“You’d be surprised how open some royalties can be with those they considered friends. I think it might be partly because those friends of theirs are some of the few people who do not see them as their station or standing dictates, but just sees them as who they are as a person.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“Come, come, have a seat and enjoy yourselves!” invited Lucea as everyone adjourned to the dining room.

Unlike the large hall where the Empress – and her grandfather the Emperor before her – entertained their guests, the private dining hall was much smaller, and where the large hall had long tables and stools – which were the most common form of seating available in Elmaiya, instead of chairs with back supports, due to how many of the locals have tails – there was instead only a single, low table set in the middle of the carpeted room.

Everyone directly sat on the carpeted floor, which was rather soft since there were thick rugs set on it, with Aideen, Celia, and Adelheid sitting cross-legged by the table while Lucea and her family assumed a position that was closer to a squat, albeit with their tails acting as extra support. In a nation where different people would generally have different preferences to their resting poses, the floor was generally the most easily acceptable method to provide everyone with an equal measure of comfort, or thereabouts.

The table itself was set with plenty of food considering that there were only the eight of them in the room, with the food being mostly meats, which wasn’t odd considering that both Lucea and Tesruq – and therefore their children as well – were from carnivorous breeds of therians. The need for different foods to fit the dietary needs of different people was an ever-present thing in Elmaiya given how diverse their population was.

As for Aideen, Celia, and Adelheid, they were naturally fine with any sort of food, so there was no need for Lucea to have her chefs prepare something different for them, and instead just served the same fare for everyone.

On the center of the low table, a whole roasted goat was set on a platter, its body splayed like a butterfly, with its skin roasted to a perfectly crisp shade of golden-brown. The only missing parts of the body were the feet, which ended on the knees, as well as the head itself, while otherwise the goat had been roasted whole.

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Those missing parts were not discarded, however, but were instead cooked together into a soup with the goat’s internal organs. The fragrant soup had a milky, slightly yellowish hue, and was served in bowls with crushed crisps made from local nuts that had a slightly bitter taste. Every body part of the goat was utilized, as Aideen could identify pieces of its intestines, stomach, tongue, ears, feet, and even eyeballs floating in the soup.

As for the flavor itself, the soup was very rich and savory in taste, with a hint of sweetness Aideen recognized likely coming from coconuts, as coconut milk – the milk-like liquid one got when shredded coconut was allowed to soak in some water and was then squeezed dry – was a common ingredient in the Empire’s cooking.

All the various organ meats in the soup brought a melange of different textures and flavors of their own to the mix, which further highlighted the bit of meat also included. The bits around the feet were mostly gelatinous in nature, and were so soft they nearly fell off the bone when picked out from the soup with a spoon, with a gentle flavor enhanced by the soup’s richness and a pleasant mouthfeel.

In contrast to the rich soup, the roasted goat meat was on the blander side, mostly flavored with a mix of spices and salt that had been rubbed on its insides and otherwise flavored by the fat that rendered during the cooking process. The meat itself had been expertly roasted, extremely tender while remaining moist and flavorful, with the slightly gamey taste being one most carnivorous therians preferred to begin with.

Of course, for those who preferred stronger tastes, there was the dipping sauce for the meat as well, which was made with a mix of various spices, oils, and some vinegar, with chili oil being a major component of it. A dip in the sauce lent a strong spiciness and complex tanginess to the meat, which made it even better. Other than Tesruq – who probably preferred lighter flavors due to his old age – most of the table alternately ate the meat plain and dipped in the sauce.

Aideen and Celia naturally followed suit, enjoying themselves at the Empress’s table as she asked. The two made small talk with Luina and Ereza – who were seated next to them – throughout the meal, while the others also happily made small talk while they ate. It was the norm in the Empire to have large group meals like that to be a cozy space for the participants to relax and chat in, and it wasn’t uncommon for such meals to take hours at times.

Lucea had clearly cleaned up her timetable to fit in such a meal with Aideen that day, considering how nobody disturbed them throughout the meal.

Other than the chilled fruit juices – a popular drink all around the Empire because of its generally warmer climate – the servants also served up some local mead, as well as a fine aged wine, made from grapes grown in the imperial garden itself. Given how winter in Sabaya was still the equivalent of late spring or early summer in most places, all the drinks were kept cold in containers enchanted to do just that until they were brought out to be drunk. Even the glasses used were kept chilled as well.

It was in such a cozy atmosphere that Aideen and Lucea started to trade tales from the past century in which they had not seen each other, while enjoying the warmth and companionship of everyone around them.