• Solo • [Warrick] Good Intentions

[Lei'lira]

3 Cylus 702


Lei'lira jumped out of bed at the first crow of the rooster. She hastily threw on her clothes, then raced outside, pausing only long enough to grab a basket she could use to collect the eggs. Lei'lira loved collecting the eggs each morning. It was almost like a game. First she had to find where each of the hens had made their nests since they didn't have a chicken coop for them to live in. And when she had found one of their nests, she had to find a way to trick the protective mother hen into letting her take their egg. Lei'lira liked to time herself to see how long it took her to collect all of the eggs, and then try to beat her time the next trial. So far, her best time had been twenty five bits, which really wasn't that bad considering the fact that she had a quarter acre of land to search.

Normally, she liked to take her time over the chore. Not only was it fun, but if she was busy collecting eggs, then she wouldn't be given another chore that she liked a lot less. But Lei'lira was in a hurry today. Her mother was sick, and she wanted to make her feel better by making her breakfast, and serving it to her in bed.

It was hard not to give in to the urge to run while she was searching for the eggs. Running would allow her to move faster, and get the job done sooner. But finding nests made out of straw and grass hidden among the tall clusters of dead grass that peaked up out of the snow wasn't easy. If she ran around while she searched, she might not find what she was looking for. Or worse, she might find a nest by stepping in it, and breaking the egg she hoped to find. So she forced herself to search carefully.

As she searched, she heard a pretty sound. It was so entrancing that the young girl couldn't help but stop and look for the source of the song. After a few bits, she found a small blue bird perched in a tree at the edge of her farm. For a small thing, it had a loud, beautiful voice. Lei'lira wondered what kind of bird it was. Most of the birds had departed for warmer climates back in early Zi'da when the weather had turned cold. After a while, she decided that it didn't matter. She simply stood and listened to its song for a while, until it flew off. Then she remembered what she was supposed to be doing, and hurried as much as she could to complete her task. When she found the last of the eggs, she raced back inside, taking care not to slam the door as she entered the cottage.

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This post contains the bird, and the door of the following writing challenge: 1. Write a thread that includes a door, a candle, and a bird.

[Lei'lira]

Lei'lira decided to start with the eggs. She had managed to get enough of them for everyone in the family to have a hearty breakfast of three eggs a piece, plus several to spare. Since they still had enough bread left to last them for a few trials, and they wouldn't need to bake anything for a while, Lei'lira decided to use the extra eggs to make hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs and a wedge of cheese, or a sandwich would make a great lunch for later, and it would be easy to make them, because really...how hard was it to boil water?

They were out of matches, so Lei'lira found a candle, and used the fire place to light it. Then she took the newly lit candle, and used it to light a fire in the wood stove. Once the fire was going, Lei'lira filled a small pot with water, and put several eggs into it carefully. She then put the pot on the stove so they could cook while she was working on making breakfast. It would only take the eggs ten bits to cook once the water was boiling, but it would take a while for the water to come to a boil, so Lei'lira felt safe leaving them while she did other things.

The next step was to cook the eggs she planned to use for breakfast. There were many different ways to cook eggs; scrambled, poached, sunny side up, fried, omelets, and others she was less familiar with. After a while, Lei'lira decided to scramble her eggs. It was her favorite way to eat them. And more importantly, she knew how to make them without help.

She got a large bowl, and set it on the table. Then, one by one, she carefully cracked twelve eggs, dumping their contents into the bowl before throwing the empty shells away. When she was done with that, Lei'lira added some fresh milk to the bowl; the milk would make the eggs nice and fluffy. Using a fork, she beat the eggs firmly until the yolks, whites, and milk had all blended together into a uniform yellow color. She'd learned from past experience that if she didn't beat the eggs enough, they would be flat instead of nice and fluffy when they were cooked.

The eggs would be awfully bland if they weren't seasoned in some way, so Lei'lira got the container of salt, and added several generous pinches of salt to the eggs. Her teacher had told the class a few trials ago that sage was supposed to be good for coughs, sore throats, and fevers. Since Lei'lira's mother had a severe cough, Lei'lira crumbled up several dried sage leaves, and added them to the eggs as well. She was pretty certain that the sage was supposed to be drunk as a tea, but she didn't know how to make sage tea. Making tea in general was easy enough; just pour boiling water over tea leaves, and let them steep. Weak teas were made by letting the tea steep for a short time while a strong tea required the tea leaves to be steeped for longer. But medicinal teas were different, at least she thought some of them were; taking too much medicine, or medicine that wasn't needed was just as bad, or even worse than not taking any at all. Medicinal teas were probably just like medicine in that regard. Lei'lira didn't know what would happen if she used too much, or too little sage, so she didn't dare try to make it out of fear of making her mother feel even worse. But using it as a spice for the eggs seemed safe enough, and it would taste good, too.

Once she'd added the seasonings to her eggs, Lei'lira beat them again for a few trills so that the seasonings would be blended into the eggs completely. Then she poured the contents of the bowl into two good sized frying pans, and set them on the stove; with the amount of eggs she had to cook, one frying pan wouldn't be enough. She would need to stir them periodically as they cooked, but they didn't need constant attention, so as long as she remembered to check on them frequently, she could use the time to work on the rest of the meal.

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This post contains the candle of the following writing challenge: 1. Write a thread that includes a door, a candle, and a bird.

[Lei'lira]

What else should I make to go with the eggs? Lei'lira mused.

Breakfast was a very important meal because it gave you the energy to get through the trial. For that reason, it was important to eat a big, hearty breakfast. Eggs alone wouldn't be enough. After a few trills of thought, Lei'lira decided to make some oatmeal to go along with her eggs. Oatmeal was easy to make, and she had helped her mother make it several times in the past, so she knew how to make it.

