"I'm afraid my art is about as good as my cooking." Ariala joked, placing another light kiss on his lips. "And art isn't so easily learned I'm afraid." She said.

~-~-~

"I uhm-I didn't, uh, mean to be so forward." Marreck said, looking away. "I just never labeled you as other's have as being with Dimitrius. So I guess I see you differently. Perhaps if you saw yourself as I do then other's would as well" He said, picking at the grass at his feet.

Dimitrius chuckled as he teased, "Aye, but we'll work on both and maybe we'll better you in at least one of them, if we're lucky that is."

------------------

Emelaide laughed softly as she gently nudged his side, "You weren't being too forward. It just startled me a bit for I've never heard such things from anyone before; especially not from one such as you, a complete stranger."

"I'm glad you have soo much confidence in me." Ariala said with a playful eye roll.

~-~-~

"Just giving a distressed Winter Elf some advice." Marreck said with a nudge of his own. "My good deed for the day."

Dimitrius chuckled as he pulled her in for a tender kiss, "Of course I do. Now why don't you scooch off to the kitchen and see if Auntie will give you a cooking lesson before you head home; it'll take your mind of everything."

--------------

Emelaide smiled, "Well, I must say, it's working rather well."

Looking up at the stars, she sighed as her thoughts began to wander, "So what are we to do now that we've decided to let our respective beloveds be with each other and our plan of sabotage is now forgotten?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" Ariala said with laugh but she got off his lap and moved to the kitchen.

"Cindalina?" Ariala asked. "Do you have time for a cooking lesson?"

~-~-~

"Actually," Marreck said, "I have no idea." He chuckled softly and laid back in the grass. "Learn to move on?" He suggested.

Dimitrius chuckled as he followed her into the kitchen, "Not quite, just hungry."

Cindalina smiled as she looked over at Ariala, "Of course child, what would you like to make?"

"Apple-upside-down Cake," Dimitrius coughed nonchalantly.

------------

Emelaide laughed, her laughter carrying on the wind as her hand played with the snow to her right, "Move on huh.. sounds like a great idea.. to bad it's easier said than done."

Ariala giggled with a playful eye roll. "Apple-upside-down cake sounds good to me." She said.

~-~-~

Marreck laughed along with her. "I don't know about you." He said. "But I am just about sick of wanting what I'll never have." He sunk his head to pluck at random blades of grass. "It hurts to much." He murmured more to himself.

Dimitrius chuckled as he smiled a grin at his Aunt, who rolled her eyes as she chuckled and motioned for Ariala to follow, "Come, child. The recipe is in this book. Get out the ingredients and the utensils you'll need, then I'll show you how to measure."

-------------

Emelaide looked over at him, took his hand in hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze, "I know what you mean. Kinda hard to believe it was only this morning we were plotting sabotage and I was nearly killing Ariala. Who knew we could actually come to our senses and see the wrong of our thoughts before it was too late?" With a sigh, she let go of his hand and went back to playing with the snow, "I hate to say this, and it's going to sound very selfish, but this is really a wretched predicament I'm in.. I don't have anyone to play cards with anymore.. Dimitrius was the only one who actually stood a chance against me out of everyone in the village.."

Ariala moved towards the recipe book hesitantly. Dimitrius and his aunt were thinking that her cooking skills were far beyond what they actually were.

She moved the kitchen, pulling flour, sugar, and the apples from their places along with various other ingredients. Then she rummaged through the drawers, finding bowls as well as spoons to mix with.

~-~-~

"Cards?" Marreck asked, bringing up his head. "I'm quite good at cards myself. I'd be happy to kick your butt at cards any day." He said with a sly smile. "Of course I'm sure you don't want to be hanging around with a Spring Elf."

Cindalina chuckled as she watched Ariala hesitantly move around the kitchen. When the last of the things were on the counter, Cindalina walked over and began explaining what each abbreviation meant in the cook book, as well as stating her preferences and her substitutions. She then began showing her how to measure the different types of ingredients.

---------------------

Emelaide laughed as she threw a small snowball at Marreck, "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and play cards right now? I always carry the deck with me, a habit I got from playing with Dimitrius all these years. What game would you like to lose?"

Ariala kept her teeth locked into her cheek to keep from scowling. Baking was so precise, one bad measurement and the whole thing would be ruined. Dimitrius being in the kitchen certainly didn't help, she felt like a child.

She measured her ingredients and waited for Cindalina to continue.

~-~-~

"Lady's choice." Marreck smiled. "And I believe you're the only one who will be losing here." He said, his lips twitching into a smile.

Dimitrius chuckled at Ariala's expression, "Ari, love, would you rather I leave?"

Cindalina, ignoring Dimitrius, smiled at Ariala, "You're doing well, child. Now pour the dry ingredients into the bowl and then beat the liquids into the dry ingredients. Mix it well, child, we don't want any of the ingredients left undissolved."

