"Ellie, can you make a small Tevinter velvet cake? With the cheese frosting? Put it in a nice box."
Lady Evie's head pokes out of the kitchen door. It's a little after seven in the morning, and she's just had breakfast.
"And no, it's not for me. So make it fancier than usual." She doesn't enter the kitchen. "I won't be having afternoon tea here, Chef, so can you please pack some cookies and that Nevarran tea? We're off to Redcliffe after lunch, so please have it ready by then."
"As you desire, Lady Evie," I answer.
Tevinter velvet cake. Easy enough to make. But for whom? Lately she's just been asking for lightly flavored breads that she shares with Commander Cullen. He doesn't seem to appreciate cakes like Her Inquisitorial Sweet Toothiness, though he's rather fond of cheese, like a typical Fereldan.
Also, Lady Evie eats Tevinter velvet cake only when she's really sad, but there's no hint of her being sad today.
Ah, whatever, I don't have time to dwell on who eats the cake. If she wants it, she'll have it, so I whip it up real quick—that Dwarven arcanist Dagna sure knows how to make a nice oven—and it's all done a little after midmorning.
I pack her foodstuffs in specially enchanted containers, and venture outside to look for her.
"If you're looking for the Inquisitor, she's up there with Dorian," Varric volunteers upon seeing me and my pack. "My, Cheffie, Her Inquisitorialness's snack pack looks bigger than usual today."
"I think she means to share today, Ser Varric," I answer. "Did you order some Tevinter velvet?"
"Maker, no!" Varric exclaims. "I can't stand all that sweet stuff. I don't even know why Evie likes sweets. 'Sides, I'm not coming with her today."
"Really? Who'll come with her then?"
"Sparkler, the Seeker, maybe Buttercup too," he tallies.
"There you are, Ellie." Varric and I turn to see Lady Evie and Ser Dorian. I take her travel bag and place her food there.
"How quaint, Lady Trevelyan," Dorian says dramatically. "A typical Fereldan picnic! What's next, shoe shopping in the slums of Denerim?"
"Oh, hush, Dorian, don't Lady-Trevelyan me," she answers playfully, and punches him on the shoulder. "We both know we're soul sisters."
It's past dinnertime now. I head to the Commander's tower with some pastries and a jug of chamomile tea. Lady Evie likes spending some alone-time with a certain ex-templar there before bedtime. Sometimes they discuss official Inquisitorial-ey stuff, sometimes they laugh and play chess, I don't know really, I don't eavesdrop like the other servants. I just deliver their tea.
"Chef Ellie," Commander Cullen greets me.
He glances at the tea tray with the pastries, and chuckles.
"Oh, so your mistress won't stop until I'm plump as a hen, you think?"
That's priceless, not many of us see him merry. He's cute when he blushes, too. Just like Lady Evie.
"Commander!" I gasp. "How ungrateful of you. What does milady think?"
"Oh, I'm confident you wouldn't tell her that, Chef, otherwise it's off to the Frostbacks for you. Speaking of which, have you seen your mistress?"
"She isn't there with you, ser?" I ask, and it's just then that I realize that he's alone in his tower.
"No, and she didn't come here tonight either," he says." Are you sure she's not in the kitchen with your cookies?"
I shake my head. Seems like he's been expecting her. That would've been cute, really, but for the slightest displeasure in his voice.
"If you see her tonight, Chef," he says in a dejected puppy voice. "Ah, never mind." Aww, he reverts to his Commander-ey voice.
The Commander gets the tray, and I take my leave. I head back to the main hall to look for Lady Evie. I check all the usual spots—from the basement library to the rookery. I even knock on her bedroom door. Finally, I decide to go back to the kitchen and close up shop.
I open the door, and Lady Evie is in there, sitting at the table. The entire place is unnaturally dark, and the only source of light are the flames dancing in her hand, changing shape and color swiftly.
Sometimes I forget what an astonishing mage she is.
I register her weary face and wan composure, despite the dark.
