Laylania (Completed)

Chapter 7

After I was settled in in Cleite's tent, a bell rang four times.

"Hey what does that bell mean?" I asked as I turned around to Cleite only to find that she was gone.

I sighed as I walked outside and saw that everyone was running towards the large red tent.

Curious and confused, I ran after them. They all seemed to be in a line waiting for something so I pushed through people until I found Cleite. Catching my breath I asked, "Hey what is this about?"

Cleite looked at me and said, "Oh it's dinner time!"

"And that's a reason to abandon me?" I asked with my hands on my hips.

Cleite was silent for a second and then exclaimed, "Oh I'm so sorry! The thing is you have to be close to the front of the line if you want the best food!"

I huffed, "Still not a good reason to just leave me like that!"

Winking at me Cleite said, "You'll see what I mean when you get food!"

"Okay?" I said still confused. I leaned a bit sideways and saw that we were getting close to the front of the line. Hearing people complain from the back I saw that Dao was also pushing his way towards Cleite and I.

"Hey guys!" he said cheerfully.

"Hey".

"Hi".

Somehow before I knew it, we were at the front of the line and I looked at the tables filled with food.

I heard my stomach grumbled loudly. Cleite and Dao just laughed and grabbed plates and stuffed them with food.

Following their leads, I took a plate and took a lot of chicken, some corn, peas, and some mashed potatoes. I then took a cup of water and followed Cleite and Dao to where they were sitting at. I sat down next to Cleite with Dao across from me. I started to eat but Cleite smacked my fork down.

"Wait until everyone has  their food and is seated before you start eating!" she corrected.

I looked around at the people already seated and saw that they weren't eating.

"Oh okay," I replied.

"Yo!" Tanken said as he sat down next to Dao.

We all said our hellos to him and I watched as the line got shorter and shorter until everyone had food. Cleite pointed to Yan who was the last one in line, "See what happens when you're late for dinner?"

"Or any meal in general," Dao added.

I looked and saw that Yan barely had any food on his plate: a piece of chicken and the leftover vegetables which wasn't much.

"Ah I see," I replied. My stomach grumbled again.

Rida stood up and said, "We thank God for giving us this meal and for giving us each other! There is nothing like family and please let us not forget that! To family!" he said while raising his glass.

Everyone replied and lifted their glass, "To family!"

I quickly said while raising my glass, "To family".

Cleite smiled at me and said, "Now you can eat!"

Grateful, I started to stuff my face with chicken. For a while, there was silence as we all ate our food. Suddenly, Wudao started to sing a drinking song while she started to dance a simple jig. Dao got up and joined her in her dance while everyone else sang along.

 I was the only one not singing along since I didn't know their drinking song. It was awkward but Cleite whispered to me, "Don't worry you'll get the hang of it. This happens about three to five times a week".