It was four in the morning. Darkness and silence still covered the world so when lina's alarm clock went off, it felt like a magic spell had been broken. The grating noise scraped against lina's ears, and she grabbed the clock, shutting it off and setting it down on the nightstand with a bit more force than necessary.
Irritated, she bundled up under the blankets again, unwilling to move away from the bed's warmth and comfort. Approximately five blissful minutes passed before she heard the usual loud knock on her door.
"lina, are you ready? Ti to get up!" Master Gilbert called.
She groaned loudly and slowly clambered out of the bed, the chill of the morning hitting her body like needles. Annoyed, she replied. "I'm up!"
It ca out sounding more irate than she had intended it to be, and she could feel a tense pause behind the door. "You alright, girl?"
"I—" she began, but stopped, realizing how annoyed she still felt. lina took a deep breath to calm herself, then replied. "I'm fine. I'll be down in a minute."
"Very well," Gilbert said, and she could hear his heavy footsteps going downstairs.
Why do I feel so irritated first thing in the morning? Did I not get enough sleep? I went to sleep at nine so technically, I should be fine. After all, I used to do just fine with a re four hours of sleep per day. Then again, I was much older then—perhaps this young body requires more rest. I'll try going to sleep earlier this evening.
After dressing up and washing her face, lina headed to the kitchen and began their daily activities. Although, on this day her tasks would be slightly different. Instead of making copious amounts of bread and pear rolls, she'd have to focus on a dish from the puff pastry she prepared yesterday.
"Feel free to ask for help if you need it and do not worry about ti today. Focus on the quality," Gilbert inford her and handed her an open notebook with a recipe—lamb pastry bundles.
"Are you sure I can handle this? I've never really worked with at before."
"It's ground at, so it's much easier to work with. Besides, I'd like to see how well you'll work from just a recipe."
lina nodded and took the notebook. The instructions were written down in neat handwriting, so she had no trouble reading through them. However, after she finished reading, she felt a little worried. She had never done so of the things described in the recipe.
But if I'm afraid each ti I see a new cooking technique, I'll never improve. If I follow these instructions carefully, then I should have no trouble. After all, I've made so many potions before—this is no different.
lina set the notebook on the counter and got to work. The first step described how to make the filling for the bundles. Much to her chagrin it involved grating copious amounts of onions, which made her eyes tear up as the onion juice got into them. It was annoying, to say the least, and she had the urge to constantly rub at her eyes although she knew that it would only make matters worse as her hands were covered with onion juice.
Once that was done—with a lot of tears shed—and lina had washed her hands and face thoroughly, she combined onions with cumin, paprika powder and ground lamb at. With everything combined, she made all of the ground at into small patties. The task was simple enough, even if not all of her patties turned out to be the sa size. What worried her the most was the part that followed—cooking the patties in a skillet.
"How are you doing?" Gilbert asked curiously as he noticed her staring at the many at patties she had made.
"I'm just worried about cooking them right…" lina admitted.
"It's not any more difficult than cooking olets. You've mastered those haven't you?"
"Isn't at different from an olet?"
"The only thing different is the cooking ti. Just cook each patty for 3-4 minutes on each side and you should be good. Don't push for cooking many at the sa ti initially. Start with one pan and then work your way up as you gain so confidence."
"But what about—"
"Don't worry about anything else this morning. Your focus should be solely on these lamb bundles."
lina nodded resolutely and placed the skillet over the hot stove. After waiting for a mont, she poured a little bit of oil into it and then placed her first four patties inside. They sizzled right away and a rich, aty aroma began filling the kitchen.
It was almost nerve-wracking, waiting for the patties to cook. lina kept watching the clock on the wall like a hawk, waiting for three minutes to pass. Once they had, she checked the bottom of each pattie and flipped them over. They appeared nice and brown, and her
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