Harder Than it Looks
It was really early in the morning when Abiva found herself in the main estate's kitchens. The morning cycle had not started yet and so it was only Burdak Rikol, their Arch Maid of the Scullery Battalion and head chef for all Lord Henry Patton-Avernell's food, and a few of the early morning maids that assisted him.
At that moment, Burdak was doing his best not to grin while Abiva looked dejectedly at the smoldering black circle on the skillet that she had been using. The red head glared at it with an anger that she rarely gave anyone.
“At least, this time, it's not on fire,” Burdak said, the laugh almost breaking through. Abiva glared at him hoping it would murder the cook.
“Well,” Abiva groused. “Don't leave me in suspense. What did I do wrong?”
“The heat is still too high, and the batter was to thin. It burned before you had a chance to flip it,” He explained.
“That's what I did last time!”
Burdak did not hide the laugh this time. “No, the last time you put it on too thick, got distracted looking for the chocolate chips you should have had ready and caused the entire pan to catch on fire.”
“I forgot where I put them,” the Arch Maid of the Estate Legion side taking the skillet over to the trash can and scraping roughly with the spatula to deposit her failure on top of the other ones. She came back sullen, her green eyes filled with irritation.
Burdak took the old skillet and handed the woman another one. “Why are you trying to make this...pancakes?”
“Because Lord Henry likes them. I heard him telling the Mistress once that his mother used to make these things called chocolate chip pancakes and a database search showed they're a lot like our gorelushivmot, so I thought I could make it.”
“Can you make gorelushivmot?” Burdak inquired with a twinkle in his eyes.
Abiva avoided eye contact as she rocked a bit on her heel. “No. Not really.”
“Can you cook anything?”
“Only if you want it on fire.” said another voice from the corner. It was quiet but in the kitchens that hadn't started their morning activities, it was loud. Abiva spun on her heel, eyes blazing at the newcomer. Nish Kevet stood there with a set of folded sheets with a rare grin on her face.
“Nish!” Abiva hissed at her lover. “Be somewhere else.”
“I'm just warning the Arch Maid,” Nish continued making her way to the door. “You almost burned down our quarters a few years ago.”
“Shush!” Abiva hissed threatening to throw the salt shaker on the counter at her. Nish skipped out, and the red head turned back, her cheeks matching her hair.
“Alright,” Burdak said taking the skillet. “Let's try again. This time, we're going to try on a lower heat and with more butter. Don't rush it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And where are the chocolate chips?”
Abiva moved the bag from the counter behind her on to the counter by the stove.
The kitchen was now busy when Abiva decided that the batch she had in front of her was the best batch she was going to make. A lot more batter died in the line of duty but this time, there were a lot less burned spots and no leaking, uncooked batter. The young woman was actually proud of her that she only set two more on fire in the process.
Burdak had been plating them with a grin. “You did very well, Arch Maid.”
The woman grinned.
“Do I smell pancakes?”
Abiva's heart jumped, and her skin went cold at the voice coming from the doorway. She turned trying not to fall over herself, saw both her Lord and her Mistress and quickly folded her hands in front of her and bowed.
“My master!” Abiva said, her voice dry and scratchy, trying her best not to shake.
Henry Patton had walked up to the counter where Burdak had just set down the three pancakes and she secretly wanted to hug that chef. He had put the best ones she had made and hid the other ones behind him. The Terran lord looked at them with eyes wide.
“I didn't know you could make these!”
“Abiva and I thought it would be an excellent addition to your breakfast, my lord,” Burdak said pushing the plate forward and Abiva wasn't upset he took some of the credit. He was excellent at reading the room and the icy stare she was getting from Mistress made her even more nervous. The maid's left wrist gave her a phantom ache from where Maevin had dislocated the last time she got out of line.
“Can I try some?”
“Please!” Abiva said, the excitement a bit too overboard which caused Maevin's eyes to narrow.
“This is a batch that Maid Abiva made as we experimented with creating them,” Burdak said offering a fork.
Henry pulled up the stool closer, hopped on it and dug in. After two bites, he broke into a big grin. “These are delicious! I can't believe you were able to get the ingredients for it. These aren't anything like the breads you make here. It tastes like home.”
“We imported bleached wheat flour and chocolate chips from Terra to make sure they were authentic,” Burdak continued as Abiva braced herself on the counter trying not to hyperventilate from happiness that he liked her cooking. She was going to rub that compliment into Nish's face tonight.
Henry reached over and patted Abiva's hand with a smile. “You did great. Thank you! Tasted just like home.”
Yeah. She was going to faint from happiness.
Whatever their mission was continued as Henry scooped up the plate to take with him and Abiva tried her best not to get burned from the glare she was getting from Maevin. Goddess, I'm gonna get the awful jobs for the next week.
“I'll cover for you,” Burdak grinned starting to clean up.
“What?”
“I heard through the grapevine about the incident with Lord Henry and Maevin's reaction. I'll smooth it over for her so that you don't take the brunt.”
Abiva couldn't help herself but threw her arms around the man and gave him a crushing hug. “I don't deserve a friend like you.”
“Shoo,” Burdak laughed pushing her back. “You got work to do, and I have to get the kitchens start.”
Abiva did her best not to skip on her way to her first assignment.