Gotcha. [He grabs a couple of glasses and a bottle of wine, talking as he uncorks it and pours one for them both.] The Officer's Academy had a rule where every student, no matter their social standing, had to pitch in on kitchen duty. Then during the war, when my old classmates and I came back together, we just kept the idea going as a little tradition, and I picked up a few things.

[So even when Claude was Duke Riegan and busy with war councils and going backwards and forwards to roundtables at Derdriu, he'd still find time to squeeze in cooking duty. He wasn't above any page or maidservant in that way, and he found he liked it.]

I'm grateful for it, really. Would be pretty embarassing if I got here and didn't know how to fend for myself, right?