180: Treat

As I sat on the stairs leading to the front entrance, I was soon joined by Liane, who appeared sitting next to me. I even had to do a double take, because this might have been the first time I had properly seen her not wearing any armour; even in the kitchen earlier today she’d had a couple of pieces on.

But now she sat in loose, dark blue clothing. She even had her hair down!

“Who are you?” I said conspiratorially.

Liane just smirked. “I’m allowed to relax once in a while, you know. It’s not my fault you always have us on edge and expecting some great danger around every corner.”

“You know I have the alchemist guild angry at me, right?” I retorted with a laugh.

Liane nodded, pointing to Lily. “There’s a reason she’s watching you constantly. I’d like to see someone try something. I doubt I’d even get my daggers out before they are in pieces. No, now is the best time to relax. Anyway, what are you doing with the book? You looked confused.”

Letting out a deep sigh as I grabbed my charcoal stick and tried to make a line right down the middle of the page.

“I can’t mark it. I wanted to add the recipes Julia gave me to it,” I said.

Liane reached over, taking it from my hands, which at least answered one question—someone could take this book—and then tried to mark it herself, trying several of the blank pages before attempting to leave a mark on the cover itself. We were both surprised when it had no issue leaving a charcoal mark on the cover.

“How interesting. All the books he gave you seem to be suspicious. Milo has been studying the texts you gave him, claiming they are not at all what is traditionally in the history books,” she said, handing it back after rubbing off the charcoal smudge.

We continued to sit in silence for a few more minutes before Liane pulled out a muffin.

“Where did you steal that from?” I eyed it, noticing it was one of mine too.

“Nowhere. It’s mine,” she said with a full mouth.

We sat in silence for a long while, just watching Crisplet move through the tree, working on the people he was placing in the branches. I was very curious how it was looking, but I wanted to wait until Crisplet was done and happy with it before I went up and had a really good look at it.

I was startled again as the voice of Hari came from behind us. “It is truly remarkable, isn’t it?”

Looking up at him, I saw he was just staring at the giant tree of fire as well.

“It is,” I mumbled.

“Right, well, dinner is about to be served, so I’m to collect you all,” Hari said.

“Good luck pulling Milo away from those books,” Liane said with a laugh.

I didn’t need to collect Crisplet, as he was already heading towards us. Lily was missing, though, which was odd. I could have sworn she was right behind me until just a moment ago.

Entering the dining room, I was surprised to see it was fully set up with a cloth over the table. Candles were lit on the table itself, along with various decorations like fresh fruit and flowers.

“Please, right this way, sir,” Archie said, escorting me to the head of the table where he held the chair for me, before doing the same for Liane, who was seated to my right.

Leaning over to Liane as she sat down, “Uh, you didn’t see where Lily went, did you?”

Liane pointed to the kitchen. “She’s waiting for them to finish so you can make her dinner.”

“Wait, how do you know all that?” I asked, now more sure than ever that something was going on with those two.

“Secret,” Liane responded with a smirk.

I waved to Micca as she entered, taking her seat next to George and Darren. Finally, Milo was pushed through the door by Hari, still clutching the books to his chest.

“Trevor! We must discu…” Milo began to say, but was cut off by Hari.

“Food, then you can discuss,” he said sharply.

Once everyone was seated, the doors to the kitchen opened, and the house staff carried out plates. I also noted that some of them looked rather pale.

Placed in front of me was a plate with a single bite of food on it. It appeared to be a vibrant red sliced piece of fish on a gold coin-sized piece of bread, with a deep green paste between them. Once everyone had their plates, Auguste spoke. “We’ll be having five courses tonight, and to start us off we have Smoked Brinel, served on a herb-crusted crouton with a Rusk Pea puree.”

Looking around, I wasn’t the only one confused by the looks of it, as Micca, Darren, and George seemed to be as confused as I was. But seeing Hari and Milo, they both picked up the whole item and ate it in one bite, so with a shrug I followed them.

It was divine. The flavour hit me right away. It was a warmth that came with the smoke on the fish, before a very delicate fish flavour cut through, and that was soon followed by the herbs in the crouton, which added a crunchy texture to it all. And finally, just when I thought it was over, the rusk pea puree left me with a subtle, fresh feeling that made the tip of my tongue tingle.

The only bad thing I could say about it was that there was only one bite!

But I had no time to complain as the next course started to come into the room. This time it appeared to be a dark bread roll in the middle of a plate, and as it was placed down in front of me, I could see the top had been removed and placed back on top, but Auguste spoke up, answering my questions.

“Next course we have Dusk Shore Clam Chowder, served in an Iron Grain bread roll. We encourage you to eat the bread while you eat the chowder. Alongside it, we are serving a soft red wine. For those who don’t drink alcohol, we have a mellow berry juice which pairs perfectly with this.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Looking back down at the meal, I removed the bread disc that was sitting on top and got my first look at the creamy white soup inside the bread roll. I was served juice. I wasn’t sure if they knew I didn’t drink alcohol or just assumed it, because they were asking everyone else. Only Hari and Milo were served wine without question.

My first spoonful of the chowder again was delightful. I was expecting a really fishy taste, but instead it was soft, and the herbs in the soup came through. The clam itself was incredibly tender, so deciding to follow instructions again, and taking some inspiration from Jen, who was tearing her bread lid apart, I tore off a piece as well, dipping it into the chowder and taking a bite.

I was shocked at how much it changed the taste. It went from a delicate delivery with herbs to a heavy earthiness that was then whisked away by the herbs, before I was left with the soft, fishy taste at the end.

How did they do that? The flavour was completely different!

Deciding if the juice was provided as a pairing I should try it with the meal, I took a sip, and it was true it was incredibly soft fruitiness to it, but what I noticed is it completely cleansed the palate, and as I took my next bite, I got to experience it all over again.