"Oh, I didn't realize you were there, Ellie," she says. She snaps her fingers, and the chandelier cackles with its usual brightness. "I'm sorry. I know it's late, and you must want to clean up. I did that already."
"Milady, you shouldn't have," I say softly. "That's my duty."
"No," she says absently. "My mother wouldn't want me to go to the kitchens and clean. Or organize things. Or help the servants out. My mother didn't like lots of things."
This is the first time I have seen Lady Evelyn Trevelyan, mighty mage, Herald and Inquisitor, looking so defeated. And for once, I think she isn't in the kitchen for food.
"You can tell me anything, Lady Evie," I say tentatively. "We're friends, remember?"
"Dorian met his father today," Lady Evie begins. She's playing with a dessert fork, staring intently at the table. "He didn't know his father was in Redcliffe, but I knew. Because I asked Leliana's spies to check out the tavern before proceeding. That's why I asked for some velvet cake, Ellie, I figured Tevinters like that, and maybe it'd help Dorian and his father to talk. Talk things over with food. That kind of thing.
"I asked Cassandra and Sera to come with us today just in case things went south. Thank the Maker it didn't. Seems like Dorian and his father reconciled, or at least, they ate the cake together. The girls and I shared cookies on the tavern steps. It was dark when Dorian finally came out, and he bid his father goodbye. And then we went home, here, in Skyhold.
"But then I remembered my mother. Or rather, I thought about how I don't remember her face anymore. Just vague details, like a chubby hand with a huge emerald ring, thick, graying hair. I was off to the Chantry soon, you know. And I wasn't sad, really, not like the other kids who cried at night for their mother. My noble status still assured me of a comfortable life, even as a mage. "
This is the first time I hear Lady Evie talk about her personal life. I am speechless.
"I liked the Ostwick Circle," she continues. "Everyone was nice, the templars and the mages. But the food wasn't. That's the only thing I disliked. And that's where I learned how to enchant my tastebuds, make it numb to food I didn't like. But my mother brought me food, sometimes. She's the only one who thought that food in the Circle isn't as good as home-cooked meals. She brought me croissants, strawberry jam, steaks, pies. And sometimes she'd send the servants, too. They brought me news of home.
"The last time I saw any of my family was shortly before the mage rebellion. We weren't worried about any danger. Ostwick's always been laidback on many things. But one night, someone tried to stab me. I never found out if it was a templar and their sword, or a mage with a dagger. I panicked, and I fled. Then I realized that the mage-templar war was so bad outside Ostwick. I decided I was safest in Haven, with the Conclave going on, if I just blend in with the rest of the mages. But Temple exploded. Together with my old life."
We sit there, in silence. I watch her as she summons the teapot and reheats it with her magic. She pours some, still using her arcane power, brows knitted together.
"Ah, stale tea is never good," she says, finally breaking the silence. And suddenly she's all bright and bubbly again. "Don't drink that, Ellie. Never drink stale tea, unless it's from an enchanted cup. Seals the flavors, you see. Anyway, I'm so sorry I burdened you tonight, it won't—"
I hug her. It seems like the best thing to do, and tonight, we're not servant and mistress. Tonight, I'm her sister, willing to give her a hug , some tea, or a listening ear, whatever she needs.
And she hugs me back.
"Thank you, Ellie."
I resolve to learn how to make croissants, seeing as that's the only food she's mentioned that I don't properly know how to make. Rina, the tavern cook, probably knows more about those. I might even ask Ser Cullen, or maybe Lady Josephine, about her family, and hopefully get a recipe of that strawberry jam.
A/N: Bit serious, this chapter. Not everything Lady Evie eats is sweet, even if that's what Chef Ellie cooks best. But I'll have something sweet for next chapter!
Chef Ellie and Lady Evie send their love and a Tevinter velvet cake to Mandimal and AgapeErosPhilia, as well as some chocolate milkshakes to Temril6895, xenocanaan, and Sylanc! Reviews, follows and favorites are awesome!
