Unspoken

Chapter 3 - Hiding In Plain Sight

Unspoken
Chapter 3
Hiding In Plain Sight

Ezra felt miserable and it annoyed the hell out of him. Why did stupid Zeb have to win the spicy chili challenge and why didn't he burn his mouth? That only seemed fair, Ezra decided. It had been hard to hide his inability to eat solid food around Hera. When her back was turned he would put his food on Zeb or Sabine's plate and stick to bland soft foods like root mash. But even that was a struggle to eat, it hurt and felt gritty like he was swallowing sand. Sabine felt a little guilty so she would make him smoothies of fruit and milk, the cold thickness of the drink felt good so he decided to make that his diet staple until his mouth healed up enough. Hera had taken the Ghost to another planet Yocitas for their next set of off world work, Zeb was ready with his homework to find the next local spot to try.

"Not much to offer on this ball." Zeb grumbled as he messed with the holopad.

"Not surprising." Sabine sighed. "This planet has a much lower population and is further on the outer rim that Ixbarg was. The amount of food grown here is much more limited."

"Sounds better to me." Ezra rolled his eyes.

"Aww poor little baby." Zeb sneered. "Is your tiny little tongue still bent out of shape?"

"I bet you set me up, I still blame you for that chili competition." Ezra growled.

"If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen." Sabine shrugged.

Ezra paused, thinking for a moment, "The heck does that even mean?"

"Sorry, guess that's a mid rim saying." Sabine gave him a sympathetic shrug.

"Anyway." Zeb spoke back up. "This next place seems to have a decent menu, even sore sport over there can find something to eat."

Sabine looked over his shoulder at the holopad, reading thru the menu, "Yeah, hey, this place doesn't look half bad. What do you think Ezra, ready for round two?"

Ezra sighed, "OK fine, but you better not be tricking me again."

"Trust me Ezra, you'll be fine." Sabine raised her hands in defense.

"Here, see for yourself." Zeb threw him the holopad.

Ezra looked over the menu thoughtfully, "Ok, not bad, yeah. I think this could work."

"Yeah! Foodie fun is headed back out for another night on the town!" Sabine cheered.

That night when Hera went to the cockpit to work on updating some report logs, the trio snuck out to visit their next edible adventure. This place was a lot calmer and quieter and smaller than their last one, that gave Ezra and his sensitive stomach some hope. They went inside the small restaurant and it was not very full, the patrons were eating and talking quietly, even the waiter seemed more dignified. He approached the trio once they walked in the door with a professional smile.

"Welcome friends. Would you like a table for three?"

"Yes please, that would be wonderful, thank you." Sabine nodded her head politely. The waiter led them to a booth and they sat down. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm gonna try their veggie stew, says it's one of the local favorites and is full of flavor, you can even get it spicier than normal upon request."

"Count me out." Ezra stuck out his tongue.

"I think I'm gonna try something different, I'm a little over veggies, I need some meat. They've got a variety of mild protein skewers that you can upgrade with local house made hot sauce, that sounds like the venture for me." Zeb licked his lips.

"What about you Ezra, what are you gonna get?"

Ezra looked at the menu, his mouth was still very sore so he knew he would have to be careful, but nothing seemed to be bland enough until he looked at the desert menu, "Looks like they have something called a frozen shuura milk custard that comes on a bread tart. That seems safe enough, I hope."