―ǁ―

Yui could bear it no longer. The poor nourishment offered to her, that was. It concerned Bellona to see her eat little, and it sickened Yui to eat too much. It wasn’t solely flavourless, it was undercooked and overcooked and all manner of awful in between and her delicate constitution could not take it.

Today, instead of wallowing in the parlour room awaiting her mate’s affection, she would take an expedition.

Immersion in the von Sköll’s home had not allowed the innate privilege to soak into Yui’s posture. Every member of the family stalked the halls with heads high and a lengthy stride. Yui still skittered. The mark of Bellona’s favour drew wide eyes and cleared Yui’s path wherever she wandered within the castle, though. The purpling splotches of the First Princess’ grip, the indents of her bites, the trail of her mouth’s marks where she sucked on thin skin. Ducking from the view of the majority, she took the short trail of stone steps to the kitchens.

Strings of dried herbs zig-zagged above the heads of bustling servants rinsing and plucking ingredients. All the seasoning, just out of reach. In her periphery, she saw a serving girl skitter past in an umber smock. The mood in the room was dispirited, it seeped Yui’s energy as much as the chill.

“E-” Yui failed to catch the attention of the next girl to pass her, arms full of soggy-looking cabbage. “Excuse me,” she bleated after the next. Missed again. A hardy woman covered in stains and what appeared to be long-healed burns stomped to her. Before asking who Yui was to bring herself here, the cook sniffed hard. The alpha’s scent soaked into Yui’s skin told of her new title. Suddenly the stance of a disturbed and frustrated servant retracted into a respectful curl, if only out of fear of reprimand.

The woman bowed and asked, “How can we help you, First Mate?”

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Yui admitted softly. “I only wondered if I could use some of your ingredients and utensils. I’ll gladly clean up everything I use.”

“Whatever you would like prepared for you, it would be our duty to accommodate.”

“I enjoy cooking,” Yui insisted. “But I don’t wish to get in your way-”

“Of course not, First Mate.” The woman was no longer hiding her exasperation well. The idea that a noble (even if only by marriage) would play at her servitude was quite the insult. Not that Yui intended as such. “You are welcome to enjoy yourself.” Those last two words had bite to them.

Yui swallowed. “I truly did not mean to offend.” Her squeakiness had returned, missing since her wedding day. The majority of her interactions since were with her mate... “I miss cooking for my daughter,” she said in defeat. She missed her old recipes. She missed sharing them with another. She missed familiar flavours and faces.

This piqued the interest of many a furry ear in the room. Hands stilled and eyes peered around jars and mixing bowls. The woman stood over Yui’s long, upright ears barked at them to return to their work.

“I apologise.” Yui stepped back, her ankles unsteady. “I have disturbed your day-”

“There is a store of items we hardly use, should still be good for eating or just…” The woman shrugged. Yui felt the word ‘enjoy’ may have been on the tip of her tongue. “You won’t be in anyone’s way in there.”

“Thank you,” Yui breathed. “I promise it will be left neatly.”

“It’s not neat now,” the woman scoffed, walking her down an off-shoot of the kitchen with plenty of pantries organised by produce type.

The final room, which was the only one that needed the door opening with a shoulder barge, held a miniature kitchen wedged amongst stored ingredients. Dust kept tally of every herb and spice collected from the rickety planks that separated jars and cans of the larder. Most had not moved. Maybe ever.

Yui thanked the cook and was left to entertain herself in the cramped and shabby room. Invigorated, she took to tidying her work area first, noting all that was available in this near-forgotten room of preserved produce.

Many, many hours later, Yui had herself a stew. Was it her finest culinary work? Or course not, there wasn’t a fresh vegetable in the room. It tasted better than anything she had been served inside the von Sköll castle walls thus far, though. Ten-fold. The roasting of the wet vegetables from briny jars in the kitchenette’s child-sized oven had really made the difference between salty and smoky flavouring.

If she could get access to the real food, the fresh offerings, she could make something she might even have the confidence to offer her mate. For now, she ate her stew, sat on the stone floor, wrapped around the pot and stealing it’s warmth into her feet and calves. It was wonderful.

Yui became one with the flow of servants beneath the castle, slipping into her secret store room each day and indulging in home-cooked meals of portions that would certainly have her plumping out a little. Bellona would be pleased. The thought brought a blush to Yui’s face that was not eased by the steam billowing into it.

The kitchens outside of her sanctuary were always in some stage of bustle. Either they were preparing for a meal ahead, actively cooking the soon-expected dishes, or cleaning up afterwards. And then it was time to prepare for the next again.

It was particularly tense today, lots of shouting and almost snarling from the dog-kin woman that had offered Yui the kitchenette. Yui blew the fire from her tiny oven and crept out into the store corridor.

“-and of course the pair of them haven’t made it back in time, because that is the kind of day we are having! Unless you want to make it worse, shut up and wash those plates!”

