[ a drunk Calypso opening and closing the oven, not understanding why the peach pie doesn't magically appears, and not knowing they have to do everything themselves ]
".... What are you doing?" Yasmeen asked, clearly puzzled.
"Looking for the pie obviously! I wonder where they get it from." It was clear from the way Calypso shaped her words that she was still drunk, but Yasmeen suspected that it wasn't the only reason she thought that pie made themselves.
".... They get it from the oven."
"Oh! Th-"
"After they made it by themselves, using their hands and different ingredients!" Yasmeen clarified as Calypso was heading to the oven.
A silence fell on the room. The three siblings looked at each other. Yasmeen was brutally reminded of their royal status; not any royals, but the children of a High King. Weirdly enough, it didn't scare her this time. Instead she burst into laughing.
"Maybe we could cook one ourselves then. It can't be that complicated, right?" Malachai interjected which made Yasmeen force herself to stop. She whipped her tears and focused on the situation.
"Really Mal ? Have you ever even watched someone cook? Cause I know I didn't." It was not entirely true, but Nathaniel had no memories of his time as a human anyway, so close enough. "And even if we did, we don't have pies under the sea because we don't have ovens!"
"Yes. That's the only reason we don't know how to make pies. Otherwise-" Malachai started but Yasmeen cut him.
"You've been here for months now, though." Plus, she knew as a fact that the boys were regularly expected to go to the surface as part of their training, so it was no excuse.
"Well..."
"I just I want a pie..."
Calypso seemed so sad and it made Yasmeen move around the kitchen to fetch out the specific ingredients they needed. She knew this kitchen by heart. She always came here to steal some food - when it was uncooked it was easy to determine which food was safe for mortals or not. Once she was finished she put everything on the table. effectively stopping the arguments between the siblings as to who should know how to make a pie.
"Wait.. Can you make us a peach pie?" Calypso asked, hope returning on her face.
"Yes I can... But I won't."
It was funny how Calypso looked like a puppy when she was drunk, unable to hide her sad expressions. She was really drunk indeed. Nathaniel matched her energy even if he hid it better. Malachai seemed pretty sober even if Yasmeen knew she was the only one here who didn't drink.
"Instead I'll teach you how to do it yourself."
"But..."
"No 'but'. This is a very important skill. Come here, all of you."
They came closer and she hopped onto the counter, trying not to laugh as they watched the ingredients and different kitchen tools she took out of the drawers.
"So, here's the deal." Yasmeen spoke and was surprised of how intently they all listened. "Let's turn this into a game. I'll be the judge, jury and executioner here. I'll tell you the instructions of how to make the pie only once and then you're on your own. The winner will name their price. Whatever they ask for they'll have to get it. The loser, however... will be charged to go into Crazy Maggy's hut and come back with one of her items. Whatever you want. I'd personally go for one of her famous bottle of wine, but it's really up to you."
The three of them suddered. They were only in the fae land for months but everyone knew who Crazy Maggy was. Really old fae, living near the court but in an isolated hut in the enchanted forest. Nobody knew what was her relationship with Morgana or the royal family. Nobody even knew what her real name was. What everyone knew however was that no one should go near her or talk to her. She got her nickname from always saying odd things and being borderline paranoid of everything. She became like the boggy man for fae children, and they were usually not easy to scare.
Yasmeen judged her skills progress by that lady. The day she got into her house and took something without being noticed and chased away with violent broom swings was the day she started considering herself a decent thief and spy. Maggy saw everything. If she didn't see her that meant no one would. Yasmeen could've stopped going at her place, but she wasn't kidding when she said it rivaled the cavern of wonders. Everything was stored in that little hut. She couldn't wait to see how the siblings would deal with her.
"Do you accept my terms?"
"Do we have peach pie if we don't?"
"No." Yasmeen answered Calypso.
"Then of course we do!"
"Huh I don't know about you guys but I don't want to go into Crazy Maggy's hunt. I like my head on my body thank you." Nathaniel shuddered.
Malachai raised a brow, clearly amused. "So you're giving up?"
"Over my dead body! I'll win anyway, and then I'll get to see you get cooked by Crazy Maggy."
Fueled by pure siblings rivalry energy they all listened at the instructions and started working. Yasmeen was already playing with her knife, watching all of them look so focused on making that pie it almost seemed like they were trying to crack some enigma. It was funny, and oddly relaxing, to see them all work.
After a while she got closer to each one of them individually, to really see their struggles. Calypso was not the most agile, so cutting the peaches wasn't her strong suit, and she lost way too many eggs by making some of them fall. Nathaniel was too busy eating the peaches and the dough to actually be any good. And when she got to Malachai. she saw him frozen, eyebrows knit together, looking at the salt.
"Is it... Is it the flour?" Yasmeen actually tried no to laugh but it was impossible.
"Don't make fun of me!" He protested, but he was clearly smiling too. "We never had to be in a kitchen before. Plus, if the head chef wasn't so against merefolks, and had cooked the pie himself instead of rudely calling us out, we wouldn't be in this mess. So really, it's all the Faes' fault. And you only said it was the white powder one. There's three white powders here!"
"If I only knew how bad you were at that, I'd have challenged you to cooking contests a while ago. At least I'd be sure to win... Well. I do win most of our fights anyway." She teased, but still pointed the flour to him. He was about to respond when Nathaniel cut.
"Hey!! No cheating you two! Cally look, he's trying to cheat by flirting with the judge!!"
"I'm not!"
"I have my eyes on you now, brother!"
"Those peaches are so hard to cut..."
Eventually, all the pies were over (alongside another few bottles of champagnes) and presented to Yasmeen. And oh did she regret her choice.
"So..." She started. All three pair of eyes were on her, clearly waiting for her feedback. She always praised herself on her capacity to stay decent in a world filled with evil. But this was another kind of test. "You're all.... terrible at cooking."
They started protesting. But when they tasted it themselves, there was no denying the truth.
"I do have a rank though. Are you ready to hear it?"
"Go ahead. Tell us which one of us is going to die soon."
"Okay, here we go. In the 2nd place of the podium is.... Calypso."
The girl squeaked and it was truly lovely. Later, Yasmeen would admit that Calypso's pie was actually the worst. But best friends always had each other's back, right? They all started protesting again until Yasmeen stopped them.
"Okay, now.... Malachai?"
"Yes?" He actually sounded nervous, and Yasmeen had to ignore the voice in her head that called it cute.
"Step forward please." He did and in the background Nathaniel and Calypso held their breath.
"How do you feel about your pie?" Yasmeen asked in her most neutral tone of voice and realized that she was having too much fun.
"Well... Frankly I think you should have been clearer with the instructions."
"Oh so now it's my fault that you're a terrible cook?"
"I didn't say that... But as far as teaching go, there's definitely room for improvement."
Yasmeen feigned being shocked for a moment. "Oh then, maybe I'll be the one to blame for when Maggy will eat you alive..."
"But-"
"Not this time though. Congratulations, you won. You can name your price. Nate, enjoy your last night with us."
"WHAT?! I disagree!" The siren protested.
"There's more peaches in your belly right now that there is on your pie, and you forgot to use sugar."
"Ah! Loser."
They all started arguing and Yasmeen watched, warmed up by this sibling affection, before a still drunk Calypso spoke again.
"We still don't have any pie to eat..." Yasmeen rolled her eyes then sighed.
"Okay I'll do it. But pay close attention this time."
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