294: Brunch

Putting away the soft-shelled crabs and all but a few of the whitebait, I turned my attention to the water beetles.

I felt Crisplet push across disgust again, causing me to laugh.

“You’ve been around Jen too much Crisplet; they are just water creatures,” I explained.

I got a single spark for no.

“You’re going to have to put up with it though; this is what Clacks will be eating, but look on the bright side here, she’ll be killing them to eat them,” I bargained.

There was a pause as Crisplet looked between the beetle and Clacks, who was currently shredding the one in her nest to pieces.

“Plus, at least they are not alive... I don’t think so anyway,” I said.

Now I wasn’t entirely sure how to cook these; obviously, Jen just told me to boil them and that I could season the water, but what did that entail? How much seasoning?

I could have gone back into the main room and asked, but since this was for Clacks and perhaps just one for myself, I wasn’t overly concerned. Provided it was safe to eat, I’d be fine.

I pulled out a small pot and a pan for the few whitebait I had set aside. I filled the pot with water and added salt, pepper. I was about to add fire salt, but hesitated.

This was for Clacks, so it probably wouldn’t be ideal to use something I knew had weak fire properties, right?

The problem was the only thing I knew that had a water element to it was the drownweed. What I didn’t know though, was how strong it would be, so I decided against it.

Instead, I went with onion, garlic grass, lemon tea grass; I even used my smoky sea salt instead of regular salt.

The lemon flavour always seemed to go well with seafood, and this was, after all, technically seafood.

“Right, that should do,” I said.

I placed the pot next to the fire as I got some flour, seasoned it with just salt and pepper, and tossed the whitebait in it.

To the side, I started to heat up some butter in a pan, which I would cook them off in.

Crisplet let me know the bones I had put on were ready to come out as well.

I quickly transferred them into a pot and started to fill it up with water when I had an idea.

“Clacks, do you want to help me out?” I said.

She had nearly finished her beetle, I gathered, since she was neatly collecting up the shell, but she stopped to give me a chirp, hopping onto the edge of her nest.

“Could you help me fill this pot with water?” I asked.

I got a loud chirp as she hopped across the counter.

In my storage, I had plenty of water that Milo had prepared for me, barrels of it spare. There was also a rune in this kitchen, but it felt right to include her in this.

I helped lift her up to the edge of the pot and I filled it three-quarters of the way.

“Okay, Clacks, I need you to fill it until the bones are just covered, but stop if you get low on mana, okay? Uncle Milo can always provide water so don’t overdo it,” I said.

I got a chirp and a flap of the wings before starting to form a ball of water in front of her beak.

Turning my attention to the butter, I very quickly cooked off the whitebait so they were golden brown, while also making sure to add seven of the beetles to the water as soon as it came to the boil. I didn’t want to do too many at first, just in case it was too powerful for Clacks, or she didn’t like it.

I was also willing to try it, as I was sure Liane would as well.

With all that on the go and most things ready, I decided to start plating up the late breakfast, or, I guess lunch at this point?

Pulling out all the pancakes and regular honeyed bacon, I used infuse on them.

On each plate, placing several pancakes and three pieces of bacon, with a couple extra for the big eaters in the group.

I quickly saw what they meant about the beetles; they had floated to the surface and turned bright orange, so I pulled them out of the flavoured water and set them aside, using infuse on them also.

I placed them on a plate, setting just two aside, one each for myself and Liane, and I placed the crispy whitebait I had cooked on top.

I was just about to start taking things out to the main room when Crisplet let me know the other two bacon varieties were ready, which was perfect timing.

“Thanks, Crisplet,” I said.

I stored these straight away, only leaving one of each piece out for my favourite taste tester, Lily. I infused both, and was surprised she wasn’t already on her feet.

In fact, when I placed them in front of her, she did the laziest grab of them.

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“Are you full?” I asked.

I got a huff as she ate the second piece as well.

I really wondered how that nourishing worked. If under a dozen pieces of bacon could fill her up, that was impressive.

I knew she’d probably get upset if I didn’t give her the plate I prepared anyway, so I left it next to her; she’ll eat it when she woke up.

One last thing I needed to do was checking the buffs of the beetles.

[Common] Seasoned Water Beetle Boil

+2 Intelligence

+1 Charisma

Minor Speed Increase

Curiously, there was no Fire Immunity on this one. Had Crisplet decided not to touch it?

It was definitely safe to eat; this was weaker than the river pip I accidentally gave her.

Looking over, I saw Clacks was still creating water, but the balls were getting smaller.

“Let’s go eat then come back to it, Clacks!” I said, happily holding out my hand.

Looking back to Crisplet, I had to hold back a laugh while seeing Lily passed out in front of the oven fire.

“Crisplet, did you want to come? Or stay here with Lily?”

Crisplet gave me a burst of sparks as he went back into the fire.

“I’ll be back soon!” I called.

