Far From Home

Evaline nodded as James talked, watching the embers of the fire dissipate in the air. His answer was basically, "yes, I'm usually better, but I don't usually do it." It was a bit vague, but she didn't dwell on it too long.

"I'll equip you with the right resources in the future, then," she said. "It's nice to eat food you enjoy, even if you're by yourself."

James pressed his lips together and turned to look into the fire, then off into the darkness of the forest around them.

“I suppose so,” he said quietly.

“...Do you still like pesto?” he asked after a pause.

Evaline turned to him, surprised that he'd remember a detail as trivial as her favorite food.

"I do," she said. "Why, have I converted you to liking it too?"

James glanced up at her, briefly meeting her eyes before he looked back to the fire.

“I mean, it’s good,” he said, tapping his fingers against the tea mug. “I don’t know. I just... was wondering.”

Evaline paused for a few moments, taking another sip and letting the noise of the fire crackling fill the air between them.

"I usually have no problem remember small details, but I can't for the life of me remember the name of your favorite food," she finally said, giving him a borderline apologetic smile. "It was a pasta, though. And apparently not pesto."

James looked down into his mug.

“I think, back then, I’d said lasagna,” he said. “That sounds right.”

He then took in a deep breath and lifted the mug to his mouth, taking a sip. The temperature was bearable, so he took another one.

That sounded right to her too, but mostly because lasagna was an unfamiliar dish to her, and she vaguely remembered him mentioning something she wasn't familiar with.

"Does that mean you like something else more now?" she asked.

James glanced back at her. “I don’t know if I have a favorite food nowadays,” he mused idly, looking back down into the mug and tapping the side with his his fingers.

He had to think. He didn’t really enjoy food for the taste anymore. It had been a long time since he’d eaten something and felt any sense of joy. He didn’t think there necessarily had to be an emotional connection to food.

But there was one thing that he did associate with some old friends.

He could care less for the snack, but they always reminded him of them.

Of course, by the time he came to that conclusion, several seconds of silence has passed, and Evaline broke it.

It wasn't that hard of a question, but James looked like he was really searching his brain for an answer. Evaline gave him some time to answer, but decided to break the silence when the pause became far too long.

"It's okay to not have a favorite food," she said. "I was just wondering as well."

James was just about to open his mouth to speak when Evaline did. Fortunately, she didn’t change the subject. She was just trying to offer him reassurance, not that he needed it. He wondered if she kept saying things were “okay” because that was all she had to offer, or because she felt like she had to overcompensate for something.

He hoped she couldn’t sense everything he was hiding.

After a small moment’s hesitation, he spoke.

“In the Outlands, there’s a very prominent drug trade,” he said, like he was starting to explain. He knew sue would probably be thrown off by the way he was leading into it, but that was kind of the goal.

“It leaks into the isles, and they take it to northern and southern ports in Lettera and the Moonlight Kingdom by sea. They don’t travel by land because it’s actually more dangerous on the road, because there’s a higher risk of bandits, goblins, monsters, or getting caught by border patrol.”

He shifted his sitting position a little, and held the mug steady.

“And of course, getting caught by authorities is an issue at the ports, but the way that drug dealers get their product through undetected is by fronting it with these little snacks called stickers bars.”

He motioned in the air in front of him with one hand, creating a rectangular shape. “They’re made of grains, nuts, seeds, berries, honey... the honey acts as a natural glue. They’re actually quite good, and of course, often get bought alongside drugs because some of the drugs they sell make you very hungry. Among other things.”

He dropped his hand.

“In my time in the Outlands, I had a few.” He paused, meeting Evaline’s eyes to guage her reaction before clarifying.

“Of the stickers bars, of course. I guess I could say maybe they’re my favorite.”

It took Evaline off-guard when James delved into a story about a drug trade, but she listened intently anyways, wanting to hear it.

She gave a half-smile when she heard it evolve into his favorite food: stickers bar. Rectangular-shaped with grains, nuts, seeds, and honey. It sounded similar to other type of bars she'd eaten before, but she hadn't had one with this similar combination.

"Stickers bars," she echoed. "Good to eat, and comes with an interesting back story."

She paused, trying to comprehend how he'd even know all of this. For all she knew, he was simply running away from Butch and bounty hunters. Unless everything he said was common knowledge in Nye, it sounded like James somehow got involved in this drug trade. She wondered if it was also common knowledge that the drug made people hungry, or if that was something he experienced himself.

Maybe if it wasn't night and she didn't feel the root's effects lightly dull the worries at the back of her head, she wouldn't have said anything about it. But she decided against it.

"How did you get involved in knowing all of this, anyways?" she asked after taking another sip to frame her question. It didn't really stop her from being blunt, though.

James took another long sip of his tea before answering her question.

“Met a lot of criminals in the Outlands. You learn things along the way. Connect the dots. That sort of thing.”

"Ah, I see," Evaline said as she brought the canteen close to her lips again. She paused before she took another sip. "How often do criminals tell you their entire drug trade setup?"

James scoffed. “Look, it’s not like I talked about it over dinner with the people pulling the strings. And a lot of it I learned through observation, though I was a little aware of it before. I just didn’t know some of the details. Now I do. It’s not like I’m best friends with Mr. Diamond or— well, you don’t know who that is, but he’s got his hands on the majority of the Lumshade trade. And of course, he’s filthy rich. He lives up to his name, which I’m pretty sure he gave himself. But it’s not like anyone would argue with him.”

James paused to take another drink of the tea. It was cooling down now, so he took another long drink.

Somewhere along the way, Evaline began to be keenly aware that James was opening up more. It wasn't like she was forcing this out of him, but she was curious, and she did want to help if something was bothering him. She wasn't going to stop now, not when she had been struggling to get him to say more than simple small-talk responses back the whole day.

This was the first time this week that James mentioned anyone he knew personally. Mr. Diamond, a rich drug trade dealer, supposedly. There was also Lumshade, which sounded vaguely familiar to her. Was that the drug used to control mages in Nye?

"Still, for someone of your circumstances, it sounds like you know an awful lot for just being observant," she commented, deciding to not ask questions and just have him spill whatever he wanted. "Like you were really invested in knowing more."