In the Taverin

The boys made their way through the crowd and by the road. When they arrived on the other side, they walked up the taverin's small stairs and waited on the porch.

The farmer was stunned for a few seconds as he peered through the glass window on the door.

What he saw, everything was fuzzy, but he could tell a lot of people were eating, drinking, and talking.

"Woah..." he said, then exclaimed, "Wait!"

He opened and hurried through the door, saying, "Popped! I got the eggs!"

The customers looked at him, and some began greeting him with warm pleasantries.

"R'Lo'e, welcome back!"

"Welcome, boys!"

"Oooh, are those the deviled eggs you're carrying?!"

"Hey, I can smell them from here!" someone exclaimed as he stood up to check.

"Those are your eggs!"

"Oh," he murmured as he looked at his plate.

"Hahahahaha!" many men and women laughed all together.

At the kitchen counter, everybody heard a manlier and louder laugh, where a large, fit-body man, wearing a white apron, was standing.

"Welcome back, R'Lo'e!" he said when he spotted the farmer.

The calls drew the young boy's attention to R'Lo'e, who then moved to the kitchen counter table and deposited the basket. And the young boy went after him.

"I'm sorry, Popped, for being late," R'Lo'e said, heartbroken.

Popped checked inside the basket and saw the deviled eggs and a chick.

"You were never late, R'Lo'e. You did a terrific job!" he smiled, then nodded, "Thank you."

R'Lo'e returned the smile and added, "Oh, yeah! I need the eye drops."

He hurried to his side, waving at the customers and greeting some of them, and went upstairs swiftly.

Popped then proceeded to the basket to begin his work. He scooped up the chick and set it down on the table. He took and put the eggs in the sink while wearing his gloves.

While doing so, he noticed the young boy standing in front of him, looking around.

"Why don't you sit down, boy. R'Lo'e must be getting the eye drops for you," he was concerned.

"Thank you," the young boy replied as he sat down on the floor, adding, "He said it'll help fix my eyes."

"Uhh," Popped remarked, looking over the table, "Wait, no chairs?"

He noticed the stools and added, "Oh, you can sit on one of these chairs."

"Oh, thank you," the young boy said as he sat on a stool.

When all of the eggs were in the sink, the water began to boil and steam.

Popped kneeled and tinkered beneath the sink, where the water began to drain slowly. He got to his feet and turned on the water. Then he turned to inspect the walled oven.

"So what happened to your eye? Did you rub it with dirty hands?" he asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure what happened exactly, but when I was in the dark with R'Lo'e, a light appeared out of nowhere near my face, then he shouted and hit something, and my eye was impacted, and everything went dark again," the young boy answered.

"Hmmmmm," Popped thought for a moment, then looked at the thirteen-hour clock and remarked, "You must have encountered the Hanging Star Spider."

"Oh, yeah," the young boy recalled and said, "R'Lo'e did say it was a spider."

"Or the Woowoowa."

"Hm?" the young boy was perplexed when he heard its name.

"Ahh, those two normally come out this time of night to prepare for hunting," Popped stated while taking some of the eggs from the sink and placing them on a clean, dry towel to dry and cool off.

R'Lo'e then went down the stairs with the item and approached the young boy.

"Let me handle your head for a moment," R'Lo'e asked.

"Sure," the young boy answered.

R'Lo'e sat alongside him and drew the young boy's chair closer to him, holding his head and laying it on his legs so he could easily drop the liquid into his eye.

Popped got his final ingredient ready for his main meals to be done and served while R'Lo'e was treating the young boy's eyes. He arranged a hand towel and four complied hand towels on the table in various locations.

With his arms stretched apart, he proceeded to the walled oven and grabbed a huge round bowl with different delectable meals. And the garnishes were both lovely and proportionate.

The bowl was heavy, but he carried it with ease because of his strong arms.

The hungry customers heard a loud thud when Popped placed it on the hand towel.

Everyone turned to gaze at the hot, delicious food.

The fragrance and look of the cuisine had the customers gulping, moistening their lips, and drooling.

Popped removed his gloves and washed his hands. Then he took the eggs from the sink, placing them around the food. And then he took two eggs from the towel, punctured two large holes in them, and poured the fluids all over the food.

A cascade of gleaming white and golden cream was falling.

Popped made certain that the sauce covered the food that required it.

To top it all off, he crushed the eggshells in the center of the bowl, where there was a massive portion of a meaty dish, and exclaimed, "Table one, it's ready!"

