Feast of fish

The grand hall of Red-water castle was filled with people. The room was wide enough that three bulky tables could be set side by side while keeping plenty of space in between each and about four times as long as it was wide. The tables were draped with alternating steel blue and dark red cloth to represent the Muraciers and the Staedlers who hosted the feast. Each of those had enough space around them to let almost fifty people sit without feeling crowded.

What space wasn't occupied by the tables was left open for socializing and dancing purposes. Before the feast truly began, people had been able to hang out in the vast room and discuss things between themselves while servants brought them wine. They would all return to that place after the meal was over because it was easier to drift from conversation to conversation that way instead of trying to overhear what was happening over on different tables.

The floors were covered in surprisingly soft pale wood, wherever Calla stepped felt like cloth, it didn't make a sound. She believed that walking on that floor barefoot would feel really nice. For now though, she had to keep her noble shoes, it would be embarrassing to be the only one going barefoot.

Calla was currently sat at the table of honor along with lord Aminui, the Staedlers and a few select nobles. Kaisla and Aza were at her sides, Kaisla because lord Aminui treated her like his own granddaughter and Aza because she was her sister. Calla wasn't sure she should let her come but her sister insisted that she wanted to see the feast so she had to let her follow her here. She would have stood out quite a bit with her usual clothes though so the other girls kindly lent her some of their own clothes to wear at the theater and the party. That way she wouldn't look like a lost servant they said.

Calla decided that it would be important to find her some noble looking clothes later so that she wouldn't feel embarrassed or out of place. Aza didn't seem to really mind standing out with usual clothes however, of course, she would be really happy to have expensive looking clothes and the looks of a noble but she didn't really care about how she looked as long as she got to experience and see everything.

On the other side of her, Kaisla looked exactly as usual. Calla thought she would put on a dress for the occasion but she didn't and just showed up in her armor like grandfather Aminui did. No one was bothered because it was typical of the Muraciers apparently. Calla would have liked to dodge the dress and high-heeled shoes as well but an armor was even worse so the dress remained her best option.

The table of honor being across from the other three big tables let her see everyone in the hall properly. There weren't even anyone sat across from her. In a way, that felt a bit lonely because she only had Aza and Kaisla with her but on the other hand, she couldn't be more thankful that no stranger was sat in talking distance from her.

All her other friends sat on the far left table, that one was dressed with the colors of the Muraciers, they all seemed to be having a lot of fun and talked happily with each other. They also sent waves of their hand her way often which made her smile and answer in kind. The knights brought by Lord Aminui as well as Cyril were also sat at the same table. She was impressed by the amount of food they all ingested, that table must have been served twice as much food as the others already.

The middle table was deep red to match the Staedlers, all the important nobles of the area were sat there. The closest to the table of honor they were, the more important they were which meant that the viscounts Rougefond and Balpoisson were sat closest to her. The end of their table was occupied by those that didn't fit on the rightmost table. There weren't enough noteworthy nobles in the immediate vicinity of the city after all so they couldn't fit a whole table by themselves.

The last table was half blue and half red. Everyone that didn't fit in the first two tables were sat there. There were local knights, important merchants, less important family members of the three ruling families and so on. Those were the most numerous and their table seemed the most crowded, no wonder they ended up over-spilling onto the next table.

After the tables was the open space she detailed earlier and then the far wall. The main gates leading into the hall were on that wall and two massive banners hung on either side of it from the ceiling.

One was the Muracier banner of course, Calla had been taught to recognize it at a glance since it was hers too now. A steel grey crenellated wall with a sword wrapped in white strings planted in the ground in front of it, the background of it all was steel blue to match the grey and white.

The one hung on the other side of the door was the Staedler one she assumed. It was on a deep red background of course and showed what she assumed was the stormy surface of the lake. There was something ominous emerging from all those waves and after asking Kaisla about it, she understood that they were big antlers and not some terrible creature from the deep.

Around those were a quite a few smaller banners but they were too many to all describe. The one that caught her eyes the most was the Balpoisson's one with the two fishes dancing together.

Behind her, the same wall of banners was repeated except for the doors which were smaller and led to the kitchens instead of outside. She wished so badly that she was in that kitchen instead of here right now. She would have felt much more at home there than here. She envied the many ladies stepping in and out of the kitchens to bring out the mountains of dishes necessary to fill all four tables. They all wore the servant's green clothes and a sweet smile as they placed their burdens on the tables and refilled the wine cups of anyone that needed it.

