You’re Welcome: A Feast For Two Kings (16) | Jun

It's a little past midday when we return to our shuttle.

"And thus concludes your tour," Epherum spouts as we enter the building.

On the table to the right, centred in the room was a feast for a king. Two kings even.

Many dishes lie littered all over, encased in a strange transparent mist, and plates, cups, and silverware settled at the seats.

At the head of the table sits Solomon. "Welcome back, you two."

Ala, reading and relaxing on the couch opposing the fireplace. "Final-ly..." She fixes herself. "Surely, it doesn't take much time to walk the block."

"We looped around at least six," the prince retaliates.

"Six is all we have!" Ala continues. "It was a miracle Solomon showed up again to keep everything warm."

"It was no miracle, lassie," he enters our vision from above. "I dropped my wallet and came looking," he laughs and disappears to his seat.

The bickering draws longer and the prophet continues laughing.

Khali enters through the door on the other side of the room. Wiping her head with her forearm, "Why is all this so complicated?"

She turns to put down a toolbox and rest a fishing pole nearby. Removing her boots, "Are those two back yet? It's been a while."

She faces Solomon and her eyes are quickly drawn to me. She lets out a sigh of relief. "These three have been hogging you all day!" She charges joyously to join the argument surrounding me.

"Lunch is ready!" the prophet calls over the noise I've caught myself in.

Never could I be more thankful. I don't want to be mean but I'm already thinking of a lot - and my brain feels like it's always racing.

The royals take the lead to the table, escorting me to my seat.

Khali sits aside Epherum and opposite Ala. What an honour it should be to sit aside the princess... but the princess of what?

Solomon disbands the mist clouding each dish, revealing a moist grilled Taniwha laying atop thinly sliced tomatoes in front of Jun. Among the tomatoes, pieces of lemon with flavourings peppered around stand present.

"Woah," I exclaim. I've never even seen a meal close to this. "I've only seen food like this during festivals."

Appearing in front of Ala was a large plate of boneless Roc cut into tiny blocks, coated in a sauce, and paired with rice. In the sauce of each block were flakes of pepper, spices, and a hint of sugar.

A smile draws across her face as she forks a good half onto her plate. "I've been waiting to eat this since the day we left," she looks at her brother.

"Go easy," he laughs.

Khali is faced with a bowl of stew. The meat is split into chunks, sliced onions, garlic cloves, and finely chopped carrots littered within.

"I'd still say this Akabeko was more difficult than your roc!" Khali bellows, licking her lips.

Finely chopped celery sticks, sprigs of thyme, tomato puree, and parsley assist other ingredients. She pulls up a bowl of her own to fill.

"Hard to compare when he didn't even fight back," Epherum chuckles.

Between his eyes materialises a large dish of sliced Caribou, stacked. Each piece is cooked to perfection, oozing with flavour, and sprinkled with salt, pepper, tiny vegetable bits, and spices.

His eyes fail to remain noble as they fill with wanting, drooling at the sight of his meal.

A thick sauce with the decorated surroundings of onion, leek, carrot, thyme, celery, and juniper berries completes the dish.

Pulling up his plate, he begins forking in a few slices of his own.

In front of Solomon appears a basket of bread paired with a basket of both candied fruits and regular. Opposing him, at the end of the table sat a 3-tier tray of pastries.

"Thanks, Ala," Epherum opens.

"Yeah, thanks Ala," Khali follows.

"If you didn't help catch these, we'd be stuck with toast again."

"Thanks..." I stutter. "...Ala," I manage, looking over the table and then across to her.

"You're welcome." Her warm smile. It helps.

"Thank you for this delicacy, deary," the prophet interjects through his squinting eyes. Squinting? I'm sure those are closed.

As we eat, the silence kills me.

Where I come from, things would be a bit more lively. At least, that's what it sounds like.

"You caught these recently?" I start. "I've read they're tough."

"They were," Khali answers. "Epherum's Caribou was the worst."

"Ala's Roc was awful too."

She glares over our conversation and joins. "Mine was still the easiest."

"I'd agree," Khali continues

The last dish to appear was sat in the middle of the table, taking up the most space.

It was a sort of miniature fountain with two levels, filled with water and transparent creatures inside.

