumplings, it would be something to be worked on for sure.

There was so much in the food, how would the plant grow and gather from the soil and sun what they need, would things happen if it were roasted or grown under different conditions? Her notebooks explained experiments to try to the point that she could have conversations with both Albedo and Sucrose about the different elements of food.

A perfect day was one in the teapot though, for the traveler had been wise to create a huge area for cooking and research and could only think of one person to stay in the area and use it to the greatest effect. In it the property was expansive, the islands floating against a golden sky and the grasses rich with an aroma that seemed to be almost sweet. Everything that seemed to be the problem was the block that would cause her spontaneous nature to be frozen.

It would not be long before the stove whispered and the food sang to a song she seemed only to hear flitting about in her usual warm colored outfit while Guoba would act as the fire starter to the old stone hearth that was used for warmth and to cook the meals she would dream up. Tiles even seemed warm as she tried dish after dish with the other who had been given the ability to relax in the pocket of space.

An opportunity to learn more about the food and tastes of a varied group of people had been something she did not have after learning how the people of Liyue Harbor would react. Her customer base had been loyal but had been for the same thing over and over again until there was no more left of their esteemed favorites. Some liked the spicy to be spicier, or the mild to be milder. Ningguang would always be someone who came just for a free meal and through that she learned that the really simple foods held the most weight with her.

Venti had been a fan of apples and she had wanted to understand the fruit after finding out the bard's true identity for how often did someone with that much memory know about the land of food. A lot apparently as she had to learn Moran was not dead but greatly weakened from the actions that everyone thought he had passed. It was a big shock to her but the god working like everyone else at the funeral parlor where he had a human boss.

The thought of Zhongli remarking about how his boss aggravated him was a funny thought but in reality he had been much too honest any time they talked. What was useful from the conversations from the god had been the use of long cooking times and gentle flavoring aspects almost talking weeks in some description, but it was said to bring out the natural flavors of all ingredients without having one overpowering the other.

Finding out there was a goddess of salt was also something that shocked her. Seasoning the dishes with the substance that she had blessed and had actually as she did so listening to the advisor as the familiar plate was soon slid over with a smile as he bells jangled slightly. Behind her was the cutting board soon to be cleared with extra chopped herbs, and the various pieces of tofu still out, to the broth and fish that had been cut to put into the dish.

Light, aromatic, and easy on the stomach, it had the best parts of the sea as he saw it without having to deal with the disgusting textures of the underwater denizens that usually put him off eating. Taking a spoonful of the silky tofu and the broth with the crunchy well fried rice was actually, nice. He nodded in agreement with the young chef as she tittered with how the dish could be worked on later or what additions could be made to make the texture more inviting.

No matter was sitting at the serving table it was clear that while the ingredients or methods may be bizarre a very skilled chef was under all the endless energy.

There had been some moments though that she was not full of energy, sometimes she was begin to doubt what she could do and what people would see her as and while she tried to shake it off and work as furiously as she ever did the emotions would poison her ability to the point she would just want to hold Guoba and cry herself to sleep thinking about all the failings her actions caused others.

Few knew of that little portion of her personality, and some said it was a disorder, but when she was at home her father would just try to sleep in the chair next to her bed as they talked through what she did wrong.

She never knew why she could be that way but under the pressure she had put herself under their was wisdom in that being under it for so long that there would naturally be some side effects to what she had done, she was still not even an adult by the laws of her homeland. She could learn as much as she could but there was always a need, something within her to keep going and keep pushing and when she did not listen to it she felt as bad as one could ever feel with oneself.

Her father would often read from the books of wisdom about such things trying to deal with as he put a daughter brighter then the stars but confused as to why the others could not see how they shine. People who would go day to day almost as if what she was doing was wrong as no one seemed to try it outside of the small number trying to make their dreams in the arts a reality. There had not been many writers, musicians, or even other chefs within the city proper that she had not made herself known to.

When she traveled she had tried to find the people who had taken their craft to the highest level or at least attempted to. Inazuma was a great place to learn about the people who in their respect to eternity had pushed their skills often handed down from the father and grandfather to the next generation often leading to a unique blend of the old and new as she walked down the cobblestone paths where a few could tell of her profession from the ways her hand was built.

Something that was amazing to her was how one older gentleman had a bench set up where she could see what he cooked and upon her sitting down and Guoba dancing just in view of the older chef he could look at her clothes, stranger as they may be for someone who had not seen so few and realize she was like him a chef.

There were moments thought that helped, when one focused for so long it often marked her with something that older practicing members of her profession could spot from a mile and bring her over like a far forgotten cousin. She had never had a bad time with a chef or a cook and often would be able to converse with them as if they were exchanging painting tips or trying each others instruments, which often lead her to try and go to different areas and try different food to find these long lost practicing members of her craft and hopefully pull her from the Ennui.

Being like that opened someone up to a brotherhood with others of the same. All in all it had meant when she was down that there was more of a family to help pick her up when she needed it the most. The old man would often talk about things he had learned in his time and while sitting there and not learning his name for many visits she had been so happy with the first conversation that missing her father and family dissolved in the wrinkled old smile that he would give her will trying to explain how an ingredient was struggling his knife or was useful in a way he had never thought of before.

Xiangling couldn't really go out when she was cooking but it was finding those places when she needed it the extra boost that allowed her to get out of her emotional funk and get back to the kitchen and with the cycle she could find herself growing in more ways bringing more flavors to the people and more smiles to their faces even if it meant she had to be blue with Guoba right now. There was something in the magic that would make everyone happy, and she just needed to be there and enjoy it.