"It is coming along nicely, isn't it?"

A small peek first with her right eye to see Idyll looking past her, then with a peek of her left eye to where exactly past her Idyll was looking, Cter nodded in agreement to the sight of her tower.

"Sure is."

Even though it was impossible to tell that it had been worked on in the slightest from the outside.

It was Fang Shuey's one condition she did not give up on. The castle tower was to be the same from the outside after the renovations, only then would she sign and agree on the project. That meant no added windows, balconies, or terraces which Cter only proposed to be able to negotiate for something less gaudy that she actually wanted. That tactic proved fruitless though, and in the end Fang Shuey had the final say on Cter's vertical extension to her study.

Inside Cter could do whatever, but outside she could do none. No gradient to what she was allowed to do, only absolutes.

"Doesn't it get annoying to sleep with all the residue from the construction going on?" asked Idyll after a bite of her sandwich half wrapped in slightly tattered silk. Drops of dipped-in stew dripping from her sandwich plinked against a slate between her feet she was angling herself over. "Can you even work with all of the commotion?"

Cter folded down the spider silk parcel on her sandwich half like a banana's peel before letting some of it soak in the simmering stew. "What the workers haven't managed to clean up I collect with stasis magic and throw out the window," she explained while the darkening of her bread climbed upwards. "And I don't spend much time in my study other than sleeping nowadays."

Before the bread began to disintegrate Cter stopped soaking it, lifting it up a bit from her wooden bowl to let some flavorful drips return. "On the rare occasion when there's some wind during the night it has the habit of whistling, but other than that I don't really notice the construction."

The moistened bread melted inside Cter's mouth as soon as her teeth descended upon it.

Absolutely fantastic.

"Fair enough," agreed Idyll before biting into her own too. Hers had been soaking a bit too greedily in her wooden bowl though, and chunks of stewlogged bread, meat, and cheese rained down into her apron-covered lap with a wet splosh. "Oh for–" she began but had to abandon mid-sentence since it only had more pieces falling from her mouth.

Cter offered a napkin. "Been too long since you ate someone else's food that you've forgotten how to?"

"Oh ha ha," Idyll laughed both muffled and sarcastically while snatching the napkin out of her friend's giggling hand. She wiped her mouth of the chunks half-stuck in her uneven teeth, folding the napkin halfway around her muzzle. "Not my fault it's baked to be fluffy and not structural."

After another fold to get the crumbs she missed Idyll flicked the used napkin from her thumb up in the air, shooting it with a small ball of fire. The napkin incinerated instantly with its ash spreading with the comfortable wind into the Royal Garden. "Had it been me I'd gone with a more robust bread with more bite to it."

"Or you could try and not soak up all of your stew into your bread on the first go?" suggested Cter otherwise with a teasing tilt of her head and eyebrow. "Just an idea."

"Or maybe," retorted Idyll with a point of her finger where the remainder of the flame magic from her fireball floated like the light of a candle. "Maybe you go ahead and take proper bites rather than those small nibbles you've been filing away with on your bread? Or are your words too big in your mouth that you can't eat properly?" She let the flame die off, enjoying the sight of Cter's neck flinching backwards.

"That one you must have heard from someone else before," guessed Cter as her head began to shake. "There is no way that you figured that one out yourself."

"And why not?" wondered Idyll loudly with her arms folded and her blue chin raised high. "Pray thee tell, my dear Monster Mage, am I not proper and respectable enough to have it in my repertoire to bring to tongue such accurate remarks?"

In her self-aggrandized, high-lofted self-praise Idyll completely forgot about her stewlogged sandwich which Cter just had to quietly look upon as it began to tore itself apart in the seam between moist and dry. The sound of a moist gathering of bread, meat, and cheese landing with a splat onto the castle roof lowered the blue, high-raised chin, wiping away the noble air over the half-closed eyes to be replaced by a dejected look down at the clump of wet ingredients deforming in its own, dipped juices.

From within the bright, cascading hair that Idyll let fall in front of her face, hiding it behind a curtain of shimmering orange, came a deep sigh that punched apart the curtain briefly.

"Dammit."

Cter could have offered her full sympathy towards her friend that just lost a large piece of her sandwich.

"Oh that is a damn shame right there, Idyll."

But her barely contained laughter showed a slightly different side to how she felt of the situation. Even with her sleeved hand wide over her mouth to cover her smile her eyes and cheeks still told of her laughter at Idyll's misfortune.

