Chapter 10: Chapter 9 – Dinner in the Palace of Bones

"One would think all sorts of horror stories when the topic of dinner in my great master's abode was mentioned. The more outlandish tales would probably tell of humans, flayed alive while the master fed on their suffering and agony. What a load of hogwash! And they dare say we're the ones using propaganda to paint over our image!?

 

Truth be told though, the master's meals are surprisingly little different from what inhabitants of Ptolodecca enjoy in their everyday lives. Master had always favored a frugal life, and probably his only acquiescence to luxury would be his love for fine sweets. It delights us so much to make new creations for him to enjoy." - Yvgenia Edrunviel, maid and cook assistant in the Palace of Bones.

Aideen and Diarmuid looked at the banquet spread on the table before them with some skepticism. For food served in the Palace of Bones, it looked a bit… rustic, and there were several items they had not recognized at all amongst the many dishes.

 

A sudden pungent smell almost made Diarmuid gag in surprise, as Aideen watched with some trepidation how her mother and grandpa Aarin picked up a bundle of straw, opened it - which caused the pungent smell to spread through the room -, and stirred the contents vigorously with their chopsticks.

 

When her mother eked out a disgusting, slimy mass from the straw parcel and dropped it atop her bowl of rice, then poured a bit of a sweet-smelling brown sauce over it, and ate it like it was the best thing in the world, she felt her stomach churn a bit - despite it supposedly no longer able to do so. Diarmuid looked a little green beside her.

 

"You should see the looks on your faces, children!" Said the Bone Lord as he gave another chittering laugh. He shoveled a good chunk of rice and the slimy beans into his mouth and chewed while he gave a satisfied hum before he continued. "Seriously though, give it a taste at least. It's fine if you don't like it, but at least try it out first."

 

"Do I… just stir it first then pour a bit of that sauce?" Asked Aideen with some trepidation as she lifted the straw package.

 

"Yes, it's best on rice. Stir it well until it becomes real good and sticky first," replied her mother, as she ate more of the slimy beans with a thoroughly happy look on her face.

 

She did as she was told, and the pungent smell assaulted her nose once she pried the straw casing open. So she just stopped breathing - which she did out of habit before - and no longer smelled a thing. Turns out her current state does have some convenience to it.

 

With her chopsticks in hand, she stirred the beans - by now she noticed them to be soy beans - vigorously. The beans had a slimy covering around them, and that slime turned into sticky strings that got thicker and stickier the more she stirred. After it stopped thickening, she plopped the whole mass on her bowl of white rice, and poured a bit of the sauce she saw her mother used on the mess.

 

Despite some trepidation, she scooped up a chunk of rice and a portion of the slimy, sticky beans with her chopsticks, and brought it to her mouth. She closed her eyes before she took a bite, while Diarmuid watched her closely from his seat next to her. He had done the same and also had the sticky mass on his rice, but hadn't tried it yet, clearly waiting for her reaction.

 

As she bit down, she was surprised at how tender the beans were, and besides the strange slimy stickiness, it was otherwise quite good. The beans had a strong nutty savoriness to them, which intensified the more she chewed them, slightly cut by the sweetness of the sauce poured on it. Before she knew it she had already finished half the bowl of rice and all the beans.

 

Diarmuid also followed her example and was clearly surprised at the flavor, but nonetheless enjoyed the strange dish nonetheless.

 

"Good, isn't it?" Asked the Bone lord with a satisfied smile. He then pointed to a bowl of what looked like stewed beans in a spicy - she could see the many mashed chilies that went into it - sauce. "Try those next, they're best eaten with some rice."

 

Aideen nodded and did as she was bidden, and picked up a scoop of the stew - now that she had a closer look she noticed that it was two different kinds of beans, one yellowish, one greenish, and that the stew also had chunks of pressed bean curd and slices of what looked like squid within - with a large spoon.

 

When she took a bite, the sudden bitterness surprised her, but it soon mildened and gave way to a strange, yet nonetheless pleasant flavour. The beans had an interesting texture as well, while the bean curds were pillowy and soft, and had soaked up the flavours of the stew itself. The squid contributed their chew to the melange of textures, while the rice helped take the brunt of the spiciness of the fiery dish.

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Aideen looked to her brother beside her and almost laughed. Diarmuid was on his second bowl of rice, and devoured the stew even with his face turning red and with sweat running in rivulets down his face from the spiciness. When grandpa Aarin chittered at the sight she also laughed along, as did her mother, while her brother blushed bashfully.

 

The rest of the meal was more normal, some pork stir-fried with some spicy roots for the main flavoring, as well as mushrooms stewed together to form a clear, flavorful soup, which she sipped with delight.

 

Later as they neared the end of the meal, Drietven came and set down four small glasses, each of which had a cube of some kind of flesh within, skewered with a small piece of wood, and then poured what smelled like strong liquor into the glasses.

 

Nec Aarin told them to drink first, then have the meat, so they did so. The liquor was very strong, and burned its way down to their stomachs.

 

The cube of meat on the other hand was chewy and pungent, but it was a pleasurable pungentness, not unlike that of ripe cheese, and she quite enjoyed the morsel. It also effectively cleansed her palate from any previous flavours.

 

What came last was a fruit that Drietven carried with both hands to the table. It was a large fruit, easily the size of an adult's head, with a spiky, yellowish green exterior. The way Diarmuid seemed to recoil when the fruit was brought to the table suggested to Aideen that it might have had a strong smell as well, whereas her mother watched the fruit with sparkling eyes.

 

It was a delicacy Aoife Mac Lir had long missed out on during her life in Vitalice after all.

 

"The smell doesn't bother you, sister?" Asked Diarmuid quietly while Drietven pried the fruit open for them.

 

"What smell?" Said Aideen with a schooled innocent look on her face. "I don't need to breathe anymore unless I feel like it, remember?"

 

"Bloody hell, you cheat! No wonder none of those smells seem to bother you!"

 

They were silenced when Drietven portioned out pieces of the fruit's flesh, kidney-shaped yellowish lumps that were very soft to the touch. The way Diarmuid cringed suggested that they smelled pretty intense, so Aideen didn't bother to try out the smell and just bit the fruit instead.

 

It was as if she bit into a piece of fruity butter, the ripe flavor merged sweetness and richness, with a backdrop of pungency behind it. Subconsciously, she breathed in, and to her surprise found that the pungent, overripe stench of the fruit helped intensify the flavours in her mouth somehow.

 

Now she understood firsthand why her mother had looked so happy to see the fruit again.

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