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Several minutes later, Ashlynn was munching happily on a fish fritter that was still piping hot from the boiling lard it was cooked in.

The exterior was perfectly crisp while the interior was soft and pillowy though she had to admit that each fritter seemed to contain more bread, herbs and vegetables than flakes of tender, flakey fish, and they contained far less of the spicy peppers that Jacques added to his, but they were still a nostalgic treat that reminded her of her time in the Briar and the unexpected family she’d found there.

Ollie was the first to return, awkwardly juggling a platter piled high with skewers of spiced, roasted meats and half a dozen small bowls of brightly colored sauces.

The scents of sweet onions and fresh parsley mingled with fatty beef and pork to create a simple, welcoming aroma that all but cried out for one of the dark red, bright orange, or vibrant green sauces stacked around the edge of the platter.

"That was fast," Ashlynn said as she blew on another hot fritter, waiting for it to cool slightly before she began to nibble again. "Why did you pick those?"

"I wanted to try something new," Ollie admitted as he held a skewer and eyed the colorful sauces, trying to decide which one to try first. "I’ve never seen minced meat roasted on a skewer over a fire like this, and there were so many different sauces to try, so I thought this would be a good time for a little food adventure," he said with a wide grin.

For so long, his focus on food had been figuring out ways to turn the scraps he foraged in the Lothian kitchens into something palatable.

From off-cuts of meat to slightly burned bits that couldn’t be served on a lord’s table or odd combinations of leftovers, he’d tried just about everything to make an enjoyable meal out of the castoffs of the noblemen’s tables.

Ever since coming to the Vale of Mists, however, Georg had been slowly expanding Ollie’s knowledge of food, adding not only to the young man’s repertoire of techniques but enhancing his sense of flavor and what made food truly enjoyable.

Now that he found himself confronted by so many different dishes cooked by people from so many different Eldritch Nations, he felt like he couldn’t possibly taste everything he wanted before the end of the festival, so he set out to find something that offered as many different flavors as possible.

"The green one," Virve said, sitting down next to the young knight with a heavy -THUMP- as she set down a platter of her own, this one laden with thick sausages and crumbly blocks of pale cheese with blue veins of mold.

"You want to slather the skewer with as much of the green sauce as you can, and then take a big bite so the juices of the meat mix with the sauce in your mouth," she said with a wide smile.

"No, no, no, no, no! What are you doing?" Heila cried as she walked up in time to see Ollie spooning the chunky green sauce over a skewer. In her arms, she carried a basket filled with deep-fried pastries drizzled in honey that she nearly dropped in her haste to stop Ollie from following Virve’s helpful ’advice.

’ "That much spicy sauce and you won’t be able to taste anything but pain," she said, giving Virve a pointed look.

"It’s fine," Virve countered, leaning forward to snatch the sauce-laden skewer from Ollie’s hand, biting off nearly half the meat in a single large bite and smiling broadly as she savored the savory, spicy treat. "See?"

"Don’t trust her, Ollie," Heila said, stepping between the young knight and the bearish warrior like a comically small guardian. "I don’t think Virve can taste anything unless it has so much seasoning that it burns your tongue."

"I can eat spicy food you know," Ollie said, reaching out for another skewer and preparing to scoop even more of the fiery green sauce on it. When he noticed a subtle headshake from Ashlynn, however, he significantly reduced the amount of sauce he added before taking a bite. The instant he did, he felt like his tongue had been stabbed by hundreds of needles, as if he’d unleashed the cypress needle magic he’d learned during his trial, only in his own mouth and set on fire.

The rich, fatty meat didn’t do anything to make the flavor milder, in fact, the juices of the meat only made things worse, carrying the intense spice to every corner of his mouth and throat as he swallowed, gasping for air.

"Drink this, drink this," Talauia said, descending from the air with several large tankards of cider that smelled of sweet apples with faint notes of clove and citrus. "The bubbles help to get the spices off your tongue," she explained as she passed over a large, frothy tankard of chilled cider.

"It’s not that bad," Virve said with a hearty chuckle as she began using a sharp claw to slice the sausages into smaller pieces. "You just have to eat enough of them that you don’t notice the burning anymore."

After chugging down nearly half the tankard of cider, Ollie shot Virve a look that said he wondered if the Oak Witch really deserved the moniker of ’demon’ for encouraging him to use even more of the potent, painfully spicy sauce.

.. or if she was a demon because the torture-food apparently had no effect on her.

"I like the thick red sauce," Ashlynn said, leaning over and retrieving a skewer before spooning a bit of the sauce on it.

"They use sweeter peppers to make this one, along with tomatoes dried in the sun and crushed nuts. It has a little spice, but it’s mostly sweet and earthy," she said between bites as she savored the rich, meaty skewer.

Before Ollie could respond or consider choosing his next ’food adventure’ a sudden flurry of snow swept over the group as Hauke arrived at last, carrying several large bowls made of ice holding something that looked soft and creamy in an assortment of colors.

"Sorry I took so long," the Frost Walker rumbled as he sat down on the grass. His iridescent horn glowed a pale, icy blue, and the mist around him froze into a small flurry of snow as he joined the group. "I didn’t think the line would be so long," he said sheepishly.

In truth, while the line had been long, the length of the line alone didn’t entirely account for how long it had taken him to return.

Seeing the long line of children, eagerly looking forward to tasting one of the sweet treats of the High Pass filled Hauke’s heart so full with pride and joy that he’d let several of the children cut ahead of him in line, relishing in the musical laughter and eagerness as people from across the Vale and beyond devoured the flavorful, frozen cream.

"You’re using sorcery to keep the food cold?" Heila said, looking at Hauke in mild concern. "Won’t that tire you out without the cold of the mountains around you?"

"This much is no big deal," Hauke said proudly as he sat up straighter. While it was true that his powers had diminished once they left the bitter, frozen lands of the High Pass, he could easily have covered the entire festival with snow and kept it cold for children to play in without feeling too much strain. Something like chilling a few bowls of ice cream was no big deal, but for the witches who were used to drawing on the energy of the world to fuel their magic, perhaps they didn’t realize how much power he still carried all on his own.

"Besides," Hauke added with a wide smile. "Ice cream should be enjoyed last, after everything else, so I’ll just keep it cold until everyone is ready for it."

"Well, don’t hold back, dig in," Ashlynn encouraged, trying to draw the awkwardly distant Frost Walker more into the group. "Just don’t take Virve’s advice on spicy things and help yourself to a skewer."

"No, no, I tried it and it seems like everyone else has tried it," Ollie said, spotting a chance to share his misery with someone else. "Hauke, you can try a spoonful of the green sauce on a skewer too!"