Ambrosia

“You’re in an awfully good mood today.”

Vanna looked up from his work to see Primrose eyeing him, a brow raised. He’d said the words in an accusing tone, but his expression was uncharacteristically soft. He must have been in a good mood thanks to their plentiful harvest…Vanna certainly was, at least. In Vanna’s hands was the head of a flower whose petals were velvety soft and dark as a true night sky, small particles on its surface glittering like starlight. It was the very same flower that had caught Eden’s eye just yesterday, and coming upon it now, Vanna couldn’t help the wide smile that snuck its way onto his face, or the way his cheeks grew warmer at the joyous memory. 

“Am I? I was just remembering how I harvested these flowers with Eden yesterday.” Vanna plucked off the petals as he spoke, placing them in a large mortar seated on the table. “We did a good job, right? He showed me how to harvest the flowers and preserve them—he even took most of the leaves off himself and stored them separately for me.”

Primrose’s eyes narrowed briefly, as if trying to discern the truth of Vanna’s words. But there was no secret hidden behind what he’d said; there was nothing but happiness and affection in his voice, something that could easily be written off as joy for contributing to the health and wellness of his cherubun peers. Primrose did just that, his expression smoothing over once more.

“Yes, I suppose you did. Eden provided excellent guidance.” 

Wow, a compliment from Primrose? If only Eden were here to actually hear it. ‘He would’ve been over the moon’, Vanna thought as he grinned. 

“I’m really happy that you gave me these tasks. To plant the seeds and care for them, I mean.” More petals fell into the mortar as Vanna’s hands worked carefully. “I learned a lot, and it really helped me clear my head. I didn’t know how terrible I felt about leaving the Heavenly Meadow until you gave me all of those seeds, and I…”

“No need to explain yourself.” Primrose was quick to cut him off, and Vanna looked across the table to where he was seated. While Vanna had been plucking petals off of the flowers, Primrose had been sectioning the stems and removing any remaining leaves. He was a much faster worker than Vanna, his movements fluid and confident from plenty of practice. The petrioles were separated from the stems and both went into their own piles, while the leaves were placed on small racks. Vanna recalled Primrose mentioning something about a dehydrator to dry the leaves due to the lack of true sunlight in Burrowgatory, so once all the leaves had been removed they’d most likely have one more destination before they could be of use to them. That just left everything else and—oh. Vanna got so sidetracked that he didn’t see the knowing look that Primrose was giving him until it was all but gone from his face.

Vanna tilted his head. He could understand; Primrose probably wasn’t the best at talking about feelings, but he was still a cherubun. Even if he might not have felt that guilt himself, he was still empathetic to the plight of other cherubuns and the turbulent feelings they would have to grapple with while establishing roots in Burrowgatory. Primrose genuinely cared about the cherubuns…even though it could be awfully hard to tell, sometimes. 

“I still want to thank you for making me do it. So, thank you Primrose. Even when this is all done, I’ll still help out in the gardens.” There were far too many good memories here for him to turn his back on it, even once all his work was finally done.

Vanna watched with delight as Primrose’s cheeks flushed and he cleared his throat. His hands faltered in their work at the thanks before they resumed as if nothing had happened. “...You’re welcome. Let’s hurry up with this—the sooner we get all of this done, the sooner we can make the ambrosia without worrying about anything going bad beforehand.”

Of course, nothing would go bad in the few minutes it took them to finish their work, not when Eden had taken so much time to cut the flowers perfectly. Still, Vanna smiled gently and nodded. “Okay!”

---

Once everything had been separated, Primrose ushered Vanna over to a large cabinet-sized machine to place the racks of leaves in. It was a commercial food dehydrator, Primrose had explained; while they didn’t use it to dehydrate any food in the embassy, it still served its purpose as a dehydrator for plants. It was important for their ambrosia-making process—Primrose had even stated that they’d need a bit of pulverized leaves for the specific ambrosia that they would be making today—so the machine was kept in pristine condition at all times…as were most items within the embassy.

Once the leaves were inside the dehydrator, they went back to the massive work table to resume their other tasks. Primrose procured a large pot from who-knows-where and placed it on the table, along with a…

“Is that a garlic press?”

“Yes.” Primrose placed two garlic presses onto the table, sliding one over to Vanna. “Believe it or not, this is by far the best instrument to extract the sap from the petrioles and stems. Petrioles, mostly—you won’t get much sap from the stems in comparison, but we still press them to be on the safe side. Every little bit counts.”

“Wow, okay. A food dehydrator and a garlic press…what’ll we use next, a fridge?”

Primrose arched a brow and gave Vanna an unimpressed look. “How do you think we store medicinal ambrosia?”

“...Oh.”

---

An untold amount of pressing later, Vanna found himself in sheer awe of Primrose’s grip strength. He had no idea how the man could do this so frequently. Squeezing sap out of stems was really hard. By the time they were finished, Vanna’s apron was littered with smudges of green, and Primrose’s was immaculate…naturally (why did he even bother to wear one?). But most importantly, the pot was about halfway full with fragrant sap, ready for boiling.

“I’m going to place the pot on the stove now. Do you see that mortar, the one with the different colored petals in it? Take that and start mashing the petals in the meantime—we need them to be nice and pulpy for the next step. I’ll show you the process of making an ambrosia that’s perfect for the season.”

Vanna perked up. A seasonal ambrosia? Weren’t those like, really expensive? He idly wondered if he could get Primrose to give him a bottle for all his hard work…

It was some time before Primrose returned with yet another pot in his hands, this one nearly full with water. Tucked underneath his arm was a large baggy filled with pulverized leaves and other herbs, along with an assortment of colorful dried petals. After setting the pot down, he opened the baggy, and Vanna inhaled.

“Wow, whatever’s in that, it smells just like spring! Is that…?”

“For the floral ambrosia, yes.” Primrose clearly looked pleased with himself. It must have taken him ages to perfect the blend, and it showed in the way he lifted his head up with pride.

“So, what’s in it?”

“It wouldn’t be a secret blend if I went and told anyone that asked, now would it?”

“Aw…”

---

Although Vanna wasn’t able to learn what ingredients made Primrose’s highly-coveted seasonal ambrosias, he still got to sneak in a taste or two during the process, and that was more than enough for him to be satisfied. That strange herbal blend aside, it didn’t seem like much went into ambrosia; water, sugar, and mashed up petals were the main ingredients, and then another thing here or there to make another flavor variant. It was a rather enlightening process for a cherubun who never had any involvement in making ambrosia before, and he made a promise to himself that one day he would try to make his own ambrosia, without Primrose’s guidance.

Of course, there would have to be way more flowers in the gardens before he even thought about using sap so selfishly, but who knows…? There was no telling if the gardens would be able to expand in the future or not, or how plentiful the yields would be. Vanna had high hopes either way, and didn’t mind if the wait to see that day come was a long one. He had all the time in the world now and a long life besides, so what was a few years of waiting?

Until that time came, he would diligently care for the flowers in the gardens, so that all the cherubuns were able to live comfortably.