The meal was quiet for a bit. A small blessing as far as Enoki was concerned. Ze had already eaten half of the pancakes, cutting through all the layers and taking tall bites as the gods had intended. The number of times Enoki got into a fight with hir sister was lost to the ages. The heathen would eat one whole pancake at a time. Then go to the next layer.  If it wasn’t a crime it should have been. 

After that many pancakes, Enoki’s tongue now demanded a different flavor. So, ze switched to the fried meats. A mix of sausages with light pops of cheese and what tasted like something acidic. Maybe dried tomatoes? Or whatever passed for them here. Once ze finished one of those, on came something that looked like bacon but the fat was more swirled in the strips. It was just as crispy though with the fat melting away into nothing within hir mouth. After some satisfying crunches ze returned back to the nice and simple fruit, nearly knocking over the drink. 

“Oop!” 

Ze quickly grabbed it and looked at the strange liquid. It was a dark brown, but had a fruity smell. The other two were sipping away at it, so it was most likely safe. A quick sip left a very pleasant and smooth flavor; almost like bananas and a cola. Ze even felt a bit tingly after, like ze had an expresso or two.

“What is this?”

En’mat perked up, her cape flames slowly brightening. “Oh, this is a Tonic wine I created at my last trials. I took—”

“You got the Sunrise Wine.” Ul’ta interrupted, finishing her own small cup. “You’ll be energetic then pass out for a few hours.”

“I know I’m small but I promise, I don’t need a naptime.” As ze looked at the cup, debating more of it, En’mat slammed her hands on the table.

“Great Lady! I know this is unusual but we need Enoki awake to fully go over the quest.” 

Enoki glanced over to see the blue flames tinged with orange now. Meanwhile Ul’ta’s own flames were calm. After looking between the two, ze shrugged and downed the rest and started back on the food. The two elves just stared for a moment, not saying a word. 

“What? It tasted good and assuming it works, I trust En’mat. Not you.” Ze pointed at Ul’ta “You’re sneaky. But I trust her.” 

Enoki’s eyes met with En'mat’s. Hers shone a bit with a small worried smile. “Of course, of course you can trust me.”

“I know, which is why I need to give you this for a bit.” Enoki paused eating long enough to take out the book from hir backpack and slide it over to her side of the table. “What I need you to do is—”

“Yes?”

“Talk to the chef and get the recipes for the pancakes and compote here. Or whatever you guys call this dish?” Ze pointed to it, grinning. “I wanna make it later.”

The flames flickered a moment before flaring up, looking more like a cat’s angry tail than a cape now. “For creation's sake, you need to work on your quest!”

“Can’t quest on an empty stomach. And with the recipe I might not have one later.”

“There are other recipes!” She shoved the book back, nearly sending it to the floor. “You don’t need this one.”

“No two dishes are exactly the same! The chef has a twist on this one and it’s nice. It’s just a simple ask!” Ze picked up the book and tucked it safely under hir arm, pouting as ze took another bite of the heavenly confection.

Ul’ta gently rubbed her temple, her ears twitching in annoyance. “Are you telling me I could have just shoved this one in the kitchen and not wasted the one hundred gold coin serving of wine to safely knock hir out?”

“I mean. Maybe. But now I got to taste it and may I say my compliments to the brewer.” With that ze happily took a drink of water and kept going in. Everyone stayed quiet, waiting for Enoki to slow down.

Instead, Enoki suddenly dropped hir head into the plate. The Great Blaze Ul’ta smirked a bit. “Now. We can properly discuss how you will get out of whatever nonsense this human is trying to drag you into. Honestly, you are still young but you are 250 years old. You should know better than this by now. Chasing the fairy tales of other gods.”

“I just think we could learn from them, is all. It is our duty—” En’mat paused, hearing a snort from the plate. 

“Pfft. Doodie. . . ” Enoki was trying not to laugh and pretend to be asleep. 

If there was anyone in this world who grew up with hir, they wouldn’t be surprised by this. Anytime ze got toasted from wine, the giggles would bust out. This was no exception. Ze had been banking on the fact it wouldn’t do anything to hir at all. It looked like it did less but, well, not dying was different than no side effects. Maybe the gods wanted Enoki to be able to cut loose sometimes.

