Of Blood and Duty

Chapter Eleven • A Feast and a Squabble

The food tasted nothing short of divine. The table with food was a feast consisting of savory poultry, steaming hot potatoes, freshly baked bread and a stew he would happily drink from. The first plate had gone down within a handful of minutes along with two cups of ale. Although he was much more focused on the food than the drinks. 

Seeing that more food was constantly being served, he went for a second serving quicker than he knew was right and proper. But upon seeing others gobble down their own food to immediately go and get more he decided to do the same. 

Lliam devoured his food in such a haste that it came to a point where he had to stop just to catch his breath. When his lungs had gotten their fair share, he went back to eating his third serving without giving his speed any thought. 

When looking up suddenly, he noticed Mae staring at him. Instantly he became very aware of his mouth and how it was filled with partially chewed food. His cheeks bulging out to fit it all of the food he had stuffed in it. 

Mae's upper lip was drawn up a bit and revealing just a hint of her teeth. It was impossible to miss what his terrible manners had stirred in her. Nausea. Her dark eyebrows were furrowed and her nose was scrunched along with a hand half-covering her mouth told him he was being disgusting. Something he thought was not achievable after having seen how others ate on the other tables, but somehow he had managed to outdo them all. 

He put his clenched fist in front of his mouth and cleared his throat apologetically while trying to chew his current mouthful as quickly as he could. This did not seem to ease Mae's discomfort because the expression in her face stayed the same and her food seemed to have been left somewhat untouched for quite some time now. 

Did she lose her appetite right away or between my first and second serving? He wondered, a bit embarrassed. 

"My apologies." He spoke hoarsely and wiped grease from the corners of his mouth and some from his chin as soon as he noticed it. Mae tilted her head, unimpressed, at his apology and still with a disgusted look on her face. "It is delicious." He spoke, trying to come up with something positive about what he had done to his food. 

"You eat like you haven't seen food before." She said, a hint of offense in her tone, and took a swig from her cup of ale. Lliam could not help but to notice how smooth and effortless the motion was, perfectly describing that Mae was very skilled at... drinking. He instantly figured that she could probably drink some of her fellow Guild members under the table without effort. "Which you have. I know you have." She continued after having emptied her cup without him noticing, drawing him back into their conversation. A thin stream of the amber colored liquid did not make it into her mouth and ran down the side of her mouth to her chin before she noticed and wiped it away with the back of her hand. 

Lliam let out half a chuckle as he compared the food he had gotten delivered to the one he was eating now. 

"What?" Mae snapped as if the chuckle had been a personal attack. "You have been fed, you cannot say you haven't." 

"Who makes this food? And who makes the one you have been giving me up until today?" He chuckled happily and pointed excitedly toward the stew with his spoon. "Because they cannot be the same person. One is a cook and the other-" 

"I made some of it." She told him plainly and turned her head to look out at random Guild members who were staring freely and openly at the two of them. Those gazes she met quickly found something else to stare at. 

Lliam blinked at his misstep when he understood what she had said, and that he had insulted her cooking. 

"Mostly your breakfasts." She filled in when he desperately tried to come up with what would be the most meaningless and useless excuse he would ever utter. However, no words wanted to form in his mouth. His lips refused to let him speak. The guilt and shame coming over him was not something he was used to and it made him want to throw up everything he had stuffed himself with up until now. Normally, he was so well behaved and did not speak his mind so crudely and thoughtlessly. From the depths of his mind he could feel something reach out and strike him in the back of is head, causing him to flinch instinctively.