Misfortune with excellent comedic timing.

But still a misfortune.

Even more so in both regards when the clump of soaked bread began to slide down the slate it had landed on, leaving behind a trail of stew. As it reached the lip of the slate Idyll sighed once more before collecting her hair behind her shoulders again. She scooped the soaked clump up with the end of her apron, looking at it as if it was her own child.

"Good thing I thought ahead with this apron." With a heave and a throw Idyll had the bread pieces flying out over the rooftop towards the Royal Garden. The pieces that she saw would make it into the lush garden she let fly, whereas the others that were about to land further down the castle roof she cased in ice. They shattered like large pieces of hail, sliding down into the garden drenched in shadow due to the late hour.

"Good thing indeed," nodded Cter to Idyll brushing away crumbs and freezing off the stains as best as she could. Carefully she peeled off the frozen stains as to not rip any holes in her apron and expose her white chef's pants highlighted with purple swirls and Delta Rune symbols.

Actually though. "How come you're wearing those today?" Cter asked with a sharp inhale as the question surprised her as much as it did Idyll. The Monster Mage pointed with her nod at Idyll's pants as the Monster Chef was understandably a bit confused at the question on top of being surprised. "Your pants," Cter also said to be perfectly clear. "They look...expensive?" She could not help her tone sounding a bit like she was being sniffy at a lowly chef wearing such expensive fabric.

A tone Idyll caught onto like the most desperate of fish. "How so?" she hummed back at her friend whilst scraping loose a frozen stain with a claw. "Should I not dress myself in attire worthy of your title, Monster Mage?"

"Yes, yes!" Cter waved her hand in the air to let Idyll have the satisfaction. "You know what I mean, Idyll. You usually have your working garb on. You know, the complete opposite of what you're accusing me of?" Not the full satisfaction though.

Never.

Idyll was too good a friend of Cter to ever have the full satisfaction.

"Heh, heh heh," Idyll chuckled before trailing off and gripping around the frozen stain she was scraping at, lifting it up from her apron. She didn't seem to notice though, and instead blinked tiredly down into the Royal Garden to rest her eyes. Seeing the dejected look, Cter regretted not giving Idyll the full satisfaction. "I have to walk them in for tomorrow otherwise the stitching of the patterns will chafe," explained Idyll while carefully pinching one swirl around a stitched Delta Rune to show.

How string could chafe at Idyll's scale-covered legs completely flew Cter by. "For tomorrow, ey?" she said with little emotion. "Hence the apron, I'm assuming?"

"Hence the apron," said Idyll with one nod while holding it up to show as if kneeling. Only then did she notice that she had managed to lift up that one pesky, frozen stain she was scratching at. She plucked it off with a look that had her debating whether to throw it or to lick it. "Don't want to make a bad first impression tomorrow," the Monster Chef explained to the frozen stain she angled back and forth between her fingers. It had begun to melt slightly before she decided upon the former of her two choices.

Cter watched as the thin disk of frozen stew on top of a very thin layer of fabric disappeared into the shadow-abundant garden. "Couldn't walk them in earlier?" She nodded behind her at the setting sun in the far distance.

"Only got them today," was answered through a deep bite on the remaining dry side of the sandwich seam. With a claw plucking loose the spider silk acting as the parcel around the sandwich, Idyll opened up the last of her bread outside its silky cocoon.

"And I could not excuse myself with the excuse that I needed to change pants whilst Barbeqa and I are up to our souls when it comes to preparing the food. It's been fun to try my hand again at the spices and such we haven't been able to import for a while, but it's also been very tiring to both do the food for the day as well as the food for tomorrow throughout this week and the last."

"Haven't had time to change pants in quite a while?" asked Cter with her cheeks tugging a smile at how silly it sounded.

Idyll's cheeks tugged one as well, revealing her crumb-abundant teeth which she became aware of after a second. "Sorry," she apologized with shut lips, cleaning her teeth with her tongue. "And yes, I've been quite busy in the kitchen, as I'm sure you've noticed."

Oh Cter had indeed.

Mostly by the increasing number of fresh scorch marks smoldering on the serving window. Many of them even having a slight tint of fresh ember to them from what she saw. Most of the new scorch marks that adorned the serving window like notches to show how many meals the castle kitchen had served throughout the years were out of excitement, however. Barbeqa had grown up in a restaurant serving the Xoff military, after all. She'd then gone to work at Noitaidarr Castle.

