Simmer

-Ragodast, The Wastrel's Haunt, Late Evening, 3 DSTR-

Asealya nodded to him, "It's all good. Lucky you we have the best ale in Ragodast. The stew should be a few moments for a new batch." She took note of his order. "Any specific vegetables or seasonings?" He shook his head and tucked the booklet into her back pocket. "I don't usually take special orders but I've never seen you in here." She smirked and slipped away to the kitchen where the day cook had began putting his ingredients away to go home.
"Before you go, can you cut me up some beef and carrots? Got another beef stew." He gave her a look of annoyance. She rolled her eyes and began to wash some of the dishes including a large pot. "I'll give you some extra coin before your shift ends, happy?" The cook chuckled and began finding the requested items.
"I'll be taking liberties on cooking so you can get home. Oh! Don't forget to tell little Cara happy birthday from her Auntie Lya."

"I'll be sure to do that if I ever get home..." he mustered a laugh, "Where's the salt?"

"Uh...cabinet to your left," Asealya said after a moment of sniffing the air. The slab of beef he'd laid on the cutting board was driving her nuts. She used a grey towel to try the large pan as he'd began cutting the carrots. He'd gotten the basic ingredients out; carrots, meat, salt, pepper, some chilies, and potatoes.
"I got it from here, thanks a bunch." The cook nodded and she slipped him a few coins she swiped from the empty tables before he untied his apron and left.
Tying it around her waist she placed half of the cold meat slab onto the rack above the fire pit and left it to cook. She moved cutting up all of the vegetables and placing them into the pot she filled with water. As she was cutting her eyes kept fluttering to the leftover beef beside her. Instinct only got stronger the more it was resisted upon, all because she'd cleaned up Quinn's mess at home. If Asealya didn't have to shift once again this week her urges wouldn't be so tempting.

The sound of the meat sizzling over the fire was music to her ears. She used a pair on tongs in one hand to flip the large piece and that side had gotten perfectly done. Once she was satisfied with the color of it, she took it from the rack to cut and added them into the pot. Finally, Asealya placed the pot onto the fire and added her garlic and chili bits, stirring up a pleasant aroma strange for the tavern. She returned the remaining ingredients back to their homes and waited for the stew to simmer.

The server set two large bowls of the steamy soup on a tray along with two mugs of Spiced Twister ale and carried it to the table he was seated at. She placed one of each evenly at the table. "Care if I sit?" Asealya barely waited for him to respond, untying the apron and folding it in her lap as she sat across from him.

"You're not from here, right? You don't smell Dalenian," she swallowed down a spoonful of her stew looking down at the wood grains.

"You don't smell Dalenian"? Really, can you be any more blunt?

"I'm Asealya." She looked up to him with a hand out to shake.