The Curse of the Blessed

Chapter Nineteen

The dining hall was huge. Or, at least, it felt that way to me. Tables were on one side of the room, all shapes and sizes, and all made of cloud. More chairs surrounded them. Again, some were weird, and some were perfectly normal.

On the opposite side of the room, long rectangular tables were covered with selections of food. An out-of-place looking round table held desserts. Salad and stew, chicken and bacon, pie and cake and chocolate, and some odd little sparkling tartlets that looked as though they might have some sort of magic in them—every type of food anyone could imagine was on those tables. I wondered how anyone could possibly eat it all.

Then more Blesseds began to file into the room through various doors. My jaw dropped. Yes, the ship had certainly been huge, but I had never imagined... this. Hundreds of them. A variety of people the likes of which I had never seen before. Nevermind coming from different villages, some of them had to have come from different places altogether. I'd noticed some odd styles of clothing before, of course. Yet now I noticed even more: long, flowy garments with flower embroidery; bits of cloth woven with gold, draped over shoulders and wrapped around heads in various styles; clothing made of what looked to be wood, or deerskin, or some kind of scales.

It was beautiful.

It was also scary. My pulse began to pound, louder and louder, until I was sure everyone in the room would hear it. So many people.

The captains entered last. There was a small raised section in the middle of the room, just large enough for two people to stand on it, and that was where they went. Conversation fell to a low buzz, then disappeared completely.

Captain Rayan was the first to speak, flashing her bright smile across the room. "I'm sure you've heard of the new Blesseds who've come to us, Fyra and Bran and Reed and Lark. They arrived earlier this afternoon. They don't yet know whether or not they'll be joining our crew, but I hope you'll all show them that, if they do choose to do so, they'll be welcomed and accepted within the group."

A low murmur of assent swept through the room.

"Good," said Leith. "Time to eat!"

He strode down the stairs of the dias and toward the tables covered in food. Captain Rayan rolled her eyes and followed him. The crowd of Blesseds chuckled.

Sharla gave me a gentle tap on the shoulder to get my attention. "You can sit with me if you like. I know it can be overwhelming at first, with so many people and so many chairs, and you barely knowing any of them."

"Thanks," I said, smiling slightly as a warm feeling spread through me. I'd been slightly dreading having to pick a place to sit, knowing I didn't want to intrude on anyone's hospitality, or somehow sit in a place I wasn't supposed to. But now, everything was simpler. Now I didn't have to worry.

"No problem." She grabbed my wrist. "Come on. You've got to be a bit bold if you want to get to the food."

We went into the crowd together, squeezing between laughing women and shrieking children. I wondered how many had been born here. This place was a village of its own.

When we arrived at the tables, Sharla wasted no time shoving a plate into my hands and piling it with different types of food, somehow managing to weave past people, hold her plate with a tight, steady grip, and keep her hold on my wrist at the same time. I turned away and started to walk out of the crowd before we got to the dessert table, assuming that rules here were the same as they were in my house: no dessert before dinner.

"What are you doing?" Sharla laughed. "You've forgotten the best part!"

I allowed her to drag me back into the people, over to the table of treats. My eyes grew wide at the huge selection.