Well, obviously Adi's giving Lottie a stack of books almost as tall as she is. :D
*squeals of joy can be heard from just behind that stack of books* :-D
Lottie would certainly be sending Adi books as well, and probably some manuscripts copied from her most interesting finds in the Citlatl Archives (Anselm’s being a party-pooper and won’t let her just send the actual ancient tomes to her cousin, but as an archivist she has to admit that’s fair, even if less fun, so she just wrote out copies of everything she thought Adi would find interesting.)
For @pillarspromptsweekly Fill 52. It’s another Roll For It! Deadfire edition. I picked Rekke on purpose bc I’ve been dying to write him, but I rolled for the other elements and got Port Maje and hobbies/downtime. Not hiding the whole thing bc there’s no real spoilers.
Adela had to admit a small spike of relief when Port Maje appeared on the horizon. The Vailian outpost wasn’t their final destination, but a freak storm a day or so back had cost them a good chunk of their water supply. Currently they were fine, but just the knowledge they would need to ration made her feel the need to resupply more keenly than she normally might.
It didn’t help that the storm had hit not long after she’d taken Kuldrun’s suggestion to make an offering to Ondra, which had the already-superstitious man even more on edge. She’d feel much better when they could make port to restock, especially on water. And much as she enjoyed sailing, solid ground under her feet would be nice.
However, the gods’ sense of humor put an end to that hope even before she got a chance to enjoy it. As always when they docked, the whole crew drew lots to determine who stayed to watch the ship and who was responsible for purchasing supplies, the rest free to do as they wished. Adela drew the first of the ship-watching lots, followed quickly by Rekke and Irrena.
“I’ll stay instead, if it’s alright with Adi,” Xoti volunteered immediately when the latter swore softly in disappointment. “Pretty sure Waenglith is still here, an’ I ain’t got any burnin’ desire to see her again.”
Adela shrugged and nodded. “Fine by me.” Everyone taking turns was fair, but she didn’t mind a little trading. Especially if it helped morale.
“Thanks, casita,” Irrena grinned.
The lots for supply buying were drawn(Edér, Aloth, and Tuliak, which Adela couldn’t help thinking was vaguely reminiscent of the start of a joke), and everyone went about their business, either on ship or off. Resigned to her role, Adela settled in with a book. If she had to stay on the ship, at least she could take advantage of being docked to read up on deck, where the light was better. This particular volume was a fascinating take on the War of Defiance, and she had devoured the remainder of it almost before she realized.
Well, darn, she thought glumly, closing the book and drumming her fingers against the cover as she contemplated how to occupy the rest of her time.
“It is a good book?” Rekke asked as he sat next to her, brushing hair back out of his face.
“Ta,” Adela replied, without really thinking about it. “So good that I read it too fast, and now I don’t know what to do until everyone else gets back.”
Rekke grinned. “You can talk to me.”
She laughed. “Yes, I can. You’re very fun to talk to.”
His grin spread even wider and he winked at her. “Careful, you will make me blush. What do you want to talk about?”
Adela pursed her lips in thought for a moment. “Would you tell me more about Yezuha? Or will that make you homesick again?”
Rekke shrugged, cracking his knuckles. “Perhaps a little, ta. But I like that you ask.” He ran his fingers through his hair again, wincing briefly as they snagged on a knot. “There are many things to share about Yezuha. What would you know first?”
“Um...” She hesitated briefly. “Food. What’s the food like? What’s your favorite thing to eat?”
He mulled it over for a moment before meeting her gaze with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “Good.”
She rolled her eyes and gave him a friendly shove. “I figured that. What kinds. Meat, bread, vegetables and fruit, sweets.... Make my mouth water.”
“Alright, if that is your wish. We have all those you mentioned, many kinds, though the fruit and vegetables we usually cook, ta? To make sure there are no bugs. They eat from the inside to stay out of the heat. As for my favorite...” He paused, tapping a freckled knuckle against his chin. “Ah. It is a dish my sister makes very well. You take meat--any meat,” he clarified, as if sensing what she was about to ask, “about two fingers wide that is managa, um,” he snapped his fingers rapidly, looking for the word. “Curried, ta?”