"Yeeees!" exclaimed a man, leaping from his seat with his arms raised.

His tablemates chuckled, and some of them were holding their laughter. Popped laughed as well, and the man continued, embarrassed, "I mean, we're coming to get it."

Table one had three people stand up. Each of them took the hand towels and brought the bowl to their respective table.

"Thank you, Popped," one of them said.

"You are welcome, Jys'Mierr," he added with a nod and a smile.

All four of them went to return the towels after placing the bowl on their table. And Popped worked on the second bowl for the second table as they begun eating.

R'Lo'e had completed treating the young boy's eye, and his eye appeared to be returning to normal. But the hemorrhage was still present, and his eye was barely squinting.

"Done," R'Lo'e said, letting go of his hands from the young boy's face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you can get up now."

The young boy got up from R'Lo'e's legs and said with a smile, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," R'Lo'e said but then paused, looking conflicted.

But his attention changed when he saw a chick on the table. The chick was having a difficult decision about whether to jump or not from the edge of the table.

The young boy then smelled and looked at the foods that Popped was preparing and serving to the customers. And Popped saw the young boy's eye, concerned, but he didn't say anything.

R'Lo'e put the eye drops in his pocket and said, "A deviled chick."

He went to it and grabbed it with his two hands. He continued, "It must've hatched," and went to the exit.

Outside the taverin, the kingdom had no public lights because it was illuminated by the myriad lambent lights above. The illumination was enough and appealing to allow the people to see clearly and call it a night.

R'Lo'e set the chick down in front of their house and stood back to watch it go toward the wall. He lingered for a bit to see the chick safely go.

Everyone who was about to cross the chick's path came to a stop and gave way.

When a man was walking alongside the wall, he came across the chick and saw it bump itself off the wall. He took the chick with him and walked into the wall.

From what R'Lo'e saw, he smiled and entered back into the taverin.

In the taverin, Popped noticed the young boy staring at the food as he finished the third bowl.

"Don't worry, boy, you'll receive a bowl after this," he said.

"Wait," the young boy remarked, checking his pocket, "I don't have anything to give you back."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"You're going to give me something, so I'll give you something in return as my thanks."

"Give me something as your thanks, huh?" Popped removed a small bowl of delectable food from the brick oven and said, "You don't have to give me something. Your enjoyment is your thankfulness to me."

The young boy gently grinned as he gazed at the food.

"Thank you," he said to Popped, "your food looks delicious, and I can't wait to eat it."

"You're welcome, and enjoy," Popped said as he handed over a wooden spoon and fork.

The young boy took them and looked at them, conflicted.

R'Lo'e then appeared and sat by the young boy. When he saw the young boy with his dinner, he exclaimed, "Woah, that looks really good," and asked his father, "Popped, can I get one too?"

"Table three! Yours is ready!" Popped said, continuing, "Sure thing, R'Lo'e."

The young boy had not tasted his dinner yet, and when he heard R'Lo'e order, he observed him while he waited for his food.

R'Lo'e looked and wondered at the young boy who was staring at him and then at his steaming hot food.

When R'Lo'e was served, he thanked Popped as he took the spoon and fork from the table. Although the food was hot, R'Lo'e started eating. He scooped a piece of the food and blew at it.

The young boy continued to stare, and his stare prompted R'Lo'e to ask.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, there's something wrong," the young boy said, raising his spoon and fork and asking, "How'd you use these?"

Somewhere in the castle, a knight sprinted toward a door in a hallway decorated in black and white with grand decorations.

The door opened by itself before he knocked.

His body jerked out of the abrupt fear, and he began to breathe heavily.

In front of him stood a lovely woman with a frigid expression in a dark room.

Her eyes squinted from the bright lights outside, and she wore long, oversized pajamas.

"Why are you here?" she said coldly.

The knight placed his hand on his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Right Commander Ourlena, but we have a situation that we have never had in the history of Gravedom: our birds have reported that someone who is not a Graveer is inside the kingdom," he said while calming.

She didn't answer right away, and their stares locked for almost a minute. Her eyes were impassive and difficult to read, but the knight's eyes were tense.

"Do it tomorrow," she said, closing the door.

He put his hands on his hips and slowly turned around.

He looked contemplative as if he didn't know what to do next. So he gazed around, thinking, but nothing came to him.

He exhaled deeply and walked away from the scene.