The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to Prepare a Warm Drink for Anca

Between the Words is a short quest where Coen and Anca sit down with a pile of books and pick apart clues. Alongside the main objective, the journal lists an optional line: (Optional) Prepare a warm drink for Anca. It is easy to walk past, because the interactive object sits on a side table rather than anywhere near the books you are told to browse.

Quick answer: Inside the cabin where Anca is resting, walk to the black cooking pot on the wooden table by the window and press the Inspect prompt. A cutscene plays in which Coen brews tea and sets it down beside her, and the optional objective clears on its own.

Where the cooking pot is in the cabin

The whole objective takes place indoors. Anca is sitting on the floor of the wooden cabin with the books, and the pot is on a separate wooden table pushed up against a window. Nothing outside the cabin is involved.

Coen standing in the candlelit cabin interior during Between the Words with an interaction prompt on screen — The candlelit cabin interior where Between the Words plays out. Image: Rebel Wolves

The room is dim, so the pot blends into the furniture. Focus mode is the fastest way to pick it out, since it outlines every object you can interact with. Several of those highlights are the books tied to the main objective, so ignore those and look for the highlight sitting on the table surface.

Quest tracker showing Browse through the books with Anca while Coen searches the dark cabin — The quest tracker lists the book objective and the optional warm drink at the same time. Image: Rebel Wolves

How to brew the tea for Anca

Enter the cabin and let the conversation with Anca begin so the Between the Words objectives appear in the tracker. The optional drink line only shows up once the quest is active.

Turn away from Anca and the books, then move to the wooden table beside the window. The black cooking pot is the object you want, not the stacked books or the food items scattered around the room.

Stand close enough for the prompt to change to Inspect and press the interact button. On keyboard this appears as the F prompt in the centre of the screen.

The F Inspect prompt highlighted next to the cooking pot on the cabin table — The Inspect prompt confirms you are aimed at the pot rather than a nearby book. Image: Rebel Wolves

Confirm the interaction when the button prompt appears in the middle of the screen. The game takes over from here, so there is no minigame, ingredient list, or crafting menu to work through.

Centred mouse button prompt shown as Coen commits to the pot interaction — Confirming the prompt hands control over to the brewing cutscene. Image: Rebel Wolves

Watch the cutscene. Coen brews the tea and places the cup on the floor next to Anca, and the optional objective is marked complete as the scene ends.

Note: making the drink consumes 1x Time Segment. The campaign runs on a countdown to rescue Coen’s family, so budget for it before starting the quest if your remaining days are tight.

Confirming the objective cleared

Two things tell you it worked. The optional entry in the quest tracker stops being listed as pending, and the cutscene ends with the cup sitting on the floor beside Anca rather than returning you straight to free movement.

If the prompt never reads Inspect, you are almost certainly aimed at something else. The cabin also holds pickups like a meat pie and garlic, and those show Pick Up prompts instead. Reposition until the pot itself is highlighted.

Between the Words objective still active as Coen examines an object by candlelight in the cabin — The book objective stays active while you handle the optional drink. Image: Rebel Wolves

Why the warm drink matters for the Anca romance

Serving the tea is optional for finishing Between the Words, but it is one of the clearer flirt openings in Anca’s questline. After the scene, choosing “It’s my pleasure” leads into a longer conversation instead of ending things there.

From that point the follow-up lines push the relationship forward rather than keeping it neutral.

Moment	Response to pick
Meeting Anca as the quest starts	“Hope you had more luck than me.”
After serving the tea	“It’s my pleasure.”
Talking about the brew	“There are better sources of joy than herbal brews.”
After reading the books together	“Always? What do you mean?”
Pressing the subject further	“Your feelings toward me–it’s more than just faith.”

The plainer white dialogue options matter here as well, because asking the milder questions is what surfaces the more direct romantic replies. Skipping ahead can close a line before it appears.

Between the Words sits in the middle of Anca’s chain, after Withering Away in the prologue and Echoes of Silenced Bells at St. Tyna’s Convent, and before Where Old Devils Lie and Stronger Than Achilles. Missing the drink does not lock the romance by itself, but it removes one of the few relaxed conversations Coen and Anca get before the questline turns serious.