PART V - DAIDA

Thorn stood dumbstruck for a moment as he stared up at the ridiculous sign above him. While he did, the audience rose, giving him a thunderous accolade in celebration of his achievement. Major Celeste put thumb and finger to her mouth, adding a shrill whistle. Natala, Jorin and Xera approached him again, once again extending their congratulations. Off to the side, Reynard was applauding from his chair, Nevikk and Yulayla next to him, doing the same.

Finally, the Ratkin turned back to the audience, giving everyone an acknowledging wave, his final thoughts apparently lost to the moment. Looking up, he rolled his eyes in continued amusement at seeing the banner, before returning to his seat behind the long table, shaking his head in bewilderment as he walked. Whatever words he was going to conclude with had apparently been overpowered. The celebratory din quickly began to settle as people returned to their seats and resumed their conversations. Many people also took a moment to investigate the various bowls of foods that had been brought out, filling the air with delicious new smells. By the kitchen entrance, carts had again been staged, this time with a few larger bowls.

"That was great!" Callie grinned at Jesca as the Cheetahkin returned to Table 1. "I didn't think you'd actually make a banner!"

"I mentioned your idea as a joke to Pama, and she insisted that I do it. I'm just glad he didn't get mad about it. I was worried he might."

"Why would he have gotten mad, Jesca? Even if it was a little embarrassing, he knew it was all in fun. Stop worrying so much! He's going to look back on this with fond memories, and so will Nevikk. Besides, the stories that the Sergeant-Major and Jorin told were a lot worse than the silly little banner."

Before anyone could continue talking Jesca off her paranoia ledge, Pama called from the front of the room for everyone to make way for her magic. With a simple flourish, bundled eating utensils wrapped in a tied napkin appeared on the table. In addition, these were joined by a single bundle of larger spoons for serving from the various covered bowls, and a second set of bigger utensils for Tazrok. Plates were also included, which were less like plates and more like very shallow bowls. Quickly, everything was passed around Table 1.

Before long, one of the food carts approached. The attending Elf began by handing everyone a sprig of some kind of a fresh plant, with multiple green leaves on it. Curious, Callie held it to her nose and inhaled, detecting a wonderful aroma that reminded her of fresh basil.

"Here you all are," the service Elf said, setting one of the large bowls on the table. She gestured towards the various other bowls of food that had been brought out earlier. "Remember that there's a heating stone in some of those. Should you need more of anything, please let someone know. We have plenty prepared."

Callie looked inside the big bowl. The contents were … noodles. Just … noodles. In fact, they looked an awful lot like just a big bowl of short, plain, somewhat-wiggly egg noodles.

"Daida!" Pixyl gasped, her blue eyes going wide. "I should have known. I looooove this meal." Then she added, "I don't get to have it often, since you eat it in groups." There seemed to be a sudden tinge of lonely memories in that second statement.

"What is it?" Callie asked, reaching to pick out a noodle with her fingers, only to have it slapped away by Vanis.

"You assemble your dish to your liking," Vanis said as he lifted the cover off one of the serving bowls, revealing what looked like a pulled meat of some kind. Vanis gestured towards another, and Juniper uncovered that one as well. It was filled with fluffy scrambled eggs with visible bits of herbs mixed in. Around the table, other bowls were being uncovered. One contained diced mushrooms that looked as if they'd been lightly sauteed, while other bowls were vegetables that had also been mixed with herbs or other things to add flavor. This included what Callie recognized as the yellow Sweet Dandem pods, and another was the diced Red Geckim. The latter appeared as if it may have been browned over heat, or maybe baked.

"How does this work?" Callie asked

"Yes, very strange," Tazrok said, holding up and sniffing the leafy plant. "Do I eat it now?"

"Set it aside for the moment," Vanis said, demonstrating. Vanis then picked up the big bowl of noodles, passing it to Juniper and then gesturing it onwards. "Sub-Captain Lhawni, it seems only fitting that you begin," Vanis said, following up with one of the serving spoons. Lhawni seemed to groan at being called by her reluctant new rank, but went along with the idea with minimal resistance and a resigned sigh.

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"Noodles first," Vanis said to Callie, but also instructing Juniper and Tazrok at the same time.

Lhawni scooped a couple spoonfuls of the noodles into her bowl, before passing it off to her left. "Once you have the base of noodles, then tear up the leaves and sprinkle them over the top." She held up the sprig of herb, plucking a couple leaves off before tearing them into tiny pieces to demonstrate. This released even more-intense aromas.

"Then add the other items; whichever you like," Jesca said, gesturing to the other foods on the table before taking the big noodle bowl from Chown.

