Book One – Chapter 19

“But I can bring stew,” he said, in an attempt not to end the encounter in total defeat. “So, who else wants more dinner? Do you want more? I mean, how many bowls?”

Yu regretted the question the instant it left him. He had thought one, maybe two people might still want food. Just something light for the night. But no. Of course not. Of course every single one of them wanted something. Hands rose and voices overlapped, as if they had not already devoured a whole cauldron of stew during dinner. Yu counted five requests, one bowl for each person at the table, except Harrow. Then they wanted two more, for Bawal and Jerakill, who were not even in the room. That made seven. And then Nion had the audacity to lift his half emptied mug and ask for a second helping. Eight. And on top of that, there were still the krynn and the borman to feed. So ten.

At least ten bowls.

At least ten times up and down the fucking stool.

When Yu finally turned away, the conversation behind him reformed, their laughter sliding back around Nion, who kept drinking his stew.

Yu let the two sets of doors fall shut behind him, and for a moment, he simply leaned against the kitchen wall, wings trembling, the weight of heat and noise pressed out of him. But he could not stay. He could not wait it out. Because everyone was waiting now. Waiting and watching.

Yu pushed himself off the stone. The sight before him met him like mockery: three portions already prepared — three more mugs. They had been an utter pain in the ass to fill. Not literally, though. His ass, his legs, and his back, just like everything else, had hurt horribly after all the scrubbing and bending and hauling of the day. Yet now, the pain was still dull, as if it had retreated somewhere deeper. His body was still submerged. But Yu felt it. At least something. Slightly. When he really focussed.

He was not ready to. He was not yet ready to seek and sort that out, so instead, he busied himself. First, he gathered an assortment of spoons, different sizes, shapes, materials, and dumped them all into a single mug. He brought that out. And because there was no proper table except that leg rest turned map stand, he simply passed the mug to Kal and then left the group to handle the rest. It would do.