“Sounds right,” Adela nodded. He’d been teaching her Seki, but she still struggled with less common words sometimes.
“So, curried meat strips with bread, but thin and hard. Though better than hardtack.” Rekke wrinkled his nose. “And there is dipping sauce for the meat and bread. You can make it savory or spicy or whatever you wish.” He grinned. “I like it spicy.”
Adela laughed, playing with her braid. “Given that fire kelp didn’t faze you, I had a suspicion. Is your favorite dessert spicy, too?”
His grin turned slightly sheepish as he nodded. “It is. Chocolate with fine-ground peppers mixed in” --he swirled one hand in a stirring motion-- “before it cools.”
“Sounds delicious,” she agreed. Her mouth was watering more than a little thinking about it. “I like spicy things, too.” A strong breeze sprang up, ruffling Adela’s hair and blowing Rekke’s back in his face. She watched him brush it away again--or try to, his fingers snagging on more knots. “You want me to help with that?”
Rekke raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. “Help? Brush my hair?”
“Ta,” she nodded. “I have several younger siblings, I’m very good at being gentle to get out tangles.”
He considered for a moment, then grinned as he nodded. “Ta, that would be nice. Can you do little braids, like Xoti?”
Adela couldn’t hold back a giggle as she got to her feet. “Sure.” Before she could head off in search of a comb, Rekke pulled one out of a belt pouch.
“Konstanten gave it to me,” he explained as he handed it over. His eyes flashed with mischief. “I think to apologize for the fire kelp.”
“Nice of him,” she said. The comb was well made, sturdy with strong teeth, and she was pretty sure it had been Konstanten’s before being given to someone who needed it more, rather than a fresh-purchased gift. She ran her fingers carefully through Rekke’s hair, checking the thick copper waves for any of the little braids Xoti liked to do. There weren’t any to worry about this time, so she gathered his hair back over his shoulders and began.
“What about you?” Rekke asked, wincing slightly as the comb found its first knot.
“What about me, what?” Adela paused a moment to size up the knot, then set about gingerly picking it out.
“What are your favorite foods where you come from?” he clarified, lacing his fingers together in his lap to keep them still.
“Oh. Spiced pears,” she answered without hesitation. “Which aren’t what you’d think from the name. I mean, it is pears, but they’re not spicy. You cook them in a covered dish with things like cinnamon and nutmeg, nice and slow. When they’re done they’re so soft and sweet,” she sighed happily, “It’s like eating pure joy.”
Rekke chuckled wryly, shoulders hitching as the comb found the worst of this particular knot. “You are making me want to try these pears.”
Adela grinned, even though he couldn’t see her. “Well, when we’re done cleaning up this Eothas mess, maybe we can find someone around here who makes Ixamitl spiced pears. Though I’m pretty sure none of ‘em are as good as my mother and brother can make them.”
Rekke nodded happily, almost pulling his hair out of her hands. “Yuki. I would like that. And then maybe you visit Yezuha and have some of the chocolate I like, ta?”
“I’d like that very much,” she agreed. The knot finally yielded to her careful efforts and she took a moment to smirk in satisfaction before moving on to the next section. “Y’know, if you tied your hair back while we’re at sea, like Aloth does, it wouldn’t get so tangled. Didn’t you tell me Lipasalis has wind storms a lot? Isn’t it a pain to leave it down in weather like that?”
“Yes, but I like it loose,” he replied with a shrug and a smile. “I do not mind so much needing to comb it out.”
“Especially when me and Xoti’ll offer to do it for you?” Adela laughed.
Rekke nodded, still smiling. “Ta.”
“Did I hear my name?” Xoti asked as she emerged from belowdecks. She laughed when when she saw what they were doing. “Aw, Hel, Adi, you beat me to it.”
Adela chuckled. “Sorry. Want to do mine instead?” She flipped her braid back over her shoulder and tugged off her bandanna with one hand.
