The scent of a woman is an ephemeral thing that is often spoken of in song and tale. Typically, she will be stated to smell like lilacs or perhaps a honey dew melon. Her fragrance will be one of sweetness, a gentle aroma that fills the heart and suffuses the world with joy due to her presence.

There is one aromatic feminine fragrance that is rarely spoken of that can often melt the emotional permafrost that can be found in some of the most ice-rimmed of masculine hearts. The simple and pleasant scent of a sweet woman surrounded by food and spices, a domestic scene of tranquility known as making dinner, was something that no perfume line could ever properly capture and place into a bottle.

Sonja smiled softly as she chopped vegetables. She had cooked for everyone on many occasions, but this was the first time that she did so with fine ingredients and her new kitchen toys.

“You’re really good at that,” said Shara as she watched Sonja expertly chop, shave, and slice various food items. It never ceased to amaze her when people cooked a pleasant meal. She could prepare small things, but cooking was one life skill she had never bothered to master.

The Valkyrie never looked away from what she was doing, but her smile brightened slightly. “Thank you. I learned to cook only a few years ago, and I have always done it as sort of a chore.”

“You seem pretty happy to do it, despite that,” said Shara.

Sonja’s cheeks colored slightly. “I am. This is something that I can do for him that he can’t feel bad about.”

Her words were not lost on Shara. Sonja obviously meant Scott in that regard. Over the course of the last few weeks, she had slowly changed.

Her determination to find him was still high. Honestly, it had been something of a chore to coax her into taking the day off to attend to her personal needs. In a way, it was sweetly endearing that she seemed so excited to practice domestic skills.

Despite her desire to find Scott, however, she had not become desperate. If anything, she seemed to see it as an inevitability. Instead of worrying over where he might be, she was more concerned with making certain that he had a home to return to when he did come back. The fact that her slave seal was still intact was a strange comfort for her.

Given any news, she would rush off to find out if he could be found. Otherwise, she kept house and she trained. In many ways, it was as though she was a dutiful wife waiting for her husband to return from war.

Shara looked at the barely visible blurring motion that Sonja’s hands made when she began to chop more vegetables. The skill and speed that the girl possessed with a blade was well beyond what a normal human could have accomplished if they had been born of this world. She knew why Sonja could move so fast, and so skillfully, but it was still a sight to behold. While the gods in the divine city could simply manifest food or were capable of incredible culinary feats if they chose to learn such, this was a mortal being who used only her own developed skill to create a thing of beauty.

It was difficult for her not to tell the smiling Valkyrie that she had just casually performed a series of actions that would give away the truth of her existence to an alert observer. There might be a few incredible high-end chefs in the world now, but they would find it difficult to match Sonja’s movements even if their actual cooking skills were higher. It was the combination of blade skill and culinary development that made such a thing possible, not to mention her superhuman status.

Sonja began to hum softly and Shara blinked. A slow blush formed on her cheeks as a memory awoke. She recalled how she had once watched her stepmother; Era do something similar to this back in the divine city. Her stepmother rarely spent any time with her, though that was still far more than her true mother ever did. One of her few fond memories was of a time when she and her sister Origin sat in the kitchen and watched their mother cook dinner.

Era was not a domestic person at heart. She was a goddess of fertility and rarely cooked as she was frequently busy with other business. Still, she had taken the time out of her busy schedule to spend time cooking with her youngest daughters.

Shara blinked away a few tears that began to form. The sight, the sound, and the smell of Sonja cooking reminded her far too much of that day. She even had on a similar outfit. Sonja had donned a white apron but wore nothing else. Were their hair colors not dissimilar, Shara would have sworn that her stepmother had come to visit.

“Hey... Sonja?” asked Shara.

Sonja turned to her new friend. “Yes?”

Shara nervously asked, “Can you teach me how to cook better? I’m alright at it but...”

“Sure, can you chop vegetables?” she asked her gently. The soft smile on her lips never wavered for a moment.

Shara blushed in embarrassment. “Yes, but they aren’t always even. I’m good with a knife but I’ve rarely used one in this way.”

“Good with a knife, huh? We’ll see,” said Sonja. She reached out to the girl and Sonja scurried over to get started on her epic training.

The ninja-goddess followed Sonja’s directions and began to chop vegetables. Her hands blurred slightly as she worked, but her cuts were not proper despite their precision.

“You’re cutting the sections too thinly. Excellent knife technique, but the result won’t taste as good compared to making the sections slightly thicker,” said Sonja

Sonja reached around Shara’s waist and took her hands in hers so that she could properly guide her. Shara’s blush returned as her beautiful new friend pressed against her. It was rare for her to feel anyone’s embrace outside of her immediate family. A hug from her sister, for instance. Even that did not happen often in recent decades.

The Valkyrie was all business, however. She slightly corrected Shara’s hands on occasion as the ninja-girl cut vegetables. They soon ran out of veggies to slice and chop as Sonja had already done most of the vegetable prep work beforehand.

“You did well, big sister,” whispered Sonja into Shara’s ear.

“Mmm, thank you,” said Shara softly. It was a simple thing, chopping vegetables, but she could not help but feel much closer to Sonja now.

Sonja released Shara’s hands then stepped away to get back to work. The ninja-girl glanced over at her then took in the sight of her outfit once more. Shara said, “I know...”

Shara started to strip and soon she was down to nothing but her smile. She casually walked over to Scott’s kitchen supply cabinet and pulled out another apron. He had bought a few of them for Sonja just because she liked them, but today they would serve another purpose.

“That’s a nice look for you,” said Sonja with a grin.

Shara smiled at her then lifted the hem of her apron. “What? This old thing?” She then placed one hand to her mouth and offered a fake laugh for comedic purposes. “Oh. Ho. Ho.”

Sonja snorted then chuckled a little before she turned back to her cooking. Shara joined her and the two apron clad girls went about the task of making a cozy romantic dinner for three. While they had already eaten, Ashton would be hungry. Honestly, by the time she got home they could all probably have room for another meal.

They worked together and soon the various dishes were merrily cooking away. The girls stood side by side and occasionally bumped each other with their hips while they laughed at one thing or another.