Across the ocean Book 1: On the run

Chapter Fourteen : Fatherhood

-"To you be the glory!" Soren said to finish the prayer before starting the evening meal. "Och! At long last old me has a chance to eat with my Coz and my Neph. My boozness at the castle took too much time, I tell you that! Ahhh... Honeybun, why do you even eat at a tavern when your own cooking is divine?"

-"I cannot argue with you Soren!" Rowen was cheerful and full of energy as if he had not walked the four previous days. "But neither can you about the pleasure of eating where there are minstrels. The guy wearing all those feathers really did a good rooster."

Mayen felt delighted to sit in such a large group around the dining table; sharing with many people was frequent in Gimvault where everyone knew each other and frequently invited or received invitation. This table was of regular wood so not to wear too quickly the one made with rosewood in the other room. Some of the food was normal, such as garlic bread and potatoes with some butter to melt like the fat of a sausage. Water as well as some regular wine could be poured in his glass should he want to. Cheese was there as well, and he saw the maidservants actually eat it with the bread. Olicia did something similar to him, melting the cheese on the potato. The round and middle-aged maid who had informed Soren of the runner's message seemed to indulge in the butter, adding some more the already buttered garlic bread.

Other parts of the meal were new to him, and a bit troubling. Roasted pig tongues were not common in Gimvault and not simply because there the inhabitants did not herd pigs, but mostly to the simple truth it was both expansive and uncommon. Just by looking at the big bowl, at least five pigs had been killed. It did help in a psychological way that the tongues were cut in cubes, otherwise seeing the entire body part in a bowl of vinegar would have been even more repulsive. His father tried it, complimented on the vinegar's sourness; obviously the texture made him think twice about tasting it again and left half of the cube on the edge of his plate.

Nothing really important unfolded during the meal. Rowen and Soren exchanged many anecdotes while Eliadoriss introduced her other maids to Mayen; when the plates were taken, a new cultural experience came to the two wayside peasants as they were introduced for their first time to what was called the cheese and toasts.

-"Customs from Mios-Nolis do bring some flavour with strong cheese," explained Eliadoriss with a gleam of hunger in her pale blue eyes. "I would recommend you observe how to enjoy the delicacy. First, you take only a thin slice and then you place it on the toast. It is not meant for eating, but to enjoy the taste, like wine is not for drinking but sipping."

The toast she took in her demonstration was barely thicker than the slice of cheese, and she only took a tiny bite. Conversations went on, at most three at a time, though one did take an unexpected turn.

-"So, to go back onda topic of the laddie's wife hunting." Soren laid for the third time a slice of cheese with a toast. "You could not have taken a best city: Mildoyest is the place. Here, you l'find easily a few candidates before sun is low. Recently, we have been delivering more girls than boys. I strongly recommend you visit inda morrow Mellina's Well. What are your needs Coz?"

-"A girl who can care for a family and is known to be modest and respectful of tradition. My son is not that good on the last part so a counterweight would secure me orderly children. As for Mellina's well, that is where all the maidens go, right? I believed this was a practice on the other side of the Melti's Mountains though."

-"Yes, yes! Indeed, it is more a tradition from the inner lands, but the lord of this place offers land to lower blood, what others call so disgracefully bastards. I mean, who can be responsible for their own birth? And so, we are having more and more nobles even amidst our farmers and herders. Brings us wealth! As it happens, nobles who wish to hide away the proof of their illegitimate burning passions come to us and seek families to raise their sons. Our lord is really genius, he takes them all in and raises them as his own sons and offers them wives when they come of age. It is a splendid situation! Och! We receive from the nobles gold for taking their illegitimate sons and half of what a boy comes with is given to the family giving to him their daughter on the wedding day!"