"It's all right. I don't want to ignore you if you do, is all. Daisy?"

    "Kebabs?"

"Ooh. Yeah, good idea. We have some jerky left, I think? And those mushrooms, those'll be good."

    "Mmhmm. I'll get the veggies, then. Nova, you can come if you'd like."

"-but you don't have to; you can take a break if you want."

He dithers for a moment before moving a little closer to Daisy. (He's still not entirely certain about being left alone with Pradnakt, even if nothing has happened so far.)

Besides which, he likes helping Daisy.

"All right. I'll go get the fire started."

They don't need many veggies for the kebabs - some cherry tomatoes, a couple zucchini, a small squash, and an onion. "You can roast potatoes this way, too, but we've got enough other things for today," Daisy comments on the way back inside. "Do you want to help me chop them?"

"I- wouldn't know how to."

"I can show you. It's not hard."

He nods. "Please?"

"All right. You should start with the zucchini, they're easiest. First we wash them off..." She walks him through the process, setting a cutting board on the table with an explanation of why it's needed and showing him how to hold the zucchini and how big the pieces should be before relinquishing her spot. "Be careful of your fingers, too; it's fine to go slow, and it's safer that way. Okay?"

He nods and sets to work. He does go slowly, carefully, but with a sharp focus. He can't quite get the pieces to uniform size, but he does his best.

She hovers, watching, for a moment, and then returns to the kitchen to set the dried mushrooms to soak and chop the onion. That done, she returns to sit next to him at the table and cut the tomatoes and squash to size.

He finishes chopping the zucchinis and tilts his head at her, silently asking if she wants any further help.

She passes him a sprig of tomatoes. "We're done after this, unless you want to set up a fancy tray."

He sets about work on the tomatoes and shrugs. He has no real idea what she means, and as such, not even the impression of an opinion.

"-you and Pradnakt are going to be roasting these over the fire outside, on sticks - we can put them in bowls for you to take from, or set them out on a tray, which looks nicer but is a little more work. I usually don't bother, though, the bowls are fine."

He blinks at his hands, keeps to his work with the tomatoes rather than draw his hands back to wind his fingers together. "I- it-" He shrugs again.

She wipes her hands off and gives him a squeeze around the shoulders. "I'll stop pestering you. Sorry."

He leans into her a little. "I-s'fine," he mumbles.

"It's really not." She gives him a squeeze and goes back to her chopping. "We'll just put them in the bowls, it's fine."

"I- as you say," he says quietly and finishes the tomatoes.

She finishes up too, and then turns back to him. "Nova, it really isn't okay for me to make you uncomfortable like that, okay? I'm still figuring out what you need; I'm going to make mistakes, there's not very much I can do about that, but they are mistakes, it's not something that should be happening. Understand?"

He immediately gives her his attention when she turns to him. Bites slightly at his lip as he listens. He's nodding before he thinks about it. Even after he's thought about it, even if he isn't entirely sure he does in fact understand, he repeats the nod.

"All right." She softens. "And I'll tell Pradnakt to leave you alone for a bit, too. You've been doing well; it's okay to need a break sometimes."

"I- thank you?" he can't think of anything else to say.

"It's no trouble." She gets up to get the bowls down from one of the cabinets and begins transferring the vegetables into them.

He moves to help.