With representatives from Noitaidarr Castle accepting the invitation from Fenkeep Castle to Jarasevo Castle to discuss both the increasing distance between humans and monsters as well as the worry of the Xoff royal lineage and succession exacerbating the issue, Barbeqa was quite excited to show the representatives of her home country how far she had come with her cooking.

Excitement in the face of the declining trust between humans and monsters was something to be cherished, however Barbeqa was stretching that philosophy quite thin what with the way she had the half of the dining hall closest to the kitchen in tears as she added to a pot a handful of specially grown chili from Xoff which she had matured in the castle basement ever since her first day working in Jarasevo Castle, saving up for a special occasion worthy of them.

Normally only one of those chilis was enough to turn a pot of stew into a pot of lava.

Turns out a handful of them was enough to vacate an entire dining hall.

"Still have some of it in my hair..."

"Hm?" wondered Idyll with another mouthful of sandwich. "Was what that?" she managed with a bit more articulation after shunting the bite to one cheek. "Didn't hear you."

"Nothing," answered Cter with a few hard blinks as the stinging she had in her eyes from sitting so close to the kitchen that day crept up to remind. Luckily Sir Gerson managed to convince Barbeqa from the other side of the dining hall next to an open window that it wasn't the best idea to cause the humans' tongues to melt off when the point of them meeting in Jarasevo Castle was to better the relationship between the two races.

He was wise like that, Sir Gerson was.

"Anyways," Idyll continued after swallowing her bite. "Barbeqa and I have been tripping over each other to try and get things done. She was even forced to get some Woshuas to help clean the dishes."

What? "Forced?" The Monster Mage's eyebrows shot up, and she abandoned her bite to stare dumbfounded at her friend. "The Woshuas aren't helping with the dishes normally?"

"No," answered Idyll with a similar, dumbfounded expression and tone. "No, no they're way too inefficient."

"Bu..." Why did Idyll say that like it was supposed to be perfectly obvious. "But their whole culture is cleaning, isn't it?" They helped Fang Shuey with custodial work and maintaining the castle. Hell, the real reason the marble walls that made up Jarasevo Castle were as blinding in the midday sun were that the Woshuas cared for the walls like it were their own children! "So why not use them for doing dishes?"

Idyll lowered her sandwich with the same level of confusing slowness as if Cter had turned inside out all of a sudden. "You...you're kidding?" Almost insulted, her furrow was. "It takes one Woshua one minute to clean one plate. With two it takes one and a half minute."

With two it takes…

"What?"

"Doing the dishes is nowhere close to cleaning," explained Idyll with gusto, throwing both her hands in cutting arcs in front of her and dislodging a salad leaf from her sandwich. "Woshuas are way too invested in their cleaning to do the dishes effectively. They cradle and coo with what they clean for minutes, if not hours on end! I don't have time to hear lullabies for the cast iron pot I'm supposed to be cooking sausages in!"

Sharp claws dug into the remaining bread, piercing it. "Why!" Then the remaining salad with a crunch. "Why do you need fifteen minutes to do the washing up on the cauldron! Just fill it with water with your magic! How do you fall into it?! Why are you staying inside of it and napping after falling inside of it! Why–"

A slice of tomato shot out of the sandwich quarter with a wet plop and speed matching that of a stone dropped from the top of Cter's castle tower. Like a large, limp shirt button it flopped onto Idyll's muzzle, snapping her out of her tomato-red anger, fittingly.

A quiet sizzle had the slice of tomato steaming before Idyll plucked it away and ate it with a sigh and a huff. "So yeah, we don't have them helping us with the dishes. I use ice and fire to coat quickly with water then scrub clean. Barbeqa dries them by staring at them angrily, and then we're good to go."

Alrighty then. "Fair enough."

"Since we've been doing large batches that needs long preparation the Woshuas have been helpful in this very particular situation." Idyll lifted up one palm. "Normally not at all." Then her other. "When we've been asked to prepare to serve days banquets to help save monsterkind, yes." With her sandwich in her lifted-up hand the tired Monster Chef threw it in her mouth with careless abandon. She crumbled the empty spider silk in her hand, pocketing it in her apron. "Singe my soul with all of this, I tell you."

