En’mat lightly kicked Enoki under the table as she took her drink. When the drink hit Enoki’s lips, ze could taste the sweetness of clover honey tingled with the light back flavor of cacao beans and strawberries. Despite the liquid nature of the wine, it felt as if it left a thick coating of the mingled flavors as it went down hir throat. Like drinking a perfect milkshake. The normal tang of the alcohol couldn’t even be detected.

No wonder most humans who drank this stuff got lost in the elven parties for months. 

As ze set the goblet down, Enoki saw everyone was looking at hir now. Ze cleared hir throat a bit as ze looked to En’mat for guidance.

“Time for you to make a toast. And maybe a blessing.” She whispered softly.

Enoki slowly stood up on hir chair, knowing that no one would see hir otherwise. As ze looked at the entire dining hall, this felt like every time ze had to stand in front of hir team at the old box store. Public speaking was never hir strong suit, which made the team grateful because it meant meetings were short and sweet and never something that could have been an email or text message. Hell, part of the reason ze started the vlog that half landed hir on Nosh was the fact that Enoki was trying to overcome hir fear of public speaking and judgement. 

Something ze learned to do by creating a vloger personality.

“Hello everyone! It is so great to see you here today.” On came the smile as ze pretended the camera was in the back of the room. The audience wasn’t in the room. It was online. There were chat comments on  a screen somewhere with a mod or two keeping folks polite.

“Now I know we are all super excited to celebrate En’mat’s time away from the temple, but first we need to go into the history of why we are here today.” Wait. Shit. No. That was a line from when Enoki was going into the history of a dish.

Daikon, for better or worse, was trying to be supportive as he gave a light pound on the table. “Here here! A tale! Give us the tale!”

En’mat simply sipped her wine, as if it would help hide the fact she was part of this group. Enoki noticed the slight shift in her seating.

“This isn’t the first time the gods have asked for help like mine. The great cycle has bestowed great gifts upon others like myself to help with their tasks. Traveling the world to find blessed and cursed items alike for a special purpose.” Enoki’s chest felt like it was pounding. If ze wasn’t careful it might look like it for a moment, with hir shapeshifting. 

En’mat looked at Enoki and seemed to take some pity. “Did the others succeed?”

The question shook Enoki’s mind loose for a moment. “Why yes, well. Sort of. As we know, mortals are hardly perfect. And so they have had some minor failures and some big successes. As for me?” 

Enoki turned to En’mat and smiled, holding out a hand. “I know I succeeded not just because of the gifts the gods gave me, but the gifts that are my friends. En’mat whose sense of right will override my nonsense.”

As En’mat slowly rose, Enoki turned hir attention to Daikon. “And Skull Drinker, whose trust and fearlessness helps me past things I can’t get beyond on my own.” 

Daikon happily took hir hand and stood up, sending his own chair backwards. “Here here! And Enoki gives us both second chances. Just as your great cycle does!”

“Ze does.” En’mat’s gentle voice spoke up, looking towards her cousin who had managed to stay in his brown leather hunters outfit. “And leads to new paths I wouldn’t have otherwise thought of. And see old ones I thought were gone forever.”

Enoki took a deep breath and let it out. “While we may never be able to tell our full tale, we are glad for your support. And so, I ask the gods, the universe, our friends, and the world to bless us and this feast. May we all be successful in this grand quest of the gods as I travel with my flock.”

With those words spoken, the candles all around lit up with blue flames. Suddenly the flames left the candles and flew around the trio, spinning faster and faster. Multiplying and changing form into what looked like a million blue burning feathers before bursting outward. All of the elves looked around in amazement as Enoki looked at hir two companions. 

“That is new.” Enoki whispered, feeling a bit in awe.

Daikon looked around a moment. “You set things on fire in that void. And for the dinner blessings.”

“Not like this.” En’mat whispered back, looking at her hand. “And not leaving marks like this.”

Daikon held his own hand in front of Enoki’s gaze. She could see the faint blue and orange outline of a feather. “It’s a rune mark but not like one my people get.”