“I was just jokin’, but sure.” Xoti was grinning as she settled herself cross-legged on the deck behind Adela. “How bad is it this time?” she asked, with a nod toward Rekke’s hair.
“Could be worse,” Adela shrgged. “I’ve found four or five tangles so far, but only one of ‘em was really bad.”
“She is very good,” Rekke piped up. “I asked her for little braids, like you do.”
“I’m sure she’ll make you look right handsome,” Xoti said as she worked Adela’s hair free of its braid. “Maybe I’ll give her a couple to go with ‘em.”
“I like the sound of that,” Adela said cheerfully. “I haven’t done anything fancy in a long while.” The last knot finally succumbed to her ministrations, and she ran the comb through Rekke’s hair one more time before handing it back. “There you go. Time for braids.”
“You are gentle,” he said, tone mildly awed.
“Told you, younger siblings, lots of practice,” she laughed. “I used to do all sorts of things to Tia’s hair, when she’d hold still, at least.” She separated out a thin section of coppery hair and started braiding. “I’m pretty rusty on most stuff now, but I think I can manage braids.”
“I sure hope so, considerin’ it’s all you wear,” Xoti giggled from behind her, followed by the tsk of a clucked tongue. “Oh, darn, I ain’t got anymore of Ishi’s feathers...”
“Oooh, here.” Adela dug in her pocket and came up with a handful of colorful beads. She dropped half in Xoti’s hand and kept the rest for Rekke’s hair. “It’s not feathers, but it’ll still be pretty.”
“Darn right it will,” Xoti said emphatically as she curled her hand around the beads. “These’ll look right nice on you, Adi.” She leaned to the side to look around the Watcher. “And on you, Rekke.”
The three of them shared a laugh as she and Adela got to work.
-o- -o- -o-
They were just finishing up when the shore party returned. Rekke’s hair was still loose, but with spots of color peeking out from the copper waves, and Adela was just tying off her signature braid, now decorated with two smaller, blue- and green-dotted plaits.
“Looks like you three had fun,” Edér commented with a grin, leaning back against the railing.
Adela matched his grin as she nodded. “We sure did.” As everyone else trickled back, she made a mental note to remember about that chocolate Rekke had mentioned.
I love all your characters, but Lottie's definitely my favorite! She's so sweet and caring and curious.
Thank you! She’s been so much fun to write in S&S, getting to explore more of her insecurities (and crush :-D) a little. (And boy, we really do need to convene a Scholars’ Circle with her, Adi, Kana, and now probably Ona...totally feasible for them all to end up in one place for research purposes, right? :-D)
What character out of mine is your favorite and why?
OC Fact Swap: Adi very quickly discovers upon leaving Port Maje that a sailor she is not, gets horribly seasick, and generally is not a happy camper on boats. She finds the best way to deal with this is to distract herself by talking to someone. Favorite victims, uh, partners are Aloth(bc wizard solidarity) and Rekke(bc learning a new language is very distracting), but the others get a fair bit of chattery blonde orlan time too.
Violet didn’t mind all the sailing, really...but then, after several years of pilgrimage including to Eothasian churches in Aedyr and Old Vailia, I guess she’d built up some sea legs in time for Deadfire? Poor Adi though!
For day 3 of @pillarspromptsweekly Pillars of Eternity Fic Appreciation Week, @queen-scribbles and I did an OC cousin swap with our orlan scholars! :-D She wrote a wonderful Lottie fic and I drew a curious Adi. What, pray tell, is prompting Adela’s look of surprise as she peeks into this darkened room?
Oh yeah, this is also the Illuminate prompt for day 19 of PoEtober, since I am still trying to catch up on our Inktober prompts. :-D
So I made the apple-spice tea from @queen-scribbles‘ Adela prompt fill this week. :-D Apples, spices, caramel, and the cutest orlan in the Deadfire. It should turn out pretty delicious!
Adagio $5 coupon code for anyone wanting to try Ixamitl Spice or any other Cafe Nua teas: 8917221862 - good for 24 hours
