First Time Destiny | Fire Emblem Awakening (Oneshots)

Careless Cooking

Original prompt: Knife

Cordelia didn't mind supper duty when the Shepherds went on missions. Most people loathed it, but she found cooking soothing. Especially when she was paired up with Stahl.

Unfortunately, supper duty was only a one person job when a small portion of the Shepherds were dispatched on missions, and tonight, that job belonged to Cordelia alone. She knew that Stahl would have helped anyway if he could, but he was currently engaged in a training session.

She could hear it coming to an end now, and judging by the loud exclamations of relief, Frederick had been in charge today. It was always a little quieter when it had been Chrom, and the sessions were usually shorter, too.

Which meant that she'd already had ample time to make this dinner. She was taking far too long.

She turned her mind back to the task at hand, which was dicing onions. She finished them, added them to the pot of stew that she was making, and started chopping leaks as fast as she could.

She'd barely finished cutting the first one when she heard footsteps behind her. Her heart skipped a beat in hope and anticipation, and her hand slipped on the knife. It changed course in its straight cut down the leak and bit into her skin.

She yelped and dropped the blade, wrenching her hand towards her. She didn't know which hurt more: the incision in her finger, or her pride now that she'd made a mistake. She was never clumsy.

She cradled her hand to her chest and turned around to face her visitor. Stahl was now standing just a foot away from her. His olive hair was stuck to his sweaty forehead, and his eyes held a hint of concern.

"Let me see." He pulled her hand towards him for inspection.

Blood dribbled down the side of Cordelia's finger. She watched it, thinking about the urgency with which she needed to cook dinner. "Stahl –"

"It's not very deep," he said, releasing her again. "But you should go and see Lissa so that she can clean it and close it. We don't want it to get infected."

Cordelia sighed. "Honestly, Stahl, it's fine."

"We also don't want blood in our dinner." He turned away to inspect her pot of ingredients. "It looks good. At least sort it out so that I can have a nice meal." He looked back over his shoulder and made puppy eyes.

She laughed and turned to go. "All right, fine. I'll find Lissa."

Stahl suddenly caught her hand again. "One more thing." He lifted her finger to his mouth and kissed the skin right above the wound. "Just to make sure it gets better."

Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure I should go and see Lissa? Because you could just do that again, and it might heal all by itself."

But Stahl had turned away and was chopping up the last of the vegetables so that the pot could go on the fire.

Cordelia shook her head in bemusement. "You're too busy daydreaming about food to hear me. All right. I'll leave you to it."