--------------

Emelaide grinned as she took out the cards and began shuffling as she turned to face him, "You wish. Let's play Blackjack, shall we?"

Ariala furrowed her brow as she beat the ingredients together, forming a mostly smooth batter. "Is this good?" She asked, looking up at Cindalina.

~-~-~

"Alright." Marreck said in a warning tone. "But only if you don't mind losing."

Cindalina smiled as she peered into the bowl, "Nearly perfect! Whip it a bit more so that it's all smoothed, and make sure you scrape and turn the bottom of the bowl to make sure you've gotten everything."

------------

Emelaide smiled as she dealt the cards between them, "Only if you don't mind me winning. Here's how we'll play. I'll deal you four rounds, then you'll deal me four rounds. At the end of the eight rounds, whoever has the most wins gets a point. If we tie, we both get a point. Whoever reaches fifteen points first wins the game. Sound fair?"

Ariala did as Cindalina said, moving the bowl and scraping the flour off the sides to mix into the batter.

~-~-~

"Sounds good to me." Marreck said, thrilled by the challenge.

Cindalina smiled as she peered over Ariala's shoulder, "Perfect. Now, we'll set this batter in the icebox until we're ready for it. Come over to the table and we'll begin cutting up those apples," she added with a smile as she walked over and sat opposite of Dimitrius, setting down the pan they were to bake in in the center of the table beside the basket of apples.

--------------

Emelaide couldn't help but giggle with excitement and she held the deck and flipped over his cards, revealing a ten of clubs and a two of hearts, "Twelve. Keep or add?" she asked as she flipped over one of her own cards, revealing a Queen of Hearts.

Oh boy... Ariala thought. Knives, they're very trusting apparently...

Ariala picked up a knife to begin cutting the apples when she felt a sharp stab of pain in her finger. "Perfect." She mumbled, putting down the apple and moving to the sink to rinse her finger.

~-~-~

"Add." Marreck said, feeling a smile come to his face. It had been while since he had spent time with any girls outside of Ariala and Erreminette and they were no card players.

Dimitrius couldn't help but chuckle as he stood up, headed to the bathroom, and returned with an antiseptic gel and a bandage, "Come here, love."

Cindalina rushed over to Ariala, "Ari, dear, are you alright? You didn't cut yourself too deeply did you?"

------

Emelaide smirked as she placed a card down, revealing a six of clubs, "Total is now eighteen, keep or add?"

"No." Ariala said, her face red with embarressment. "I'm fine, really. I'm just not all that handy with knives."

~-~-~

"Keep." Marreck said, hoping eighteen would be enough.

Cindalina sighed with relief over the injury not being too serious and returned to the table, "Very well, child, I shall teach you that before we move on."

Dimitrius smiled as he applied the antiseptic and bandaged the tiny wound, "You ready to continue your lesson, love?"

--------------

Emelaide smile semi-faded as she flipped over a seven of hearts, "You win by one point."

Shoving the cards into the deck, she shuffled and re-dealt the cards, placing an ace of spades and a two of hearts in front of Marreck and a six of clubs in front of her, "Add or keep?"

"Yes." Ariala grumbled, feeling incompetant. She would cut her finger in front of Dimitrius and his aunt.

~-~-~

"Add." Marreck said, slightly excited from his win.

Dimitrius placed a gentle kiss on her finger and led her back to the table as he murmured in her ear, "Don't worry love, you'll be fine." With a kiss on her cheek, he left her and sat back in his chair, keeping the antiseptic and bandages close by.

Cindalina smiled as she looked over at Ariala and began showing her the proper way to peel an apple, "Slow and gentle, dear, that way you don't hurt yourself in the process."

---------

Emelaide bit her lower lip as she revealed a three of spades, "Sixteen, add or keep?"

Ariala smiled politely, doing exactly as she saw Cindalina do.

~-~-~

"Keep." Marreck said nervously. He was good at blackjack but it wasn't is strong point.

Cindalina grinned as she watched Ariala, "Perfect! You're doing marvelous, dear."

"You see? All you needed was practice," added Dimitrius with a wink as he took one of the slices of Appla Cindalina had put into the pan.

--------------

Emelaide nodded as she flipped over her card, revealing a four of hearts. "Ten, I'll add another," she said as she bit her lip and placed another card beside her row. Brightening up she grinned at Marreck, "Eighteen! Now we're tied One to One!"

Smiling, she shuffled the cards and dealt a new hand, revealing a King of Hearts in front of her as well as a seven of hearts and a three of diamonds in front of Marreck, "Ten, add or keep?"

Ariala smiled, she was getting better.

~-~-~

"Add." Marreck said, praying for an ace. He smiled up at Emelaide, this was more fun then he'd thought it would be.