> AMRITA is the primeval food of the gods. It is pleasure made manifest, with all that entails. All meritorious offerings granted to any spiritual being is turned into Amrita, which in turn powers their numinous might. Mortals who drink amrita are immediately healed of wounds and all affliction, but it can lead to dangeorus addiction. One that can lead the Mindstream to the Hells.

>

> From Movement of the Winds Volume 1

Sintra nodded. "I would not refuse such stringy delicacy," he replied, referring to the great noodle shop.

Smiling, Raxri said: "I would not mind a meal right now, either."

Akazha approached the lady working behind the counter. "Forgive me, are you open now, master noodler?"

The woman turned and smiled. She was a plump lady with wrinkles across her face. Raxri determined the wrinkles were from smiling. Her hair was black but had a tinge of dark green. She wore the usual wear for females in this region: a tube skirt up to her chest, then a shawl and a headress. No one ever goes around without a headdress in these parts. For the noodle lady, she had another cloth wrapped around her chest, giving it a flared design and an interesting silhouette.

"Ah, yes, yes of course! I have just opened because this noodle shop is open only during the night. Please, take a seat!"

"Thank you." Akazha turned around and beckoned the other two. In front of the counter were four low tables with even lower squatting chairs to sit on. They claimed a seat and sat. Dockhands and sailors and merchants and other travelers also walked by to say hello to the noodle lady, to ask for provisions (mostly dried noodle cakes that could be reheated while on a journey) and to put in their own order.

Her name was Aling Indra. Raxri raised a hand and said: "Aling Indra! We'll have three of your best sellers, please!"

Aling Indra looked over her counter and saw Raxri raising their hand. She smiled and said: "You're new, yes? Okay, I will give you my best selling lomi. Does that sound good?"

Raxri nodded. Sintra Kennin nodded too. "Ah, Aling Indra! Can I ask for extra shrimps on mine?"

Aling Indra grinned. "You got it!" And she disappeared into her kitchen.

Akazha blinked and turned to Raxri. "Ha. So you are the diplomat now, eh?"

"I don't find it right that you have to do everything around here."

Akazha sighed and said: "Good. I like that. I don't like doing everything around here." She leaned back on her chair and began smoking her pipe.

"Lomi, huh?" Raxri rubbed their chin. "I do not recall ever having had lomi."

"It's a delicacy common in southeastern Temog Ra-Om," Akazha said. "And, it seems, now in Pemi as well."

"It's a thick broth noodle soup," said Sintra Kennin. "Ah, you will find it out when you see it. Just do not expect a light-broth noodle like a ramen."

Raxri nodded. They've never heard of ramen before either, but they decided to stop themselves from asking for the time being.

"So," said Akazha, tapping her pipe. "The agenda for, well, the next few days is to find good lodging and then rest. Though I'm sure if there's space, we can find a place to do some training and drills to hone our capabilities. I will try to send out some feelers and see if I can find some people in need of help, and we can get started on making joss so we can pay Captain Ampalila back."

"Right. We have to pay her back 1,000 joss," Raxri said, wondering.

"We have to pay the Captain 1,000 joss?" asked Sintra Kennin. "Where will we ever get that much joss in such a short amount of time."

Akazha nodded. "To help pay for the repairs of her ship." Akazha looked irritated. "As if we did not almost get killed. We did not want to be attacked by a lunatic Shennin adventurer. And we have three days before the battle yaksha arrives here and we away for Blacklight Town."

"But," said Raxri. "It is the least I can do. Too many people were in danger there because of my existence there."

"It's not your fault for being alive," said Akazha. "Think not in such a manner."

"I know this to be true," said Raxri. "However you must understand that I cannot control this. I have to take some responsibility for it. At least for the places where it will be affected."

Akazha shrugged. "The thing is, Cultivators fight all the time. They break stuff all the time. That's the truth of the Black World. That's why only the stupidest, most reckless become part of the Black World. Because it is not a world of rhyme and reason, it is a world of strength, familial ties, and intricate debt economics. It is not a fun place."