Yui stepped into the sparsely-occupied room. “Would you like some help?”

The cook was directing a tiny crew of staff, much less than she usually had racing through the kitchen. “Hm? Oh, First Mate.” She bowed. “Everything is fine.”

“I can wash dishes,” Yui insisted. The mess was as tall as her on some counters. “Let me help.”

“And lose my tail to the First Princess’ sword?” The others around her murmured agreeing sentiments.

Yui assured them, “I would never tell her.”

A scrawny serving girl bleated, “And what of your wrinkled fingers?”

“It won’t take so long!” Yui gathered the scourer and the soap and took to a sink full of cutlery and tableware. Before any could argue with her further, she was dunking plates in cold water and scrubbing in circles.

Grumbles behind her included fears for their lives. They opted against pressing the first mate in her decision. It was suggested that testing Yui’s patience and good nature may put them in more danger than if they let her have her way. Yui drowned them out by the fourth item rinsed of suds. She was no one to be afraid of. There would be no crying to her mate if she did not get her way like a petulant child. Even Yuki would not behave so.

It was easy to get lost in monotonous tasks while thinking of her darling daughter. Of her smile and her inquisitive eyes and the softest ears you ever did stroke. It was strange to think that Yui was once a kit like that…

When she finished her sink, she noticed the one beside it remained full and the lunch service was now in full swing. The few workers that the cook had in her command looked to almost be fleeing from one place to the next. Yui silently side-stepped to the next pile of dirty dishes and continued her work.

The chaos of the midday meal subsided and Yui dried her pruned hands on a grimy towel hung over an enormous oven that had a flume she could crawl through.

A young man flailed into the room and flopped over a cutting board covered in abandoned peels. “The king has requested a cold supper,” he gasped. “Meats and cheeses and bread.”

“And what else?”

“Nothing.” The man grinned, and a chunk of potato fell from his cheek.

“Finally, our luck faces the moon!” the cook declared. Weary celebration filled the room. “Some chopping and plating and our day is done.”

“And the cleaning,” one servant grumbled.

All eyes found the sinks. And Yui.

“Well, looks like half the task is already done.” The cook’s chuckle was gruff. “Thank you, First Mate.” When she bowed, the rest of the room followed.

There was a reflexive pressure to bow back and join in. Yui fought it and kept upright, although she knew she was pink-faced under the attention. “I’m happy to help.”

“You shouldn’t, though.” A warning in the dog-kin’s raised brows. Friendly caution. “First Princess Bellona will be most upset.”

“I will cook her something so tasty she couldn’t possibly be!” Yui replied, defiant.

The cook laughed again and waved her hand to the room. “Our kitchen is yours tonight, First Mate.”

A smile split Yui’s face. Full access. All the utensils and ingredients. There was almost too much choice now – what did she make now that she had the chance?

―ǁ―

Yui was dithering. The cooks and the servants had offered her plenty of praise and encouragement, but they had an incentive to do so – keeping out from under the First Princess’ wrath. She had tasted the dish herself and couldn’t find a way to improve upon it. However, she was a herbivore. Carnivores expected meat in their meals.

She paced the end of the table where she had placed her offering, considering stealing it away to her private bedroom. Bellona would not be disappointed, she didn’t know to expect it. She reached for the alpha-sized pie she had decorated with pastry snowflakes, and the door smacked open before she could make contact.

Yui straightened like one of Bellona’s military advisors.

“What’s wrong, my mate?” Bellona surged forward, leaving the door to fall to behind her. She was damp with sweat, hard-earned in the training arena, as she usually was when she returned to their quarters. “You look afraid.”

“I- I made you something,” Yui croaked. “And I was just… second-guessing myself on whether-”

“This?”

Yui turned to stone. With only one word she couldn’t read her mate’s emotions. She needed more of a reaction. Theatrics were not Bellona’s passion.

The wolf-kin plucked a silver fork from beside the bowl and carved free a lump, taking care not to ruin any of the delicately cut snowflakes. On its way to her mouth Yui was half-tempted to snatch it from the air and beg her not to eat it, as though a mouthful without meat might poison her. At first taste, Bellona frowned into the bowl. Then, she took another forkful. Then she stopped caring to keep the pie’s decoration in shape. Then the bowl was near clean and Yui was staring into it open-mouthed. The fork dropped into it, ringing out a tinkling noise, offered the alpha’s only feedback.

Bellona mashed their mouths together, her guttural growl shaking Yui’s tongue. Her heavy, sweaty scent poured over her as she was dragged to their shared bed by the waist. The door may have been shut behind them, or not, it was difficult to worry over such things when Yui’s mate had just devoured her cooking with an appetite she had never seen Bellona show for the castle cooks’ dishes, and was now devouring her like an after-dinner drink. Guzzling between her legs. Mouthing at her inner thighs. Biting her hips and gnawing the bone like the wolf she was.