Elsie's kitchen was enormous. Deryn assumed it was even bigger than the kitchen for the entire Leviathan. She remembered the Count saying something about Elsie's family being broke. If the Japanese had taken all her father's money, it didn't make sense that she would have such a big house with such a gigantic flipping kitchen. But as she began to dig through the pots and pans, Deryn realized how old and warn everything was. The pots were dirty and rusted and when she looked in the cupboards most of the china was cracked. Even the wooden counters were rotting in places. The rest of the house was the same. Deryn remembered how her room had stunk of dust and the carpets in the parlor and hallways were all threadbare. Everything looked expensive, or at least had been expensive at one time, but now they were all sad and warn.
Even Elsie's servants looked warn and tired. Most of them were German, but a few had Japanese faces. All of them looked at Deryn with exhausted expressions, and didn't bother to help her with her cooking. In fact, they barely seemed to notice she was there. When Deryn found the cook and asked about Stroose El Cooken, the woman pointed at a cupboard of old cook books without even bothering to speak.
The books were in even worse shape then the kitchen. The pages were moth-eaten and dog-eared and many had old food stains. Deryn picked up the ones that looked the sturdiest, and paged through them looking for recipes in English. That proved to be easier said than done. Everything was either German or Japanese or even French. Occasionally, even though she was being very gentle, the pages would fall out as she turned them.
Eventually she gave up and walked to the cellar to look for the food goods. At least Elsie seemed to have enough money to buy some nice food. Deryn made her way to an ice box and dug out some eggs, butter and milk. In the dry goods area of the cellar, she found some flour and sugar. Unfortunately, apples were nonexistent, but she did happen upon some interesting looking orange fruit that looked like apricots. She made her way back up to the kitchen and dumped all her ingredients near the wash basin. This one had running water just like the bathtub in her room. Delighted with the discovery, she hastily began to rinse off the fruit, then cut them into smaller pieces on the counter.
She was contemplating how she was going to pull off the German dessert when she heard someone walk up beside her.
"I hear you're making your own breakfast. Not the normal behavior of most guests. The cook is quite impressed with you."
Deryn turned around and saw that Lady Elsie was standing over her shoulder. She gave the German woman a cold glare, remembering what she must have done to Alek last night.
"Dylan, is it?" The girl asked, "I could get someone to make that for you."
"Not necessary." Deryn said, returning to her work. Although she didn't have a recipe, and she wasn't an amazing cook, she hadn't destroyed the dessert yet. She also felt that it was the least she could do for Alek on his birthday. His mother wasn't here to make it for him, but she could try to make up for that a little.
"What are you making?" Elsie asked. She moved a tad bit closer to get a better look.
Deryn didn't want to answer. She continued slicing up the fruit and removing the pits when she had to. Hopefully Elsie would leave if she didn't talk to her.
But the other girl stayed put, and to Deryn's surprise she picked up a knife herself and began cutting a few of the apricots.
"I have to say I kind of envy you common people. I always wish that I could have learned how to cook." She was struggling with the fruit, cutting very slowly and awkwardly. It looked like she was holding a thorny twig instead of a kitchen knife. When Deryn didn't reply to her she continued. "I realize that you must have talked with Alek this morning. I hope he is feeling alright. He had quite a bit of champagne and barely ate anything to go with it. I'm sure that wasn't too good for his stomach.I should have told him to be more careful."
Uhuh, sure you would have. Deryn thought. She highly doubted that Elsie would have stopped Alek's drinking binge at all, but she wasn't going to say so out loud. They stood in silence for a few more minutes. Deryn thought she saw the servants staring at them from their own work. They must have looked an odd pair, a stunning German noble lady and a common midshipman slaving over a pile of fruit. Deryn looked over at Elsie to see that she had started placing the fruit into a bowl.
"I have to say Dylan, I happen to like your hair a lot. My younger sister had a very similar color."
"Excuse me?" Deryn finally spoke. If she had just heard right Elsie was comparing her to a girl.
"Your hair. It's very colorful."
"Aye, it is that I suppose." She quickly looked away and pulled the pits out of the remainder of the apricots before tossing them into a pot and walking over to the stove. "Did you say you had a sister?" She hadn't seen any other people that lived in the house besides Elsie and the servants.
"Two sisters." Elsie said. "Stella is married to a lordling in Russia, I hardly ever see her. Leslie died when she was seven."
Deryn stopped what she was doing and looked at the other girl. Elsie's expression had looked exactly the same as it did before, and she was rinsing her hands off in the wash bin without a second glance at Deryn.
"I'm sorry." Deryn muttered, it was the only thing she could think to say.
Elsie shrugged.