"I understand that, and yet..." Raxri looked to the sky. Indigo bleeding into orange. The sun drowning into the sea. The moon watched, past its full phase. "I wish to help even then. And besides, we cannot turn down the Captain now. She demanded it from us."

"I said nothing of not repaying the captain," said Akazha. She shrugged. "I was merely complaining. Loudly."

Sintra Kennin nodded. "That's good. Sometimes you have to say things to be able to let go of them."

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Akazha pointed at the River Dragon Prince. "Yes, yes, you see? Sintra Kennin understands."

"I suppose I understand as well..." Raxri pinched their chin. Deep in thought.

"Perhaps some divination jobs for those that want some in Imos Town. Lots of visitors here from the other great islands, you see. And looking for their fortune is something they always want to know before traveling to the other islands."

Sintra Kennin nodded. "Then I suppose I can handle jobs that might require consorting with the spirits and the gods. I have some leverage there. Maybe some mercenary jobs?"

Raxri chuckled. "Right, Sintra Kennin. You certainly sell the part of a mercenary. What with your giant blade that is larger than even me, standing!"

"It might be good on the field training for me as well," said Sintra Kennin, smiling with Raxri. "How about you Raxri? It seems... well, given your strength in battle. Perhaps you can join me in my mercenarism?"

Raxri thought about it for a moment. What were they able to do, other than wield their violent systems? Their Adamantine Sword? Nothing else, really. Unless, there are people that wish to hear ramblings about the Law and Infinity from someone that has lost all their memory and cannot remember the bulk of knowledge and thus is sorely underqualified to be conversing much less sermoning about the subjects.

They said: "I think I will do just that. Look for merc jobs. It does not seem like I can offer anything else!" They laughed. "Perhaps... manual labor jobs?"

"Like washing the dishes and doing the laundry?" Akazha shrugged. "You will only really be able to get jobs like that from the rich. Which is not too bad of an idea, now that I ponder about it."

"Right," said Raxri. "I can persevere through it all. It's nothing to me."

Just then, Aling Indra walked in with a circular mandala tray with three porcelain bowls. She laid them all in front of them, and then gave each of them a chopstick. Then, she laid some betel nut quids on a small porcelain platelet, and then some tea. "Here you go you fancy mercs. Make sure to eat up a lot!"

Akazha said: "Ah, Aling Indra. How much do each of these bowls cost?"

"Each one is around 5 joss each. I'm sure you can afford that."

"Ah," Akazha said, nodding. Her smile was entirely too forced. "Yes! Of course. Thank you so much, Aling Indra. This looks delicious."

"Well, that is because it is," she said, before bursting out in laughter. "Please, do eat!" She walked away to tend to her other customers.

People busied themselves on the road.

Raxri looked down at the lomi. It was a beautiful dish. Upon a porcelain flower bowl: deep brown thick soup upon thick noodles. Shrimps, meatballs, and chives as toppings. Egg somewhere in there as well. Raxri took the chopsticks--they did not think too much about it but they were able to maneuver their chopsticks pretty well. No doubt this was muscle memory. Raxri wondered how many noodles have they eaten with chopsticks already?

They put the noodles in their mouth and slurped, following after the motions of Sintra Kennin and Akazha who immediately dug into their food. It was delicious. The saltiness was perfectly balanced with the cabbages, the toppings, and the noodles themselves.

It was also then that Raxri figured how hungry they truly were. A hot meal like this... it was not only good for their stomach, but good for their very soul.

Soon enough they finished their food. Not even enough time for a single incense stick to burn. The end came quicker than they thought. Now, if Raxri were a smarter sword then they would have understood the emptiness of time then and there. Unfortunately, this is not the way of things. But they will get there eventually.

Sintra Kennin leaned back and pat his belly. "Urgh! What a hearty meal. I could've done with some rice, though."

Akazha smiled. "Are you paying for that rice?"

