Fire Emblem: Awakening - June Prompts

Cookbook

Sometime after Chapter 11. Ash

"I found the cookbook you wanted!" Lady Anna chirped, setting down a large, leather book on the counter.

I looked up from the utensils I was preparing. "Perfect! Now we can get started!"

The soon-to-be queen beamed at me, smile lighting up the entire kitchen. "Great! Just tell me what to get started on!"

Lord Chrom's birthday was a day away and Anna asked me to help her bake something for him. She had enough skill to bake something on her own, but given the chaotic mess that as the castle kitchens in preparation for the King's celebration, she couldn't be alone in one of them.

Ours was an odd friendship. When we first became friends, she was nothing more than the Shepherds' tactician and Lord Chrom's closest confidant. All of my coworkers and the other staff didn't really bat an eye at that. However, even since it was announced that she was to marry the King, people have been a bit more judgmental. Some of the older scullery maids told me that a chef had no business fraternizing with nobles the way I do, and others thought that I was only trying to get close to the royal family so my position would be bumped. Thankfully, those comments were mostly said by the older and more traditional workers.

However, none of their comments were true. I genuinely liked Anna as a friend, future queen or not. She always had a positive attitude and knew exactly what to do to cheer me up. I've decided to take her up as somewhat of an apprentice - even though I was only five years her elder. She has all the access in the world to get whatever meal she wanted at the tips of her fingers, but she chose to continue baking and cooking whenever she had free time. That time would soon dwindle by the day, so we'd better enjoy it while we could.

After all, I would do anything to hear her call me Ashie again as she did all those years ago.

I smiled at her. "Well, tell me what you would like to bake, first."

A bit of blush colored her cheeks. "Oh, er, right. Of course!" She chewed on her bottom lip, trying to think of what to bake. "Well...he loves chocolate. Would it be possible to make chocolate cookies for him?"

I nodded, brushing a hand against the cookbook. This particular book has seen better days; it was one of the books I had brought with me after moving to Ylisstol for work. The outside was crusted with old ingredients and the title was slowly fading away. I knew the pages would be a bit torn and have any faint remnants of whatever ingredients that particular recipe called for, but it worked just the same. I was too lazy and busy to transcribe each recipe to another book. Maybe I should have my "apprentice" do it sometime. She lived for that kind of stuff.

"Just chocolate or chocolate chip?" I asked, already flipping to the cookie section.

"Just chocolate. He's had chocolate chip cookies hundreds of times and I want to switch things up a bit."

"Gotcha." After a bit of searching, I finally found the page I was looking for. "Ah, here we are. Are you ready?"

She nodded, enthusiasm practically radiating off of her. We were literally combining two things she loved dearly: baking and Chrom. Gods, I could only hope to find a love like theirs, someday.

...

"Annnnnnd...done!" Anna exclaimed as she finished tying a bow on a parcel. "He's going to love them! Thanks for all your help, Ash!"

My heart slightly ached every time she said my name. Every single time I would hope she would use that adorable pet-name she gave me as a five-year-old. "Of course, Anna. Anytime."

She hung up her apron on a nearby rack and picked up the parcel. "I would love to stay and help with more preparations, but I want to hide these before Chrom's done with his training."

I waved her off. "Go ahead. I'll take care of the rest."

"Thanks again!" And with that, she was off.

I sighed, leaning against the counter. "You can only hope, Ash... Don't hold anything against her. She can't remember, anyway." 

*****
Ashieeeeeee. So much angst, so much sad, much wow. Yeah, I can't think of anything to say. XD So yeah. Thank you so much for reading and look forward to reading more!

Next Prompt: June 18th - "Rainy"

Link: https://youtu.be/PSHFYBclDco