The wall on her left and the one on her right weren't symmetrical like the one in front and the one behind. One was almost only made out of massive windows with the shutters wide open to flood the hall with light. Later on once night fell, the shutters would be closed to keep the bugs out but for now, the light those tall windows provided were very useful.

The view outside wasn't that great however, all she could see was the narrow garden and then the castle walls growing towards the sky and blocking all sights. At least, it also stopped some of the fog crawling around the castle from getting in.

Opposite to all those windows was a wall of solid stone covered in tapestries and line with blooming flowers growing out of elongated pots. Calla appreciated that wall even if there were sometimes a sword or two hung above the flowers in between the tapestries. There were also many hangers and sconces ready to hold lights for when the windows wouldn't be enough anymore.

Those two walls extended six meters into the air before joining to form the burly stone arches making up the ceiling. Seven massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling above the tables and the open space to provide more light into the night but for now, they remained unlit. Even like that however, they were very interesting to look at, all of them were like works of art for Calla with all their intricate branching arms and swirling engravings. They were much prettier than the one she had back home and a lot bigger too.

Calla stopped looking up at the chandeliers when she felt the eyes of some nobles onto her and quickly looked back down at her plate. She felt slightly embarrassed that someone saw her being awed by that but relief won over it instead when they looked away.

With her now looking down, her eyes naturally wandered over the plates and the utensils.

The food at the table of honor was all served with and onto silverware. She had seen some of those back when she travelled to Bêtéclair with Emp but she still thought that eating with those was very special. She was used to her wooden utensils. Those she had back home were made by a neighbor from the village and had nothing special to them. Those had a bunch of tiny drawings carved into their handles and had that pretty metal sheen on them too.

She was very entertained with just running her thumb over the engravings and admiring the work of whatever artisan made them. She wondered if Emp could make some for their own use, she believed that Marcy and him should be good enough to do those things. They could make all those complicated things after all, why not tableware?

The other good thing about those silver utensils and plates was that the full set wasn't here on the table.

There were a lot of complicated rules about which fork and knife to use in what order and for what purpose. The same thing went for the spoons too. She had given her best to learn all of those rules on how a noble should eat at the table but she didn't really need them tonight. The count Staedler had decided to be kind and spared the whole room of this sort of meal.

He prepared a more open meal where everyone could eat with their fingers if they wanted to and reduced the amount of utensils to two forks and knives, one per serving, and a single spoon for the soup.

Maybe because the rules were so complicated, many nobles really enjoyed that kind of feast where they could just use their fingers and ask for servings after servings without worrying about the order in which they used their utensils. It didn't seem strange here either since it was apparently known that this was the kind of reception that the old Aminui favored the most. Calla was really thankful for that.

Even though most used their fingers, the minimal amount of utensils were still provided for the ladies like her who had no desire of getting their fingers all sticky. Kaisla and some other girls still used their fingers but Calla was thankful for the presence of the usual tools. She wouldn't risk staining her precious dress either thanks to those.

As for the food itself, there was a lot to see and taste here.

They brought out a soup first, it was made of plenty of vegetables and some of the fishes they caught in the lake. Calla thought it was quite good, she wasn't used to eating fish soup because there weren't that many fishes in the small river passing through Dark-glint so it was interesting to taste.

Just by the amount of vegetables in the soup, Calla could tell that the count Staedler had spent a lot of money on the feast. Those were much harder to get than just meat and dropping so many in just a soup was very special. By the taste she could tell that some of those were a bit old when they dropped them in the soup but it was easily forgivable. Everyone would drop their old vegetables in soup to avoid wasting them. It had a good taste of onions too and the fish was cooked rather well, she enjoyed that first dish.

Of course, if she had been the one making it, she would have done slightly differently. She felt that something was missing from it but just eating without working for once was something to enjoy in and of itself.

Most of the following servings were made up of fish too. It came skewered or wrapped up in lettuce covered in sauce or placed on a bed of small fruits matching the taste. Herbs and spices were scattered on the many dishes along with all sorts of fruits she really wanted to taste with each of the dishes.

Calla didn't have an accommodating stomach at all and couldn't eat all that much but she really wanted to taste it all. She was curious about all the different fishes and how they tasted when combined with the rest. She didn't know much about fish after all so tasting all of those would surely improve her own cooking abilities.

