The Veil Between

Chapter Ten | Realization Can Bring Ruin

Chapter Ten | Realization Can Bring Ruin

All together, Tobias and his four guests seated themselves at the large dining room table to enjoy the supper that Catherine had prepared for them.

The guests were mostly curious about the dishes on the table, as most of them were considered magical meals that they had never seen before. Edward was the only one seemingly not as taken back by the strangeness, as in his life he had tried many strange and foreign dishes so he was used to trying new and exotic things.

"I tried to prepare something a bit used to what I assume your normal palates are," Catherine spoke kindly to her guests, wearing a smile. "I don't travel much to the mortal world so I made some substitutions."

"What... kind of substitutions?" Jason asked, sounding more curious than scared of what he might be eating, assuming they would not be served anything dangerous.

"Ah, well, the appetizers are kebabs of spit-roasted pixie lechwes with anise, pistachios and rhubarbs, on a bed of steamed gobo, sauteed wild mustard and firefruit. Then, of course, for the entree its minced hydra sirloin with white-devil pepper and paprika, with a salad of cooked starlit peas, steamed dancing root, and dragonberries."

Catherine seemed to speak so casually about the fancy dishes that she had prepared for her guests, as if all of this was no big deal and she ate like this all the time, which, honestly, she did.

Though, for those like Jason, who never recalled ever having eaten a meal like this, or Vano, who only remember his grandmother cooking like this, it was amazing, and honestly a bit overwhelming, if they were being honest. Even Anna seemed a bit awed by the amount of food, which was likely more than enough for twice the amount of people at the table.

"Oh, and of course, dinner is ginger pie topped with fae sugar, mammoth cheese, and vodka butterfly milk biscuits with starfruit jam! Butterfly milk biscuits are Tobias' absolute favorite, so of course, I had to make them for him!"

At that, Tobias seemed to perk up a bit when he heard that, and gave a gentle smile, relaxing a bit and calming down from his distressing interaction earlier.

"Thank you, mother, I appreciate that," He smiled sweetly, and while he still had an air of nervousness in his tone, he was indeed being genuine. "I am grateful to you for welcoming my guests so graciously."

"Oh, no worries, darling, it's honestly my pleasure!" She cooed, before glancing at her husband and narrowing her eyes, speaking with a rather passive-aggressive tone. "I always give any guest in my home the warmest welcome, it is a delight to have visitors and I could never imagine not making them feel as wanted as possible."

Alistair listened to her little tirade with a bored and generally uncaring expression, tilting his head and glancing up at her to give her an apathetic look.

When she saw this, Catherine frowned, as she was really starting to notice that her husband truly wasn't acting like himself. She had thought perhaps that he was just in a bad mood, which was why he had been so short with Tobias earlier, but now she considered that perhaps something was truly wrong with him after all.

At that thought, she silently sat down, considering things for a moment before smiling again and looking at her guests. "Well, go ahead and dig in, dears, I wouldn't want any of you to go hungry even for a moment."

The group did as requested, and they all bit into the strange but ultimately delicious-looking food, and all of them found that it tasted absolutely heavenly.

"Woah," Jason was the first to speak up, despite the mouthful of meat. "This is like... amazing. I haven't had something this good in a long time."