I wandered pretty much aimlessly for a while and actually found the queen's younger twin daughter before I found the dining room. She was tucked away in a side room down what looked to be a less-frequently used hallway. She looked to be doing paperwork or something, so I figured that everyone needed a break from paperwork and knocked on her door. I smiled as she huffed and threw down her writing implement, then she stalked over to the door and pulled it open.
“What do you...” Bryanna's little tirade stopped when she saw me.
“I'm sorry to interrupt, Princess Bryanna.” I said. “I just finished my bath and was looking for the dining room.”
Bryanna stood there and stared at me with a blank face.
“The queen invited me to dinner, so if you could point the way...”
Bryanna pointed to the right, the way I had come. “Stairs, second floor, east wing, hallway on the right, fifth door.” She said the barest information to give me an idea of where to go.
I turned in that direction and looked down through the floors and to the indicated room. “Ha. Yeah, I see your mother. I should have known it would be on the other side of the bath room and in a different part of the castle.” I said and looked back at her face. “Thank you.”
Bryanna nodded and I started to walk away. “W-wait!” She exclaimed.
I stopped and waited as she ran back into her room. When she started to undress, I turned away and looked around at all of the rooms and things in the castle. The place was huge and I was apparently on the fourth floor. If I didn't have my detection technique, I wouldn't have realized that it was completely grown from the ground up, just like all of their other buildings and houses.
I bet if you flew over top of the castle, you couldn't tell where it was, because the trees that make up the different parts of the structure all match the canopy above. I thought as I looked up.
“I'm ready.” Bryanna said a few minutes later and I ignored the sight above me and looked at her instead. She had quickly changed into a moderately stylish dress that hugged her curves, left her arms bare, and didn't flare out on the hem. She had a necklace of rhinestones that drew the eyes to her cleavage and several bracelets on her wrists that showed off how slender her arms were.
“You look lovely.” I said and I stuck out my elbow automatically. I almost laughed as she looked at my offering as if it was going to bite her, then she shook herself slightly and slipped her hand inside my elbow and onto my forearm.
“I don't suppose you know how long it took to grow the castle, do you?” I asked her.
Bryanna blinked her eyes at me for a moment, then she shook her head. I made a motion down the hallway and she nodded, so I led her down the hallway and over to the stairs. Unlike the last time I passed through the halls and met women on the way, these women all stopped dead and stared at me. I assumed the difference was because of my outfit and free-flowing hair.
I tried to engage Bryanna in polite conversation and each attempt resulted in her face becoming red and her grip on my forearm becoming tighter. I relented by the time we reached the second floor and we walked in silence all the way over to the proper room.
*
“What do you mean, you don't know where he is?” Queen Orella asked, perturbed. “There were fourteen attendants in the bath! How could he slip away unnoticed?”
The young woman's face turned beet red and she ducked her head and whispered her excuse. The queen asked her to repeat herself and she leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“Are you serious?” Queen Orella asked, shocked. “All of them?”
The young woman nodded.
“Continue to search the castle. He couldn't have gone far.”
“Yes, your highness.” The woman said and darted around the table and ran to the door.
*
I was about to knock when I saw a young woman dart around the medium-sized dinner table with five place settings, and she ran towards the door. I eased Bryanna away from the door and took a step back myself, then the door opened and swung out. It just missed hitting us and the young woman had a very shocked look on her face.
I gave her a genuine smile. “Good job finding me.” I said, guessing at what her job had been.
“Hunter.” Queen Orella said. “Please, come in.”
“Thank you, your highness.” I led Bryanna into the room. “Look who I found. She told me how to get here, then she realized she needed to eat, too.” I said with a smile.
The queen glanced down at her daughter's arm wrapped around mine. Bryanna slowly slipped her hand out of my elbow, then she walked around the table and sat down in what I had to assume was her normal seat. I felt two people enter my detection range at a fast run, so I walked partway into the room and turned to face the door. The queen and Bryanna looked at me quizzically, so I pointed to the still open door. A moment later, Braya and Sylvana met just beyond the threshold and looked out of breath.
“I couldn't... find him.” Braya said.
“Nor could I.” Sylvana said. “Even with...” She stopped talking when she saw me.
“I got lost after my bath.” I said. “I wandered aimlessly and luckily found your sister, who told me where to go.”
