The College's kitchen lacked a mortar and pestle large enough to effectively crush the nine and a half kilograms of blanched almonds in a timely manner. Tyes, upon seeing Eue-Lysae's ease of lifting and moving the large bags of flour, had suggested she grind the almonds with a wooden rolling pin. Since she had agreed to help, she was in no place to decline.

  Eue-Lysae's jaw is clenched as she grinds the cloth-wrapped almonds into a fine meal, a half-kilogram at a time. She watches Tyes as he quickly forgets who he is in the presence of and begins barking orders at her coven. If it were any other situation and someone—specifically a man—were to treat her coven in such a manner, she would have long since struck them.

  "What do you think you are doing with that?" Tyes points a finger at Gele as she moves an obviously overfilled pan towards one of the brick ovens. "That is horrifically overfilled; it will not bake evenly."

  Enngel yelps, turning on her heel and heading back to Ermel. This has been the fourth time Tyes had deemed their pan overfilled. She had expected this to be a fun way to spend the day and get out of chores, but she now only wants to curl into bed and cry.

  She looks across the table to the Fronyka and ?ppolonia; the former is a bright red and clearly at her breaking point. They are the only duo who have had their pans denied entry into the ovens more than herself and Ermel.

  Hester clears her throat loudly; she is getting sick of Tyes. "Are you aware these are sigil ovens?" She tries to make her voice as kind as possible, not wishing to show her annoyance.

  "Yes, I am." Tyes snaps. "I have sigil ovens at my bakery, and they do not cook evenly." He runs a hand down his face. He is exceptionally nervous; the cake needs to be perfect.

  Faey joins in; Fronyka had not specified that the ovens were over-under sigil ovens. "No, they're over-under sigil ovens; the sigil on the top will prevent the top from doming. It will cook them evenly; it cooks a goose evenly."

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  "Ah yes." Tyes gestures to the batter. "A goose!"

  Eue-Lysae brings the rolling pin down hard on the almonds. The table shakes, and the kitchen goes quiet. "Watch—" She spots Pippynna shudder from the corner of her eye and quickly adjusts her tone with the young girl's father. "Please do not speak to my priestess in such a manner; we are helping you, and we can leave."

  "I'm sorry." Tyes takes a deep breath. He cannot admit that he is nervous in front of the High Priestess and her coven, even though he is sure they can all see it in his words and actions.

  He looks to Madox, who has been doing nothing but talk to Loanne; he seems to think the extra hands are an excuse to court Tyes's daughter. "Madox, can you help the priestess make sure the pans are right?"

  Madox nods and leaves Ede, making his way over to the priestesses. His back is to the High Priestess, but he can feel her gaze on his neck.

  ?l? looks to Gyrshke; the High Priestess's knuckles are white around the handles of the rolling pin; it would be best to take her attention from Tyes. "Do you want to switch?"

  Tyes had put her to work as well—she had originally offered, thinking that it would only be right to help if she were to request design changes. Here she is, weighing eggs to ensure that all layers are even, when she was expecting to be placing walnuts onto the top of the cake.

  Eue-Lysae shakes her head. "No, I'm quite enjoying this." She is imagining that Tyes is many small almonds.

  "Hmm, all right." ?l? goes back to carefully placing the eggs on the balance. From the corner of her eye, she watches Ede make her way over.

  "Pardon me." Loanne stops next to High Priestess Seliani.

  "Yes?"

  Loanne leans in and begins to whisper. "I'm sorry about my father; he's very nervous. He barely got any sleep on the way here, and I haven't seen him stand still since he got the letter from vela'Herst."

  Eue-Lysae slows her grinding. "I know. I could tell by the way he greeted me and by the way he is standing, but this is no excuse for the way he is treating my girls; they wish to help."

  "All right." Loanne is not really sure what to say. "I—I'll talk to him after dinner and try to convince him to apologize properly."

  "That would be appreciated." Eue-Lysae responds.

  Loanne makes her way over to Pippynna. The room slowly settles; the assistance of Madox had made it so the priestesses were getting the measurements consistently correct, and the cake was slowly coming together.