Grub-like creatures were swimming around in there, a few giant ones at the bottom and many small ones swimming above.

I paint a confused expression.

"Waterworms," Solomon explains. "These critters are heavily populated around here. You can find them out and about outside of town but they're less common. They help magicians restore energy in the field of water-based spells. And if you don't know any water magic, they're still delicious as they are. Taste like jellies."

The few of us all spend a good while eating. Trying to remain polite, I pace myself - but obviously, I was about to stay at the table for a long while.

Epherum cleans his mouth with a napkin after having downed a spoonful. "He's aware of what's happening in the world..."

"Awwe!" Khali whines, "You were supposed to wait for us."

"Relax, I haven't asked what he's been through, I left that for all of us to hear."

"Hmph," Ala sounds.

Khali turns to me, "So," he opens. "Obvious opener but what happened to you? How did you get so far from, I assume, your village? What was that trail of-"

"He'll get to those, Khali. Just start from the beginning," Ala interrupts.

Solomon pays close attention, as do the others. "Well, the first thing I remember was a flash of white light," I explain…

"... During that time, is when I found out my spirit was intertwined with that of a god's. Sorry, my prince, but you were only half right. Maybe."

"Awwe," Epherum sinks into his palm.

"I'm still me. Just with a bit of a boost. Every time I use 'special abilities' it acts as a beacon for others to find our location. They're after us so we can't take that risk."

"Who might that be?" Khali proceeds.

"Other gods, I guess," I shrug. "And when I woke up, I saw you three. But all that was on my mind was if anyone had survived. If our bunker held up. I had to search for signs of life."

Solomon ponders over the recent activity.

"And what of your Kingdom?" I enquire

Epherum nods.

A creeping silence welcomes itself to our party as I feel the others hesitate.

"I can't be sure, but it can't just be a coincidence that these occurrences happened both at the same time," he continues.

"If the one behind both of these are on the same team, what's their end goal?"

"The intrusion?" I assume.

"At the same time as yours, I'm assuming," Epherum responds.

"We found you quite a while away," Ala adds.

It's clear that talking about it makes them uncomfortable.

"Nyrin," the Prince reveals. "That's our home."

Taken aback by this reveal, I find myself repeating. "Nyrin?! The Kingdom of Kingdoms."

Silence falls upon the room once more. The Royalty bow their heads and hide behind their hair.

Epherum clenches his fists and grits his teeth, "Taken down by only one," he coughs. "Some power that was."

"Any army would've had trouble," Khali eases. "That guy was a special case."

Khali gollups a mouthful of Akabeko stew. "Now quit whining and eat up. We can't reclaim the Throne on empty stomachs."

The Prince settles his composure. "I guess you're right. We can only adapt."

Though upset, Ala proceeds with lunch. The rest of us follow.

A short while passes and we're sent into recovery from the onslaught.

"I'll be off then," the prophet announces at the door. He glances back to see Khali and I at the table, the Prince seated in the living room while Ala lay dozing off on the couch.

Solomon chuckles as he turns and heads down the rose-tinted street. I hear his laugh cut short as someone speaks to him from nearby.

| Author’s Notes |

~ Glossary ~

Roc: a white or tawny colored bird of prey, with a wingspan of 15 metres in length and feathers as big as palm leaves. (plural: Roc) [Arabic]

Akabeko: a bull-like animal used to transport materials. If a person was to tempt it out of its lazy behaviours, the creature was able can heave as many materials as an entire herd of bulls. They are often found around temples, as these great oxes give their souls to deities... when they find the time. [Japanese]

Caribou: otherwise known as Reindeer. [French]

Gollups: gulp down.

~ Happenings ~

It’s officially been revealed that Epherum and Ala are the Royals of Nyrin, Kingdom of Kingdoms. Who would’ve guessed?

In previous versions, I hadn’t placed capital letters for much, since I felt that might be a bit much. Now that I go through this again, I can’t avoid making exceptions so why not label them definitively. Any character, creature, race, or exclusive royalty will be labelled with a capital letter. For example, Jun, Capricornus, Elf, or Royals. To expand on exclusive royalty, I mean the royalty of Nyrin, Kingdom of Kingdoms. Any other prince is a step below, and since there are so many of them, don’t require a capital in their title.