"Then drizzle a little b-b-bit of the sauce at the end," Pixyl said, her eyes ravenously willing the noodle bowl to hurry the hell up and get to her while she absently gestured towards the teapot.

Bowls were passed, moving clockwise around the table. To Callie, it immediately felt almost like a big Thanksgiving family dinner. Given Midsummer's constant theme of family and friends, it was perfect.

After lining the bottom of his oversized plate with noodles, Tazrok became frustrated. While he'd been given a larger branch of the leafy herb, the actual leaves were still small compared to his hands, and were proving difficult for him to work with. Juniper seemed to sense his frustration, and stepped in without a word, simply taking the sprig from his hands and tearing the leaves off and into small pieces for him.

Callie watched the others prepare their dishes, following along with what Pixyl and the others did. She had thought the additional ingredients would be simply dumped over the top of the noodles, but she quickly noticed that each addition was given its own little space. The ingredients still touched on the edges, and would get mixed together as you ate, but did start off mostly separated. She took a small spoonful of each item as it came by, her bowl soon looking like a patchwork of delicious colors and flavors.

Finally, the teapot came to her, and as Pixyl had done, she drizzled just a tiny bit of the contents over everything. What came out was an intensely rich, slightly garlicky sauce, with a thickness somewhat between gravy and honey. It had an incredibly intense aroma that was making her almost drool. Then she remembered that the geckim fruit could be fermented into a gourmet concentrate, and suspected that the result might be an ingredient here.

As her dish came together, Callie realized what this reminded her of. Ramen! Real ramen, too, not the cheap, instant stuff that came with a flavor packet of mostly salt and things you couldn't pronounce. In college, there had been a restaurant not far from the campus that she and Morgan would often get lunch from, and homemade ramen was their specialty. This fantasy-world version was a little different in terms of the ingredients, and the sauce less of a broth, but at least visually it was similar. The taste however! What she'd had back on Earth seemed absolutely bland in comparison.

As she carefully dug into the noodle dish, Callie was struck by the many different flavors. By placing each item into its own little section, you kept the flavors largely separated, allowing you to have a variety of ways to mix them together. For example, the mushrooms had a slightly vinegary taste to them, and when a bit was combined together with the spicy pulled meat, they merged to become something new and unique. As another example, if she had to guess, the dandem pods had been cooked in hot oil and possibly wine, and made an interesting combination with the herb-infused scrambled eggs. All of that was set against the backdrop of the noodles, torn pseudo-basil leaves, and the garlicky drizzle over the top. From all around her table, and from other tables around them, people called out many recommendations of various combinations to try.

"Okay," Callie finally said, pointing with her spoon and mumbling with her mouth full, "I am officially moving learning to cook even higher up my list of things to do. This is really good!"

"Like Pixyl, it is one of my favorites," Vanis said as he masterfully loaded his own spoon up with a little bit of this and that. "Growing up, it was far too often that our meals were set against some function or ceremony, so the opportunities to simply sit down as a family like this were few. When we did, however, my mother often requested this meal, and it was one of our Culinar's specialties."

Vanis got a sudden look of sadness on his face, just for a brief moment, as thoughts of his family and its recent loss came into his head. He tried to hide it, and maybe he did from the others, but Callie saw it. She reached out and touched her friend's arm, giving him a look of support that may have said more than any words possibly could have. Still, the Prince forced his expression back to smiling, trying to pretend the moment hadn't happened.

Eventually, a second big bowl of noodles was requested, primarily so that Tazrok had enough to eat. Still, everyone else served up at least a little more for a second helping, before the remaining toppings all went to Tazrok as well, effectively emptying everything so the big Ogre could eat his fill. Pixyl was sitting back in her chair, a contented, happy smile on her face as she took Callie's hand under the table. Callie leaned over, giving the Pixie a peck on the cheek, which, of course and as intended, served to simply embarrass her.

Goblins soon returned, this time two of them again pushing the cart, while an Elf took care of clearing the tables. It was quite obvious that the real goal of the two Goblins was to congratulate Lhawni in person, and they did so profusely. As the others had before, they gushed about how wonderful it was to see a Goblin recognized for something. Lhawni was starting to become a bit of a momentary celebrity, at least among the kitchen staff.

As Lhawni desperately tried to end the impromptu interaction, Callie was really getting a sense of how marginalized Goblins might be as a race. There weren't many of the green folk here at the camp outside of those in the kitchens and Maugra, but she'd never gotten the sense that Goblins were treated any differently than any other race. Now, when coupled with Kyra's comment earlier, Callie was getting a much different impression. She needed to talk to Lena or Vanis to truly understand it, and couldn't help but selfishly hope that didn't extend to Gnomes.

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