[Sca-cooks] How do you answer such a question

[Stefan li Rous]

Last year we spent some time talking about being called up in an SCA  
court and kneeling (or not). I have in fact recently created a  
Florilegium file from that conversation.

Anyway, in Court yesterday at Bryn Gwlad's Candlemas event a quandary  
came up and I would be interested in hearing how you all would have  
reacted in a similar situation. I guess there is also a bit of  
bragging on my lady wife.

Lady Alina was back in the kitchen cleaning the pots and the pans and  
first got called out of the kitchen when the Baronial Officers were  
called before the Baronial Court to thank them for their service.  
After dropping off her awarded glassware to me for safekeeping, she  
disappeared back into the kitchen.

A while later HRM Gunthar calls her into Court and someone went into  
the kitchen to get her. There was some banter about where she was  
while we were waiting for her, which of course she didn't hear. She  
walks up before Gunthar and kneels on the carpet in front of Gunthar,  
not wanting to soil the fancy royal kneeling cushion since she is  
soaking wet from her knees down.  Gunthar tells her to please kneel  
on the cushion, since that is what it is there for. Gunthar then asks  
her "Whether it is more important to wash dishes or be in his court".

Of course I know Gunthar from this list, and realize he might have  
been in that kitchen if he hadn't been Crown. I doubt she was.

Kinda a Catch-22 question. So how would *you* answer such a question?

You probably don't want to say "Yes, it is much more fun to be  
sopping wet in the kitchen scrubbing dirty dishes than be in your  
Court".

If you say "Court is more important" then the second question becomes  
"Then why were you not here".

Alina was then awarded the Ansteorra Star of Merit, the Grant level  
award for Service.

Alina hesitated to accept a hug from Gunthar since her arms and  
shoulders were also wet from her kitchen travails. The Court Herald,  
Rhiannon, who has known Alina since she joined the SCA was unable to  
keep her voice from breaking when reading her scroll and Alina was  
also crying before she left the Royal Presence.

Oh yes, and one or more people told Alina they weren't going to let  
her go back into the kitchen to finish scrubbing the pots. I'm not  
sure that the pots did get cleaned before we had to leave the site.  
Someone may have had to take them home since they had quite a layer  
of stuff burned to their inside bottoms.

Vivat Her Ladyship Alina!

I guess I better start doing some service or she is going to be made  
a Pelican before me! :-)

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****