The two daughters looked at their sibling and saw her dressed up for dinner, and their eyes darkened.
“I'll be right back.” Braya said and turned to leave.
“Sit down.” Queen Orella ordered, and neither of the daughters could ignore her. With a held in sigh, both of them came into the room. They were both sweating from their exertions and patches of it showed through their clothing in key areas. Sylvana suffered the most from this, since her pants and shirt were much more form fitting than her older sister's dress.
“Mother.” Sylvana said and walked over to the seat beside Bryana and sat down. Braya walked around the table and sat at her mother's right, which left one seat for me, at Braya's side.
“I have a question.” I said and the four women looked at me. “If I sit beside the eldest princess, it won't mean that I am betrothed to her, will it?”
“Betrothed?” Queen Orella asked and then waved my question away. “Of course not.”
“Will I be required to mate with her or give her a child?” I asked, and the three of them exchanged looks. No one said anything, so I stood there and didn't move to take the seat.
“What is with all the questions?” The queen asked. “We are just having dinner.”
“A family dinner.” I said. “I don't want anyone to assume that if I join you, I'm joining your family.”
The three of them exchanged looks again. With no other recourse, I picked up the chair and used Presence Hands to pick up the place setting and utensils, moved to the end of the medium-sized table and put everything down. This way, I was joining them for dinner and it couldn't be construed as an intimate dinner, or a binding contract with one or more of the daughters. I sat down and faced the queen and couldn't tell what emotions that crossed her face.
Queen Orella waved at the side of the room, where the young woman who was supposed to look for me, still stood. The young woman shut the dining room's door and walked back around the room and left through another door. A few minutes later, six servers came into the room and brought serving trays. Five of them put trays in front of us and the sixth put a tray of bread in the middle of the table.
Since it was a formal dinner, I remembered Maylia saying that she used to thank the queen for the bounty on their tables. Sure enough, the queen held her hands out to her closest daughters, who took her hands. Bryana held a hand out to Sylvana, who took it and held her other hand out across the table to her eldest sister, Braya. Both of them stopped like they had been caught doing something wrong and turned their heads to look at me, then everyone else looked at me, too.
“Don't mind me. I'm just a guest.” I said. “Please continue.”
They hesitated for a moment more, then joined hands when they realized Braya couldn't reach me from that far away. It was Braya who spoke and thanked the queen for the food, the roof over their heads, and the everlasting protection from their magical barrier and the insured continuation of their species. When she finished, they let their hands go and picked up their spoons.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I'd like to pray as well, if that's okay?” I asked and everyone stiffened, even the servers.
“Go ahead.” Queen Orella said without any inflection in her voice.
“Thank you, your highness.” I said and held a hand out to Sylvana, who looked at her mother. The queen nodded and Sylvana took my hand. I generated a green glowing Mana Presence Hand and held it out to Braya, and everyone caught their breath. I saw on their faces the mistake they had made by not including me in their own thanks, and their faces burned bright red. Braya took the hand and I held her hand gently. The queen and the other daughter joined hands as well and I smiled as we completed a circuit.
“Dear god, stop being an ass.” I said and two of the servers let out a little scream and covered their mouths. “You don't have to keep testing my resolve. I get it.” I said and a strong feeling of Presence filled the room. “I'm getting tired of almost dying every time I encounter something new. I've got years to go before my task is done, so please, give me a break.” I said and my mana flowed down my arm and hit Sylvana. Her hand tensed as my mana went through her and into her sister, Bryana.
“Mother!” Bryana exclaimed and tried to let her mother's hand go before my mana could cross to her. She wasn't in time and my mana lit the queen eyes up as it swirled around inside of her, then it passed to her eldest daughter, Braya. She turned and stared at me as the mana flowed over her and into my Mana Presence Hand and back to me.
I felt the mana flow back into my mana reserve and nodded. It hadn't changed or lessened from the journey it just took through the royal family of the elves. “Despite your apparent enjoyment of my occasional suffering, I'm still looking forward to working with you to close the cracks, god. With only eleven of them to deal with, it shouldn't take long to handle them all.” I said, to everyone's surprise. “On that positive note, I'll end my prayer. Oh, and thanks for not letting me die again. Amen.”
The large feeling of Presence faded away and complete silence filled the room instead. It took almost five minutes before the queen spoke.
