Prompt# 283 - Masterpiece – Just So You Know – Tekia - Original

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Just So You Know
Fandom: Original
Prompt: Masterpiece
Warnings: None
Rating: G
Summary: Saiya has always been in love with him. Maybe it was time to step up and confess.
She had always been in love with him. Maybe since the moment she took her first breath. Or, perhaps not that long. She hadn’t known him back then. He and his family had moved to their small town when Saiya was seven, all big eyes and ungainly limbs. She had been taller than him, then, and he was so fair compared to her dark hair and eyes and olive skin. They had moved down from the north where the king lived and died. They brought with them the news of the fallen king, dead from illness, and the new regent that had taken the throne despite the protests of the court and council.
The power struggle that commenced never reached them, so far south of the main trade routes and harbors. Within months, the turmoil of the kingdom was behind them, replaced with the latest gossip from the tavern.
In any event, they were both too young to remember a time before the king’s death and were too common to worry about the ill will of nobles and royals. They were simple people that worked the land and the farms and lived one day at a time.
At least their taxes weren’t heavy, as her father had often said.
Back to the matter at hand. Sayia shook her head and focused on measuring the right amount of salt to the bowl before her before mixing all the contents together with quick, efficient strokes of her wooden spoon.
This was going to be her masterpiece. This was going to be her pride and glory and make her whole world a much better place.
She wasn’t stupid like the girls that curled their hair and powdered their cheeks and painted their lips to attract their chosen men. She wasn’t going to waste her time with such things when she knew what he wanted better than he did.
Well, she hoped she did. She shook her head again and peered out the smoky glass at the bright day beyond her father’s herbal shop. People were milling about, chattering lightly and unknowing the brilliance she was preforming within.
She hoped her father was just as unknowing. She bit her lip and quickly turned back to the book before her. She’d tried magic many a times before, love spells and attraction spells and they had all failed her. Once, he had spoken to her, his bright eyes following her when she couldn’t speak to him due to her own failings at magic. Her father had tanned her hide for that one and she fancied she could still feel the smarting of the belt on her rump.
She added more ingredients and continued to stir the mess until it was uniform and the wooden spoon moved through the mass easily. She licked her fingers and turned back to the book to consult. She nodded to herself as she read, knowing the instructions by heart, having read and reread the thing at least a hundred times before she had decided to put her next plan into action.
He had spoken to her, she consoled herself. He had even smiled at her, a smile that she treasured in her heart and didn’t want to not ever see it again. It was kind and charming and sweet and all that sighs and fluttering eyelashes and girly stuff that irritated her to no end.
She scooped up the mass and divided the lumps into smaller lumps and placed them on the cooking trey and shoved the lot into the oven with a triumphant flourish. She dusted off her apron and set about cleaning her mess before her father returned from his trip outside the town walls in his daily quest for herbs.
She couldn’t do anything about the smell but open the windows and, after doing so, promptly forgot about them. She turned her back on the store and began preparing for the chores that her father expected for her to finish before he returned.
At some point, she reminded herself to check on her concoction cooking in the belly of the oven, but it wasn’t quite ready. With a scoff at her own impatience, she quickly set about cleaning and restocking the shelves.
The little bell over the door jingled and she waved a hand behind her as she reached for a bowl on the top shelf. “I’ll be with you in just a moment,” she called.
“Take your time.”
Her heart thudded in her chest and her eyes went wide. She spun on the stepstool, holding the clay bowl to her chest. He smiled at her, a twist of his lips that turned one corner up higher than the other. She gaped back at him.
She wasn’t ready to face him!
“Oh,” she said with all her great intelligence.
Then he closed his eyes and sniffed the air. His smile turned blissful and his features softened around the edges and panic filled her.
“Oh!” she repeated as she all but leaped from the stool to the oven. She cried out in dismay at the slightly brown lumps in the oven and reached inside with the giant wooden spoon to pull the trey out. “They’re ruined.”
She set the trey on the work table and mourned the loss of all her hard work.
“They smell wonderful,” he said, now leaning heavily on the counter that separated them. He was still smiling. She felt a flush come to her face and bit her lips.
“Nonsense,” she said, “They’re a disaster.” So much for being her masterpiece.
He chuckled. “Why don’t you let me sample one and I’ll let you know?”
Her head whipped around so fast she felt a twinge at the back of her neck. His eyes widened at her reaction.
“Unless they’re meant for someone in particular.”
She shook her head, “They’re for you,” she blurted out and promptly slammed her hand over her mouth. That flush? Yeah, it took over her whole face and she just knew she was as red as a tomato.
His eyes widened too, but his smile stayed. “You baked cookies for me?” His voice held not a small amount of wonder. Then he grinned. “Then I insist that you let me have one.”
She tore her eyes away from him and back to the little lumps of brown. What had she been thinking? This was all so stupid and foolish and she was reaching for the spoon to fetch him one hot cookie. She placed it on a small plate and shoved it toward him, unable to meet his eyes.
He gobbled up the warm, gooey treat and made a pained noise. She flinched, but relaxed when he murmured, “It’s hot.”
She frowned. “It’s just out of the oven.”
“It’s perfect.”
She dared to meet his eyes then and felt an uncontrollable smile come to her lips. “Thank you.”
He propped his chin on his hand, his elbow on the counter next to the empty plate. “Sayia? Will you step out with me?”
A thrill went through her, right down her spine and turning the corners of her lips up. She bit her bottom lip and ducked her head. “I thought you would never ask.”