Book 2: Chapter 25: Former Strangers


    With a delicious taste lingering in my mouth and the campfire warming my skin, I beamed a smile at Corporal ws.


    “What took so long, you little scamp? We’ve already started...” I trailed off and pursed my lips, ring at the cage she dragged behind her. “ws...”


    She cocked her head, giving me a full-toothed grin.


    “Did you stop for a little snack of oysters on your way here?”


    She nced back at the open cage and the notably bare patch on one side.


    <em>Yes,</em> she chirped, her grin never disappearing.


    “You scoundrel! We have guests!”


    She bowed her head in shame, but slipped one paw into the cage and removed another oyster. With her head still bowed, she snicked it open with a w, slurped it into her mouth, then threw it over one shoulder, discarding the evidence.


    “You can apologize to our new friends here by helping me shuck the rest. Come on.”It took the dextrous otter and I little time to open both cages of oysters. When the first cage was almostplete, we found our first treasure. ws chirped to get my attention, and as I nced over, I caught the shine of an oyster slipping into her pocket.


    “Good girl,” I whispered, reaching over.


    She preened at my praise, leaning into the scratch I gave her.


    “Let’s open the rest. We might find more.”


    Her eyes gleamed, and we raced to shuck the remaining mollusks. It didn’t take me long to conclude that she was much faster than I was. Despite how deft I had be with my small knife, I was no match for the sharp ws of an oyster-munching machine.


    “A shame we didn’t find any more pearls...” I said to her as I ted up thest of the oysters.


    As if waiting for theint, mischief sparkled in her eyes. She put a paw in her pocket, and when she withdrew it, three little orbs reflected in the moonlight.


    “Three? From those two cages?”


    She radiated delight as she nodded.


    “Oh, you are the <em>best</em> girl.”


    I rubbed her all over and she leaned every which way, following my scratches as they moved. We turned to make our way back to the fire just in time for Maria to yell.


    “You’re a <em>what?</em>”


    “A royal,” Keith answered, straightening his back.


    “A royal!” she repeated. “Ares’s shield, did you know Keith is a royal, Fischer?”


    I smiled at her wide-eyed amazement.


    “They all have rather impressive backgrounds.”


    “You tter us,” Ellis said, not looking up from his pocketbook.


    “We <em>had </em>rather impressive backgrounds,” Theo corrected, smirking at Keith’s posture. “We left that behind to bemon fishermen.”


    I snorted.


    “And to raise some poor bloke to godhood.”


    “That too.”


    I set the oysters down next to my arrayed spices, shaking my head at how easily he agreed to such a ridiculous statement.


    “All right. I have a few different ideas for ways to prepare them, but I’mcking some necessary ingredients—I’ll just make one kind tonight and hope it works out. If the first batch sucks, I’ll have to try anotherbination.” I turned to Peter. “To address the elephant in the room, you’re probably a much better chef than I am, mate, but I’d still love to make a meal for you.”


    “I can help, even if you just want me to chop ingredients.”


    “Nonsense, mate—this is a wee feast for my soon-to-be-pals of the fishing club. Let me handle the food. I’m open to any critique you have afterward, though!”


    Before he could offer resistance, I started preparing the meal.


    ***


    “That smells divine, Fischer,” Theo said, sniffing the aroma in the air as I added a clumpy powder and dried herbs to the pot.


    “Will you tell us what it is already?” Maria demanded, her patience well and truly at its limits.


    I chuckled softly.


    “I suppose I can, now that it’s ready.” I nodded at the pot as I spooned the sauce within atop the arrayed oysters. “I’m attempting a bastardization of what my world calls a roux. Do you know what that is, Peter?”


    He raised an eyebrow, confusion clear on his face.


    “It’s one of the first things you learn to make when training in the royal kitchens, but it’s, uh, supposed to be a secret—a closely guarded one at that. Youbine fat and flour in equal parts as a thickening base, right?”


    “Right. What I’ve made here is like that, but I’ve used much less flour than beef tallow.” I put the tray of oysters on the fire, then covered them with another tray, sealing the heat in. “The sauce should be thick and packed with vor, especially after what I just added. Do you know what bechamel sauce is? Mornay?”


    “No.”


    I grinned.


    “Well, I’ll have to get some milk and cheese before I make oysters again, because I’m about to blow this world’s cuisine wide open.”


