-“To you be the glory!” Soren said to finish the prayer before starting the evening meal. “Och! At long last old me has a chance to eat with my Coz and my Neph. My boozness at the castle took too much time, I tell you that! Ahhh… Honeybun, why do you even eat at a tavern when your own cooking is divine?”

-“I cannot argue with you Soren!” Rowen was cheerful and full of energy as if he had not walked the four previous days. “But neither can you about the pleasure of eating where there are minstrels. The guy wearing all those feathers really did a good rooster.”

Mayen felt delighted to sit in such a large group around the dining table; sharing with many people was frequent in Gimvault where everyone knew each other and frequently invited or received invitation. This table was of regular wood so not to wear too quickly the one made with rosewood in the other room. Some of the food was normal, such as garlic bread and potatoes with some butter to melt like the fat of a sausage. Water as well as some regular wine could be poured in his glass should he want to. Cheese was there as well, and he saw the maidservants actually eat it with the bread. Olicia did something similar to him, melting the cheese on the potato. The round and middle-aged maid who had informed Soren of the runner’s message seemed to indulge in the butter, adding some more the already buttered garlic bread.

Other parts of the meal were new to him, and a bit troubling. Roasted pig tongues were not common in Gimvault and not simply because there the inhabitants did not herd pigs, but mostly to the simple truth it was both expansive and uncommon. Just by looking at the big bowl, at least five pigs had been killed. It did help in a psychological way that the tongues were cut in cubes, otherwise seeing the entire body part in a bowl of vinegar would have been even more repulsive. His father tried it, complimented on the vinegar’s sourness; obviously the texture made him think twice about tasting it again and left half of the cube on the edge of his plate.