The boy led him past a small room that reminded Xaxac of the storage room between the kitchen and the dining room back home, then into a bigger, more open room. It wasn’t as well lit as the dining area for the elves, as each table only had a single candle rather than a candelabra, but that was fine because the wall next to the door he had just come through was missing its top half and through it he could see the kitchen with its cooking fires brightly burning.

The tables themselves were wider yet still completely full, and Xac supposed that made sense. Elves seemed to travel with a human entregue, and there were far more humans than there were elves. To accomodate so many people there were long benches rather than chairs, and Xaxac felt the whole thing was more utilitarian than decorative. It reminded him, despite being completely different, of the communal meal times he had taken with his father and sister when he was young, if the whole affair had been moved indoors. There were no decorations on the wooden walls, which he felt would have vastly improved the entire affair.

“There you are,” Lee laid a hand on his shoulder, “Let’s get a bite to eat. I’m gonna sleep good tonight.”

“I bet you are wore plumb out,” Xac said, “drivin through them dark woods. Aggie said they were full of thieves.”

“People say that,” Lee shrugged, “But we ain’t never had no trouble through there.”

He led Xaxac to the half a wall that had been cut away and Xac rested his hands on the tabletop someone had built on top of the half that remained. The kitchen on the other side was bustling with activity, not just with the cooking staff, but the people he had seen in the dining room kept coming in, loading up trays, shouting orders, and leaving. The whole situation was almost unbearably loud.

“Two for ‘OfAgalon’,” Lee shouted and a harried human woman whose hair stuck to her forehead under her bonnet appeared holding two plates, which she slid onto the tabletop.

“Just a sec,” she begged, “Sorry, it’s dinner rush. Lemme get y’all a drink.”

She took two tin cups and filled them from a device Xaxac had never seen before, a barrel that had been sitting on a counter with a spout at the bottom that dispensed golden, frothy liquid.

Xaxac looked down at his plate and scowled. Thought it was perfectly good food, it couldn’t possibly have been what Agalon had ordered him. There were two chicken wings slathered in some kind of sauce, a green bean mixture with a corn cob and new potatoes, a slice of melon, and a decent chunk of cornbread.

“Hey,” Xaxac told the woman when she returned with his drink, “I can’t eat this.”

“Why not?” She asked, sounding insulted, “It’s good. Ain’t nothin wrong with that. Go sit down. Eat your food.”

“Y’all put salt pork in these beans?” Xac asked.

“He’s allergic to meat,” Lee explained.

“You can’t be allergic to meat,” the girl argued, “Y’all, I got other stuff to do. Eat your food.”

“I can’t!” Xaxac explained, but she turned her back on him and walked back into the kitchen, “Hey! Come back here! I know you can hear me! I know my master didn’t order this!”

“I didn’t think about that,” Lee admitted, “You just gotta eat what you’re given.”

“But Aggie wouldn’t give me this!” Xaxac said.

“I don’t think he controls what they give us to eat,” Lee explained, “Come on, let’s go sit down. Just don’t eat the chicken.”

“But she wouldn’t tell me if there was pork in the veggies!” Xaxac argued, “If I get sick it’s… awful. When I was a kid I thought I was gonna die.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Xac,” Lee said, “You don’t want it don’t eat it. Get your beer. Let’s sit down. I’m hungry.”

“Lee?” A voice rang out in the crowd, and Xaxac pouted as he watched Lee turn direction and follow it.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Mickey!” Lee beamed, “Good to see you! It’s been a minute.”

He sat down across from a tall, skinny man wearing the dress of a butler who seemed to be in a group with two female house slaves, a young lady perhaps a few years older than Xaxac, wearing a dress he thought was particularly beautiful, and an older lady dressed more modestly. Xac stared down at his plate and pouted.

“Your master here to register his fighters?” Mickey asked.

“Yes, and the trip damn near killed me,” Lee said, “This season’s gonna be tough. I’m gettin too old for this shit. You gotta be in that same boat.”

“I’m actually glad to get out of the house,” The older woman said, “I ain’t the one drivin. And the lady ain’t been particularly troublesome. This is almost a vacation. What’s wrong with that boy?”

