The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 626: Investing in the Coven (Part One)

Ashlynn’s gesture of purchasing a fine tapestry for each member of her coven subtly transformed the dynamics within the group as her companions reevaluated their goals for this shopping excursion.

"Mother Ashlynn," Ollie said as he watched the shopkeeper rolling up the tapestries, carefully tying them with thick cords and promising that they would be sent to the witch’s tower by the end of the evening. "You said that you wanted us to cook together for at least one meal a day in the tower, didn’t you?"

"I do," Ashlynn said. "It’s something I learned from Big Sister Amahle. Everyone cooks a dish of their choosing and brings it to share with the coven. I also learned about eating at tables that are low to the ground from the Mother of Thorns. She says it stops gatherings of the coven from ever feeling stiff, formal, and hierarchical."

"If we need to meet to plan a war or govern the Vale," Ashlynn added. "Then, Mistress Nyrielle has places that function far better for those purposes. The coven gathers as a family, and sitting on cushions on the floor helps us remember that. Why? What brought that to mind?"

"Will you let me take charge of equipping our kitchen?" Ollie asked before he turned to the others in the group to explain his idea. "Some things in a kitchen are common. We’ll want hooks for hanging roasting meat, pots for stewing, pans for searing, and all of those things. But some dishes may need tools that are less common. If everyone can tell me the sort of food you want to cook, I’ll make sure we have the tools for it. That way, everyone has what they need in order to make the dishes they want to share with the coven."

"You don’t need to spend your festival money on this," Ashlynn pointed out. "I had planned to let Georg make recommendations for our supplies once we have a proper hearth built in the room atop the tower..."

"I’m sure Georg would be happy to help," Ollie said, smiling at the notion of the unexpectedly wise friend he’d made in the castle’s kitchens helping them to set up a kitchen of their own at the top of the tower. "But I’ve learned recently that good tools can make cooking... joyous, I guess. Or at least less of a chore. Georg has tools for stuffing sausages that I wish we’d had when we were in the Summer Villa...."

"Ugh, don’t remind me," Ashlynn said, rubbing her fingers together as if to rid them of the memory of handling the slimy venison while the fat seemed to melt all over her fingers as she tried to stuff the minced meat into a length of freshly washed intestine. "I couldn’t eat sausage for a week after that."

"I want a short table," Heila said, stepping up next to Ollie and looking at him with shining eyes. "I don’t like using sharp knives when I have to stand on a stool so I want a table I can cut and prepare things on that’s my height. And I want some of the rolling pins that put patterns on your dough when you roll it out so my pastries can look as pretty as Georg’s do," she said firmly.

"All right," Ollie said, reaching out to ruffle Heila’s curly hair. "A short table and some carved rolling pins. What else?"

"A long knife, for cutting delicate fish," Hauke said, drawing surprised looks from several people. "When you eat fish raw, it shouldn’t be hacked up or sawed at," he explained. "You need a long knife to cut delicate pieces, especially on a big fish."

"You know the fish in the river aren’t as big as the monster fish in your mountain lakes," Virve pointed out. "You might not need such a big knife."

"But, we aren’t that far from my home," Hauke protested. "I can go visit long enough to fish from time to time, can’t I? And if I freeze the fish before I bring it back, it will last long enough to enjoy, even if I have to use sorcery to keep it frozen in mid-summer."

"Officially, you’re an exile," Ashlynn reminded the young Frost Walker lord, though her tone was light when she said it. "But, as the Eldritch Lady of the High Pass, I hereby grant you permission to visit your homeland to fish as often as you want, so long as you aren’t socializing with anyone while you’re there. Is that fair enough, Hauke?"

Ashlynn didn’t want the young Frost Walker to suffer for his exile, and she knew just how much a taste of home could mean while you were living in strange lands. At the same time, she was afraid that if he returned too early, the elders among the Frost Walkers would seek to bring him under their sway, using him as a pawn in an attempt to reclaim power.

It felt like a fine line to walk, between friendship, family, and the duties of a ruler, but she felt like the compromise she offered was reasonable. For a moment, she wondered what her father would have done before giggling at the absurdity of it. Her father would never have found himself named the lord of a neighboring nation at the end of a single battle, and she doubted he’d choose to act as a lord for the Eldritch even if he was presented the opportunity.

Or at least, he wouldn’t now. Soon, she would ’return from the dead’ and one of the first things she intended to do was reach out to her parents in Blackwell County. Whether they could accept her and the woman she’d become was yet another nightmare that plagued her from time to time, but since she couldn’t do anything about it at the moment, she pushed those worries firmly to the back of her mind and focused on the important things. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

"That’s more than fair," Hauke said as his horn turned a faint shade of lavender. In truth, he’d forgotten his status as an exile as he got caught up in the Vale’s preparations for war. He’d thought it would be a simple thing to hike back up into the mountains any time he felt a little homesick but ’home’, it seemed, would remain a distant place that he could only briefly visit for the next five years until his exile ended.

"Thank you for your kindness, my lady," he said, lowering his horn formally as he realized that Ashlynn had worded her ’proclamation’ very carefully. He was forbidden from socializing with his clansmen while visiting the High Pass for fishing... but she never said he was forbidden from socializing with them outside of the High Pass.

He doubted that many people would make the long hike down into the Vale of Mists just to visit him, but if his mother or father wanted to see their son, Ashlynn wouldn’t force them to shun him during his exile. A crueler ruler, especially one in Ashlynn’s circumstances who was cut off from their own family, might choose to enforce a harsher exile. But Lady Ashlynn was different, Hauke realized. When she suffered, no matter what she suffered, she worked hard to prevent others from experiencing the same pain.

She was a very different kind of leader from Ansgar, the Lord of the Seven Peaks, who had ridden roughshod over Hauke to attack Heila and otherwise attempt to restore the Frost Walkers to their days of glory under his rule but... Compared to the tyrannical force he’d seen from his own ancestor, Hauke much preferred to learn from Lady Ashlynn’s example.