Sintra Kennin smiled sheepishly. "Ah, you see... despite being the River Dragon Prince, I am terribly deficit of that thing called coin. Or joss."

Raxri tilted their head in wonder. "How is that? If you are the Prince of Wetan River, would you not have a surplus of joss from all your reverers?"

Sintra Kennin shook his head. "For gods, when they are offered joss, they do not actually keep that joss. Have you never pondered why incense is burned at the shrine? For two reasons. First, so that the wishes and prayers of the supplicant reaches the gods, both in earth and in heaven. Second, the smoke becomes amrita for the gods to drink deep of. Gods and spirits can eat, sure. And we often do due to the sheer delight of eating. It reminds us of life and love! But we do not need it. amrita fills us up more and quicker, and keeps us always in a radiant mood. It is like opium if it did not kill you slowly."

Raxri scratched their cheek with a single finger. "Huh. I see. In askance I've never actually thought of the reason behind incense's burning. I figured it was done so that the aroma of prayer, temples, and gods would suffuse that location."

Sintra Kennin snorted. "Well, that too. It does fill us with good fragrance. Spirits and gods prefer differing incense fragrances as well depending on how they grew up. Gods up in the mountains prefer earthy scents. Sandalwoods. Vanillas. Gods by the river prefer naturalistic scents: bamboo, river springs."

Akazha clapped her hands. "Very well! I guess I should go and pay now."

Raxri spoke up, sheepish: "If I had any joss I would pay for my own."

"Yes, yes, of course you would," said Akazha, rising to her feet and walking over to Aling Indra. She pulled out a bundle of joss and handed it over. Aling Indra, all smiles and all love, took it and gave back the change.

"You take care now," Aling Indra told Akazha. Akazha offered a trite smile and returned to the other two.

Raxri and Sintra Kennin were licking their bowls clean. Akazha sighed: "You know what would be perfect right now? Some coffees. A sweet aftermeal. Rice cakes or coconut pies."

Sintra Kennin licked his lips. "Oh, leave me temptation!"

"Yes well, you will not have to worry about temptation," said Akazha. "You cannot afford her! Come, let us find lodging."

Raxri laughed at Sintra Kennin, and Sintra's face melted. Drooping, they looked genuinely sad. Raxri rose to their feet and pat their back. They said: "Cheer up, grand warrior. Perhaps with our peerless mercenarism, we will be able to accrue enough joss to be able to buy desserts!"

Sintra Kennin perked up at that. "You are right. Wisdom grasps you yet, heaven dancer."

"Yes, yes. Now let's go and follow Akazha."

They chased after Akazha, who had walked over to a man walking around with a palm leaf manuscript. Clad in colorful cottons, silk shoes, and a tall headdress, they definitely looked like some sort of official.

"Excuse me," said Akazha. "Brother! Brother, please!"

The man stopped in his tracks. He was middle-aged. His skin exposed hollows of bone, but he walked with the panache of a well-known swordsman. "Yes?"

Akazha bowed low. "I am your humble servant Akazha Han Narakdag. Prithee, tell me if there are any lodgings for a party of three?"

"A tri-cottage? Hm... try up the coast." The man turned around and pointed. "There should be a househand there. Speak with him and he will see if he can help you with your plight."

"Thank you, great minister!"

Akazha looked over their shoulder and beckoned to Raxri and Sintra. They jogged to catch up, footsteps dappling over hard ground intermingled with wooden planks of whitewood.

"Have we found lodging?" asked Raxri.

Akazha shook her head: "We will find out."

They walked up the river until the residential cottages began. A good ten or so tails separated each cottage. Each cottage had a fence around its stilts for keeping livestock. Some of them had annexes as a bathroom or as a shrine-room, no doubt.

A stilt cottage that seemed large enough to house three beds. A man stood before it, looking at Akazha. Waiting for them. "Greetings to you and yours. I am Galakal. Please, no need for any honorifics. We are all equal in the business of homes."

"Right," said Akazha. "We are looking for temporary lodgings for two days. Until the next giant-trip. Would you have any for the three of us?"