(Untitled)

[handandahalf]

In an effort to equalize the distribution of work at home, Jon had undertaken a project : he was teaching himself to cook.

Actually, he reflected, a more accurate description would be that he was trying to teach himself to cook.

It had begun a few weeks ago, when the bookshelf had offered him row upon row of a book called The Joy of Cooking. It

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[notwithmyhand]

Alain laughed as he came into the kitchen and overheard his friends. "Mayhap you're not following it faithfully enough," he commented, moving toward the coffee pot. "Have a cup?" He offered, still looking bemused at Jon who seemed very at odds with his surroundings.

[handandahalf]

"Yes please," Jon said with a shake of his head. "I'd take a cup that size of whiskey if you had it," he went on, turning off the flame beneath the pot and collapsing into a chair. "I hope this will serve as a lesson; the next time I think I've gotten a good idea, I'll remind myself I am probably wrong."

[notwithmyhand]

"Or next time have whiskey on hand. But that I had whiskey," Alain said shaking his head sadly,. "Coffee will have to be the thing instead. Poor in it's place, as weak as this stuff is." He slid the cup over to Jon and poured his own. "Choice or punishment?"

[handandahalf]

"A bit of both," Jon laughed, sipping the coffee with a nod of approval. "My choice to punish myself, I suppose. Rickon's starting to walk now, and Susan's got her hands full, so I thought it was time I learned to be a bit more useful around the house." He took another sip and added, grinning, "I haven't told her anything of it yet, mostly because-- as you can see-- there's not much worth speaking of."

[notwithmyhand]

Sipping at his coffee, Alain listened and nodded. It seemed like a reasonable if frustrating goal. What he knew of Jon said that the man would never have had the opportunity to try his hand at it before. "Keep at it," Alain suggested and then smiled. "Perhaps if you can master one meal, you might persuade her that you've learned more." His grin said how likely he thought that convincing was.

[handandahalf]

"Or at least persuade her to believe I might eventually learn more," he agreed, bemused. "Though in truth if there's one thing I can trust to this whole situation, it's that she will feel it is the thought that counts. Even if we do have to move closer to the compound so we might have a hope of decent meals every day," he ended with a laugh.

He took another drink and gestured with the cup at Alain. "I take it you didn't spend much time in the kitchen either, the training you had." He didn't know much about the gunslingers' way, but from what he did know he imagined it did not leave much room for cooking lessons.

[notwithmyhand]

"It's not a bad trade," Alain said with a grin. "A hot shower and a good meal are two things I'm grateful to have."

He shook his head. "No, not much all, and even then it was only to beg, or in the event that didn't pan out, steal pies and other treats," Alain said fondly. It was strange that even after he was hanged, Alain could still remember Hax favorably. He'd been kind to them, but treacherous all the same. "Camp cooking I can manage well enough, but it's not the same as this."

[handandahalf]

"Indeed," Jon agreed, "we had hot water always at Winterfell, but when I went to serve on the Wall there was none to be had except if you wanted to boil your own. And truly, if I never cook over a camp fire in the middle of a blizzard again, it will be too soon," he said with a rueful laugh.

"Your Gilead sounds much like Westeros, at least for how it was to be a child there," he went on after a moment's pause. His mouth twisted to the side as he thought on his childhood at Winterfell-- the good and the bad, for there had been equal measures of both.

[notwithmyhand]

Alain nodded sympathetically. Snow had rarely been a problem, but rain, and mud, and other things had certainly made cooking over a fire near to impossible.

"It does," Alain agreed. He had thought little of it growing up, but meeting others here, he knew many of them felt like he'd had his childhood stolen from him. He didn't know what it was he was supposed to have had stolen. He'd been a boy and he'd grown up in a harsh land, but grown he had. "There's some here who don't ken it."

[handandahalf]

Jon nodded in earnest. "They think it barbaric, I've found, or else pitiable... I suppose I can't help but understand the strangeness, but I can't say I would trade my own experience for another kind." For all that Lady Catelyn had been a constant shadow over his happiness as a child, still, having grown up as a child of Ned Stark's was not something he could ever fathom being willing to give up.

[notwithmyhand]

"Both most times," Alain agreed quietly, and nodded. "Nor would I. Folk who see my growing up that way don't seem to see how strange there's looks from where I stand. Though mayhap it is easier to understand why folk would want to live a softer way." While he would not have changed it, he could certainly understand that want.