The meat fondue was kind of fun—Bobbi knew she would have enjoyed it more if she hadn’t been so preoccupied by Dragon’s stated intention to marry her. The slices of meat were rich and flavorful and the broth was tasty, as was the bullah bulb stew she and Keelah had made.
She did notice enough to make mental notes for her paper—if she ever got to write it. One thing that was very noticeable was the fact that every single course had some kind of meat in it. There was no salad of any kind. Any vegetables or fruits were clearly meant only for garnish.
All of the lovely dark red geezer rosettes, which Keelah had so painstakingly made, were mostly ignored by the diners. Bobbi tasted hers and found it delicious, though—a mixture of roasted apple and fresh mango with notes of cinnamon and cloves. She noticed that Dragon ate his as well. In fact, he was eating all of the vegetable and fruit garnishes that came on the sides of the plate with each course, which was rather surprising. When she asked him about it, he nodded gravely.
“I’ve always eaten all the fruit and vegetable sides, even though most are just for decoration,” he told Bobbi. “When my mother was reading about how to raise mammalians, she learned that it’s important for us to eat more than just meat. The way she raised me, I had to eat vegetables and fruits first before I was allowed any meat at mealtime.”
“That’s really interesting,” Bobbi said, meaning it. She had to admit that Res. Tizlah had been a good mom to the foundling Kindred she and her husband had adopted. Too bad she couldn’t see the explosive tension between Dragon and Zerlix now.
Speaking of Zerlix, the sadistic Saurian mostly kept his eyes on his plate, though he did speak a little to Keelah, who was sitting beside him, looking radiantly happy. Bobbi also noticed his yellow eyes resting speculatively on the form of Komendant Vizlar, as though he was trying to gauge his father’s mood. The main thing was, he didn’t look at Bobbi too much, which suited her just fine.
Maybe he’ll forget about me now that his mom scolded him in the storeroom, she thought hopefully. Maybe he’ll realize how serious Dragon is about keeping me and just give up.
It didn’t seem likely that she could lose her Saurian stalker that easily, but a girl could hope, right?
After the fondue course was cleared away, they were each served a pink scoop of what looked like sorbet in a little dish.
Oh—must be a pallet cleanser, Bobbi thought. She picked up the little golden spoon the Saurian server had placed by her dish and took a big bite of the pink icy stuff.
She had been expecting a fruit flavor—maybe something like strawberry or lemon or some exotic fruit she had never tried before. Instead, a sharp, coppery taste spread over her tongue.
Like sucking on a mouthful of cold pennies, she thought. Ugh!
“Do you like the blood ice?” Dragon asked her as she stared down at the pink stuff, wondering what was in it.
“Excuse me? Blood ice? Is that what this is?” Bobbi poked the sorbet-looking stuff with her little golden spoon.
He nodded.
“It’s shaved ice infused with meetha blood. It’s supposed to be refreshing after all the heavy dishes we had before the main dish.”
“What’s the main dish then?” Bobbi asked, putting down her spoon. There was no way she was eating any more of the awful “blood ice.”
“Here it comes now.” He nodded as the Saurian servers—who were all dressed in orange uniforms that clashed horribly with their greenish scales—came forward to the head table again. They were each holding enormous platters with tall golden domes on them. One of the platters was put down in front of every male guest at the head table.
There was a silent pause as everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath. Then, with a flourish, the servers all whisked the golden domes off at the same time, revealing the enormous Ornith eggs.
Each egg was sitting upright on one end and their tops had been removed so that the insides were clearly visible. It looked to Bobbi like they had been soft boiled. The whites were opaque but the dark purple yolks were still runny. Fragrant steam rose from each one, tickling her nose.
They smelled delicious, but the sight of the broken egg suddenly made Bobbi want to cry. She remembered Therena clucking in fear and plucking out her own breast feathers in alarm when Zerlix had snatched her egg. And she could almost hear the sounds of the Ornith village as they all called to her while Dragon slung her over his broad shoulder and carried her away.
God, had that only been yesterday? It felt like she’d lived a lifetime since then, Bobbi thought as she stared at the egg. She’d learned so much about the Saurian culture already, but she missed the gentle Orniths with their soft cooing voices and warm feathery bodies. She remembered sitting in the laying hut, nestled between two friends all warm and cozy or having dinners with Therena to celebrate the small victories of her friend’s simple life.