Hir voice was barely audible. “Find your flock…” Enoki looked between them as ze slowly sat down. The elves were still distracted but the servants were starting to bring out food. “Let’s talk about this later. I want to have this conversation in private.”

En’mat sighed. “Of course you forgot a direction from the gods.”

“I didn’t forget, it wasn’t clear. There is a big difference.” Enoki got quiet as food arrived. 

Placed before hir was a beautiful white and black plate piled high with something that looked like mashed and whipped poi, with a savory smelling brown gravy. Next to it was a bright green, sort of belly meat, Enoki guessed based on the ribbons of fat running through it. It was cut thick and coated in a sweet smelling, sticky, clear glaze. Next to it were some red and orange mini gourds. The skin looked like an acorn squash, but the shape was closer to an apple sized butternut squash. The server quickly cut them open and put a pat of what looked like fresh butter mixed with those spicy pepper flakes from the first night Enoki had been to Nosh.

Ze looked to En’mat to check. She gave a short nod just as some small square rolls were placed in a basket next to them. “Finally! Thank you.” 

Without another thought ze started quickly taking a bite of each food on the plate on its own. The mashed and whipped poi? Tasted more like a mashed sweet carrot, with some saltiness and something akin to a bit of honey mixed in. With the gravy added, the flavors shifted to a salty sweet balance. The gravy didn’t taste like it came from meat, but from cooked down mushrooms and possibly onion and peppers.It had the tiniest pop of heat at the end. 

The belly meat was what Enoki expected. It had the same texture and melt in your mouth fatty goodness of good Korean pan fried pork belly. A mixture of something like fermented soy with that sweetness of sugar mixed in to create the glaze. Possibly a brown sugar with a heavier mix of molasses? Enoki wasn’t sure since some of the flavors didn’t quite match the ones back home. The flavor of the meat itself felt more like beef. Adding a bit of richness and savoriness to the dish.

Last but not least, the vegetables. Enoki was expecting the gourds to be sweet like the ones back home. Especially with how sweet the elves seemed to like their own meals. Instead, there was a bitterness similar to brussel sprouts. Infact, as Enoki cut into the flesh of what ze thought was a gourd, it revealed itself to instead be a flowerbud. As ze took another bite, a strong spicy flavor rose up into hir head. And sank down into Enoki’s stomach. This made sense given the flowers weren’t made to be eaten by animals. Many plants produce heat and bitter flavors to drive off the animals that would otherwise eat them. But once Enoki got to a piece with the butter, the bitterness disappeared into a salty and savory flavor that would challenge most steaks. 

Enoki may have spent the last several days dealing with bandits, religious fanatics, trees with daddy issues, and sap that made you see the horrors of the universe, and falling far too much into holes and out of the sky… 

But at least the food was good.

A few more bites from each and Enoki started breaking out the rolls, putting the food on it to make mini sandwiches and enjoy all of the flavors together. Daikon looked over at Enoki and started to copy hir, sticking mostly to the vegetables on his plate. “That looks good.”

“It is. En’mat, you should try this.”

“We are supposed to eat them separately.” En’mat watched the two for a moment before getting her own roll, using it to mop up the various juices. “And you use the rolls for this.”

Enoki paused and looked around. Thankfully no one else had noticed. But it was already made. Ze quickly took a bite and smiled. “I will do as you all do in a second. I already made this one.”

“Dai-... Bandit. Tell hir to stop it.” En’mat hissed. “Or else.”

“Or else what?” Daikon grinned. “You’ll hit me?”

“No you pervert. I’ll fight Enoki and won’t let you join in.” She smirked at that. Confident that would gain his help.

“Ah, but then I get to watch two brilliant fighters. Ze wasn’t the only one that caught my eye that day. Just my heart.” As he spoke he handed a plain roll to Enoki, taking what was left of hir sandwich. 

“Awwww…” Enoki looked up, trying to give hir best puppy dog eyes.

Daikon moved the meat to hir plate. “Here, I don’t eat much meat myself. It tastes too savory to me. And I, the horrible bandit, will be the bad example if anyone asks.”

And with that, Enoki watched as Daikon ate the last of what had to be the best sandwich ze made in ages.