“You are going to need magic lessons,” Minerva stated, with little room to argue in her voice. “I know your capabilities are wondrous, but it won’t hurt for you to learn formally to control it better.”

“Minnie is a top notch witch, on par with the court mages. You couldn’t ask for a better teacher,” Cynthia stage whispered into Penelope’s ear, pride evident in her voice. There was a sparkle when the Cyno female’s gaze met her partner’s and Minerva straightened her shoulders primly, trying to look unaffected by the compliment, though her pink cheeks said otherwise.

“Hmph! And who would want to serve in such a place when I am better suited elsewhere to people who actually deserve my help?” Minerva grumped. Ah, so this was where Minerva and Yule were similar, as relatives.

Chuckling, Cynthia moved in to nuzzle her partner’s cheek. “Yes, yes,” she placated. “My dear sweet Minnie would never serve at court, not when she can be a hero of people and protector of children.”

“Damn right, I am,” Minerva groused, yet not denying the affection.

Yule, who was standing there with Penelope, looked utterly grossed out by his aunt’s display. Penelope, personally, was very charmed by the obviously happy couple. After a few extra moments of Cynthia piling on the love onto Minerva, the mage pushed her partner away so she could continue addressing the children (now sporting a pink face).

A finger pointed directly at Yule. “You are going to be joining her, of course.”

Yule balked at her. “What? But I already know how to use magic!”

“Not nearly well enough, if Penelope found you half dead on the side of the road,” Minerva replied without missing a beat. She tutted her nephew with a wag of a finger. “Honestly, you were lucky she found you. I'm sure there would have been plenty of people happy to snatch you up. Or worse.”

Yule didn't say anything, though he did stare back with a silent glower.

Penelope could see that it was not going to work on Minerva though.

The fortitude of a middle aged woman is not something to be trifled with, Penelope thought sagely. Though Minerva seemed to be a league all of her own as she grabbed her nephew and rubbed her knuckles against his head, much to his protest.

“I was just unlucky, it won't happen again!”

“Tell me that again when you are 100 years older.”

“Nobody can get as old as you, you hag.”

“What was that? Did I hear you say something unpleasant you impolite nephew of mine?” She amped up the knuckle sandwich, making Yule yelp. Penelope was actually concerned, but Cynthia kept her back with a shake of her head and smile.

“They're just playing around Nellie, don't you worry your little head.”

“Really?” She glanced at the two relatives who were now staring each other down, Yule having squirmed his way out of his aunt’s grasp. “It seems intense.”

“I suppose from an outsider’s perspective that may seem true, but everyone shows how they care in their own ways,” Cynthia explained kindly. Having been brought up to speed by Yule and Minerva, she understood perhaps such displays were not the norm for her and did her best to reassure their little guest.

Penelope still thought this kind of rough play was a bit excessive, so she stepped up to diffuse the situation. Coming up beside Yule, she reached out and grasped his hand.

“Come on Yule. You can’t let me do lessons all by myself,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to take up all of your aunt’s time by myself.”

“No, please. Take it. Take all of it,” Yule replied swiftly.

“Now, Yule, you can’t just disappoint sweet Penelope so easily, could you? After all, we do owe her for looking after you,” Minerva pointed out, almost gleefully. The older woman shot her a look that said to make with the puppy eyes, which Penelope quickly screwed up to the best of her ability, though she probably looked more like a kicked puppy than a cute kitten.

There was a bit of grumbling, but he eventually agreed.

“I guess so.” He looked at Penelope. “Just until you get used to it, okay? After that you’re on your own.”

Delighted from just this, Penelope smiled brightly. On a whim she switched up how she held his hand, linking their pinkies together in a sign of a promise. 

“You promise you’ll be together with me?”

The words spoken by the young artist were innocent enough and should have sparked nothing more, perhaps, than a grunt of affirmation from Yule. His reaction, however, was not one she expected.

Yule’s face went entirely crimson, his jaw dropping at their linked pinkies. Minerva put a hand up to stifle a laugh, while Cynthia outright guffawed watching them. Penelope was completely confused.

Oh, no, did I do something weird?

The girl looked at the boy’s mortified (but flushed) face, then looked over at Minerva who had to look away, lest she lost her composure. Cynthia was still howling with mirth.

Seriously, what did I do? Did I commit some Iralonian faux pas?!

It was Cynthia who decided to take pity on the girl, going over to undo their linked pinkies. “My sweet girl, didn’t you know that only lovers who are about to propose link pinkies?”

Now it was Penelope’s turn to become bright red, steam practically rising right out of her ears as she processed that bit of information.

“Wh-what?! Seriously?!”

“Oh, yes,” Minerva piped up, still barely concealing her amusement. “Since the tenth king’s reign in Birain, when he proposed to his queen, it has become something of a tradition in our country that when you make a lifelong promise to someone, you link pinkies. You essentially proposed to Yule.”

Penelope internally screamed. She immediately apologized to Yule, waving her hands frantically as if to fan away the steaming hot red faces they had now, due to this situation.

