Chapter 15: Aeresteia, please to meet you..

The Dining Hall smelled like absolute Heaven.

That is, had Heaven been filled to the brim with fried bacon and eggs. The salty, hearty smells reached my nostrils and I almost floated to my chair in the far left corner of the Dining Hall.

Hyseau left me to my own devices, as he saw his sister now dressed in a beige dress with a short skirt.

I checked her out, and started searching for familiar faces.

I got confronted with the fact that I am very bad with faces; there was no one that I recognised from the day before.

Valeneirea and Dyamaetreia where not anywhere to be found.

I sighed under my breath, feeling a bit dissappointed. I sat down on my chair, waiting for one of the cook's assistants to serve me breakfast.

A young boy who wore a robe resembling the one the cook was wearing arrived at my table. He presented me a small glass filled with a strong, sweet odour.

I looked at the boy.

''What is this?"

The boy told me that it was Ginger Juice. That it is very healthy and helped with the metabolism. I looked at him with a sour face. And told him that I wanted Fry Up.

He looked at me with a confused look on his face:

''What is Fry Up, my lord?''

I sighed, fighting the urge to smash my head on the table.

I ordered him to go to the kitchen and slice all the leftovers from yesterday into a big frying pan with as many eggs as he was able to fit in the pan.

The boy asked me if I was sure, because there was a lot left from the evening before.

"I WANT ALL THE LEFTOVERS, ALL THE MEAT, ALL THE.. WHATEVER ELSE IS LEFT, IN A PAN WITH FRIED EGGS!''

The boy took a step back in fear.

''All the eggs, and all the meat."

The boy did not know what to say and quickly walked towards the kitchen. I gave in to my hunger and rested my head on the table in frustration.

I was lying there for a minute in total silence, waiting for my greasy meal to arrive.

My peace and quiet was distrubed by a soft, lovely voice.

''Can I sit her, my lord?''

I looked up.

There was a girl leaning over me in A Servant's dress. She had golden blonde hair and light blue eyes with a slight hazel heterochromia around her irises.

She looked a bit like the Princess. But knowing that I am bad with faces, I thought nothing of it.

I am barely capable of keeping Hyseau and Hysta apart. And they are not even the same gender!

I sat up straight. And drank my ginger shot.

The ginger was like liquid fire in my mouth and throat when I swallowed it. The fiery taste made me warm up and gave me an energy boost.

I was feeling a lot better. Maybe the Cook's Assistant was not as incompetent as I had assumed. He must have known that I was cranky due to the hunger.

Maybe I will say sorry to him, provided that he did what I asked of him.

The girl sat down in front of me.

I looked into her blue eyes, she looked into my green eyes. I was looking into the eyes of someone who could have been a completely normal person in my world.

It was a light, but natural colour blue. It was very rare, and the hazel in her eyes combined perfectly with her long blonde hair. It felt like I was looking at an Angel.

We were sitting in utter silence. And I felt a bit of guilt, because I have a thing with the Princess. Or maybe it was because she reminded me of her.

I looked away toward the kitchen with maddening desire.

Another assistant arrived at the table, asking the blue eyed girl what she would like to eat.

''I'll have what he is having..''

I raised my eyebrows.

''Are you sure about that, miss..''

The girl became a bit shy and introduced herself as Aereistea.

She was appointed by Dya to serve as my guide around the palace today. She knew that I did not know the way yet. So she asked her faithful servant to help me with that.

I became a bit suspicious; Why did I not see her yesterday with Dya?

The smell of fried meat and eggs distracted me from that thought.

It appeared that there really was a lot of leftovers; in the pan was a wild assortiment of sausages, fried potatoes and eggs. There was blood sausage and fried tomatoes.

All sliced up together and fried up exactly as I had asked of the boy. I started to feel really guilty.

And offered him my apologies for my outburst.

''There is no need for apologies, my lord.

I am glad that I was able to prepare what you asked of me.''

I felt a bit better now that I apologised to him.

Aereistea looked into the pan with big eyes, and asked the assistant if he could give her some.

The assistant began to stammer and left us the pan on our table, with the wooden spoon still in the pan.

''It seems like we will have to serve ourselves, Heiro.''

I had not told her my name, but then again, everybody knows my name by now.

The hunger overwhelmed any other feelings I felt.

And scraped almost half of the pan on my plate.

''Are you sure you want to eat this, Aereistea?''

She smiled politely and told me that she wanted the same amount that I had on my plate, no discussions.

I squinted my eyes, and shoved a tower of fried meat, eggs and potatoes on her plate. She looked at it in a longing manner.

She grabbed her fork and said:

''Let's eat!''

I was way ahead of her, eating a spoon full of fried eggs with sausage in one bite. And burning the inside of my mouth on a piece of baked tomato.

I got tears in my eyes. Aereistea poured me a glass of water from a pitcher and passed it to me. I gulped down the water, extinguising the heat in my mouth.

I thanked her. She was now almost halfway through her plate; she really is a big eater!

Not allowing my now blistered mouth from denying me food and a potential principle based victory. I started to pick up the speed.

I tore off a piece of bread and filled it with Fry Up. Aereistea followed my guiding example and made herself a sandwich which was dripping with grease.

I ate as fast as I could, keeping eye contact with the blonde servant girl. Who was not letting up either!

We both finished our plates roughly at the same time. And I poked into the pan with my fork. Taking hold of a blood sausage.

Aereistea did the same, she had a sausage which resembled an andouillette; a sausage filled with fried intestines.

I looked at the girl who was keeping eye contact with me.

"Are you sure you wanna eat that?''

I said while taking a bite from my black sausage.

She took a big bite, filling her mouth with pork intenstines.

I grinned and rammed an intestine sausage on my fork, taking a big bite. Causing it to burst in my mouth, filling it with fried pig guts.

I chewed and took my knife to cut up the bigger pieces in the pan.

The pan was now an absolute culinary catastrophe; there was a quarter left, with the tomatoes and potatoes making up the main bulk of the leftovers.

I divided the salty, fatty goodness into roughly equal halves. And dug in with my spoon.

Aereistea grabbed hers and we emptied out the pan until there was nothing left!

I threw my utensils into the pan and leaned back in absolute bliss.

Aereistea sighed deeply, and made a tower of used plates and cutlery.

''I really needed that, hot damn.''

Aereistea laughed loudly, attracting a lot of attention from onlookers.

Who were probably annoyed by our feeding frenzy. She put her head down a bit, and the people returned to their simple meals.

''Thanks for the food, Heiro. You can call me Areis.''