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“Open your mouth and close your eyes!”
“Right now, Peri?! I’m kind of in the middle of something…”
“Don’t be such a party pooper, Selena! Just do it.”
Selena frowned. She was supposed to be preparing Lady Camilla’s weapons and armour for their march the next morning. If she didn’t get things finished up in time, Lady Camilla would kill her—or worse, be disappointed in her. Peri probably wasn’t going to let up any time soon, though…
“Fine, fine… but make it quick!”
She turned around on her stool so she was facing Peri and did as she was told—things would just go quicker if she didn’t argue. If she did, Peri would just cry and make a fuss until she got her way anyway…
Peri suddenly shoved something into her mouth that was too big to really fit. It was soft and doughy, but that didn’t really make it any better, and Selena sputtered and choked as her eyes flew open. She grabbed at whatever Peri had stuffed in her mouth and coughed as she regained her breath.
“What was that?! Were you trying to choke me?!” she asked as she wiped her eyes where she’d teared up from briefly not being able to breathe.
“I was just trying to feed you! You know, in that cutesy way couples do!” Peri frowned at her, and Selena scowled in return.
“You’re supposed to offer me a bite, numbskull! Not shove an entire dumpling into my mouth!”
“Well excuuuse me for trying to give you a present!”
Selena looked down at the dumpling she was holding. It did look appetizing—other than the imprint of her teeth where Peri had shoved it in her mouth. It was a little bigger than fist-sized and perfectly doughy. Not that she was surprised; Peri had beaten her in a cooking competition, so she had to be pretty impressive.
“Oh, stop your whining. I’m still gonna eat it. I just like being able to breathe while I’m doing it.”
She took a big bite of the dumpling; she had to if she wanted to get through the thick dough. The inside was filled with ground meat that Peri had seasoned with spices to make it almost sweet.
“So? How is it?” Peri sat in front of her with her hands folded in her lap, watching her with a light in her eyes.
“It’s creepy, having you watch me eat,” Selena said. “But… it tastes fine, I guess. I bet I could do better, though.”
“Maaaybe,” Peri said, giggling. “But you like it?”
“…yeah. Where’d you learn to make something like this, anyway?” It didn’t seem like Nohrian food. It reminded her more of something you might eat in Chon’sin, not that she had much experience with that…
“One of the Hoshidans taught me how to make it,” she replied. “Since Corrin won’t let me slice and dice them, I thought this would be kinda fun, too!”
“Yeah… definitely a better hobby than killing all of our comrades.” Sometimes Selena wasn’t sure why she liked Peri so much. She was definitely out of her mind, but she supposed it kept her on her toes. “But I’m gonna learn how to make it, too, and then we’ll see who’s the better dumpling chef!”
“You better! It would be no fun if you didn’t.” Peri smiled at her. “Competing with you is the best part!”
Selena grinned and took another bite of her dumpling. She was definitely going to win this time—there was no way she was going to let Peri beat her twice.
“Who taught you how to make this, anyway?” she asked through a half-chewed mouthful of dumpling. “I’ve gotta get them to teach me how to make it!”
“That Mozu girl taught me… but weren’t you working on something, Selena?”
Selena choked on her mouthful of dumpling as she remembered that she was supposed to be cleaning and prepping Lady Camilla’s armor and weapons!
“Yeah, and I’ve got to get it done right now! Why’d you have to go and distract me, Peri?!” She scrambled for Camilla’s axe. Peri just giggled.
“You’re funny, Selena.”
“Here; try this on for size.”
Selena slammed a plate down in front of Peri. She crossed her arms and couldn’t help but grin, knowing she had this competition in the bag.
“Ooh, it looks yummy!” Peri licked her lips as she admired the dumplings sitting in front of her. Selena had gone by the same recipe Mozu had taught Peri, but of course had added her own twists, just like Peri had. And hers would be even better. (She hadn’t made seven or eight test batches for nothing, after all.) “You know, if I had known challenging you to a cooking contest would get you to make me all kind of free treats, I would have started doing it a long time ago! And more often!”
“Like I’d have time for that! I’m only doing this as payback for distracting me. If I hadn’t finished getting Lady Camilla’s equipment ready in time…” She frowned at Peri to show her just how unpleasant that would have been, but Peri wasn’t listening to her. She was too focused on the plate of dumplings.
Selena had made them smaller, so they would be more manageable, and the one Peri picked up was perfectly hand sized. She turned it over in her hand, then took the first careful bite.
“Selena, this is delicious!” she declared almost immediately. “How’d you get so good at this so fast?”
“Heh. Just talent, I guess.” And a lot of practice, but she didn’t want Peri to know that; it would make it seem like she cared a lot more about the whole thing than she actually did, when really, she just had some free time—and liked dumplings. “Besides, all I had to do was add my special secret ingredient.”
“Well, you sure beat me. I’ll just have to settle for being the best at killing people.” Peri grinned that disturbingly pleasant smile before stuffing her face with more of the dumpling. Obviously, she liked it. “What kind of secret ingredient didja add, anyway?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t a secret anymore, would it?” Selena said with a disapproving frown.
“Aww, c’mon, Selena! We’re best friends forever, right? You can tell me! Pleeaaaase?” Peri gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes—or puppy dog eye—Selena had ever seen, and she just sighed. Sometimes a girl just couldn’t win.
“Fiiiine, I’ll tell you—but not for free.” She gave Peri a sly smile. “I’ll tell you in exchange for a kiss.”
“Hehe, Selena, you silly billy. That’s not a price!” Peri grinned at her and reached out to put her arms around her and pull her close. She planted a kiss right on her lips without hesitation. “Now, what’s the secret?”
“Nothing special. Just something a friend told me a long time ago. When you cook something, you should let all of your emotions flow into the food s you’re making it, and then whoever eats it will be able to tell how much you care by the taste.”
“Like magic?” Peri asked, still nuzzled up close to her.
“Kind of, I guess. All I did was think about how much you’d like it if I made it extra delicious, and I guess that made it twice as good.”
“Awwww. So the extra special ingredient is love, then?”
“W-well… I guess if you want to put it that way…” Selena flushed bright red as Peri nuzzled in even closer to her neck.
“Now that I know the secret, you can bet my next batch will be the tastiest you’ve ever had! Just you wait!”
“Heh… if you think I’m going to just sit back and let you beat me, you’re sorely mistaken!”
“It would be no fun if you did, Selena.”