“Ah, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! I’m just happy you’ll do lessons with me and Minerva!” Truly, there was nothing else as embarrassing as this moment. The adults were having a good laugh about it, though, as Penelope flailed around trying to stop them. “Hey, stop laughing! I didn’t know! Yuuule, do something!”

When turning to her companion, he had a 1000 mile stare as he peered at his hand. Looked like he was clocked out of this one.

The laughter endured a little while until only a few occasional giggles left Cynthia and Minerva was finally able to screw a serious face back on.

Cynthia clapped her hands together. “You know what we need? A good meal. We can all talk more about what we are all going to do after we have ourselves some lunch. And I have an idea…” The Cyno female turned towards Penelope, who peered back up at her in curiosity. “I didn’t get to see your abilities for myself, but do you know if you can make things you never saw before?”

“Ah? No, not really. Everything I’ve made so far are things I remember really clearly or things I’ve seen,” Penelope replied.

“Well, how about we put you to the test? Better for us to have an idea of what you’re capable of. I can describe something for you and we’ll see if you can make it.”

Like those police sketches in detective dramas? Penelope thought to herself. It would be a good exercise for her, though she wasn’t confident she could pull something like that off. It would probably have to depend on Cynthia’s ability to describe what she wanted and the strength of Penelope’s own mind when she concentrated on her intent to create.

She nodded in acceptance, pulling out a fresh sheet of parchment.

Cynthia rubbed her hands together, grinning widely. “All right! Attagirl! Now listen closely…”

A large earthen pot, made with thick walls as to withstand the constant heat it would be subject to. A handle made of heat resistant metal adorned each side, so that people could easily pick it up and carry it off the heat. Within the depths of this pot swirled thickly cut ingredients, such as karo (carrots) and tata (potatoes), alongside savoury meat. A hint of a rich aroma would come from further in the depths, the gravy mixed together with a variety of herbs and red wine…

Penelope was carefully drawing every detail that she could, concentrating hard on what was being brought forth with her ability. When Minerva realized what was coming, she got Yule to help her clear an area so the item that would materialize would have space to do so. The artist heard offhand comments such as ‘glutton’ and ‘bigger than it needs to be’, but continued onward as she visualized and drew.

As it had every other time, the lines peeled off and formed, creating the foundation of her drawing in reality. It filled in the blanks when he mind could come up with nothing similar in her memories to compare it to. Yet, on hearing the description more and more, Penelope could only think of one thing that matched the description Cynthia gave her.

The scent of a savoury gravy hit their noses and Cynthia’s mouth watered, unfettered as the stew finished materializing with a solid thud at the space Minerva and Yule had made. The Cyno female looked to Penelope for permission and the girl gestured for her to go ahead.

Bowls were found and Cynthia ladled in the first serving. She took a moment to gently scent the food, shuddering in anticipation as it smelled divine and familiar. Gingerly, she took the first bite…and then promptly wolfed down the rest of the bowl and went for seconds! And thirds, and fourths…

“Waaah! This is the taste! I haven’t had this in ages. I could eat this for days!”

Seeing her partner’s enthusiasm, Minerva served out bowls for herself, Yule and Penelope. She tried a spoonful in a more reserved manner and sighed happily when she had a taste of the manifested stew. She knew this taste and closed her eyes to enjoy the flavour and memories coming to her. Yule enjoyed it, too, quietly smiling as he ate sedatedly.

Apparently, in Birain, this meal was something of a delicacy and one usually only upper class families got to enjoy regularly.

For Penelope though, this was the familiar taste of a hearty beef stew, one of the first recipes Kasumi ever learned how to make. Back when things were less stressful, before her sister was born and it was just Kasumi, her mother and father. The first time she successfully made this stew her family had been so happy eating it together with her, praising her. What a time had that been. She’d almost forgotten what that was like, eating a meal together with others.

“Hey, Minnie. Remember our reception? We had this served to everyone as a special treat. I’ll never forget that taste of that stew…more than anything, eating it together with you,” Cynthia mentioned fondly, sidling up next to Minerva. The mage blushed, but smiled, swatting at her partner playfully.

“Oh, you. More than anything, I just remember being happy I could be with you forever,” Minerva whispered, looking up at Cynthia fondly.

The two women stared at each other, their food forgotten for a moment as their pinkies intertwined and they simply gazed into the other’s eyes.

Yule looked decidedly disturbed. “Could you two please go get a room if you’re going to be like that. You’re going to ruin the food.”

Minerva gasped at him, feigning being scandalized. “Goodness, how rude! On top of magic lessons, maybe I should teach you some proper manners.”

“Says the mage making goo-goo eyes at her lover every chance she gets.”

“Say what?! Listen here you little–”

“Don’t mind them, Penelope,” Cynthia said, over her eleventh bowl of stew.

Penelope watched the two bickering relatives and nodded. It was strange to her, but not every raised voice meant something bad nor every argument ready to lead to violence. It even seemed like they were having fun.

Smiling to herself, she quietly ate her soup as Minerva and Yule shouted at each other and Cynthia kept Penelope company as they enjoyed lunch.