EP - young!elrond

[starrydome]

The elf lord that steps through the door is younger than he often is. But not a youth, although still considered somewhat young among his own kind.

There is peace of sorts in the lands under the High King's protection. And much work to be done.

So seeing this place instead of the study he believed he was entering, brings a small, tired smile to his face.

He walks to the bar and asks for water that he may clean his hands. It appears, alongside a glass of wine.

He accepts the glass with a soft, but heartfelt 'thank you'.

Comments

[alongfallfromgrace]

"That kind of day, huh?" Wei Wuxian notes sympathetically, as he systematically breaks down a bowl full of lotus roots with one of the kitchen knives. Yes, he should be cooking in the actual kitchen, but all of the people are out here, and it's really no trouble to relocate a hot plate and a pan with oil to make some lotus root chips.

Blame his baba, it's all his fault.

[starrydome]

Having spent far too many years on the battlefield, the whole 'preparing food in the common room' does not remotely strike Elrond as odd.

The ingredient does manage to capture his attention for all that he is bone-weary.

"Yes. One might be tempted to say that kind of month."
Years, really.

"I do not recognize the item you are preparing. What is it called?"

[alongfallfromgrace]

"This is lotus root - it is common where I am from, and, I have discovered, makes wonderful fried chips." Wei Wuxian explains, handing over one of the peeled roots for inspection. "It is also very good braised, and excellent in soup."

[starrydome]

Elrond take the root, feeling its weight and texture.

"That sounds like the kind of plant that is greeted with pleasure when seen on travels," he replies before handing the root back.

"Does it grow near water?"

[alongfallfromgrace]

"In water, actually - lotus is a sort of water lily, and grows in shallow ponds." He explains, pouring a prepared batch of sliced lotus into the oil. "They're common, where I'm from."

[starrydome]

"Ah. We have no edible waterlilies as far as I am aware. One kind is mildly poisonous even."

He watches the preparations with interest.

"Are they gathered or grown and tended? We have a kind of algae that has medicinal uses and those we grow,merely for the ease of harvesting. They're quite common but fond of slippery rocks just out of reach."

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Our lotus ponds were grown intentionally, but it wasn't as... rigid as planting other crops has been, in my experience. Lotus were native to those ponds originally, we just encouraged them." Of course, the lotus he grew in the Burial Mounds were a more rigorous affair, but that's a given - it's a miracle anything grew in the Burial Mounds, never mind something as notoriously picky as lotus.

"We are planning on starting a lotus pond here, though it won't be planted until next spring. That will take considerably more effort."

[starrydome]

"They need a specific climate?" Elrond guesses as that is one of his concerns right now. Figuring out what can grow in the valley he is starting to call home.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"They like warmth - long humid summers and mild wet winters. None of this snow nonsense." Wei Wuxian notes with a laugh as he starts fishing the finished lotus chips out of the oil. "They're really quite reasonable that way."

[starrydome]

"Snow is an acquired taste," Elrond agrees with a smile, watching Wei Wuxian handle the finished chips.

"Is that a common preparation of foods in general?"

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Ehh, not really, no." Wei Wuxian shrugs, trying (and failing) to avoid droplets of hot oil as he rescues the lotus chips. "You can blame my baba for this one - he insisted it went well with alcohol when I was tending bar, and he was right, of course. So I learned how to make them, to be prepared for next time."

[starrydome]

"Crispness is often good when that's the occasion," Elrond agrees.

"Potent tastes as well. Salty or sour. Depending on what alcohol is being served."

There may not always have been a lot of exquisite cooking at camp, but there had certainly remained a lot of talk about food.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Salty or sour... or spicy." Wei Wuxian grins, eyes bright with mischief and challenge. "Would you like some properly spicy lotus, or the milder version?"

Look, he knows better than to force his preferred level of spice on people (unless it's important, like a bunch of adorable juniors have a heavily dose of corpse poisoning). Doesn't mean he can't offer.

[starrydome]

"I should like to," Elrond replies with a small smile, even if the gleam in the other's eyes might hint of things to come.