"It happened a long time ago and she was very sick. I just think it's funny that she had such similar hair to yours."
Deryn gave a sympathetic smile.
"Aye, sharp hair. We are very sharply colored us Sharps." It was a joke that her brothers used to repeat to anyone who would listen. But Elsie didn't seem to find it very funny. She just sadly grinned at Deryn.
"I'm guessing that you're making this for Alek. He always had a soft spot for homemade sweets. In that case I think I should let you continue on your own. I'd probably ruin whatever else you need to do seeing as that I have no idea how to cook." She made for the door but Deryn stopped her.
"Elsie, is it true that your father is in jail?" After she had blurted it out, she instantly regretted it. Elsie's face looked even sadder than before.
"Yes, it's true." Elsie mumbled. She didn't go into further detail. "Well, I trust you will have a good afternoon then." And without waiting for an answer, the ambassador's daughter walked out of the room.
Even if Elsie was as tricky as the Count had said, Deryn couldn't help but feeling bad for her. She couldn't imagine living in this huge house all by herself with only grumpy servants for company.
Deryn stirred the orange fruit together with the sugar on the stove. They were a bit sour and not quite ripe yet so she figured she could make a sort of jammy stew filling. While letting that simmer, she poured the flour, butter eggs and the rest of the sugar into a bowl and began to cut it like a pie crust. She didn't know exactly how to make Alek's Stroose El Cooken, but she figured it must be similar to an apple pie. She didn't have apples, but she was confidant that it would still taste alright with the mysterious Japanese fruit. Eventually she had a thick enough dough to mold with her fingers and used it to create a pie shell before starting the gas oven.
The oven was definitely a clanker contraption, and she wasn't having much luck with it. It was barking old and most of the knobs were stuck or didn't do anything. With a sigh, she walked into the other room in search of the cook.
"Oye, miss cook? Are you there? You think you can turn on the blasted oven? HELLOO?" She walked down a narrow hallway where she had seen the servants dawdling around. It got darker as she walked and soon she was walking up a staircase she hadn't seen before. At the top she could hear hushed voices behind a closed door.
"…..indeed one of the first of its kind. It's very destructive, of course, and the consequences can be disastrous. But I think the Emperor will agree with me that this is a necessary development to prevent more war."
Deryn instantly recognized the voice as belonging to the boffin. She pressed her ear against the door, wondering who she could have been talking to.
"Still Dr. Barlow, do you really think that the Goliath is our only choice. Surely there are better, more humane ways to end the war." This voice was unfamiliar to Deryn and sounded very muffled and distant.
"I know it may seem rash Dr. Higginz, but the Japanese do make a good point. If we don't do something soon…. One moment please,"
There was a moment of silence before the door began to open. Deryn tried to escape, but Dr. Barlow had seen her and had pulled her inside.
"I'm afraid we'll have to talk later Higginz, I have someone else I need to talk to." She said.
"Very well, Miss Barlow, but don't make any certain decisions without me."
There was a click, and Deryn looked to see a radio transmitter set up on an old ragged desk. The Lady Boffin must have been talking to someone over the radio.
"Mr. Sharp," She said, pulling Deryn's attention away from the transmitter. "I think that the army frowns upon eavesdropping. Lucky for you I needed to discuss this matter with you anyways. I would have called for you later in the morning, but since you are up now and have found your way to my room, it can be settled presently."
She sat down next to the desk and motioned for Deryn to take a seat at a chair opposite her.
"I'm very sorry ma'am. I was just looking for the…"
"No need to worry Dylan, although you should be more careful in the future. Tazza noticed right away that you were outside my door."
Sure enough, Tazza was bouncing up and down on his hind legs in the door way, looking smug with himself.
"We need to discuss our plans for tomorrow." She pointed to her desk where there was a large set of confusing blueprints and mathematical equations. It looked like the outline of some complicated machine. "As you may have heard, we are to be meeting with the Emperor of Japan tomorrow as well as his assembly."
Deryn had not heard that before. She looked up at the boffin with a shocked expression.
"I thought we were only meeting with the ambassadors." She muttered.
"Yes, but plans have changed. I have received some important information from Dr. Higginz, the British Ambassador of Japan. The Japanese have built an amazing new invention, and I believe that it may be the cure for this disgusting war." She made direct eye contact with Deryn. A grin stretched the boffin's face that seemed to make her glow and she looked so delighted that Deryn thought she might cry. "They call it the Goliath."
Deryn stared back for a moment then at the blueprints. Was this the plans for the invention? What was it anyways? Deryn felt a little scared but excited as well.
"What is the Goliath?" Deryn asked. Barlow only smiled.