Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

At any rate, she kept her eyes straight ahead and refused to look at Baronet Sin’estor, though she could feel his vivid orange eyes trained on her. It occurred to her that she hadn’t met a single other Lix’dorian male or female with orange eyes and teeth. The Lix’dorian people seemed to come in all shades of pastels, but the bright orange shade appeared to be unique to Baronet Sin’estor.

Maybe he has some kind of medical condition, Iyanna thought, risking a glance from the corner of her eye at the tall Lix’dorian’s patchy gray-blue hide. He seemed to have areas of extremely dry skin scattered over his face and arms and neck—which was all she could see because of his long robes. Also, what was making him so thin? He looked like he’d been starving himself for weeks…

“I see that you’re staring at me, however you try to hide your interest, my dear,” the Baronet murmured as male servers clad in dark blue and silver uniforms came and began to serve bowls of murky green soup with brown swirls in it to each guest. “You clearly find something about me appealing.”

“I was just wondering why your teeth and eyes are bright orange, when nobody else’s are,” Iyanna said candidly. Normally, she would have been more careful about not hurting his feelings, but since he felt free to openly stare at her bare breasts, she had very little sympathy for him.

“Ahh…” He nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, you see, I have a, er, condition which comes of long years of dependency upon a certain medication, I’m afraid. It colors both my teeth and my eyes and it makes my teeth regrettably sensitive and weak.”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry to hear it,” Iyanna said awkwardly.

“No matter,” Baronet Sin’estor said airily. “Ah, plon’chek soup—my favorite!” He plucked a long silver straw from the place setting beside him and plunged it into the long, narrow bowl of brown and green soup in front of him. Slurping loudly, he rolled his eyes in apparent delight and exclaimed, “Excellent!”

“I am so glad you like it, my dear Baronet Sin’estor,” Minister Ostensio said eagerly, leaning rudely across the pleasure slave that was sitting between him and the other male as though she didn’t exist. “I confess, I communicated with your head chef to find out what dishes would be pleasing to you.”

“I must give him a raise in salary,” Baronet Sin’estor murmured. “But your own chef is also to be commended—this really is the best plon’chek soup I’ve ever tasted.” He nodded at Iyanna. “Go on, my dear—I assure you, it’s quite extraordinary. And since it’s made from pounded lik’ri fibers, it should be especially tasty to a Viridi Femma.”

“Um, okay.” Iyanna lifted her own straw—it had a little spoon at one end, she saw, kind of like those long red straws you get when you buy a Slurpee—and stuck it into her soup. It certainly didn’t look very appetizing—muddy green swirled with dark brown—and the smell coming from it wasn’t much better. The scent reminded her of moldy hay. But she didn’t want to appear rude and she was committed to trying new things, so she took a tiny sip.

The flavor that hit her tongue was what Iyanna imagined licking the bottom of a guinea pig cage might taste like. Dirty, nasty, musty, foul, were the words that came immediately to mind.

Putting down her straw-spoon, she took a hasty sip of the fizzy pink wine in her glass. It was way too sweet—almost cloying—but at least it helped erase the dirty-guinea-pig-cage taste of the soup.

“Hmm…not to your liking?” Baronet Sin’estor inquired, watching her with apparent interest. “Not to worry, my dear, the next course is on the way.”

Indeed, only a moment later, Iyanna’s soup bowl was whisked away and a new plate was set in front of her. This one was heaped with a kind of reddish-orange paste. Iyanna swirled her spoon-straw through it—there were no other utensils—and found it was about the consistency of hummus.

“Mmm—choom’poo—another favorite of mine!” Baronet Sin’estor exclaimed.

“Ah, I’m so glad! I promise it was made from only the most rotten and stenchful poo-fruits!” Ostensio told him, leaning rudely in front of the pleasure slave beside him again. Clearly he was delighted that his special guest was so happy.

By now Iyanna had figured out that this menu was probably composed entirely of foods that were favorites of Baronet Sin’estor. And since he claimed to have weak teeth that were sensitive to temperature, everything was going to be either soupy or mushy and probably served lukewarm or tepid.

Also, poo-fruits? What a terrible name!

Of course, she was certain it was just a silly coincidence, so she once again decided to give the new food a try. She took a bite of the orange-red mush, lifting a bit on her straw-spoon to taste it.