<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/d5/Ayshia.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Who:</strong>Valko<br/><strong>Where: </strong>By the fire of the cooking hearth<br/><strong>When:</strong>Late Afternoon<br/><hr/><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh, but it’s always a pleasure to help.” Ayshia said and that could certainly be taken as a hint. She only hoped that he wouldn’t get it and just drink his tea. Ayshia wanted to make sure that she was not staring at him expectantly, or to do anything that would betray her plans. She leaned forward to take her knife and the first of the vegetable that she had to clean and cut for the  dinner to come. She kept casting askance glance at him.<br/><br/>Ayshia was definitely not disappointed. She wanted to laugh when she saw him take a good mouthful of it. He was in for quite a surprise. The miracle came from the fact that she did not burst out laughing as soon as he expressed surprise, but only when he accused her. It was a good-hearted laugh though. Ayshia wasn’t someone particularly mean, even though she was far from a pushover.  “Dried hot pepper.” She answered to his question, a broad smile on her face.<br/><br/>Ayshia leaned toward him so that she could whisper and still be heard by him, and him only.  “Because you weren’t watching me like hawk? As I recall, you didn’t look away from me much… It’s your cup you had to watch.” Whether or not there were other people in the cooking hearth with them did not matter for Ayshia. His cry of surprise had most likely attracted attention. She took her cup, and offered it to him after she straightened up. “I give you my word there’s nothing in that cup that didn’t come from the kettle.”</div>