"Mmm. What do you want me to do?" I ask.
"You can crush the raspberries, if you want." He gestures to the table where a jar filled with something pink sits.
"They don't look like raspberries."
"They're freeze-dried." He checks on his melting chocolate and then comes over to remove the lid. "They're expensive, but luckily, we're using them for a princess."
"I have no idea what freeze-dried means," I admit.
"I don't know the exact process, but it's something that they've been doing in the mountains of Tsukchi for a few hundred years. I talked to a man at an event in Gaullesse who said he was trying to figure out a way to do it without the mountains, but he hadn't managed yet. That's who I bought these from." He puts his hand on the jar. "I need to check the chocolate." He heads back over to the stove.
"What kind of event?" I ask curiously.
"It was for innovations for making food," he responds. "There were a lot of people, which you wouldn't have liked. But there were a lot of things that would make baking easier or more interesting, which you would have liked."
"I wonder why we don't have an event like that in Falhaven?"
He shrugs. "No one's organised one yet. You should try one of the pieces."
Carefully, I take one of the tiny pieces of raspberry out of the jar and put it in my mouth. It kind of fizzes and dissolves on my tongue, leaving a vibrant and tart flavour of raspberries in my mouth. "Oh, Veronica is going to love that."
"I know, that's why I suggested these when you said you wanted to make Veronica something. Is there a particular reason? Her birthday isn't for another couple of months."
"She's been very helpful to me lately. I wanted to make her something," I admit.
"Helpful with what?" he asks.
"Just some stuff with Mama." It's kind of true, if I include the fact she helped me when Mama was asking about the accident tea, but even I know that I can't reveal that I'm in love with him by saying that's what my sister is helping me with.
"Ah."
"You said that you wanted me to crush them?"
"Yes, use the mortar and pestle, then you want to sieve it to remove any of the seeds."
"Got it." I grab everything I need and start the arduous job of crushing them. My shoulders ache from doing it, but I know it'll be worth it in the end.
"How are things going with the feast planning?" Nate asks as he brings the bowl of melted chocolate over to the table.
"Well, I think. Though I'm nervous about dealing with the lemons," I admit as I sieve the crushed raspberries into a bowl, leaving a surprising number of seeds behind.
"You mean talking to the King about it?" Nate asks as he pours the cream over the chocolate.
"Yes. I know that he's my father, and that Artie will also be in the meeting, but I'm so nervous about it. I don't really understand what the problem is, even if I know that there is one. Shouldn't we want to showcase the very best ingredients that we've got?"
"We should," he says slowly.
"But?"
"How much do you know about the relations between Gaullesse and Someil?"
"Nothing, clearly," I mutter. "How do you know anything?"
"I read the papers," he responds. "So I don't know that much. Basically, they've historically had a few treaties that ended up broken." He whisks the cream and chocolate together.
"That's true of Falhaven and both of the other kingdoms too," I point out, wincing at the scraping sound the mortar makes. Hopefully, one of Nate's innovators will come up with a better way of doing this. "My tutors managed to get me to remember that much."
"And I believe for that they should be commended," he teases.
