Curry Glutton

For a moment the place was quiet after Yvonne's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten since what seemed like the previous evening, afterall she arrived here through Moirai's teleportation in the day, in the depth of the afternoon for that matter, and that didn't make much sense to her. Nothing really did since she had been here. She thought she had been teleported to another part of the world, but couldn't tell much given the multiple races here. She hated not being able to tell much, and now this situation.

"If you're hungry I'd suggest you ditch the girls and come with us Yvonne," Moirai said with a smile in his face mostly directed at Imogen. Imogen scuffed.

"E-yep!" Yvonne stepped aside from Yvonne and went towards Moirai.

"Now Moirai, no need to sound naughty. Imogen, Yui, Cheryl you all can come along. Xyelia would you please ca the rest of the ladies training behind, you all have done enough for today. Lemme introduce our newest member. But before that, lunch!"

Xyelia turned around and headed back into the woods while the other girls followed master Gabi and Moirai. Yui and Imogen were whispering to themselves, with Yvonne hearing whispers on how they planned to prank Moirai in the evening over dinner, which made her chuckle.

"I can join in the cooking you know, I'm a pretty good cook. I help out in my parents' restaurant!"

Master Gabi stopped and looked at Yvonne's face. He then smiled weakly.

"Well I don't doubt your cooking talents, I already know that much about you afterall."

"You do?" Yvonne seemed surprised at the revelation.

"Moirai here took quite the time to understand you before attempting to approach you. He also suspected you had a magical guide of sorts but couldn't quite know who it was. Almost like he took a liking to you."

"Oh!" Yvonne looked at Moirai suspiciously. He turned his face away, looking flushed.

"That's not it baban. I just had to figure her out properly before approaching her. Girls can be unpredictable just like the ones we have here." Moirai tried defending himself, but that only seemed to irk the other girls.

"I'd call that stalking Moirai, I'd have punched a hole in you!" Imogen said with a stern, cat-like no nonsense face which made Moirai shiver.

"Haha, I did warn you Moirai that you were taking too much time. Imogen would have returned long ago, but it took a Renkinokus' attack to get you pumped up. It was only because Imogen herself had an important mission elsewhere, and she only just returned last week."

"Oh, and what mission kept you yourself out so long eh Imo?

"That's between me and baban!" Imogen's mood was shifting from playfulness to seriousness, but Moirai somehow misread that.

"Ya, o'course. You being the sloppy on…" Imogen's face quickly put on a death stare towards Moirai.

"Okay let's head to lunch. I seem to have contracted Yvonne's hunger myself." Moirai folded his arms behind his head and led the way into the Manor. Yvonne looked at him with wonder as the rest of them followed.

They entered a large hall in the building. There was a long high table about ten meters in length and fifteen round tables in the space of the hall, each with a capacity to take five people. The high table had a maximum capacity of fourteen, with one person each on the sides and the other length empty and facing the rest of the hall.

Some children and teenagers, few around the age of Yvonne were already seated and waiting to start eating. Yvonne noticed an adult, a man among the children. He looked in his mid twenties. The hall smelt of both good food and sweaty people. The combined odor made Yvonne look around, wondering if the ventilation in the hall was good enough. Others seemed used to their combined smells to bother.

"You'll be introduced over dinner once baban talks to you properly first. Ev'ry one here's too concerned about filling their empty stomachs to care about a new mate, so join me at my table and let's eat." Moirai noticed Imogen and Yui looking at him from their table.

"Uhm, I'm sure the girls don't approve. I'd rather not get on their bad side than yours early on."

"Common, just this meal. They'll have you as from dinner. Please?"

Yvonne sighed. "Ok then. But you must tell me why you spent so long stalking me, and what all these're about."

"Ok."

They both sat at an empty table. Moirai served Yvonne some hot potato curry and put a plate of dish sauce beside her curry bowl. He himself took three slices of toast and a bowl of curry.

"That's quite the appetite, and cuisine." Yvonne looked at her serving, analyzing it. She put a leaf of thyme on the curry and another on the fish sauce.

"Well, I haven't eaten at all today. And yeah, I have quite the appetite," Moirai said while eating his curry. He then took a big chunk of his toast. Yvonne smiled at his gluttony, remembering her junior brother Clement.