Chapter Text
The little orange one was up and about - they’d been one of the ones the others had brought in slumped and sleeping. Curiosity flickered, interested. The little orange one had jumped about the first time it was awake, exploring in too big clothes with bare feet.
Curiosity had found it funny, funnier too when the orange one looked uneasy at the big pot of stew still bubbling over. The little orange one, curiosity noted, had trouble staying still. Perhaps it too, was curious–it liked to peek in alcoves, dip its head into windows.
Even later, when they played in the water–laundry, the little orange one had told the others, making a face when they looked at the clothes they’d arrived in–it looked uneasy when, on a whim, Curiosity had decided to send in a breeze and poke the water. “Too clean,” the little orange one had muttered, eying their clothes with consternation.
Curiosity liked watching them. Liked watching the way they jumped and jolted while trying to pretend to keep things in stride.
When the stew atop the stove ran out, the little orange one volunteered to cook. “It’s fine Harding–you’re watching Lavellan, and Neve is looking through the documents. Let me help, I’ve got this.”
Curiosity flickered in excitement, watching as the little orange one eyed the pantry with no small amount of trepidation. “Surely there's something normal here.”
Curiosity didn’t know what normal was, but it was happy to try - if only to see the little orange one jump some more. It summoned thing after thing – fruit, bright and yellow; tiny lentils dark and brown - a pheasant, still feathered. Half a goat. Onion too, even more than before and herbs–an entire pile of them.
The little orange one squawked pleasantly–sharp and loud– at the goat, poked at the pheasant and then shook its head very firmly. “Nope.”
Among the pile Curiosity had summoned, the little orange one grabbed the dark brown lentils, scooping them into the clean pot. It hesitated, muttering something dark under its breath and then grabbed the onion too, and a handful of herbs.
It avoided the meat entirely. Curious!! That had been the first thing the other two had noted, when they arrived.
Curiosity summoned something else. A fish, big, with shimmering orange scales. The little orange one refused to look at it, instead chopping up the items it had grabbed with wild eyes. Water followed, and then it was all tossed together–the soup hitting the stove with a sizzle.
“Of course you don't have to light the fire. Of course. This is a magic Fade kitchen. In the Fade. Maker’s breath–ugh. Pretend it’s a rune stove. That’s it. At least it's low enough. Shouldn’t burn.”
The little orange one liked to mumble to itself a lot. It searched for something, Curiosity didn’t know what, before it shook its head and threw a lid atop the pot.
Curiosity wondered if it would linger, the way the little red one had when they cooked–if it would sit in front of the fire and cry too. It didn’t though, instead giving the pot one last lingering look before moving to the far side of the room, and instead, plucked up a broom from the corner and began to sweep. Once that was done, it began to wipe down the table next, firmly refusing to look at the way the other items Curiosity had summoned took up space on the tiny counter.
It left the room for a while—Curiosity following with a flicker of interest—and puttered about. Sweeping debris off the courtyard, rolling the column out of the way with a grunt and a hissed yelp when they accidentally sent it careening over the edge. It rubbed at its chest, making a face but continued on.
Curiosity flickered with excitement at the last one, following the column’s descent all the way down-down-down, before ultimately it got bored–there is no bottom in the Fade after all–and curled its way upwards.
It could of course, poof to where it wanted, but where was the fun in that? More fun to spin and swirl in breezes conjured by the Fade, lifting it back upwards.
By the time it made it back, the little orange one was still poking about–it had managed to open another room in its cleaning, plucking at strings and chords with a dubious expression before it moved on.
The little orange one’s noises of surprise were fun each time Curiosity did something, as it was trying so very hard not to react. The floors gleamed, shining, the bannisters polished to a sparkle, the table wiped clear of non-existent dust and grime and each time Curiosity helped, the orange one’s eyes got wilder and wilder. Interesting, so interesting!
Unfortunately, the little red one called the orange one’s name and the two spent some time standing about in the place that felt like healing and sickness both. The white one was still sleeping, cold. At her side, the weird spirit waited, vigil. Sometimes it would flicker away, move from room to room, but it always came back to here.
Curiosity flickered a greeting, and the weird spirit inclined its head. Curiosity would allow it this room. Bored, it flickered back to the place that was Curiosity’s favorite. The dark one was inside, prodding at the little orange one’s stew as they side-eyed the veritable mountain of items Curiosity had summoned.
The dark one hummed, shook its head, looking around, and then stirred the pot. Curiosity briefly wondered what they had been looking for, had they spotted it?--before interest in the bubbling, steaming pot won out.
Curiosity flickered, floating to see what was inside.
It was very brown, but thick! It had been so thin when the little orange one had poured water in it before. How exciting!!
The dark one adjusted its spoon, reaching for a tiny one to the side, and took a sample before making a face. Why?
“Hm.” the dark one muttered, looking somewhere between amused and fond. “He forgot to add salt.”
Oh! So salt was important? Curiosity flickered, excited.
Next time then, it would summon more.
“Spirit. Lighthouse. Whichever. If you would–please put the…rest of these things in the larder. The counter is becoming crowded.”
Oh! Oh! The dark one was speaking to it!! Curiosity flickered, excited, but didn’t let itself be seen. Instead, it did just that–or at least, its best attempts.
Perhaps, when it decided to show itself, it would ask the dark one just what exactly a larder was.
Curiosity’s observations and recipes.
the little orange one’s lentil pottage
- lentils
- onion, chopped
- herbs
- water
Combine all ingredients in a pot. Boil. Lasts for days. You can also add salt, as otherwise it may be under seasoned.