“Did you just berate a god?” Queen Orella asked, her voice still full of shock.
“Kind of.” I said and absorbed the Mana Presence Hand and let Sylvana's hand go. “We have a weird working relationship. He sometimes puts me in excessive danger and I try not to die.”
Sylvana barked a laugh, despite her desire to not interrupt.
“Are you serious?” The queen asked, concerned.
“It doesn't happen all the time.” I said and removed the cover of the tray in front of me. “Most of the time it's pretty easy. Hop into the crack, kill the creatures amassed there, stare at the sky to memorize the stars, then come back through the crack and close it.”
The first course of the meal was soup of some kind and seemed a bit thin and runny, compared to the soup my group and I ate on a regular basis.
Maybe a lack of fresh ingredients? I asked myself. Or it's intended to be light?
“Do you do that every time?” Sylvana asked. As the youngest, she was farthest from the throne and had travelled all over their lands and encountered all sorts of beasts.
“No. Sometimes I just close the crack and deal with the creatures that escaped on this side. It gives the star map he's trying to replicate large blank spots, though.” I said and picked up my spoon. “Your highness, may I start eating?”
Queen Orella looked like she was trying hard to digest something, then she nodded and waved at her daughters. We all started to eat and I paced my eating to match them, so that I would finish around the same time as the others.
I could have drank the whole thing in a few gulps instead of taking ten minutes to eat it by the spoonful. I thought in amusement.
The servants removed the empty bowls and left the room, then returned with what looked like a salad. With my Detect Mana Presence technique, I could see that some of the leaves and berries glowed brighter than the others. We all ate in silence, except for the crunching of crisp lettuce, or what I assumed was lettuce. For all I knew, it was peeled from the head of a dryad or something.
I saw Braya stiffen and I glanced at her. Is that it? These things were harvested from living creatures?
Braya didn't respond mentally and only nodded slightly. The salad was finished and then the main course was brought in. It looked like a small log, about six inches thick and a foot long. We each had our own and I waited to see what the queen and her daughters were going to do with them. The queen was first to pick up a small hammer-like thing and she gently tapped all along the top of the log. Almost like magic, the log split open and folded down to reveal a steaming mass of... something. Her three daughters repeated her actions for their logs and they split open, too.
I looked down at mine and thought about refusing. I couldn't insult them or the cook, though. I picked up the little hammer-like thing and tapped along the log. It split open and I saw the inside up close.
What is it? I asked Braya mentally.
“It's a viricula.” Braya said and picked up her knife and sliced down the entire length of the thing. She grabbed a spoon and scooped out a few things that looked like organs and tossed them on the side of her plate, then she started to slice the remainder like a thanksgiving turkey.
“That doesn't tell me what it is.” I said out loud and looked at it.
“It's a boneless slime-covered creature that inhabits the cula tree.” Her younger twin, Bryanna said, and repeated her sister's actions to clear out the thing in front of her. “It's not a delicacy or anything, if that's what you're worried about.”
I chuckled. “I'm actually worried about it slithering around inside my stomach.”
“Even if it's pregnant, it's been well cooked.” Queen Orella said and started eating. “Make sure to scoop out all of the viscera first.”
I had watched all four of them do it, so I had no trouble removing the organs and cleaning it out. When I was done, it was just a mass of flesh. I cut a small piece off and put it in my mouth, then started to chew. My eyes widened in surprise as I tasted chicken with the consistency of a boiled ham.
“These are common, you say?” I asked and took another slice and started to chew. “It's quite good.”
“Th-thank you, s-s-sir.” The young woman that had served me said.
“You cooked this?” I asked and she nodded. “I'm tempted to ask you for the recipe.”
“E-excuse me?” She asked, surprised.
“I'll be travelling quite a bit over the next little while, so knowing a few local recipes and how to cook the flora and fauna would be a big help.”
Everyone in the room stopped breathing and stared at me.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shock you by admitting I can cook.” I said and kept eating. “I'll just stick with my stored rations and you can forget that I said anything.”
It was my turn to be surprised when she stepped forward and touched my shoulder with her fingertips.
“Can you actually cook?” She asked in a soft voice.
I nodded and reached into my bag of holding to pull out a piece of the large monster chickens that I had cooked. I chose a breast piece, since it was the juiciest and had the most meat on it. Everyone gasped at the size of the chunk of meat that was the size of my head, and the smell of it being freshly cooked filled the room.
