The town of Aynderil

"It was intended actually Shockwave. I had everything done the way I wanted, even though it cost more." Dessa replied while walking the horses to a fenced in area, were another horse was grazing. "Come on and I'll show ya'll around the inside of the cottage." She goes over to the front door, unlocking it with a copper key she took out of her pants pocket.

"So down on this floor is main room were I entertain guest, as well as the kitchen. Up those stairs leads you to the bedrooms, and the wash room." They walk into a large room divided in half. One half is the kitchen, and the other half has different chairs, in front of a fireplace. A long table sits between both rooms.

 

"That's the best then," Shockwave mused, continuing to poke and prod the various struts and supports, testing the durability of the roof and just generally being a curious fellow, turning to follow Dessa inside when she summoned them. "Sounds good, I'm curious to see more."

He slowly spins, following her directions and then walking into the kitchen where he begins rummaging through her things. "Where do you keep the ingredients you cook with?"

 

Esca opens up her bag and takes out the items that Dessa had brought earlier in the day. She and an invisible spectral figure help put them onto a counter top.
"I think we should have eggplant be the main part of the dish today." Esca says cutting the eggplant into slices.
"Dessa what kind of oil do you have?" She asks as she finishes up with the eggplant. She cuts up some red peppers and onions.
"Oh also do you have fresh basil?" Esca asks as she has to clear her eyes from the tears.
"I am gonna make you two an Eggplant puff Pastry" She says to them as she continues the prepwork.

 

"All the ingredients are in the cupboards and the fridge. Plus a few plants of fresh herbs on the windowsill." Dessa tells Shockwave. She goes over to the window in the kitchen, and grabs a pair on kitchen scissors. Dessa uses the scissors to cut pieces of fresh basil from the plant that sits on the windowsill. "Here you go Esca fresh basil for the eggplant puff pastry." "The oil is in the cupboard near the fridge."

 

Esca takes some milk and pours it into a bowl, she then takes the eggplant slices and put them into the milk, using a smaller bowl to hold them submerged. She put them aside as she accepts the basil from Dessa and has the unseen servant get the oil.
She takes some flour, pours a cup of water into it and a spoon of sugar. She kneads the dough . She kneads the dough for two minutes then adds some soften butter and continues to knead the dough for another four minutes.
Esca takes out a wand and uses the spell ray of frost from it. "I didn't take into account the need to wait for it to chill this will skip that need" she says as she spreads some flour onto a surface.
She takes more butter and rolls it out, she then takes the dough and puts it into the centre and folds it over. She proceeds to roll that out, then does a three fold, rolls it out and does another three fold. "Okay we have to let it rest for a little bit" Esca says to them as she wraps it up and puts it into fridge. She removes the eggplant slices from the milk and applies a bit of salt to them.
Like a busy little bee Esca moves around prepping the items needed until the dough had enough time to rest half way through she begins cooking
She takes a baking sheet and coats it with a little bit of oil, she places the slices onto the sheet and tops with a bit more oil and lightly seasons it with salt, pepper and basil leafs. placing inside the oven.
While it cooks she cooks the onions, and peppers until the onions are golden brown, she seasons them with a pinch of salt and sugar.
After thirty or so minutes she removed the eggplants from the oven and reduces the heat.
She places the rolled-out puff pastry onto another baking sheet with parchment paper and bakes until golden brown.
After a little bit she removes it from the oven and presses down about an inch putting the peppers and onions in to the divit and spreads it around. She tops it with some mozzarella and the eggplant slices. Bakes again until the cheese melts about five minutes.

After a long while dinner is ready.
"That was more effort than I plan to do, if I had planned this out it would have been so much easier could have made the dough ahead of time and everything." Esca says to them as she presents an actually quite nice looking dish.

 

"Mmm, that smells really good Esca." She busies herself getting plates, forks, knives, and cups out of the cupboards. Dessa places everything on the table that divides two rooms. When done with that she goes over to the fridge, and takes out a bottle of wine, plus a jug of milk for whoever wants that. "Everything looks ready so we can go ahead and eat."

 

"Whatever you are cooking Esca, it smells lovely." Shockwave muses, coming over to stand out of the way and slightly behind the small woman as she busies herself in the kitchen, watching with fascination as she adds various ingredients. "I'm really curious to know how this is going to taste when it is finished!"

After dinner was finished and the table set, Shockwave finds his way over to one of the vacant seats and lowers himself into it. "Thank you for making this."

 

"Bottle of white, bottle of red. Perhaps a bottle of rose instead!" Esca sings as the table gets finished.

"I am hopeful everything came out good." She says as each person is served a portion of the dish, there is half left in the trey. "I just remembered I still have my control spell on the bandit boss haha, though I think we should be out of the range for me to give commands" Esca says as she takes a bite of her cooking, the dough is flaky and soft, the eggplant has a creamy texture to it.

 

"I'm sure it will be amazing!" Shockwave assured, digging his fork into the dish, cutting a portion away and lifting it to his mouth and chewing on it. "Yum!"

He proceeds to systematically destroy the contents of his plate and lifts it up to Esca. "May I have seconds or thirds?"

 

"You may of course. I am glad you like it. Just be sure to leave some more for Dessa if she wants any" Esca tells him eating a bit more off her plate.
"Ah that's right Shockwave you wanted to see if you could do spells right." Esca mentions to the man a piece of pastry on her fork.

 

"Of course, I would never dream of consuming it all." He proceeds to measure out another two generous helpings of the dish and empties them on to his plate, returning the serving spoon to its original position. "I merely found myself surprised by the taste and desire for more!"

He paused before lifting another forkful to his mouth. "Yes, I would love to discern if I possess the skills necessary to perform magic."

 

"Understood I will help you with that after dinner which will also be after we clean up here" Esca says to him her plate just about finished.

 

"The spell books I told you about Shockwave are on that shelf over there by the fireplace. Feel free to read through them if you want." Dessa fixes her own plate of food and a glass of wine. She takes a forkful to her mouth and enjoy the different flavors of the dish. "This is really good Esca, thank you so much for cooking it for us."

 

"Sounds good Esca and Dessa," Shockwave replied, quickly finishing off the contents of his plate again and then slowly slid out of his seat. "I'll help you clean things up. I'll carry things over to the sink and then when you need it, I'll help you wash or rinse as you wish."

He begins to do just as promised, carrying various items that are not being used to the nearby waste basket, emptying the plates of leftover food scraps and then carries them to the sink where he carefully places them. "I am patient, I will wait and learn as I am taught. I do not want to jump the gun so to speak. Better to start from the beginning and learn from there."

 

"We will start from the ground up and hopefully work towards the Dancing Lights spell. Its a basic spell that is taught at the beginner level classes at most magic academies. Its also harmless so if something goes wrong you just end up with either too dim or to bright of a light." Esca says as she helps with the cleaning process.
"I believe the first step is a different one at the same time. We should see if you have a magic soul. The way to do this is" She says taking out the wand she used earlier during cooking.
"Concentrate on to this, picture your essence entering it and then leaving the point. If it works out a light blast of ice magic should be activated" Esca says to Shockwave handing him the wand.
"Oh but do it outside, I rather not dust her house with ice" Esca says to him.
"I will be watching you using a detect magic spell so that I can see if there is any magic soul in you and if there is how it is moving through your body... If there is not we will try something a bit different" Esca continues to explain her idea.