The Name Struze - Part 1

Emmia walked forth excitedly. With an eager look on her face, she turned around to see grandpa and Ica following behind leisurely.

"C'mon," she urged, "we're going so slow."

"There's no rush, we have plenty of time," Julian smiled and Ica murmured his agreement.

"Fine," Emmia relented slowing her pace to match Julian's. She reached for his hand and grabbed it as the trio walked down the streets leading from the outskirts to the food district. The production district or as Mia put it, the building district, lay beyond it. The layout was situated like this so that all the people in the production district could get access to food easily after a hard day of work.

In this world, desk jobs no longer hold the majority of people captive. More importance was placed on practical jobs such as the production district where all sorts of magic were conducted. From processing animal parts, to making machinery, to producing medicines, etc.

As Julian was lost in thought at how the world had changed from the days of his youth, a loud growling sound could be heard. He paused and shifted his head to Ica who had mysteriously turned his head away from his neck. Julian grinned and pointed out, "You could've just said you were hungry."

"I just didn't want to ruin Mia's wish," Ica said softly.

"Nonsense, she needs to eat as well," Julian gestured towards Mia who was also looking away slightly embarrassed, while suspiciously holding her stomach.

Ica blinked, gave a faint smile, and gestured to be put down. Julian obliged and both twins started to walk ahead of him and started to banter.

"So excited that you forgot to mention eating?" Ica inquired.

"Yeah so?" Mia huffed. "Not like you mentioned it."

"I just did."

"When your stomach grumbled out loud."

"So did yours," Ica pointed out.

"No, it didn't," Emmia denied immediately.

"Yes, it did."

"Nope."

"Yes."

And then the conversation devolved into petty squabbling, which Julian watched with amusement. 'Well no matter what, kids will be kids.'

In the middle of the two-word conversation, Ica suddenly stopped and turned his head as if trying to find something. The group had already gone halfway through the food district, and Julian was just waiting for the kids to pick out something to eat.

"What're you trying to find Ica?" Julian asked curiously.

"I think he smells something good," Emmia answered for him.

Julian's interest was renewed again as the topic of smell came up once again. 'Smell huh, is his gift related to scent?' He noticed that while Ica was still searching while Emmia was just looking around curiously.

"Mia, is your nose as good as Icas?" Julian asked.

Mia shook her head. "Nope. Ica's nose is way better than mine grandpa. I only notice the smell when it's way close to me."

Julian nodded his head absentmindedly. 'Twins with different gifts? Hmm, how odd.' Usually, twins or even siblings had very similar gifts or at the least gifts of the same category. The fact that Emmia didn't have the same acute nose as Icarth made Julian doubt his initial thought of Ica having a scent-related gift.

"Found it," Ica said with a hint of excitement and pulled Julian towards a small lone stall tucked in between two bigger and busier restaurants. Emmia also followed, excited to taste good food in a while.

The stall named 'Feng's Foods', was

clean and well maintained. But compared to the busy restaurants next to it, it looked pitifully deserted with only a scarce number of people moving in and out.

A middle-aged man was manning the front counter. He had light brown skin, black hair, and a magnificent black beard. Sporting a label with the name Feng, greeted the trio with a slight accent, "Welcome to Feng's Foods, how may I help you, sir?"

"Hello, we will order in just a minute," Julian replied politely. He turned to the twins and asked, "so what do you guys want?"

To that Emmia turned towards Ica who was looking for the source of the heavenly smell earlier. It was then that Ica spotted an elderly man eating a steaming dish.

"That one gramps," Ica pointed.

Julian glanced at the elderly man's meal and turned to Feng and asked, "What's he having?"

"Ah, that's the Frittata Florentine," Feng replied after taking a look.

"Then we'd like to have 3 please."

"Coming right up," Feng said as he got to work. Julian and the twins stood to the side and decided to watch, while the elderly man too shifted his attention from his meal to the spectacle that was about to begin. Feng finally started to cook and what a scene it was.

Activating his gift, the environment around him came to life. The crackling sound of fire, the steaming sound of the ingredients, the movement of his ladle, and the crisp sound of his knife. As he went through these actions the air around him shimmered and danced about him. It seemed to bend to his will, envelop the ingredients when needed, control their flavour or spread their aroma, enhance the flame or dull it, and miraculously move the ingredients to perfectly cook them. This created a wonderful spectacle of art and flavour that spread throughout the stall entrancing the customers.

The previous old man chuckled, "that Feng boy never ceases to amaze."

And Julian couldn't help but nod in agreement. 'What a tremendous control of his gift,' he praised in his mind.

The twins were completely entranced by the performance. It was something that they had never seen before. And it was surely something that they would never forget.