“Time for some food!” Dalroc announced. The door opened and a bunch of servants entered. They had several carts with them.

It looked like dwarves did not serve a bunch of small courses one after another. Instead they just filled the table with dishes. There were a lot of grilled meats, vegetables, sauces,...

“Dig in! This is just a friendly meal between friends.” Dalroc said while already loading up his plate.

“Woahhhh” Ben was impressed. He looked at a roasted bird that somewhat resembled a turkey. It was slightly too big and the meat had a shade of purple.

“Is the food safe to eat for normal people?” I asked.

“Certainly!” Dalroc assured us.

Suddenly Shani summoned her scythe. Then she used it to slice a part of the bird. She expertly manoeuvred it onto Ben’s plate. He immediately started eating it.

“Ben! Manners!” Lynn reprimanded him.

“Thank you Shani!” Ben said, then continued eating.

Everyone started filling their plate at that point. I was excited to eat new things. The undermountain seemed to have a large variety of creatures. I wondered what sort of farm animals were common here.

“So, is there anything we can offer you, Shani?” Ingrid asked. The elemental was the only one who did not eat anything.

“Hm… do you have anything that needs slaughtering?” Shani asked.

“Um… no.” Ingrid answered.

“Shame.” Shani said.

“What does a court elemental do?” Solana wondered.

“Mostly kill things! But I also do ceremonies and play with kids. And I collect blood, that is more of a hobby though.”

“Ah, taking trophies!” Dalroc said. “I like to collect heads, horns,... things you can mount on your wall. Never considered blood. Do you keep it in a flask?”

I looked at the dwarven king. That was not a reaction I had expected.

“I keep it on my head!” Shani wiggled her bunny ears. “Well, some of it. Blood has many uses, like baths!”

Dalroc nodded, like this was normal somehow. “Creating headwear out of a trophy is not uncommon. I am not sure about the bathing.”

“As exciting as this is, should not we discuss the Empire some more?” Loriel suggested.

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“I have already given orders to prepare the army.” Dalroc said. “Not much else we can do. We need ways to protect against the runes before we can employ more spies. And we can’t do anything without more information. Until that civil war ends we should be fine. Hopefully by then we will have something.”

“Are you planning to attack the Empire?” I asked.

“Depends.” Dalroc answered. “Once a victor emerges we will demand a meeting. Then we check them for mind control and free them if necessary. Afterwards we work with them to get rid of this plot. If they refuse a meeting, we consider them compromised and attack.”

“Any such plan still needs Maeve’s approval.” Solana said. “But I suspect the High Queen would agree given the circumstances. We will need to crush this threat before it becomes bigger.”

“What about the Lady of the Forest? Your other archfey?” Ingrid inquired.

“She is not really our archfey. She has a deal with the Dominion and would only act if we are attacked.” Solana said.

Oh right. I had almost forgotten about her. It would be interesting to meet a peer.

“Amaya’s willingness to get directly involved is rather unusual.” Loriel added, while looking at me.

I shrugged while enjoying some steak that melted in my mouth. It was glorious.

“You can just bribe her with food.” Lucy teased.

“Ha, food we have plenty!” Dalroc said. “And great ale to wash it down!” He lifted his mug.

The servants were rather attentive and refilled every empty mug quickly. It was strange. While we just grabbed the food ourselves from the table, drinks were handled by the staff.

“It is rather refreshing to see a powerful being act instead of watch. Slightly frightening too, I have to admit. If all the dragons stopped sleeping and started to act we would be in trouble.” Ingrid said.

“Are they like lazy?” Ben asked.

“They are very lazy, yes.” Ingrid said, smiling.

“No. I mean lazy the elemental. He is a big rock that sleeps a lot.” Ben clarified.

“You have another court elemental?” Dalroc asked.

“Ha! Never. Lazy would never get that job. He failed badly at his old one. All he had to do was protect a temple. Could not even do that!” Shani said.

“He is called Terath and was meant to protect Sylphania’s temple in Unitera. He is accompanying Thessia, the high priestess. He has been rather useless.” I clarified.

“Ah, the dryad. She is currently preparing to set up her tree in our garden I believe.” Dalroc said.

“We would have invited her but she seemed busy.” Ingrid added.

I would check on her in the morning. I still had her tree in my inventory. Maybe she was setting up a ritual for planting it.

“We will have to meet her another time. I hope you will all stay a while and enjoy our fine city!” Dalroc said. “I am planning a true feast in a few days. We will celebrate our new alliance properly!”

“We should slaughter something to celebrate!“ Shani suggested.

Dalroc seemed to think. “You know, not a bad idea. We could do a hunt before. Slay something exotic and eat it.”

Eat it? “I like the idea.” I said.

Lucy laughed.

As the meal continued Lynn and Alister started to relax a bit. Loriel had been watching them carefully for a while. Then she finally asked a question: “So, Alister and Lynn, right? You are Lucy’s parents? You seem rather young.”

“Ah… you ah… flatter us.” Lynn said.

Ben frowned. “They are old!” He declared. “I am too, I am six!” He added.

“Is that so? How old is your sister?”

She was trying to milk Ben for information. At this point I did not really mind.

“Big sis is big!” He declared. “Bad people took her away but Amaya brought her back. Now I have two big sisters!”

“He only met his sister recently. Lucy was gone for a long time.” Alister said. “You know, she actually loved stories about you. She was quite fond of elven queens.”

Alister sounded slightly drunk. It might have been the reason he was more comfortable talking now.

That was clearly not the information Loriel had expected. She looked quite shocked.

“I always thought those were silly dreams. Now she is marrying an archfey. And she has become a creature of legend herself.” He chuckled and took another sip of his drink.

“She really has made us proud.” Lynn added with a warm smile.

Lucy was currently talking with Ingrid and Dalroc. So she did not hear the conversation her parents had. Loriel digested what she had learned. Which was not that much to be honest.

Once we stopped eating, the servants cleared the table. Shortly afterwards they returned with dessert. Dwarves loved food as much as I did. Cakes, pastries, pudding, mousse… there were a lot of options. They also brought a selection of whiskies.

In the end we were all full and most people were drunk. Even I was tipsy after Dalroc brought the really strong stuff. He boasted that dwarves could get anyone drunk, even the gods.

By the time we returned to our quarters it was quite late.