34 A Quiet Kitchen Tryst

Truth be told, Odeti's heart had softened into a staggering degree for the orphaned child that had strayed into her household. At the mention of Videre being an orphan during the trials, she felt sympathy for the poor boy. Sure, she had doubted him at first, and a lot at that, but after associating with him for a while, she easily understood that he was a simple child with simple desires, similar to Obrecht but at the same time, not.

Videre was one of the rare people that were refreshingly transparent in both words and actions and yet wasn't aware that he was. He must've been shielded quite a lot by someone if he could safely grow up that decent until now.

Perhaps the reason could be blamed back to the time that Odeti had seen the child's bare face. With such a dazzling golden color filled with purity and melancholy, it seemed as if he could no longer move past the tragedies in his life, and Odeti's intuition feels it all. She wanted to help him but she felt that if she pushed Videre one step, he'd retreat for ten. She didn't want to force him to do anything he wasn't comfortable with, but the child was too courteous. Even after being with them for about a month, she still feels like a stranger in his life, always so distant and never really letting her in his heart.

Aside from her and Obrecht, Videre wasn't friendly with the other people, not even those around his age, and this reclusiveness of his bothered her. Was it because the difference between her own child's personality and Videre's were polar enough that she had been overly concerned on her own? The child did seem to enjoy solitude and silence quite more, unlike the noisy reckless Lumean children that she was greatly accustomed to.

Videre truly triggered the maternal instincts within people.

If she didn't have the common topic of food, and Obrecht to bond with him, she didn't know how to approach him without scaring him off like the first time they had met. Astonishingly, Videre had a talent for cooking besides his interest in food, or perhaps he was already knowledgeable with cooking before he accidentally came to Inferis? In any way, she was certain that she could slowly work over the walls that Videre had put around to protect himself.

Sure enough, as Odeti thought, the change in environment will also influences the change in the person. She sighed hopefully.

Hitting his shoulders with the base of his clenched fist, Halvalt walks into the kitchen, following the sound of running water and knife chopping on a wooden board. Nobody, save for him and his wife, was at home these days, but it's not like he was complaining; he could relax and flirt with his wife in an insouciant manner.

Halvalt used to be able to steal a few kisses from Odeti behind his son's back, but with the addition of Videre in the house, it was impossible. Obrecht was a loud little boy growing up, and it has not changed after his coming of age. His presence was quite formidable for someone his age, easily defeating a few others older than him.

Unlike him, Videre was the opposite, thriving in his lack of presence. He could be walking, eating, cooking or practicing his stances, and he'd still be so quiet! Halvalt, at one time, woke up early for a meeting Sagitta had scheduled at the crop fields. He walked into the kitchen for his routinely cup of tea while yawning, and passed by Videre who was sitting on the dining area, unmoving. Half awake, Halvalt would then come out of the kitchen and sit in front of Videre, and then jump at the realization that Videre was there since the beginning! Quickly wiping the spilt hot tea on the back of his hand, he sat back down in awkward silence. It was a very unforgettable morning for Halvalt.

Having been surprised multiple times, and jumping at the abrupt appearance of Videre every now and then, Halvalt had unconsciously raised his vigilance at home, much more than he had ever done in any dangerous forest in Inferis, yet could not comfortably hold his wife's hand. But with the children out practicing from early morning to late evening, he felt rejuvenated and stuck close to Odeti more than usual. A wife knows her husband well. Odeti just let him be, secretly happy to bond no matter if it's with the children or her husband.

At the thought of her neglected and affection-thirsty husband though, Odeti could not help smiling.

"Your smiling while caressing your knives again. If Videre sees you, he might run away, although I won't blame him", Halvalt teased with a blank face as he walked in, his arms crossed as he leaned on the kitchen counter.

Odeti pointed the knife at Halvalt, the blade's sharp tip shining at the surfaces that weren't stained with chopped ingredients that were pooled in a pile on the chopping board.

"Oh, do I?" Odeti flipped the knife in the air and as it fell, she caught the blade in between her fingers, tapping the hilt in front of Halvalt's face. "Remember—you made this for me." Odeti raised her eyebrows at Halvalt while the latter smiles.

His wife was telling him that once gifted, the receipt of the present can do whatever they wanted to do with it, and the sender shouldn't be cheap about it.

"Besides", Odeti added, "me smiling while cutting can't compare with the obsessive staring you do in front of your blades. You can't even finish one custom-made blade for your customer without being upset after delivering it away. If it weren't that we'd go hungry without the payment, you might have not given your weapons away yourself, mister bladesmith."

Glancing at her husbands displeased face, Odeti changes the subject. She had a weak spot for that face, and could not help wanting to remove the small grievances he had. Although she knew that spoiling her people all the time was bad, she could not help it.

"How did your Batrani meeting go?"

Halvalt sighed. "I don't understand it." He lowers his head, glancing to the left at the exquisite set of knives neatly aligned on one side of the kitchen wall. "There��s nothing in that cave—no exits, no entrances, no formations or seals. If Obrecht wasn't there when Videre arrived at that pool, I might have doubted that there really was an entrance there."

Odeti stopped chopping. Putting the knife down, she faced her husband seriously and said, "Well, did you check the pool? Maybe there's a seal or formation in the pool that obstructs vision."

Halvalt looked to his wife. "We've tried that too, along with a list of things. Vita even tried sampling the water there but it seemed as if it were no different with the water we have in the aqueducts, and the inner cave rivers. What exactly did we miss?"

"It seems as if you're all sure that the pool is also an entrance", Odeti said as she glanced at an egg on the counter. She spun it gently, observing it rotate in a clockwise manner.

"What do you mean?" Halvalt took a glance at the spinning egg and at his wife, completely puzzled.

"I could be wrong, but you all treat that pool like it���s also an entrance, like a door. You can enter and exit any time, but what if it's just an exit? You've said that you already tried various ways to make the entrance 'open' but it was useless."

"If it's just an exit, then it could only be linked to one or a few entrances, but I'm guessing that those entrances are all outside of Inferis."

"It could be", Odeti resumed her work, chopping the few left ingredients before dropping them all on a boiling pot of beef stew. "If there's a way in to Inferis, then wouldn't your past guesses about a way out of Inferis also exist?"

"Then why haven't we found it yet? After all this time, all the people who tried looking through the centuries…", Halvalt trailed off, resignedly.

Odeti poured a bit of the broth in a tiny bowl to taste, her tongue squirming while thinking of what it lacked. "Sometimes the more you look for something, the more it just doesn't want to be found", she said absent-mindedly, sprinkling a pinch more of salt to the broth before tasting again. "Maybe it's not just time yet. Maybe you're not the right person to be looking for it. Or maybe our ancestors meant for us to stay and live here forever in peace so there's no entrance leading to outside at all. Here, have a taste."

Raising the tiny bowl to Halvalt's lips after blowing on it a couple of times, Odeti anticipated the reactions of her husband as he tipped the bowl to his mouth.

"Delicious", Halvalt praises, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction.

"Really?" With her cheeks slightly reddening, Odeti turned to her pot to take two medium-sized serving of it. Praises, no matter how sincere or shallow, as long it came from someone you loved dearly, could make one happy, despite its simplicity.

Odeti put the bowls and few side dishes to the meal on a tray, before taking them to the dining table, with Halvalt following closely behind.

"There's no use thinking about it on an empty stomach. Come on, let's have lunch first", Odeti said, beckoning Halvalt to the seat beside her as she too, sat down to eat.