With Clacks deciding to perch on my shoulder, I started to carry some plates out, getting spotted by Liane immediately.

“Is it ready? Do you need help?” She asked.

“Sure, plates are on the counter. Don’t steal bacon!” I said with a laugh.

I noticed Hari was awake now. It looked like he had swapped positions with Gilain, who was now asleep in the booth. Hari was at the main table with his head in his hands.

Jamal seemed to be completely unbothered, standing behind the bar, already preparing drinks for everyone.

“Sylverith, Huling, Milo, I have food for everyone.” I said.

Milo seemed to be disgruntled that I was interrupting his rune time, but Sylverith was moving the moment I mentioned it.

I placed the first plate down in front of Huling, and Sylverith, Jen, and Liane came out carrying the others.

Clacks did not wait at all. The moment her plate was put on the table, she dived off my shoulder and almost stuck the landing; there was only a slight stumble.

“You’re getting so close to landing!” Huling said happily.

She barely got a chirp in response before she started to dive into the meal.

I pulled out some sugar-sap that I had as well, which went really well with pancakes.

The buffs for it all were nothing special since it was just regular pancakes with honeyed boar bacon, but apparently, it was perfect for Hari as he practically hugged his plate as he started eating.

The smell must have raised Gilain from the dead as well because there was a loud groan from the corner and all I heard was;

“Huh, food?”

He was soon semi-stumbling his way to the table.

I was happy to see Luis still here, though he had been vanishing a lot recently. I imagine this particular city had a lot of things he needed to attend to.

“This beetle is surprisingly decent, though it’s missing something, Trev, like chilli or a spice, something to give it a kick,” Liane said, clearly trying that first.

“I considered it, but since I was cooking for Clacks, I wanted to try and avoid the food that seemed to be fire-aligned,” I explained.

Liane seemed to think for a moment before nodding. “That’s understandable then. What might work better then, if you remember the crown snails, with the garlic grass butter?”

I needed to try the beetle myself to know what she meant, so I did my best to remove as much carapace as possible, and I was amazed at how much meat was actually in the thing.

Taking a bite, I was immediately hit with salt, then a hint of lemon and a very faint touch of something almost fishy.

“Too salty,” I said, not impressed.

Liane nodded, “Yeah, that’s why I think it’ll be better with butter.”

I made a note to give it a shot. Clacks didn’t seem to have any issues with the salt; she was already working on her second beetle, with two of the small whitebait fish completely gone.

The pancakes hit just right; the bacon was crisp so the texture worked with the soft pancakes. The salty meat hit just right as well, and I maybe went a little overboard with the sugar-sap, but was there really such a thing as too much of that?

While everyone was eating, I remembered Micca and the situation there, so I figured now was as good a time as any to ask.

“Uh, Sylvy, I know you mentioned that you were leaving later today. Did you plan on coming back here before going to the capital again?” I asked.

She nodded, her mouth chewing.

A voice came straight to my mind, which was odd seeing her eat and talk at the same time.

“Yes dear, I shouldn’t be more than a week to collect my friend,” she said.

“Could I give you some supplies to give to Micca on your return? I feel it would be safest with you, rather than a messenger,” I asked.

Milo let out a snort, “Could you imagine someone trying to rob Sylverith? What a rude shock they’d get.”

This comment by Milo seemed to sway the decision as a smile formed on Sylverith’s face.

“It won’t be a problem dear. I do like that girl, and young Milo here is right, it would be fun to see someone try and rob me. It’s been a long time,” she said.

This worked out perfectly; there was no way I’d get anything done before she left today.

I heard Huling leaning across the table, softly speaking with Clacks, “When you’re tearing into it, try to keep it on the plate. Think of it like your nest; you wouldn’t like a dirty nest, would you?”

Clacks apparently was intently listening and, even more surprisingly, immediately changed the way she was tearing in. Now instead of ripping off the shell and letting it fly, she seemed to be much more controlled, neatly placing every piece to the side.

I just mouthed ‘Thank you’ to Huling as her voice also came to my mind.

“You’re welcome, Trevor, though you really need to work on your mana control; you’ll have a far easier time communicating with all three of them if you had better control,” Huling commented.

I thought I had been improving my mana control; what I was sensing from Crisplet seemed to be far more complex now.

Apparently, Sylverith was able to glean those thoughts, though.

“Dear, it’s because Crisplet has been pushing really hard to improve his own mana control in an effort to talk to you better; it’s also how he understood Clacks so easily, but you will need to work on your own,” she said.

I felt embarrassed. “I, I might need help then; I thought I was doing well,” I said honestly.

“No worries, dear, when I return I will assist you, and if my friend is not in a mood, then I’m certain he’ll be happy to help too; he’s rather talented with mana,” Sylverith said.

“Who is your friend exactly?” I asked curiously.

She just grinned. “Let’s keep that a surprise, dear.”