The meat of those fish had all these different colors and textures, each was accompanied by its very own taste and each seemed to have different ways to get along with the rest of the dish. One was better with a slightly sour fruit while another was just perfect with a mountain of sweet berries, then there was this one who disliked all the fruits and only tasted right with salt and spices.

There were even some fishes that weren't fish at all, the things on the skewers looked like bits of fleshy tubes and on that other plate were slices of hard leather but the taste of both was really unique and new for her. She tried many sort of dishes with the strange meat while asking Kaisla what they were. They were crab meat, squid, octopus and some venomanta meat, all had been fished in the lake. Calla didn't really know what any of those looked like but she liked how they tasted. The venomanta even left a lingering minty aftertaste in her mouth and she found the experience rather surprising and pleasant.

All those strange creature living in the water made some strange looking and often foul smelling dishes that weren't all that appetizing, it was often a bit awkward to eat. Some were quite chewy like trying to bite into a big vein, some felt rather slimy and the venomanta meat didn't only look like leather but also felt like leather to chew.

However, the taste was not at all matching their appearance and texture.

It was much better to taste them than to look at them. The cooks could probably have made it all look better in the plates but their presentation didn't remove anything from their taste. Maybe a better cooking method could be used to make it easier to eat and smell less as well but she didn't know enough about that kind of food to say for sure.

At least, she could feel the efforts and feelings that the cooks put into those. She could tell they cared about pleasing the guests and were proud of their work. She could sense that they were really trying to receive everyone warmly, they must have been having fun over there. She would have felt like them in their position but someone like Emp would have probably felt really lost instead.

She giggled while thinking about him. He would have been lost not only in the kitchen but in this hall as well. She knew he didn't really like fish so he would have felt really disappointed to be here in her stead. He might have not wanted to try anything just based on how they all looked or smelled. It was a good thing that she participated in the feast in his stead after all.

She would make sure he thanked her for this and if not, she would try to cook some of those things for herself. It looked really interesting to play around with in the kitchen after all, the texture was just too special to pass up.

Finally, there was one dish that wasn't made up of something fished from the lake. It was a meat dish cooked from the spoils of a large hunt. She heard from the count that all that meat came from just a single beast! It must have been enormous, there was enough for everyone in the great hall and the kitchen kept throwing more and more of it onto the tables. The taste was quite something too, the meat was naturally spicy hot and it felt like a ball of needles while going down her throat. It was well worth the strange sensation though because the taste was just amazing, she never had a better tasting piece of meat in her life.

"If you cooked it yourself, I'm sure it would be way better still." Her sister told her while wolfing down a big chunk of it.

That might be true if she could practice a bit with it. That whole meal was really interesting, she felt really inspired to try all sorts of new things now. She just wanted to go take a peek at the kitchen and see how the cooks worked, gain some new experience for herself.

Only her grandfather Aminui didn't really touch that meat. She leaned up to Kaisla's ear and asked her why he wasn't trying any.

"He doesn't really like drake meat."

Drake meat!

"So this came from a dragon?" She asked on a nervous tone.

"No, drakes and dragons aren't the same. Drakes are much smaller, weaker and much less intelligent than actual dragons. If it had been a dragon, the hunters would have been the meal for it, not the other way around. Still, Drakes aren't push overs either, an ordinary hunter can't hope to defeat one, even with a large team it's almost impossible without a squad of knights. Every part of a drake is really expensive, the guys that caught it must be rolling in gold right now, maybe a few of the knights here even participated."

Calla nodded while feeling impressed. These hunters must have been really talented then. They probably looked really scary, she had no desire to meet them but she sincerely thanked them in her mind for the meat.

She ate just a tiny bit of everything in order to taste it all but by the end, she was thoroughly filled and unable to place any more food into her mouth.

Feeling pleased about all those new tastes, she looked around the table once more to see how things were going for the others. Most were in the middle of more or less animated discussions and only a few were already done with the food. Most people had more of an appetite than her after all, she understood well that she was the strange one here.

Everything seemed to go well except that the count Staedler looked a bit nervous. He kept shooting glances at the old Aminui, maybe he was worried because of the face the old man was making. He didn't look amused at all and didn't touch the drake meat which was without a doubt the star of the feast. Calla knew that it wasn't because he disliked the feast though, he always looked slightly displeased like that. Emp almost always looked focused as well whatever was happening around him and whatever he was truly thinking.

In an attempt to relieve the host of his worries, she asked Kaisla to deliver a message to him for her.

