Chapter 3: Eating with nomads

That evening they took over the kitchen and cooked a typical meal from their country. We, the Twelve Holy Knights, the Pope and our vice-captains were invited to the meal. The table was overloaded with food, and according to Inian it was actually half of the usual amount. At one end the Pope sat, at the other end, me. To my left sat Judgment and to my right Elisila. The knights of Khadaz were all smiling with anticipation. Simultaneously they lowered their heads and prayed, because of their melodious voices it sounded like they were singing softly. Elisila was quiet. When the prayer was done they began eating and mentioned to us to do the same.

I had a hard time keeping the smile on my face. My mouth burned! Not even Leaf could sprinkle more spices on this. More than one had started going red in their faces, Blaze even fanned his face, sweating. Elisila nudged my arm and handed me a cup with something to drink. I took it thankfully and drank deeply and nearly chocked. The thing was thick and almost sickening sweet. The fire in my mouth ceased almost immediately at least. But if I thought it was sickening sweet, what did the rest think. Judgment was no surprise; his face looked bleak, almost green. And quite a few were coughing and looking ill.

"What's with this food?!" Blaze exclaimed. "One minute it's burning, the next I'm eating sugar!"

"It's just normal food really," Inian answered. "We don't have time to cook breakfast and we can't stay to eat just because it's lunchtime so we eat the biggest meal in the evening. Like this."

"The spiciness comes from a kind of fruit that we pick and dry." Wyn continued. "It's called chili pepper. It's really useful during our travels. It doesn't go bad and protect against sickness. Everyone eats it so we all used to it."

"What about this drink?" Leaf asked looking at the cup in his hand.

"Its boiled fruits with sugar," Inian answered. "We mash them and boiled them. That way they won't go bad and can be drunk during meals and so on."

"You very focused on keeping the food fresh," Ice said with an expressionless face.

"We have no choice, you see," the straw man said. "We are always traveling so we can't store our food in cellars as they do in the city."

Makes sense, I thought sipping on my drink. Now that I had gotten used to it I found it quite tasty. The texture and the sweetness were making eating the food much easier. Elisila watched me for a moment and made a motion to Sylvance who sat with the Pope. Sylvance reached for a bowl and passed it to Elisila who took it and places between us. He made a gesture to me and the bowl. It seemed he wanted me to eat whatever was in it. It had a brownish look and seemed to be a soup or a stew of some sort. I was skeptical but decided to try; Elisila himself had already filled his own bowl with the stuff, so I placed some of on my plate.

It tasted like chocolate! Mixed with crunchy bits of something and sour bits of something else it was delicious. I quickly refilled my bowl and eat it fast, but elegant of course. Elisila smiled at me and refilled his own bowl.

"Looks like Elisila found someone with the same taste…" Cesla said. "I can't stomach the stuff. Way to sweet."

"Hardly anyone can stomach that…even the monks hates it." Inian said. "But they make it for him every chance they got."

"What is it?" Ice said, eyes gleaming.

"It's melted chocolate mixed with cream and milk, bits of biscuit and dried berries and nuts." Sylvance said. "It's supposedly a delicacy but it isn't really something most people eat. Even if it's considered food rather than desert."

I could learn to love their food if they had more sweet stuff than this. Elisila smiled at me and blinked. Somehow he knew what I was thinking. Judgment had gone green in the face when he heard what we eat.

"What are you doing here?" he asked instead. The Knights of Khadaz grew quiet, looking glum.

"We are looking for someone," Sylvance answered with a sigh. "He isn't really a criminal but he has done things he has to answer for but afraid of the outcome. So he fled."

"What has he done?" Storm asked. No one answered. Elisila made a forceful movement and looked at his knight sternly. Sylvance sighed.

"He tried to do an uprising and gain power, in the process people were hurt but no one got killed. So we want him to take responsibility and make amends for what he did." he said.

"That doesn't make him a criminal?" Leaf asked incredulously.

"We have no kingdom, so we have no laws. Everyone is obeying the seven virtues and listening to the voices of Wisdom." Wyn answered. "We are supposed to be the voices of wisdom so it our duty to make people amend for their missteps."

A country without laws. I could hardly imagine it. I guess my teacher would love their country.

"We won't ask you to help us confront him but it would be helpful to have help finding him somehow." Sylvance said. "He's a bit unstable so we need to find him before he snaps and do something even more stupid."

It sounded safe enough so we agreed to have our holy knights keep an eye out. Hopefully it wouldn't turn into something troublesome.

As the kitchen helpers came to clean after the dinner we all stood up and headed for bed. As I turned towards my room a hand caught my sleeve. I looked behind me. Elisila held my sleeve with a loose hand, holding the other one in the air. Something gleamed from between his fingers. He released his grip of my sleeve and griped my hand instead, placing a small blue stone in my upturned palm. The stone was shining slightly and had a deep blue colour.

I hope you enjoyed dinner. The voice turned up in my head from nowhere! I looked up in Elisilas face. He blinked, the stone on his forehead shining. I certainly did!

He turned and walked down the corridor to Sylvance who was waiting for him. Leaving me, for the second time in a day, utterly speechless.