“By the queen's grace.” The young woman breathed in the smell and reached out.
“Careful, it's still hot.” I cautioned her. “I stored it right after cooking it.”
She plucked a small piece of meat from the edge and slipped it into her mouth and started to chew. She let out a little moan and her fingertips splayed out and she rested her palm on my shoulder and held on. One of the other servers stepped close and plucked a small piece for herself and tried it.
“T-tasty.” She said. In the next moment, all six of the servers were delicately chewing on pieces of the meat and had looks of happiness on their faces.
“Can we try it?” Sylvana asked. She apparently couldn't resist the smell any more than the servers could, so I nodded. Pieces were plucked and handed to the queen and her three daughters. They all had happy faces as they ate it.
“I will share my recipes with you.” The one who served me said.
“Are you sure?” I asked and looked around. “I kind of derailed your planned dinner.”
She gave my shoulder a squeeze. “All that's left is dessert.”
“Please tell me it's something like a light sponge cake with berries and frosting on top.” I said.
Her eyes widened for a moment, then she smiled. “You can cook.”
“I've had years of practice.” I said and looked at the partially eaten chicken breast that the other servers were leaning on the table to keep plucking pieces from to eat. “If you all keep eating that, you won't have room for the delicious dessert to come.”
“How do you know it's going to be delicious?” She asked, teasingly.
“If you can make a slime-covered tree slug taste good, your dessert is going to taste heavenly.”
She blushed from the compliment and looked at the table to see that she was almost completely blocked from being seen by the queen and her daughters. I saw her make a decision and her hand slid from my shoulder and down my back as she leaned in close to whisper in my ear.
“I didn't think that I would regret that I'm only seventy-three.” She whispered and smelled my hair. “Even so, I'm tempted to petition for your services.”
I tilted my head back and put my mouth by her ear. “I'm not an elf.”
“I already desire you.” She whispered and rubbed my back. “There's no need to entice me further.”
I thought it would deter you, actually. I thought, a little confused.
“I would be rejected, though.” She continued to speak softly and sadness permeated her words. “I'm much too young to be a viable mate for you.”
Wow, they are really stuck on passing a hundred years of life before locking in their birthing choice. I thought in surprise. Maybe if I told her that she's old enough to make her own decisions... I closed my eyes and sighed. No, I can't encourage her.
“You don't know how much I appreciate you being sad about that, too.” She whispered and kissed my ear. My mana reserve rippled and she stiffened when she felt it. I didn't correct her misunderstanding of my sigh and she let a low moan escape through her lips as she gave my earlobe a light nibble. When she moved back to look at my face, I opened my eyes and we stared at each other.
“I will... get the dessert.” She said in a tone that said she wanted to give me a lot more than that.
“I'm not sure I can handle more sweetness from you.” I admitted, and she blushed again.
“I want to see if that's actually true.” She said and stared into my eyes for a moment, stood up straight, then walked away and disappeared through the side door of the room. The other servers noticed her exit and quickly followed her to help retrieve the desserts.
“What was that about?” Sylvana asked, curious.
“She wants to petition for my services.” I said and I saw the queen's completely blank face. I glanced at her daughters and saw them as they tried to keep the shock from their faces. They weren't successful.
“Can we do that?” The youngest twin, Bryanna, asked her mother in a not-so-hushed whisper.
“He's not eligible.” Queen Orella said in a flat tone and I couldn't tell if she was angry or not.
I better bet on angry. I thought as her face didn't show any emotion.
My server came back into the room with exactly what I had imagined dessert would be. A light and fluffy sponge-like cake with berries and whipped frosting was placed in front of me. Before I could comment, the server's fingers dipped into the frosting to retrieve a berry and she popped it into my mouth. She looked at me with bedroom eyes and slowly licked the extra frosting from her fingers as I ate the berry she had given me.
“What do you think?” The server asked.
“I think I'm in trouble.” I said and licked my lips, and her face broke into a huge smile.
“Come to the kitchen when dinner is over, and I will show you some of the best trail recipes I have.” The server said and picked up my platter of slug and the monster chicken breast. She glanced at the queen and saw Orella's blank face. “Just the recipes.”
“Just the recipes.” I repeated, and all the servers quietly cleared the table of everything but the desserts and left the room.