Yes, that Cter knew.

"I think mostly it's because I don't know if Sarbor will come along or not," was said through Idyll's sighing and leaning herself to a lay-down on the castle roof with her arms folded behind her head. She followed a lonely cloud for a few seconds, pouting a frown as it continued slowly towards Xoff. "I've only been told the length of the guest list and not the names on it."

"Haven't asked him?" pried Cter while debating whether or not to give Idyll a piece of her remaining sandwich. She was beginning to feel full from it, but it was so good that she wanted more. "You've been writing to each other, haven't you?"

"Of course we have." Idyll rolled her head over to her friend, staring over the simmering pot between them. An eyebrow was raised over the cast iron rim. "You would know since you read them."

Well...yes...but…

"I go through them but I don't really read them," defended the Monster Mage with sinking shoulders. "And if you know that I am then you also know why, right?" It had to be done to make sure there weren't any conspirators what with King Asgore affirming his trust to the legitimacy of the human sitting on the Xoff throne.

The monsters could not afford to risk correspondence from Noitaidarr stirring things up in Jarasevo even before it was asked to host the council come morn. "I promise that I only pay mind to the words and not what Sarbor is saying."

Idyll's blue brow turned a darker shade as she furrowed it down over her eyes. As she did, the lonely cloud in the distance began to break apart. "Do you use your magic to make you forget?"

Cter...was not at all ready for that! "I...I..." she stammered. "Idyll you can't seriously be suggesting that!" She could not have been...right? "I..." Cter stared at her left arm, seeing it quiver. "Do you really..."

"No," came a shameful answer disappointed in having asked, let alone thought about the suggestion. "I'm sorry," Idyll apologized with an angry huff aimed towards herself. Her elbows retracted in over her head, hiding it from view. All that was visible was the end of her muzzle, grimacing at how stupid she was. "I'm...stressed." That too became hidden as she tightened her arms further. "God, so stupid I am..."

With a reach of both her aura and right arm over the simmering pot, Cter found Idyll's respective. The two friends held hands and auras for a while, breathing out together. "It's fine, Idyll," said Cter. "We're all stressed."

"I shouldn't have..."

"But it's fine." After all, Cter was the one reading Idyll and Sarbor's post to one another. She was in the wrong. She was doing bad to Idyll and Sarbor in the name of keeping things safe. Cter knew that. Cter agreed with that. It did not mean that she enjoyed doing it though. She had to. She was a Monster Mage. She needed to protect the monsters. "It's better that you vent with me than keeping it in for tomorrow."

Idyll still didn't feel good about it. "I know," she breathed out with her eyes sinking in disappointment. "I know, but I shouldn't have, still. It's the same with what I wrote to Sarbor last time. I asked him about how things were going. Why? Why would I want to know how things were going? I don't! I don't want to know! I just want to know how he's doing! Why did I ask how others were doing? Why did I..."

The two friends embraced over the simmering pot, weaving their auras and arms together tightly. Dots of stew jumped up from the heavy tears dropping from above into the pot following the heavy sobs that rocked the roof-mounted table and chairs.

"He'll be here tomorrow," comforted Cter.

"Do you know?" asked Idyll reluctantly. She wanted to believe oh so much, but didn't find it in her. "Have they told you that he's coming with the Noitaidarr delegation?"

"No." No, they hadn't. There hadn't been any information as to who would arrive at Jarasevo Castle from Fenkeep and Noitaidarr, but surely the last surviving apprentice of Dr. Sallus who cured the Hero of Xoff's soul from the Fusion's Curse must've been asked to attend. Even though he would have nothing to say, he would still be invited, surely. "But I know that he wants to see you again. He wouldn't be writing you back if he wasn't missing you as much as you're missing him."

Cter felt her friend's head chafe against her neck as Idyll nodded.

"You'll see each other tomorrow. I know you will."

More chafing.

"He'll eat of your food again."

And more.

"And shunt his too-large mustache aside for the soup again."

A sudden scoff had Idyll retreat from the intimate hug between her and her sister in soul with hard coughs forcing her to dive into the bend of her arm. "God I hate you, Cter!" she managed to strain through her coughing and through a failure to hide her smile. Her hair flung as she shook her head with waves propagating with each hard cough she tried to suppress in the bend of her arm.

"But thank you."

"Always."

And forever.