    Ellis’s eyes got a dangerous gleam and his fingers literally twitched around his pencil, but he managed to rein in his questions for another time.


    I lifted the cover and peered down at the oysters; small bubbles were forming at the sides. Peter leaned forward, smelling the rising vapors. He closed his eyes and let out a content sigh.


    “What spices did you add? The aroma is delightful.”


    “Chives and nutritional yeast.”


    He cocked his head.


    “I know what chives are, but what is nutritional yeast?”


    “That’s what I was cooking in that pan earlier. Heating yeast over a fire deactivates it and gives it a richer vor. That’s all this was. Beef tallow, flour, nutritional yeast, chives, and a sprinkle of salt.”


    With that, I lifted the cover from the oysters again. Bubbles roiled in each shell, and when I poked an oyster’s flesh with my tongs, it was firm. I fanned them with the tray, and before long, they were cool.


    “All right! They’re ready, gang!”


    Maria, Peter, Danny, Barry, and I each grabbed one, as did my animal pals—including Rocky, whose feigned indifference hadn’t returned since tasting his first oyster.


    I lifted one and poured the contents into my mouth. The vors exploded across my taste buds, and I made an involuntary noise. The tallow’s beefy taste was cut by the cheesy, nutty vor of the nutritional yeast. The chives danced along across every other ingredient, uplifting and enhancing them.


    I bit down into the oyster, and the vor-profile immediately shifted.


    As if the ocean’s essence was trapped within its flesh, juices rushed from the mollusk and joined the sauce it was cooked in. I could hear the ocean in my ears, gulls flying high above, and in my mind’s eye, I saw crashing waves beneath a midday sun. I chewed it slowly and lost all sense of self as the tastes consumed me.


    “Hestia’s weing hearth,” someone said dreamily, “what on Kallis was that?”


    I opened my eyes, and the vision of a sunny day melted away. The night was dark, lit only by the campfire’s flickering mes.


    It was Peter who had spoken, and he looked up at the moon, tears welling in his eyes.


    “I... I don’t...”


    He blinked rapidly, causing a tear to roll down his cheek.


    Danny reached over and put a hand on his shoulder, a look of awe stered on his face. He turned to Theo and Keith, who were looking confused, then Ellis, who was scribbling away in his notepad while watching everyone.


    “You need to try one.” Danny swallowed. “That... that was... wow.”


    “I’m repeating myself here,” Maria said, “but that was the tastiest thing I’ve ever eaten.”


    Barry and my animal pals nodded vigorously—including Rocky, I happily noted.


    I may have dismissed it for polite praise, but I’d eaten one too—I wholeheartedly agreed.


    “I’m d it worked out,” I replied, rubbing the back of my head as the memory of a sunlit ocean faded. “I wasn’t sure if the tallow would be too fatty or the flour would make it too—“


    “Perfection.” Peter took a deep breath before looking down from the moon and staring at me. “That was perfection.”


    I grinned.


    “That’s high praiseing from you, mate. Help yourself to another—there is plenty to go around.”


    Theo swallowed with red nostrils, and I raised an eyebrow at him.


    “Wanna try one, mate?”


    “I probably shouldn’t...”


    Sensing his weakness, I went for the jugr.


    “I mean, even if you were to <em>somehow </em>get sick, ascending seems to cure you of all illnesses and ailments.”


    Ellis leaned forward, and despite me dropping a knowledge bomb on him, the pencil in his hand was still. His eyessered in on me.


    “You’re sure? It cures all sickness?”


    “Positive, mate. Maria’s mum here was dying, but Barry saved her life by giving her juice from sugarcane I fertilized with fish.”


    Theo turned to Ellis.


    “He’s telling the truth.”


    Ellis swallowed.


    “W-well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try one...”


    I grinned like a fox in a chicken coop.


    “Exactly! Go on, just give <em>one </em>a try. It’d be a shame for them to go to waste.”


    I caught Maria smirking at my salesmanship, and I shot her a wink. Everyone reached for an oyster this time, and before I ate my own, I watched Theo, Keith, and Ellis for their reactions. All three men melted before the onught of vors, their bodies rxing and breath slowing. The hint of a tear formed in Ellis’s eye. I averted my gaze and slipped an oyster into my mouth.