Or maybe they wanted a pre meal show.

In any case, ze sat up, a bit of the compote from earlier dripping off hir face. Ze grinned at the two elves. “Fooled ya! I’m wide awake!”

Ul’ta winced at the sudden shouting. “I can see that. Fine. At least drunk you’ll be more loose lipped. Now, what is it you want here in our lands?”

“Pff. I want that pancake recipe.” In the haze of the alcohol, it felt like everything was worth grinning at. Life was good. The world was good. There were going to be so many more flavors and foods to try. It was also fun to pretend to be more drunk than ze actually was. “I bet I will get to taste blue.”

En’mat shook her head as ze went and mumbled what things would have blue in it. “You can’t taste colors.”

“I bet the gods can. They want to eat cursed shit and stuff made by bugs.” Enoki tilted her head to the side. “But if they eat blue, would it just taste like the Great Cycle?”

Ul’ta’s seemed resigned to having to deal with all of this nonsense, her flame dying down significantly. “Fine. What do the Gods want then? You said something about eating cursed. . .  shit?”

Ze giggled. “You said shit.”

“What ze means, is that the gods need food created from blessed and cursed items. I haven't been told what ones yet, since ze was uncertain about me knowing all the information. But I’m certain Enoki will be taking the blessed items to purify the cursed ones.”

“Are you certain?”

“Well, no. And now you made hir drunk. But I don’t see what else it could be.” En’Mat looked back to Enoki who was playing with her silverware and balancing it on hir nose. “We could try asking hir what ze wants directly but I’m not certain we will get a clear answer.”

Ul’ta got up. “Fine. Ze is to stay on the grounds until we get a straight answer. Then we will decide. Ze could be a test to ensure we will not give into foolish demands.”

“Of course. We will retire to my chambers then.” She politely took her last bite before walking over to Enoki.

Enoki was giggling more. Ze was making sure to play it up but also this was just kinda fun. And it made the Great Lady look like a moron. 

As En’mat got close, ze leaned back and looked up. “Haha, you look like my mom right now. Carry me Mommy!”

With a sigh, she picked up the little shapeshifter and briskly walked out of the room. As soon as they started up the stairs she began muttering about the situation to herself as Enoki played with her hair. 

“I know she is an elder but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what is right. And I know better than she what the texts say, I have to correct her half the time. And of course the gods picked someone who makes dangerous and foolish choices that could result in hir death, leaving all of us dead.”

“And the gods dropped me out of the clouds.” Enoki said calmly, dropping the act for the moment.

“And the gods dropped you out—” En’mat stopped just outside a simple blue door, looking down. “Are you sober, already?”

“Oh I’m still toasted, but I was playin’ it up a bit. Kinda funny right? It wasn’t that much and I’m poison proof. It’s hilarious to me.” Ze snickered a little bit.

En’mat looked for a moment, and with a look of pure calm dropped hir onto the floor. “Get off your ass and get inside. I want a proper talk. You can’t treat this like a game.”

Ze tried not to laugh at the word ass. “Ok,” ze snorted. “I’m a lil tipsy still, but yeah. Not a game.”

Inside the room everything was simply decorated. The bed was larger than Enoki was used to, but not surprising. There was a desk in the corner, with quills and many papers that were used to track when barrels were to be rotated and tested. A shelf with holy texts and brewing studies. The final thing was one brilliant tapestry depicting a beautiful tree. It had crystalized rainbow leaves. Its trunk shimmered in gold and silver. The insects that were flitting about in the image had bodies like a bumblebee and wings like butterflies, no two were alike. A few were sitting on fire like flowers of all shades of blue, red, and orange.

“Woah. . .  pretty. Where is it?”

“In the center of the sacred garden. Behind several units of guards, wards, and trained beasts. That is where we will get the Heaven’s Tear Fruit and Honey you seek.” She lightly touched the tapestry. “I already have some ideas about what barrels we can use to make it and use it to purify the cursed items.”

Enoki nodded and carefully pulled out the list, looking at it for a moment. Looking at the other item; Bound Sinner’s Wood. “So, about that. I need something” Ze hesitated and waved hir hand a bit. “A bit specific for the barrel.”

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