“Oh,” Lee turned and gave Xaxac a sympathetic look, “This is Xaxac, the master’s new pleasure slave. He’s not really… adjusted very well to his position yet. Xac, this is Ellie, personal handmaid to Lady Loraxina, Mickey, personal Vallet to Mr Loraxina, and Helen, pleasure slave to the Loraxinas.”

“Hi,” Xaxac said and put on his best fake smile, “I’m Xaxac.” He took a sip of his beer and grimaced. “Good lord that is awful. And that ain’t what’s wrong with me. I’m hungry and I ain’t got nothin I know I can eat.”

“Why can’t you eat what’s in front of you?” Mickey asked as if Xaxac was being ridiculous.

“He can’t eat meat and he’s scared there’s meat in anything. Eat your corn Xac,” Lee instructed, “Ain’t no meat in that.”

“They mighta boiled it in pork fat,” Xaxac pouted.

“He’s a vegetarian!” Helen said with great enthusiasm, as if she believed this bit of information made her the smartest person at the table, “There are tons of them on the water continent. We vacationed on the islands, you know. They don’t eat meat, only fish.”

“I… I can’t eat fish either,” Xaxac said, “There ain’t… fish is made of meat.”

“No they ain’t,” she argued, “They’re made of fish.”

“Lee, you want this chicken?” Xaxac asked.

“Here, I’ll trade you my melon for it,” Lee offered, and Xac took it greedily. He could be fairly sure that at least it was safe.

“So, your master here to register?” Lee asked.

“Yeah, honey,” Ellie explained, “Season’s startin. Gonna be a lot of travelin comin up.”

“Billy playin in the first round?” Mickey asked.

“As far as I know,” Lee said, “the master plans on playing him as soon as he can. He wants to secure a position in Satra.”

“I can’t figure out why he didn’t play him at Satra last year,” Mickey said, “They was givin odds on him to win.”

“He ain’t got the sense to stay down when he needs to,” Lee explained, “If he was to lose he’d get right back up. You’d have to kill him to keep him down, and at Satra they would kill him. Master didn’t want to lose him.”

“All men wanna talk about is sports,” Helen huffed and took a long drink of her beer, “It’d bore anybody to tears.”

“I like your dress,” Xaxac said.

“Thank you,” she beamed, “I just got this today, down here at Sakala’s. She’s got this new corset technique; I can’t bend over but my titties look amazing.”

“Helen,” Ellie warned, and Helen giggled.

“They really do,” Xac agreed, “It’s almost mesmerizin…”

“Hey!” A voice boomed out loudly enough to quiet all conversation, “Who’s Xaxac OfAgalon?”

Xaxac, like everyone else, turned to see one of the waiters who had been running from table to table in the elven dining room standing in the doorway holding a tray on his shoulder looking very impatient.

“Seriously?” He asked, “Nobody? Y’all I got tables to run, I know it’s one of y’all.”

Lee elbowed Xaxac in the ribs, so he stood and spoke in a shaky voice.

“I’m Xaxac.”

“God damn was that so hard?” the man asked, strode up to him and lowered the tray to serve from the left, just as Jimmy did at home. “I don’t know what the hell you do for him he likes you so much, but I need these plates and shit back. This shit goes missing I get accused of stealin it. Here’s a house salad and a glass of wine. Look at me. You break this wine glass? I’m beatin your ass. I thought it was for the goddamn duke and he tells me, ‘Oh, take that to my pleasure slave’. This shit is crystal. This is the shit we don’t even give to the other elves.”

“I don’t understand why I’m gettin hollered at,” Xac said.

“Just don’t lose this shit, ok? I’m comin back for it.”

“Thanks,” Xaxac said, “Sorry if I made you late or anything… I didn’t mean to do that. Thanks.”

“It’s fine, just don’t break nothin,” the man said, “I gotta get back out there.”

He spun on his heel and left, carrying the tray.

Lee slowly slid Xaxac’s old plate over to himself, picked up his cornbread, and began to eat it.