"They sure do eat a lot," I remarked as I finished reading the sign.
"Considering a pneumarian doesn't have to sleep, I'm surprised there are no meals for eight straight hours," Avarice said.
Between the nature of his powers and his sacred gift, he is the most insatiable being I have ever met, Viraa laughed endearingly. Sacred Guardians and their representing Crest Heads establish a connection with one another that grants benefits to both. The Sacred Guardian will stop aging for as long as the Crest Head lives. In exchange, it grants the Crest Head a unique power that distinguishes them from the rest of the crest – a gift. In this case, the graboid's sacred gift is called Pit. It gives this crest's head the unique power to devour all, often never getting full. Since staff and most others go to sleep, the Crest Head knows food is limited during resting hours. He prefers to spend the time sleeping as well, so that he doesn't experience the otherwise agonizing wait. Viraa laughed again.
"Wow," Za'Fia said sarcastically.
I looked around, remembering the brochure stating there were only 1 pneumarian and 75 klevonians within the crest. There was only one klevonian within the palace apart from the personal guard that led us. I saw several klevonian children running around in pursuit of each other, protected in the safety of the palace.
"It just dawned on me that even with 75 klevonians, a chunk of them are also children," I commented, curious. "The adults must be scattered throughout the district for their daily responsibilities. Running a territory this size must take more than even 75 adult klevonians. Right?"
"Seems they all work at once. No shifts," Za'Fia stated, watching the kids.
"That's a poor work structure considering it'd require them to be working nonstop," Avarice added on. "Perhaps each crest operates this way. That would explain how someone was able to abduct their children."
"Every district doesn't operate this way," a raspy, huffing voice boomed as the throne room doors creaked open. Sitting on the actual throne was a heavy-set man with matted, black hair and sand-colored skin. His eyes glowed a bright tan as he peered across the room at us. His feet were strangely bare, and when he sat forward, every movement sent a ripple that caused his unshapely stomach to ripple like Jell-O as he ate from a heap of food in front of him.
"Cindarian children here have always been looked after in the palace while the adults work," he confirmed, "but it's because there are no shifts that I restrict traveling within the district after certain hours."
Now that I was that close, I could sense the nature of his energy. It felt rough and harsh like a sandstorm.
"Overnight, Uum, our Sacred Guardian, patrols the lands," someone said from behind us. It was the other female klevonian, Mimi, we'd seen fending off the poachers. She went and stood on the left side of the Crest Head, adjacent to Sanjna, who stood on the right. "With its sensory skills and speed in the sand, no one's sneaking past the Sicare Ring even if they flew," she assured us.
The Crest Head took some bites from his vulgar meal before he spoke again.
"I'm Sunce, ruler of Sicare," he introduced himself, then gulped down a gigantic drink. With the biolenses, I could see that he was also known as The Insatiable. He was a 3-star threat with an EQN of 522,600,000 and two cintracies: Suna, giving him power over sand, and Glutton, which Viraa said worked similarly to the sacred gift, Pit, in the sense that it allowed him to eat almost anything, but where Pit gave him a bottomless stomach, Glutton added on an insatiable hunger.
Sunce belched as he finished his pre-lunch, and I could smell the food he'd been eating, instantly making me want to vomit.
"Hm," he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "As I'm sure you're aware, the nation's in an uproar right now. Many of us are very wary of the unknown, and for you all to arrive conveniently during the same time of this tragedy is suspicious to say the least."
He leaned back in his seat as Mimi grabbed his plate and placed it on a rack with other plates on it.
"Some think you might have something to do with it," he continued, picking his teeth and looking at some clock.
"It's going to take them another hour to prepare your next meal," Sanjna reminded him, to whom he then gave a look of disappointment.
"Some think you all are collaborating with the Klevonian Army in retaliation," he added. "But I know how to find out if you can be trusted or not...," he gave a sly grin.
I tensed up and felt Avarice and Za'Fia do the same.
Becoming a fugitive wasn't on my to-do list today, Za'Fia remarked telepathically.
Mine either, I retorted, ready to move at any moment.
"You each will prepare a dish from your world for me!" he demanded, shockingly.
The three of us relaxed and looked at each other in confusion.
"I have a seventh sense where I can tell what a person's like based on their cooking," Sunce offered as an explanation.
I spotted Sanjna and Mimi exchanging dubious looks and concluded that Sunce was lying about the seventh sense.
He just wants to see what kind of food Earth has to offer, I shared lightly with the others.
Without paying for it as he usually would, Avarice added, slightly aggravated.
"You want us to cook for you?" Za'Fia asked him. "And that's it?"
"Yes. That is all," he replied, suppressing his eagerness. "A simple demand, no?"
Za'Fia and I looked at each other and shrugged as if to say, "Why not?"
We were then led to a kitchen worthy of being in a palace. The kitchen alone was larger than any living room I'd ever been in.
"This is the second kitchen," Sanjna told us. "The other kitchen is being used to prepare Sunce's next meal, so this one will have to do."
She touched a strange dispensary machine.
"This is an ingredient depot. It can produce any ingredient, meat, vegetable, or fruit you can think of. If not, it'll produce a near-replicant. Good luck with your dishes. If he doesn't like it, he may eat you instead," she said, then left with a false smile.
I'm pretty sure that last part was a joke, but I wasn't too sure either.
I won't go into the details of the process of us preparing our dishes, after all, this isn't some food show, but I will say I had fun making my own food after so long. Trik did most of the cooking for so long, otherwise I'd eat from a restaurant, so I made the only thing I knew how: blueberry Belgian waffles with maple syrup, and as a drink, I prepared strawberry milk.
By the time we were done, Za'Fia's dish was a beautiful blend of white rice topped with seasoned fish cooked in a broth, along with chopped potatoes and diced green bell peppers, accompanied by a fluffy buttered biscuit and lemonade on the side.
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