She wanted him to know that even if she only had a small appetite, she really enjoyed the drake meat and that she had never eaten anything like it before. She also wanted him to know that she found the other dishes well cooked and interesting too. Her own opinion might not matter much to him but she asked Kaisla to tell him that she would praise the food she ate here to Emp. She wanted to thank him for the very special meal as she truly enjoyed it.

Kaisla heard her request and smilingly nodded in agreement before getting up to walk in between her grandfather and the count to express Calla's words. It would probably have been more effective if Calla told him herself after the meal was over but she didn't have the strength to do it.

She stared at the three while Kaisla relayed her words and she saw that they somehow made quite an impact. The count visibly relaxed which made her smile and in turn made him smile and relax even more when he saw it. The lips of Aminui curved upward slightly as well so she knew she did good. Now the host felt much better knowing he pleased his visitors and the atmosphere around the whole hall seemed to lighten and improve.

She already thought people seemed to enjoy themselves and have a good time but she was surprised to find out that those guys could somehow enjoy themselves much more than they already did. She had not expected that the mood of the host could impact the rest of the hall so much.

Kaisla walked back to her seat and gave Calla a big smile of her own as well.

"That was a great move just now. Grandfather was really happy about it."

"A great move?" Calla didn't get what Kaisla was saying at all.

Aza too could feel that the mood substantially improved around the hall and leaned in on her sister's shoulders to hear Kaisla's explanation.

"Staedler wasn't confident that this whole thing was enough to receive the Muraciers as he prepared it all in a hurry. He was getting worried because of how grandfather, I mean, lord Muracier looks too. He was afraid that this whole feast was a failure after all. When you sent me to express your gratitude, it changed everything.

You didn't have to tell him anything about it and could have just enjoyed the meal in silence but you felt the need to compliment him right away in front of the head of your house. Even if you sent an intermediary instead of going yourself, it made a big impact. You praised all the food and even told him he gave you a novel experience with the drake meat. Even better, you essentially told him that your husband, the next great general himself, would hear about it. How could he not be in high spirit after that?"

"Is it like that? I still don't understand what's really happening." Calla said with a frown.

She did understand what Kaisla just said but she felt like it didn't explain anything at all. She didn't get what was special at all in her simple sounding praise.

"It's because if the count was left feeling nervous for the whole feast, the people invited might have come to believe that the Muraciers and the Staedlers had a poor relationship. Of course, that isn't true but that sort of rumor can cause a whole lot of problems.

Even then though, as the old head of the house and a man with enormous powers on his shoulders, grand/ lord Muracier couldn't really say anything either. Anything he said could have enormous repercussions.

If he said he enjoyed the meal in front of everyone for example, people could take it that the Staedlers now have a strong alliance with us. In reverse, if he said that he doesn't like drake meat, the price of that beast's flesh might drop drastically and maybe worse, people might think that the count offended him somehow.

Lord Muracier has his hands tied here because whatever leaves his mouth about this feast will be blown out of proportion. High nobles like him usually show their appreciations with their expression, their demeanor and gestures but he's bad at that sort of thing.

Of the whole hall, you were probably the only person who could save the situation. Because of your intervention, the count felt much better and the way you fixed everything without being told to pleased grandfat/, I mean, the head. It made him smile slightly and that slight smile combined with your pure expression sealed the feast as a success into the count's head.

Thanks to this conclusion, he immediately turned much more jovial which pleases lord Muracier even more since he doesn't like stiff and tense atmospheres. Even if his face doesn't change, you can tell easily that he started enjoying himself a lot more too and so the whole hall feels better seeing that the two of them are having a good time.

I know you just wanted to praise the food you were given and maybe released a bit of the tension the count felt but you might have just saved the whole night. You had a positive impact on the crowd here and the nobles present will recognize that. You are making lord Muracier proud because you're already doing what he wanted you to do by bringing you to Highsteel. Whenever you make a good move like that, you do not only raise your own prestige and favorability but also the prestige of Emp, his grandson."

"All of that just for saying that she liked the meat and the fish? Wow, that's crazy." Aza commented, reflecting the thoughts of her sister.

She could barely understand that whole situation. How could a single person saying they liked the meal change the mood of an entire party for the better? She hadn't even noticed that things were tense, how could she have fixed the situation?

Aminui was proud of her for doing something she didn't know would have any sort of consequences. She wasn't certain if she should feel good about it or not, she didn't feel like she had done anything special and didn't think she deserved any sort of praise about this at all.