    I was greeted by the same sensations asst time. They weren’t at all diminished by having experienced it once before, and I marveled at how vivid the ocean vista was in my mind’s eye. The makeshift roux had cooled and thickened slightly, but it wasn’t an unwee change—just different.


    “Why doesn’t your food taste this good, Peter?” Keith asked.


    “I’d like to say it’s because you’ve only eaten my campfire cooking,” he replied, then gestured at the fire before him. “But these were also cooked on a campfire, and they are the tastiest thing I’ve ever had...”


    “Is all his food this good?” Theo asked, ncing between Barry and Maria.


    The former nodded, thetter grimaced.


    “Unfortunately,” she said, winking at me. “It’s enough to give someone an inferiorityplex.”


    “Tell me about it...” Peter mumbled, staring down at the sand.


    Danny boomed augh and pped him on the back.


    “We’ll get you on the path of ascension and acquire you some cooking skills before you know it.”


    “He’s right, mate,” I said. “You’ll likely put my food to shame in no time at all, especially considering your background. I only learned to cook from watching videos.”


    “... videos? What are video—“


    “Don’t!” Barry and Maria both yelled, getting in the way of the obfuscating response already forming in my mind.


    Augh bubbled up from within me, and as it subsided, I let out a content sigh.


    “Don’t worry about it—I’m sure Barry can exin when he gives you the tourter.”


    “The tour?” Ellis asked, but I just shook my head.


    “You’ll have to wait and see—until then, we have a bunch more oysters...”


    ***


    “Thanks again, Fischer,” Barry said, nursing his overfull stomach. “Sorry we ate so much.”


    “Nonsense, mate.” Fischer gave him a wide grin. “Food is there to be eaten, and ws was all too happy to fetch another batch.”


    They’d swiftly eaten through the first two cages, and at seeing their readiness to continue eating, Fischer had sent the otter off to fetch more without hesitation.


    “Well, we’d better get going,” Barry said. “I’ve yet to show them around.”


    “Of course!” Fischer cast his gaze over the newly arrived fishermen. “It was really nice meeting you guys.”


    “It was,” Maria agreed, putting her arm around Fischer’s waist and hugging him right. “I’m excited to go fishing with you guys!”


    The five former strangers all said their goodbyes, and Barry led them away from the fire. Theo lingered a moment longer than the rest, watching Fischer and Maria walk toward the coast with their hands entwined.


    “Something wrong?” Barry asked, and Theo gave him a smile.


    “Nothing, Barry—I’m just d to see Fischer happy. So much of what we came here to do had moral questionability surrounding it, but seeing the man we n to raise to godhood living a normal life and experiencing love... it washed most of my hesitation away.”


    “You still feel hesitation, though?”


    Theo nodded.


    “Who wouldn’t? We don’t truly know what ascension entails and how it could impact him.”


    “When ites to Fischer,” Barry said, “I haven’t known him long, but I stopped doubting him what feels like a lifetime ago.”


    “I hope you’re right.”


    “To steal his words, Theo—you’re a good bloke. Just the fact that you consider such things lifts you in my eyes.”


    A silence stretched across the sand as Barry led them toward his house beneath the moonlit sky. When they reached his home, he led them around back and strode toward the shed.


    “You wish for us to sleep in a shed?” Keith asked.


    Without another word, Barry flung the door open. When the five men saw the contents of the shed and the inside of the now-disguised door, their dispositions shifted. Every eye went wide, and Ellis took an involuntary step forward, craning his neck.


    “You recognise what this is?” Barry asked.


    All nodded, and Ellis slipped forward. He put his hand against the inside of the door and put his eye so close to the gilding that it was almost touching.


    “An ancient building. Unbelievable... outstanding...”


    “I take it there are buildings like this in the capital?”


    “There are.” Ellis ran his hands along the golden edging, his aged fingers moving with grace. “They are strictly off-limits to the general public, but part of the inner library is made of such material. To think there was one like it out here... how long has it been here?”


    “Oh, you know—twenty hours or so.”


    Ellis’s hands froze. He whirled faster than a man of his age had any right moving, and his eyes drilled into Barry.


    “Theo. He tells the truth?”


    “He... he does...”


    “If you think that’s impressive...” Barry waggled his eyebrows and pointed down at the descending stairwell they hadn’t yet noticed. “Wait until you see the rest of it.”