It was time to stir the eggs, so Lei'lira made certain to stir the eggs in both pans. She was rewarded by the seeing that they were starting to form runny clumps rather than being just liquid. When she was done with that, she got the oats, and poured a generous amount into a pot. Then she filled the pot with water, and set it on the stove along with the others. Like the eggs, it would have to be stirred occasionally, and she'd have to keep an eye on the pot so that it didn't boil over.

She stirred the eggs again, then got the sugar container and set it next to the salt. The maple syrup joined it a few trills later. Both would be used to sweeten the oatmeal when it was ready. It was hard to keep an eye on so many things at once. She wondered if it would have been better to cook everything separately, but soon decided against the idea. If she did that, then one dish would be cold before she was finished cooking the next.

Lei'lira had the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something as she divided her attention between stirring the scrambled eggs, and the oatmeal. But she was too busy to remember what it was since she had to focus on what she was doing, or risk ruining breakfast. The eggs were ready first since she had started them first. Lei'lira checked the oatmeal, then carefully dished the eggs out onto four plates in equal amounts.

By the time she was done, the oats had absorbed the water they were cooking in, and softened. A quick taste told Lei'lira that they were the perfect texture, and she grinned as she got the bowls she'd need to serve it in. A strange sound distracted her as she was reaching for the sugar to sweeten the oatmeal. She quickly reached into the container, grabbed a few pinches of the contents, and tossed it into the oatmeal, giving it a quick stir before she searched for the source of the sound.

It was the hard boiled eggs that she had forgotten completely as her mind was occupied with other tasks. The pot had boiled dry, and the sound she'd heard turned out to be the shells of the eggs cracking. The kitchen was soon filled with a strong, smokey stench. Lei'lira stared at the mess she'd made in dismay. The blackened eggs were clearly of no use to anyone. The pot she'd cooked them in would need a good scrubbing before it could be used again, but at least it didn't seem to have taken any damage. Things could have been a lot worse.

Other that throwing the eggs outside, Lei'lira set the disaster aside for now. She'd clean it up later when she did the rest of the dishes. Instead, she swirled a generous amount of maple syrup into the oatmeal, and stirred it in. Then she served up equal portions in each of the bowls she had laid out earlier. Her father's, and sister's meals were spread out on the table as was her own. Lei'lira took a trill to put the salt, sugar, sage, and maple syrup away, then gathered up the food she'd set aside for her mother.

[Lei'lira]

Aside from the disasterous attempt to make hard boiled eggs, her efforts had paid off. Her mother thanked her for the meal. And to Lei'lira's delight, she seemed to have enjoyed it, aside from giving her oatmeal a strange look. Even so, she ate everything Lei'lira had given her.

When she went back into the kitchen with her mother's empty dishes, her sister was already gone, presumably off doing her chores before they had to go to school. Their father was still at his meal, though, and like their mother, he had a strange expression on his face as he ate his oatmeal.

"What's wrong with it?" Lei'lira asked at last.

Lei'lira wanted to know what was wrong with the oatmeal she had made. But at the same time, she didn't. She had put a lot of work into making the simple meal, and she knew that she would be hurt to know that no one liked it. Some of what she felt must have been obvious in her words, because he father smiled weakly at her before he answered her.

"Nothing is wrong with it, exactly." he said slowly.

"It just has a...unique flavor."

Curious now, Lei'lira sat down to her own meal, and dug in. The eggs were good. Better than she'd hoped they would be, actually. She would have to remember to use sage the next time she made them, too. When it came time to try the oatmeal, she hesitated for a few bits before steeling her courage enough to try a bite.

The moment she tasted the salty tang mixed with the sweet maple syrup, she knew instantly what had gone wrong. The salt and sugar containers had been right next to each other. And when she'd been distracted by the unexpected noise caused by the cracking shells of the forgotten hard boiled eggs, she'd used the salt instead of the sugar. It wasn't a bad taste, exactly. The blend of salt and sweetness was strangely appealing, actually. But it wasn't what she had been expecting, and it was a jarring surprise when she'd been expecting to taste sweet oatmeal.

Note to self; never put the salt and sugar next to each other when both are needed. Better yet, never get distracted when you're cooking!

Lei'lira ate the rest of her meal in silence before cleaning up the dishes, and getting ready for school.

[Varthakh]

Rewards for the two-legs's

Lei'lira
Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 0/5 (solo)
Structure: 5/5

Knowledge:
Cooking: It takes 10 bits to boil an egg
Cooking: Scrambled Eggs
Cooking: Eggs are bland without seasoning
Cooking: Lacing scrambled eggs with medicinal herbs
Cooking: Cook each portion of the meal simultaneously to avoid one part getting too cold
Cooking: Breakfast is an important factor in energy in the trial ahead
Cooking: How to burn an egg
Cooking: Separating ingredients that look the same is something to keep in mind for the future
Detection: Spotting bird nests in the grass
Detection: The sound of a bird's song
Detection: The popping sound of burning an egg
Detection: The taste of salt when mixed with sweet things
Hunting: Luring a bird from it's nest to seize it's eggs
Running: Racing back indoors to finish the task at hand

Loot: None.
Injuries: None.
Fame: General good deed +1
Devotion: None.
Magic: These points may NOT be used for Arcana.

Comment: Aww! What a cute thread! It was good, I enjoyed the read. What I perhaps liked the most was that you burned the egg, I was thinking the entire time when you'd wrote that you'd forgotten something, so well done you! No issues for structure, enjoy the knowledge.