Cecilia Avoids The Stew

The winds had been high that evening, and so, Cecilia Moss was ensconced firmly in her bed with a blindfold wrapped around her eyes so they could finally enjoy some respite. Even in one of the most interior parts of the Castle, there was still enough motion of the air for her to be exhausted by it, especially after having to do a training session outdoors for some of the Royal Guard…

Cecilia really didn’t want to leave her room at all today. Especially not for dinner… Iola had been suggesting she would cook for her inner circle tonight, and even if today had not been extremely windy, she would have tried to find some way to avoid that. No matter how much she adored the other woman, she did not want to eat her cooking. She had made that mistake once as a young teenager, and knew full well that Iola’s cooking had not improved in the slightest, with how often the wind had made her witness poor Nero’s discomfort.

Some might have judged Nero for not telling his wife how bad her cooking was, but Cecilia couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t like she could bring herself to tell Iola either. Some truths just felt too harsh to deliver, after all…

She groaned when she heard the sound of her door opening, covering her head fins as a rush of sound washed in… and gagging slightly as she smelled something unfortunately familiar. She curled up tighter in bed.

”Oh no, you’re looking worse than I thought,” Iola murmured gently, quickly shutting the door behind her. “Is it just the wind or are you feeling sick too? I brought you some stew I made in case you were hungry…”

Cecilia struggled to sit up, feeling guilty when she felt Iola’s hands helping her up to lean against the headboard. “A… bit of both…?” she hedged, knowing too well the smell of Iola’s cooking. Even if she was a little hungry, she would prefer hunger to Iola’s cooking. “I’m… not sure if I should really eat…”

Iola brushed her hair back to feel her forehead. “Your temperature feels alright at least,” she said. “Could it just be some of the things you’ve seen today? I know those have made you nauseous before…”

Conveniently that happened quite often when Iola cooked, which made Cecilia feel a pang of guilt. But she really knew she wouldn’t feel better for eating her friend and queen’s cooking, so she just lied along with it. “There were… some from one of those amusement parks,” she said, grimacing. (The recollection did turn her stomach a bit, at least, so she felt a bit less guilty…) “Roller coaster winds are awful.”

”Oh, you poor thing,” Iola said. She ruffled her hair and hugged her. “I guess tonight isn’t good for stew then…”

The disappointment in her voice made Cecilia feel terribly guilty, but she nodded anyways. “I’m sorry,” she said, letting her tiredness bleed into her voice.

”It’s okay!” Iola immediately took to trying to cheer her up. “Nero’s always happy for second helpings, you know, and I know you can’t control when these days happen.” She hugged her. “I’ll take this back down, but let me know whenever you do feel hungry and I can bring something up!” Another hug, and then she headed out.

Cecilia grimaced as she felt the air rush in from the outside again… and buried her head in her hands as soon as it was closed again. At least she had a small stash of mushrooms in her room for days like this, which could tide her over till tomorrow. Hopefully the actual chefs would be cooking tomorrow… Bless Iola for trying, but she really needed to leave the cooking to those trained to do it well…