A/N: Cordelia Vorkosigan and Barrayar are the property of Lois McMaster Bujold. These events take place shortly after the main action of Barrayar. The story is for Day 11 (eggnog) of the 25 Days of Fic Challenge. The timeline is deliberately in reverse order, so the last events on the page take place earliest.

Solution

The first time Cordelia Vorkosigan opened the uterine replicator, under the skeptical eye of Dr. Yegenov, the lab swarmed with tiny damp chickens, clucking their way into the world.

"Maybe a couple days fewer?" she suggested, once she'd managed to hide her smile. A chick hopped into her hand, and she petted it tentatively. The little beak was surprisingly sharp.

Problem

"It's the chickens," Ma Mezek said. The cook looked the most flustered Cordelia had ever seen her. "They've got the coughing disease. They don't lay when they have the coughing disease."

Incitement

"A fist-fight over what?"

Sergeant Bothari's hatchet profile was so stern as to refute the existence of the bruises turning purple around his left eye. It must have been quite a fight, if someone landed a punch on Bothari.

"Eggnog, m'lady."

"And what is that?" Not for the first time, Cordelia wished Aral had not turned household management over to her. Getting consensus from a Betan crew might be like training cats to nail jelly to the wall, but it somehow involved fewer surprises.

"A drink made with eggs, milk, brandy, and nutmeg, m'lady. The soldiers expect it at Winterfair."

"And. . ?"

"There's a shortage of eggs. Ma'am."

A/N: While trying to find a ficlet handle for "eggnog," I stumbled across the Eggnog Riot of 1826, one of the less proud events in the history of West Point. Any military can get rowdy over booze, but it takes Barrayarans to get in a fight over eggs.

A/N 2: Following a g's suggestion, I have corrected the cook's name to something more timeline-appropriate. Thank you for pointing that out!