Candy Crush
Year of the Golden Gilled Boar, 1983, Veeratha, Itlid 1st
With the kids brought into the music room for classes on writing, I was left alone to work on my plans. By midmorning, I was starting to feel inadequate. I didn’t know how the other kingdoms operated, that was the biggest flaw in my initial thoughts. I started to review everything I knew so far.
The kingdoms were at least tolerant, if not friendly to each other. Open, unwarranted hostilities was a sure way to bring a kingdom down. Territories can and will maintain their own rules. Trade with Khevernak, was becoming harder due to taxes. Whether it was only with Silaron or everyone else, it wasn’t clear. Khevernak was hoarding its gold. Both Khevernak and Silaron had spies in each other’s lands. All information were tidbits. None of them were particularly useful by themselves, nor could I connect one to the other to serve my goals.
How will I get them to act without being involved?
When I couldn’t come up with anything else, I decided to leave my studies and headed for the kitchens instead.
“Lord! Just in time.” The cook greeted with enthusiasm. “We’re just about to prepare the dipti.”
I forgot about that. I came to see about anything new the cook was trying to see if it can fuel my thoughts. I sat in one of the chairs thinking they’d be preparing it right then on the long table in front of me but just about turned out to be more like half an hour. They did have several pies ready, and a ton of roasted nuts of each kind. I snacked on the nuts while I waited.
Four maids with a tray each arrived later. Each one had two steaming rolls wrapped in leaves on each tray. Each roll was about The smell of boiled nuts filled the kitchen, together with a scent I recognized as the syrup I used for the tea the first time I came to the kitchens.
“Why so many?” I asked.
“There’s only four variations Lord. We made two of each just to fill the pot.”
Another maid came with a mortar and pestle and proceeded to put lumps of hard nut bars in it. The rest of the maids started slicing through the wrappings of the dipti, the scent growing even stronger. One sliced portions from each and laid them on plates. The cook disappeared for a bit and came back with a bowl of what thick brown sauce. It smelled sweet.
Heaven. It was heaven. Whatever was served to me, it was a thousand times better than what I ate at the beaches of Osea. I could not contain myself from exclaiming, drawing pleased expressions all around. It had the texture of hard pudding but at the same time crumbled in my mouth as the ground nuts separated. It had just the right amount of sweetness that appeared to have spread evenly that no portion was bland. My pallet was not sophisticated enough to distinguish all the variations but I did identify a hint of mint in one.
“This is not what I expected it to be.” I exclaimed.
“Would you care to try it with these Lord?” Asked the cook, pointing to the bowl of syrup and the almost powdered sweetened nuts.
“Who thought of this?” I asked.
There were exchanged looks and a silence before the woman girl I recognized as Aiela spoke.
“I did Lord.”
“She, we, have been emboldened of late to, uh-”
“It’s quite alright cook,” I said, putting a stop to his nervous delivery, “I’m just curious.”
The additions were brilliant. I identified the syrup as the preparation used for making the nut bars, if only stickier. It’s stronger scent hinted that this was actually extra and not made on purpose. With the syrup drizzled on the dipti, the effect was immediate. The sweetness hit me as soon as it was in my mouth but it also had the effect of making me chew longer as I tried to savor all that sweetness. The ground candied nuts on the other hand provided a contrast to the initial first bite, providing a rough texture with extra, small pockets of sweetness all over. This would put to use, the smaller, leftover pieces left after carving out bite sized pieces. Nothing wasted.
God bless the poor!
“This is amazing! The prince will absolutely love this!”
Aiela suddenly found the stone floor interesting, cheeks bright red. The cook nodded to his assistants then asked.
“How can we be sure, Lord?”
“What do you mean how can we be sure? The man’s a hopeless sweet tooth domi! He’d probably gulp a whole cask of syrup if you let him. Hurry up while it’s hot and serve it to them. Don’t forget the children at the music room and give me more on my plate. Splendid work everyone.”
There was a noticeable shift in the aura of the place. They still bustled and hurried like usual but there was a spring to their steps, a mindfulness to their moves now. In a way, I envied them. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so inspired. Kind praises, especially when true, really does raise spirits.
I wondered if this is how it would feel like to run a kitchen as I waited for my portions. A fully stocked pantry, waking up early to try new recipes, sharing a meal with people of like minds.
Would Jakeli actually build me an inn if I-
“Lord? Was there, uh, something else on your mind?” The cook cautiously asked.
“I have a lot on my mind. Care to be specific?”
“I mean, uhm, something else to try? For the prince?”
I just about burst out laughing with the cook’s question. The man was using the prince as bait, as an excuse to do more creative experiments in his kitchen. I stared at the table for a while trying to think of something else I’ve been wanting to try.
Emboldened you say?
“I do have something,” I answered after consideration, “but it all depends on you.”
“I am willing to try Lord.”
“It’s not the ridiculous amount of time spent mixing that I’m worried about,” I said, letting the statement hang for effect, “what I’m worried about is whether you will have the courage to do it.”
“I can assure you Lord, I can do whatever it is you need doing.”
“San, because it will involve you serving the prince and his guests old bread.”
It was worth it. The way he and everyone within earshot froze as they digested what I said made me laugh out loud. They all looked at me like I was going to send them to the gallows.
I was still chuckling when I reached our quarters.