The ovens in the Brunnhold kitchens were big wood fueled things. Bricklined, built into the walls. They were the essence of durable, and it was very rare indeed that they ever needed any type of work done on them aside from the occasional cleaning.

Still, sometimes even they needed work, and Zoumani had been called from laundry duty to repair an oven door whose hinge had broken. This was a laughably easy repair for her, she just went down to the tool shed, requested a pair of expansion screws, a new hinge, and a hammer to drive them in with, and went on her merry way to take care of it.

Zou didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen, she couldn't cook and she was normally doing garden duty or laundry, but she had seen Aurelie Steerpike a few times. She was a pretty girl, generous hips and bright eyes. Still, Zoumani was the kind of girl who'd rather watch then do anything about her. She had to thank Hulali that the older girl had never talked to her, otherwise she might have said something she would have regretted. Who was she kidding, Zoumani regretted anything that came out of her mouth.

Still, when she went to repair the oven, there was Aurelie. And the two talked. Not much, but it was nice. She showed her how she was going to repair the door, and had asked her to keep the door steady as she hammered the lead sleeves into the stone holes before screwing the hinges in. She was so close to Zoumani. She was warm, and she smelled like the kitchen, like baking dough and spices.

Zoumani wanted to see her again. Which was why she was creeping down the narrow hallway out of her bunkroom. Her room mate turned in early, and Zou promised she wouldn't keep her up by playing her Soku. So after asking around a bit, she finally found Aurelie's room number. And so there she was, bare foot, in her light tan night shirt that stretched to her shins, hair undone for the day, and in her right hand her Soku was gripped nervously. With her left hand, she weakly knocked on the door, but didn't say anything. Maybe no one was in. Hopefully. She still wasn't sure what she was doing.

Aurelie was in something of a dreamy state. She'd been thinking of the cafe again-- redecorated the outside from white to a sort of soft red brick, the details shifting from brightly painted wood to wrought iron. The only thing that never changed, it seemed, was herself in it. Making soups and sandwiches and all manner of other things for her customers, and they told her that hers was the best in all Anaxas and--

The knock startled her into dropping her recipe book from its precarious position balance on her knees. It fell to the floor with a clatter as she went to answer the door. Visitors? At such an hour? Aurelie hoped it wasn't someone coming to take away her precious free time.

"Yes, who is-- Oh!" It was the girl with the long fingers and the funny way about her, the one who had come to fix the oven. Zoumani, that was her name. Aura had liked her, she was sweet, if a little strange. She smiled. "Hello there."

"I like how you smell."

Of course. Her mouth never asked, should it, could it, as soon as the mind thought, it opened. And indeed, she had been thinking about when Aurelie was holding the door up for her, and she was so close and the kitchen seemed to lay on the older girl like her own aura. Let's try again, thinking carefully. "You still smell kind of like the kitchen, and it's nice. It's... it's a sweet smell. With cinnamon in it, like you'd just made desert. I just smell like dirt." Still weird, Zou. Better though.

"Umm," now for the reason that she was here. She held up her little one string fiddle, held in one of her long fingered hands with the curved wood bow. "My roommate turned in early and told me not to disturb her. Would you... um object to me playing for you?" She looked into the sweet smelling girl's eyes, hers liquid and opened all the way, flicking a little side to side as she tried to peace decent words together before her voice got a hold of them. "If not I'd understand but... it might be nice," the final part was mumbled as her gaze had went down from Aura's eyes to staring at her long feet, tapping gently in embarrassment.

"Well... thank you."

That was possibly one of the more unusual compliments Aurelie had ever gotten in her lifetime. She had not considered her smell as one of her better attributes, especially coming back to her bunk as she did so often smelling of the less delicious aspects of cooking. Still, the younger girl had been so sincere she couldn't help but smile.

"I wouldn't mind at all. Except..." She bit her lip. Triston wasn't in. Aura hadn't seen her in days. It was entirely likely she wouldn't be coming back anytime soon tonight. Even if she did, would Triston object? Aura didn't think so. Her expression melted into something more receptive. "Come in then."

Zoumani couldn't help but smile when Aura welcomed her in. She so rarely smiled here, but here lips pulled back at the sight of the other girls smile. "Do you do anything besides cook?" she asked automatically. She'd been thinking of what the other girl did off duty. Still, as normal, she could have figured out a better way to say it. Zou's face started to flush and her eyes scrunched up in exasperation. "I'm... I'm sorry. I have something about me, I can't think then speak, I just speak. Ummmm..."

She started pulling her bow across her Soku. Concentrating on it kept her from rooting herself to the ground and staying silent. Her fingers danced and struck up a little song, something Zoumana once taught her, an old song for weddings, something the Imbali would play on their boats for a young couple's day. Soft, but lively, Zoumana called it a song child. "You have to make it grow, it is just the beginning. Each time that song is played, it is different!" he had told her.

She brought her fingers closer to the Soku's bowl and made the fiddle squeal as she improvised. Working her fingers allowed her to think, to formulate. If she could just carry her Soku around all the time, she might have even been able to carry on a polite conversation. Finally satisfied she'd figured out something to say, she drew the song off with a final pull of the bow. "Ummm... what I meant to say was what do you do when not working? I think if I didn't have my Soku I'd have gone mad a long time ago."

For a moment Aurelie said nothing, just sort of listening. She'd seen Zou a few times, talked to her a bit. But she so rarely got to hear music at all, let alone something as interesting as this, that for a bit she just let it wash over her. She hadn't known the girl could play anything at all. Didn't know much about her, in general, Aurelie realized, though that should have been obvious from the start. She wondered when she'd stopped knowing people. There was a time not too long ago that Aura knew, if not everyone, than a good deal more people than she felt as if she knew now.

"Oh, I enjoy cooking," she said, mind half-gone. It was true enough. She was lucky, for a passive. She might not enjoy most of her life, and she might hate the ungrateful galdori brats she made the food for, but Aurelie Steerpike took no greater pleasure than what came from making food and making it well.

"I used to dream--" Aura broke off, smiling to cover it up. "Well, it doesn't matter. That was nice," she added.