Still, saying that to Kaisla wouldn't serve any purpose for now so she kept her thoughts to herself. She would just think about this further once she was back on her own. Instead, she decided to bring Kaisla's attention on a strange habit of hers.

Calla pushed back her sister slightly in order to move herself and used Emp's confirmation gift to tell her what she had noticed. Thanks to the item, her voice was much louder than it normally would but still only enough for Kaisla and her sister to hear in the cacophony of the now very animated hall.

"I really don't mind if you call him grandfather in front of me Kaisla. It's more awkward if you keep correcting yourself all the time. I know it's not about Emp or me." Her voice weakened towards the end because it was getting very embarrassing to say but she still struggled to get all her thoughts out to Kaisla. "I heard about what Emp told you and I agree. You might not be my sister... But you're family to him and me... Is that okay?"

Her words got a rare blush from Kaisla which only served to embarrass Calla even more. Calla hid her face behind her hands while Aza chuckled. A smile crept up Kaisla's face in answer and she spoke softly.

"Alright, I understand, thank you Calla. Thank you so much. I didn't want to sound like I was trying to forcefully make myself one of your wed-sisters but I understand I was silly. I was never a concern to you at all. I've had this weight on my chest for a long time."

Calla opened one of her eyes to peek between her fingers, she was curious to know what Kaisla truly felt. Did she really have something weighting on her for some time? How did she not notice? The knight understood she wanted to hear more explained her thought calmly. She exuded an aura of slight relief and regret at the same time.

"I've been worried ever since grandfather showed up. Because you suddenly stopped asking me for advice at that point, I got afraid you thought I wanted to intimidate you using grandfather or something. I've been calling him like that since forever when in private and I felt like I was close enough with you all to let it out but I grew conscious of it right away.

I thought you saw it like an attack and it was never my intention so I did my best to call him lord. In the end though, I was just just foolish and I was overthinking things. But then, if it's not that, why did you stop asking me for advice?"

Calla frowned behind her hands. She never stopped asking for her advice, what was she talking about? She thought really hard about it and finally found the source of the misunderstanding. It was when she asked everyone what they thought about going to Highsteel! She didn't ask Kaisla because she already knew she would side for Aminui. She had noticed that Kaisla acted a bit strange back then but forgot to ask about it because so much happened. It was all her fault after all, she felt so bad. She had thought everything went back to normal a long time ago already. How could she not notice the worries of her friend?

"You didn't loose my trust at all." She whispered in the magic cuff. "That time, I was just certain you would tell me to go to Highsteel because your grandfather said to so I didn't bother asking you. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings and made you worry. I just wanted to hear some different ideas, I didn't think about anything complicated. I still took the opinion I was sure you would voice into account when I took my decision though. Please, let me know from now on if I create a misunderstanding like that. I just want everyone to get along."

"I'd hug you right now to show that I forgive you but now isn't the place for that." Kaisla told her warmly. "I'm really sorry too about worrying on my own. I should have just told you what was bothering me right away instead of keeping it to myself and getting stressed over nothing at all. You were right too, I would have definitely told you that it was best to go. I'm glad you still trust me because I like hanging out with you and the other girls. I'll try to be more open from now on, it's just that sometimes it's hard to remember you weren't born and raised around all those nobles, you don't see the world quite the same way as we do."

"Yay, now you're both friends again." Aza clapped once with a smile.

Calla shook her head in denial however.

"Not friends, family. I said it before."

Kaisla made a sweet smile while Aza burst out laughing and jumped onto the back of her sister to wrap an arm around her neck to shake her about jokingly.

"Oyoy! Aren't you forgetting that your real sister is right there beside you? Don't you forget I'm the one who held your hand everywhere you went when we were all small!"

Calla closed her eyes and leaned back onto her sister in contentment.

"Thank you for being there with me Aza."

"You're welcome sis." Was the heartfelt answer she received.

Calla still felt terrible about not understanding how Kaisla felt for all this time however. How unobservant could someone be? That evening, she really needed to put more efforts into feeling the mood of those around her. Those participating in the feast and Kaisla herself showed her that she was really not paying enough attention to everyone.

She didn't feel like she had always been like that but was she? Was it just because she was too nervous about everything that was happening to her that she became blind to how everyone else around her felt? She worried that she might be a bad friend and that the others were also troubled by something she didn't notice.